Week 27: Broken Crotch

Quick Recap: 148lbs (up 23lbs). New pelvis pain. I NEED to nest! End of 2nd trimester. Felt the baby hiccup for the first time.


Peanut's Progression: 14.5 inches. 2lbs. Immune system is maturing. Practicing breathing. Starting to recognize voices. Taste buds more developed and may react to different foods.

Help! My Crotch Is Broken!!

I had a great leg day workout with my girl Krista and had some seriously sore legs for 2 days after. Then I noticed after the leg pain was gone my crotch was SO SORE! And not my inner thighs, I mean it honestly feels like someone kicked me in the box with steel toed boots! WTF!

A few days passed and the pain didn't go away. Putting on socks, even pants, hurts. Standing on one leg, hurts. Rolling in bed, hurts. Getting off the couch, hurts.

So naturally the next step was Dr. Google. I found this: Broken Crotch Syndrome aka SPD aka Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. 

Essentially, it is pain that occurs because of your pelvis separating to accommodate the baby and assisting with labour.  Your pelvis is made of 2 halves and as your pregnancy progresses your body produces more relaxin which allows your ligaments to soften and stretch which will aid you in labour later on. While the ligaments and joints shift and open and stretch it can cause inflammation and pain.

The crappy news is that I will probably deal with this until after I have the baby. The good news is, just like my weird red skin bumps, linea nigra and general aches, it will go away shortly after birth.

My Only Gut Instinct

A lot of people have asked me the following 2 questions and in this order. "Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" "What do you think it is?". To be honest, I have no idea if it's a boy or girl. I still don't really have any gut instinct or feeling about gender. My wives tale symptoms really could swing it in either direction. 

I do have one very strong gut feeling though. I'm going to have the baby early. My due date is May 2, 2014. I'm thinking our little babe will decide to join us a few weeks sooner than expected. This feeling just came on within the past week or so but I am adamant that Wiggles will showing up in April. There is really no solid reasoning behind this. Nothing about my pregnancy indicates that I would deliver early but my mind sure is committing me to this idea.

To top this off, out of no where my Mom tells me this week that she also thinks the baby will be here early. We never spoke about it prior and she brought it up on her own. Interesting how we are both feeling the same thing. I'll admit though that I would rather this lil munchkin show up a few weeks early (completely healthy and happy of course) than go late and be induced.



Bring on the 3rd trimester!

Week 26: No More Cheese Before Bed

Quick Recap: Slight mental breakdown. Itchy tummy. Good energy level. Passed my Glucose Tolerance Test with flying colours!

Peanut's Progression:  14 inches long. 1.75 lbs. Can detect light. Eyes starting to open.

I've made huge strides in the confidence department over the past several weeks but everyone once in a while the weight issue sneaks back up and rears its ugly head. I track my weight weekly (when I remember to) and for the past 3 weeks I've been steady around 143lbs. Then this week I jumped to 147lbs. That was the catalyst for the anxiety train.

A normal range for weight gain at the END OF PREGNANCY is 25 to 35 pounds. I have 3 1/2 months left and I'm up 22lbs. What the shit!? The logic in my mind is as follows:

5 1/2 months in... still A LOT of growing left to do... Wiggles is only 1 1/2 pounds and is no where near big enough... please tell me I just have extra amniotic fluid or my placenta is heavier... 

After my mental breakdown I felt an immense amount of guilt for my lack of clean eating. I've been indulging whenever I feel like it and NOT going to the gym. I text Steve a dangerous text... "Be honest... have I been eating terribly?" Thankfully he knows full well that I don't actually want honestly, I want reassurance. So we have teamed up to take responsibility for our laziness when it comes to prepping meals. I've already eaten more veggies in 2 days that I have in at least a week!

Don't Scratch, Don't Scratch.... Ahhhhh I have toooo!

OMG is my belly ever itchy this week! I keep a small container of body butter in my purse for when my stomach feels tighter and it does tend to help with some of the discomfort but I just can't shake the itch this time. For whatever reason its all right around my belly button too. Not to mention these stupid red bumps that keep popping up on my belly. Like HELLOOOO I'm hoping to rock a bikini in Mexico, doesn't my skin know that I would like a blemish free belly!?

Any tips for an itchy tummy?

