This pregnancy, that pregnancy

Thanksgiving has come and gone...and so did Halloween.  Wait?  Did I ever post pictures of Halloween or my winning pumpkin?  I don't think so.  I should probably do a few update posts just to have things jotted down for posterity.

But first, an update on little man.  It's December 1, which means I can officially say that I'm due next month.  That just sounds weird.  Granted, I'm due at the end of the month, but it's still next month.  All of a sudden I have the urge to go organize something....nesting will probably start soon because I'll blink and the new year will be here and I'll be mere weeks from meeting my son.

Since I am further along in my third trimester, I've noticed a few more things about the pregnancy, that no surprise, are different from my pregnancy with Madeline.

First, the pelvic pressure.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I didn't feel this with Madeline one bit, but being in ANY position for any length of time and then moving causes me pressure.  I'm hoping that this means the little fella is lower than she was since she never engaged my pelvis - even after two hours of pushing.  The pelvic pressure hurts though and is no fun.  I'm officially 8 months or 32 weeks this week, so 8 more weeks of this to go (and hopefully not even that long!)

Second, my hips.  They both hurt now!  I was amazed that my hips didn't hurt at all with Madeline.  Even more amazing was that my bum hip that always hurt when I wasn't pregnant, stopped hurting when I was pregnant with Madeline.  So not the case this time.  I'm definitely moving slower and slower and carrying Madeline makes both my hips grind in their sockets with each step.  Her added weight plus the weight I've gained equal a bad equation for my hips.  Again, I'm hoping this is a good sign of things to come for a VBAC. Loose joints is VERY good for birthing :-)

Next, acid reflux.  I can't complain about this too much because it is rare, but it's still something I didn't experience with Madeline. I haven't figured out if anything I eat triggers it yet, but if I do, I will stop eating it.  Blech.

Hernias.  I have two, but I started the pregnancy with one of them.  I was gifted a hernia after my c-section with Madeline located at the incision on the left side.  It hasn't caused me pain neither before pregnancy or after.  The other hernia is a result of pregnancy and a weakened abdominal wall or something.  I've asked the midwife about it and she says it's incredibly common.  It's located above my flattened belly button and I can tell it's getting bigger and my stomach swells.  The only time it causes me pain is when I accidentally bump it against something and it's only temporary.  Apparently it's no big deal to have this while pregnant or for labor and delivery. 

I'm on track to gain a little less weight with this pregnancy than Madeline's, but I think a lot of the weight I gained with Madeline was water weight due to the rapid loss postpartum and my body ridding itself of the excess water.  Still, it's nice to know that I started this pregnancy heavier and will probably end it lighter.  Here's hoping I don't hang on to it as long either :-)

I have the faintest linea nigra from my belly button up.  I had a whole belly line at this point with Madeline.  It's kind of nice to not have that weird line covering my belly!

Since I ended up with stretch marks with Madeline, I just know they're a comin', but so far so good.  I haven't seen any change in the existing ones and I didn't wind up with stretch marks on my hips at 12 weeks like I did with Madeline (they completely disappeared quickly and I'm inclined it was not only stretching but also hormones that caused them).  I also had a weird patch of stretch marks on my left calf with Madeline.  Those disappeared too without a trace.  Those two sets of stretch marks were bizarre and happened when I could still fit into my normal clothes, thus leading me to believe stretch marks can be caused by more things than stretching skin.

I've started to not sleep as well at night, but I am sleeping better than I did with Madeline, so I'll take it!

I've also hit that part of the pregnancy where you sit down to pee and there's no relief.  haha.  That's one of the reasons I'm not sleeping as well at night. I think I need to go to the bathroom and it's really all for nothing.

And baby boy is moving around A LOT and he is STRONG.  Much stronger than Madeline.  There once was a time when he was lazy or my placenta was in the way of his movement.  Not so much anymore!  He is head down with his back/bottom arched to my left side.  He moves his hands/feet across to the right side and puts intense pressure on my belly.  He also plays with my bladder.  He's finding his mouth or face or something and tickles my insides.  It's a very strange sensation!

And people have commented that I'm carrying more to the front with baby boy.  I honestly don't know.  I know I'm bigger this time around, but I've been told a few times that I don't look pregnant from the back.  He's still incredibly high. I wonder if he will drop...Madeline certainly didn't!

That's all I can think of for now!  Here's to the last 8 weeks!  And here's hoping my gall bladder doesn't act up towards the end like it did with Madeline.  So far, so good!