Sorry! We’re still here and doing fine. It’s been kind of a rough week, but nothing overly serious just incredibly annoying. As the residual effects of the surgery start to fade away and I’m able to move about more easily, it’s harder and harder to just stay on the sofa. Plus, I’m starting to really feel it in my neck and hips. We’re busily craigslisting about to try to find me a cheap recliner just so I have another option.
The biggest problem is nights. I’ve had trouble with restless leg syndrome since high school, so I’m no stranger to the twitchiness. However, my usual cure for it is to sit in a bathtub full of the hottest water I can stand. Typically, by the time the tub has filled, the RLS has called it quits AND I’m nice and sleepy. But, baths are on the definite no-no list for me and steaming hot water isn’t all that highly recommended either. I’ve been compromising by sitting on the side of the tub and putting one leg at a time under the faucet to just let the water run over my calf. Not nearly as relaxing or as effective, but combined with a heating pad on low and some careful massaging…
Then, there’s the heartburn. All of my digestive issues aside, I’ve never had to deal with heartburn except for during pregnancy. I’d HOPED that the heartburn was really due to the combination of pregnancy and knotted-up intestines and that fixing the guts would spare me for the rest of the pregnancy. Now, I’ll be honest, it isn’t bad heartburn. It’s just heartburn on top of everything else and it hits almost every day around 3 and stays until sometime after I manage to fall asleep. I’ve tried not drinking during meals. I’ve tried tums/rolaids. I’ve tried milk. I’ve tried lying on my right side. I’ve tried lying propped up at an angle. Nothing really seems to make much difference.
THEN, as much as I love her and her little chubby cheeks, Miss Olivia Moonpie seems to have a preference for settling in low in my uterus. This actually started up in the hospital. We think she gets down low, like she’s lying in a hammock and I end up with either bony knees or elbows poking in the same spot for a long time. This generally means that by the end of the day, I have some serious aches on either the lower left or lower right side of my uterus. No, it’s not like a cramp. It doesn’t come and go or start out weak and get worse, then get better. Strangely, it doesn’t hurt as much if I stand up. It isn’t anything like what I’ve been told to expect from contractions and everything stays nice and soft (except the lump of Olivia Moonpie that you can clearly feel!) The closest I’ve been able to come to describing it is the kind of sharp, bruised pain of a muscle after starting a new workout routine. It’s just painful enough that I have to remind myself that I really DO NOT want to be wishing all of this were over soon because she needs to stay right where she is even if that means dealing with this pain for another two and a half months. So, instead I’m trying to wish that she’d have a nice big growth spurt and have a little less room to move around in so that maybe the bony bits won’t poke quite so much in the part that gravity forces so much of the weight onto.
Anyway, all this bitching just means that there have been about three nights of exhausted, whiny me and worried Shannon trying to find a way to help me sleep.
And don’t even ask me about last night’s scare when I woke up thinking my water had broken only to realize that the last time I’d soaked my legs in the tub I’d apparently gotten my shirt wet, which eventually soaked into my underwear while I slept.
We did treat ourselves to a fetal heart monitor so we can listen to her whenever we want. Dr. T was disappointed that we’d done that; too many terrified mama’s running to his office when they couldn’t find a heartbeat. But, we didn’t really get it so we could track her heartrate or even to make sure everything was ok. We got it just because it’s fun to listen and we keep hoping to catch another bout of hiccups. Plus, Miss Moonpie is ridiculously easy to locate, always has been. The one or two times we’ve had a hard time hearing her heartbeat, we’ve still been able to feel her moving around (usually Shannon can feel her even when I can’t. I have this theory about my being able to feel myself feeling myself getting in the way of feeling her smaller movements.) and that’s just as good. But nothing brings as big of a smile as hearing that galloping, wooshing sound, followed by a mighty kick right on the wand. 🙂
So, we’re at 26 weeks 5 days and still doing just fine. Shannon’s learning how to cook (and doing a pretty good job at it all things considered), I’m about halfway through crocheting Olivia Moonpie’s blanket then I can start embroidering it (yes, I will post photos at some point). Next Dr.’s appointment is a week from today with the OB. I think we’re going to do a fetal fibronectin test and see if a booster shot of steroids is called for (I hope not…those really screw up my blood sugar tests!), a cervix check, and maybe an abdominal sonogram (fingers crossed, I’d like more pictures!).
It’s hard to distract yourself from discomforts if there’s so little you’re allowed to do. And you can’t even allow yourself to wish it were over. But you could wish to fast forward a bit?
Crocheting is a good way to pass a few hours. I’ve just learned myself, but I’m still doing basics. I’ve done a string bag, very easy, very repetitive.
I taught myself how to crochet this past fall and absolutely love it! I’d tried knitting for years and was horrid at it. I’m still kinda slow and it took me four tries to get this blanket going (I kept ending up with more stitches in a row than I was supposed to, so it was all lopsided), but it’s a great time-killer. I forced hats and mittens and scarves on the family for Christmas and I’m thinking about doing some projects for this charity. Good luck with it! I found that I got the most help from a How-to book written for children when I was first starting. It had better illustrations than the ones for adults.
So strange–this post switches into italics for me midway through.
I’m glad that all is okay, even if you’re feeling like crap (well, I’m not glad for the feeling like crap part, but you know what I mean). Any chance the doctor could prescribe Nexium for the heartburn? It’s safe (as much as a Class B drug can be) during pregnancy. It made a world of difference with the heartburn.
It helps if I remember to close the em tag!
I could probably get a prescription for the heartburn if I remember to ask at the next doctor’s appointment. I just hate the thought of taking one. more. pill. Y’know? Particularly for something that may or may not actually happen on any given night. It’s not HEARTBURN, it’s just heartburn. It’s more that it’s just one little cog in the great machinery of feeling crappy. I’m waiting on the results of a blood test to see if perhaps anemia is contributing to the RLS, which could mean I’ll need an iron supplement. I’d rather take a pill to address that then the mild heartburn because the RLS is pure torture. Mostly though, I’m just stubborn and have to suffer for awhile before I’m willing to admit defeat
Ugg. Well, general crappiness is better than terrifying bouts in hell but I wish you could have an easier time of it. Thank you for the update. I get nervous when you don’t post and assume the worst.
These days it’s way more likely to be a combination of ennui and an inability to stay awake than anything bad! There’s just little to say about the umpteenth day of bedrest 🙂
All I want is “Still here, bedrest still sucks, Miss Moonpie is fine.” Because I worry. You have a history of radio silence = all hell has broken loose.
I’m taking generic over-the-counter Zantec with my pregnancy (currently 38w5d) and it really helps with the heartburn. Or should I say HEARTBURN! It was really getting out of control. I believe I started it in the beginning of the 3rd trimester. If you didn’t want to go the pill route, I found Maalox to much more effective than Tums. You could try that first and move on the the “big guns” if that doesn’t help. I’m glad baby is doing well!
I’ll keep those in mind! I managed to make it through the last 24 hours with no problems on the heartburn front, so maybe I’ve won a brief reprieve.
My husband could often feel the baby moving even when I wasn’t… I always thought that was weird!
Sorry about the aches and pains and heartburn. Ugh!
hi-glad you are still hangin in there. been on bedrest the past 5 weeks and i have terrible hip pain and rls especially at night. i had been wearing compression stockings for blood clots prior to bedrest and found that when i put them back on now my legs feel less creeepy crawly. might not work but maybe something to consider. wishing you many more long boring days of bedrest. i know what you mean about not wishing it to be over but but i would too like to fast forward a bit.
Gaviscon was the only thing that helped my heartburn.