Lazy Baby Freakout

For the first time I had a minor anxiety attack because the baby wasn't moving as much as it usually does. Now that the baby's movements are very clear and easily felt I am noticing normal patterns. It's unusual for me to go more than 2 hours or so without feeling some sort of wiggle or kick. Sunday must have indeed been a lazy one for our lil Peanut because my goodness that baby hardly moved an inch! I spent A LOT of time poking the proverbial bear to try and get it to move. There were some small adjustments but nothing like usual. I actually found myself waking up in the middle of the night trying to see if the baby was moving.

Thankfully Monday morning brought the usual acrobatics from our little one.

No More Cheese Before Bed

Ok I know weird dreams are normal during pregnancy but could someone kindly help me get rid of these nightly nightmares!? Saturday night the only dreams I remember were all nightmares. 4 OF THEM! Sunday night same deal. Get a load of this beauty I had:

I am in the hospital and have given birth but realize that I have no idea where the baby is and whether we had a boy or girl. Somehow I end up in the baby's room in our condo and see the baby sleeping (definitely a solid 6 months old). We have created the worlds ugliest baby. EVER! And to top it off our child was born with a thumb and 3 fingers, on incredibly swollen and large hands. A nurse appears beside me and advises me not to touch my childs hands as they will give me cancer until he gets a bit older. I leave the baby in the crib and find Steve outside playing basketball and tell him we had a boy and that he is really ugly with HUGE hands. I wake up.

W....T....F...

Week 25: Bikinis Aren't So Bad...

Quick Recap: Calf cramps. Bikinis aren't so bad. Specialist ultrasound results. Glucose Tolerance Test (gestational diabetes).

Peanut's Progression: 13.5 inches. 1.5 lbs. Blood vessels are filling with blood. Nostrils unplugging.

Specialist Update

We had our ultrasound with the specialist this week. My second trimester ultrasound showed a placental lake (you can read about it here). What was awesome about this appointment is that because she is more highly trained they give you all the information and details of you ultrasound during the appointment. You don't have to sit anxiously through a tech being quiet and waiting until your doctor calls you.

Typical Wiggles moved and kicked during the whole appointment and played shy when we wanted to get a face shot. Seems she/he just loves to lay with her/his hands by their face.

The best part of the appointment was hearing that she is confident it is a very typical placental lake and it doesn't pose any risk to my pregnancy. Our baby is right on track with growth and doesn't show any signs of defects. As far as she is concerned, I can expect to have a normal delivery and remainder of my pregnancy. I will go back in 2 months just to ensure the baby is still growing normally. What a relief!

Bikinis Aren't So Bad

It seems all that anxiety over wearing a bikini in Mexico was for nothing. I randomly decided to try on one of my bikinis this week just to see, for argument sake, how it looked on. I was pleasantly surprised. The first one was, well, a tad risque especially with my expanding chest. But the second option was actually pretty cute! Of course it helped the cause when Steve had nothing but lovely things to say, including ignoring the fact that the bottoms are a touch too tight.

Cramping Calves

I've suffered from calf cramps at various times in my life so when I read that it is common during pregnancy I felt pretty lucky that I wasn't experiencing any. Until now.

Thursday morning I was woken up with a big ol calf cramp. Thankfully, having had many of these in the past I was able to flex my foot and stretch it out quite quickly. The only thing I can contribute it to is being poorly hydrated yesterday. I got a great tip of eating bananas to help them. So bananas and more water here I come!

I'm Pregnant And You Want me to FAST!?

On the recommendation of my doctor, I booked my GTT (glucose tolerance test) for gestational diabetes as close to 24 weeks as I could. That came up this week, and while it wasn't terrible it certainly wasn't the best thing ever.

You are required to fast for 8 hours before your test so I finished my night with a protein heavy fruit smoothie. It was easy to digest overnight and I didn't wake up with the urgent need to eat. If you haven't had your GTT yet, you will arrive at the clinic and they will start by taking your blood. Then immediately after you are asked to drink a glucose syrup. I was surprised by how much I had to drink. It was the size of one of those mini pop cans. I didn't think a sweet drink could be so awful but it was just nasty! Sip after sip it was worse and worse. They only give you 5 minutes to down this concoction and unfortunately she didn't tell me that at first so I had to gulp down the last 1/3 in 1 minutes.

