The Hayes Herald: 38 Weeks

These last few weeks have been pretty rough. I am so gosh darn uncomfortable and have so many aches and pains and just pure exhaustion. Even thinking about tackling smaller, everyday chores just feels like too much for me. My emotions are in overdrive. Most of the time I feel so overwhelmed I just want to burst into tears. My house is currently in a state of complete chaos. I don't think there's a single room that's clean and it eats away at me terribly. I have been a total terror to be around. Quite possibly the worst irritability of my life.

Even though my house is currently a mess, I have gotten quite a lot accomplished. (If you may recall, in my last pregnant post I was lamenting all that I had left to do still). I did a thorough cleaning and vacuuming of my car, I cleaned out and scrubbed all of my kitchen cupboards and drawers, all of the closets in our house (except for one) have been cleaned and organized. All three of us had had haircuts and nails clipped. We even took on the very big project of moving Eli to his new room and painting and setting up his old room as the baby's nursery! Phew!

My mom came up this past Friday to help get more work done in the nursery. We're still not finished, but it's coming along beautifully! (I'll post pictures of both kids' rooms once they're all finished.) She's such a hard worker and has been a tremendous help to me in putting together the kids' rooms and making them look so nice. David's also been working this past week on refinishing the dresser for the baby's room. So currently her clothes are all washed and just waiting for a home. : S

My carpal tunnel has been worse, and I wake up throughout the night and in the morning with so much pain in my hands, and it takes a while before I can move them.

I think my swelling in my ankles and feet has stayed about the same. Most of the time my feet just feel super tight and stretched to their limits. I have what's termed "pitting," where the swelling causes denting in your skin. I have it on my legs and feet. It freaked me out at first (looks pretty creepy), but I'm getting more used to crossing my ankles and seeing a big foot impression, or taking off my shoes and seeing the heavy lines they've made in my feet.

A really cool thing happened--I got a brand new $300 electric breast pump for FREE! I found out through a friend that my insurance covers a breast pump. All I had to do was call a number, give them some information, and then it arrived at my door a few days later! Amazing! I only had a manual pump with Eli, so this nice electric pump will be such a blessing (and time-and-patience-saver)!

I received another sweet treat a couple weeks ago--a facial! Last Mother's Day (in 2012), David entered a drawing for a $50 gift card to a day spa, and won! So for over a year I've had this gift card and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it. I'm not a salon girl. I've never had a manicure, pedicure, highlights, etc, and I'm not about to let some stranger give me a body massage. Since I just get my hair cut at Great Clips, I had debated getting a nice haircut (maybe even bangs) with this gift card. But instead I chose a facial. It was a great choice! It was an hour long, and very refreshing and relaxing for the most part. An added bonus was I got a foot massage, too! It was only a few minutes, but that short massage helped my feet feel better than they had in weeks and weeks. Even though I felt a bit silly and out of place at the fancy salon, it was definitely fun to get a little pampering. : )

My contractions have been coming more frequently. Most of the time I just feel like I'm on my period with yucky cramps. Or I just have a ton of tightening all around my abdomen that gets uncomfortable. Only a few times have the contractions gotten pretty painful, but then they subside after so long.

At my 35 weeks appointment I had my first internal exam. I was a fingertip dilated, 50% effaced, and measuring 3 weeks ahead. At 37 weeks we were fortunate to get an ultrasound! Since I'd been measuring big and we've been worried about bad tearing again, the doctor wanted to get a better idea of the baby's size. We enjoyed watching her move around (yes, it was confirmed she's a GIRL!), and were happy to hear that she has a full head of hair and is/was a very decent size at 6 lbs! (Hopefully she'll stay that way!) I still measured 3 weeks ahead at that appointment, but my doctor said I have a ton of water retention (which is also what's making my weight go up so much every week. I've gained over 40 pounds!) In my internal exam I was 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I had my last prenatal check-up on Thursday, and at 38 weeks I measured only 1 week ahead, almost 3 cm dilated, and still 80% effaced.

As I mentioned, we've been worried about tearing badly again, so we went ahead and scheduled me for an induction for this Thursday when I'm 39 weeks. Of course I'm hoping I'll go into labor on my own before then, but if not then I think it's a good second option. I'd be a bit disappointed if I just had an induction and had to miss out on "going into" labor. I've been so incredibly consumed with thoughts on how/when it would happen and what to expect, that it'd definitely be a bit of a let-down to not get to experience it.

Eli's been so sweet and cute about the baby. On our way home from the doctor after our last appointment he kept saying, "I can't WAIT to see my baby! I can't WAIT to see my baby!" So adorable. : ) We've been talking a lot about her upcoming arrival, so he likes to tell everyone "Baby's coming soon!" This past week I wasn't home to put him to bed one night because I was visiting my sister at the hospital after a surgery. The next morning when I got Eli out of bed he very excitedly exclaimed, "You're HERE! You're HERE!" He happily said that all morning and gave me lots of hugs. I wondered if when I told him I was going to the hospital to visit Becky if he thought I was going to be gone for a while like I will be when the baby comes. It definitely made me feel very loved. : )

Well, this is it! Next time you hear from me (hopefully it won't be TOO far in the future) we'll be a family of FOUR! Crazy, isn't it? Wish me luck, and say a lot of prayers (I'll definitely need them)! : )

Here's a picture of my swollen feet--