Now you wait... 1 hour... surrounded by sick people in the clinic. Sounds like a great way to spend a morning, no? After you 1 hour is up they will take more blood. Then you get to wait, again. For another painful hour. I highly recommend you bring someone with you. Steve fasted with me and waited at the clinic with me, the time went by much fast. After the 2nd hour you will have one more sample of blood taken.

I have good veins and lots to choose from but it was super annoying that they had to stick me 3 times. My inner elbow is dotted with bandaids and a bit tender.

Fingers crossed the results come back well in the clear because goodness knows I've given enough blood to last me for the next year!

Week 24: Nursey Excitement and Swimwear Anxiety

Quick Recap: Pretty stable on all fronts. Lots of kicks. 1 pound up. Skin a bit pissed from all the chocolate.

Peanut's Progression: 12.5 inches long (Head to toes). 1.25lbs. Has a sense of up and down. Lungs developing

Specialist Update

We finally got our appointment to see the specialist regarding my large placental lake. I'm anxious to hear the details and to see if it has grown at all and to make sure the baby is still on track. On the flip side I'm also really excited to get to see lil Wiggles again! I feel the need to very clearly state to the specialist that we do not want to know the gender, I just have this overwhelming sensation that they may slip up.

Swimwear Anxiety

We are off to Mexico in February and I am having some serious anxiety over the swimwear options. Normally I would be all over itty bitty bikinis but I've developed a strong urge to keep my belly covered, even in the warmth of Mexico. It has nothing to do with being ashamed or self conscious but more to do with the intimacy I now feel towards my belly.

I spend so much time gazing at my tummy and watching the baby move and kick that its not become a very personal thing. My stomach isn't just a belly anymore, its something much more special and something I choose not to share with everyone.

So with that in mind, I am trying desperately to find a cute yet modest swimsuit for Mexico.

Yesterday, with much anxiety and anticipation I went with a good girl friend to look for suits. Selection was obviously lacking as it is out of season but even Swimco only had 1 suit for me to try on. To my surprise I was able to wear a non-maternity one piece that actually looked cute! Since selection was so lacking and I don't want to spend $100 on a swimsuit I'll never wear again I've decided to order online from Target and hope for the best!

Is It Time To Do The Nursery Yet!? 

OMG could I be any more excited to set up the baby's room!? We will be moving soon and I cannot wait until we can build the crib, fill the dresser, paint the room and start making a new home for our little family. I've decided on an elephant theme and a light grey colour for the walls. Neutral and soothing. Oh the nesting is beginning!

Week 23: Noooo NOT Norwalk!

Quick Recap: No weight gain again thanks to a bought of Norwalk. Still waiting for a call from the specialist. Braxton hicks galore

Peanut's Progression: 1.1 lbs. 11.5 inches. Very active. Skin is still transparent. Strong ass kicks!

Well Isn't That Convenient!?

This bump is proving to be quite convenient. It's the perfect little shelf for my cup of tea or container of dinner! Although it's getting tougher every week to get off the couch or roll out of bed it sure is nice to have a built in shelf so I drop less food on my belly. Yep, it seems I have lost the food to face connection somewhere along the way. I am WAY better at missing my mouth than I am at shoveling it in.

Norwalk and Pregnancy

I'll save you the intimate details but a simple Google search of Norwalk virus will clearly tell you what my New Years Eve consisted of. It was messy and terrible but thankfully short lived.

Obviously as Murphy's Law would have it, the one time I get violently ill my doctor is on vacation. Thankfully the interwebs were very helpful in my self treatment.

Important points to note: Norwalk does not transfer via your placenta to your baby. Dehydration is the biggest risk, in most severe cases it could cause preterm labour.

When it comes down to it, treatment is the same for a pregnant woman as any one else. DRINK LOTS OF FLUIDS! I opted for water, Gatorade and Lipton chicken soup.

Big Time Braxton Hicks

It comes and goes but one day this week I had at least 6 Braxton Hicks contractions. Definitely the most in one day so far. They are really just annoying and inconvenient more than anything. Out of nowhere my whole belly gets hard and tight and then randomly releases. Its actually very strange but totally normal. Kind of like how little wiggles needs to move and shake to practice and build muscles before birth, the uterus needs to practice and get ready to push that lil munchkin out.

Awaiting the Specialist

Ever since getting the news from my doc that I have a large placental lake I've been anxiously awaiting the phone call from the specialist. I suppose it couldn't have been worse timing over the holidays but my hope is I will finally receive a call next week.