Pregnancy: 40 weeks

40-week-bump_clcreative
40 weeks official

I was officially 40 weeks yesterday, which means my due date was October 20. Not October 24, as we had originally thought. Funny story: the ultrasound tech had told us October 24, and that was the last date we heard, so we went with it. My doctor always operated in weeks, so I just assumed they lined up. Come to find out, they didn’t…not that four days is a huge difference, but still.

We are anxious to meet this little guy or girl, but I continue to think s/he will be late (which is technically true now, on account of the whole October 20 due date). S/he is still moving a lot, and I thought these babies tend to slow their role as they get closer to making their escape (as Dave calls it), so if that is any indication, I’ve got time. That said, I’m ready for anything. I haven’t hit that point that many women seem to talk about— that point where they are just ready to be done, like “get this kid out NOW,” which is another reason I think the kid will be late. Certainly I will be hitting that point soon, right?

A few things on how this whole pregnancy has been:

  • Eggs have been in heavy meal rotation during this whole pregnancy, which I find fascinating, because I usually don’t really like eggs. They’re fine, I guess, just not my favorite. But frequently from the second trimester on, I’ll eat eggs for breakfast (I’ve perfected the breakfast sandwich, people. I’m so excited about this) and sometimes can’t fight the craving for egg salad or deviled eggs later on. I suppose this is good, since you know, protein and all that.
  • The heartburn has not gotten any better since 20 weeks. Some nights I wake up, certain that I am a fire-breathing dragon with the capability of scorching the sheets. I have no clue what sets it off, as some foods get me, but when I have them again, I’m fine. I’ve tried narrowing it down to spicy foods, tomato sauce, chocolate or anything else, but there is no scientific explanation; nothing can be pinpointed as always being the culprit. Very weird to me.
  • I’m still drinking approximately three liters of water a day, which I have been trying to do from Day 1. They say you need to drink a ton of water, so I feel like I can tick that box off my pregnancy to-do list, but I originally started because my skin was completely dried out. I was fortunate that I didn’t really get the mask of pregnancy on my face, but rather the crook of my arms. Random. Either way, I tried to flush it out with water and it’s pretty much been the only beverage I’ve had, aside from some milk. I’m so bored with water that I’ve taken to adding a splash of juice, just to add some flavor. I’m a champion watered-back orange juice and cran-grape juice drinker. Just as I hit the 39-40 Week mark, I’ve seen some improvements in my skin being better, but that is not before all the water and my nightstand looking like the lotion aisle of a CVS.
  • Speaking of water…Since about Week 36, my feet have looked like giant, puffy old lady feet. I’ve been drinking so much water throughout the whole pregnancy, that the doctor wasn’t even surprised by their size. It’s super attractive and I just love that only my flip-flops fit (she says, sarcastically). It would be borderline impressive if, by the end of the day, they didn’t feel like they were going to explode off the ends of my ankles (which I assume are still there, somewhere…).
  • In related aches-and-pains news, my hips don’t lie…they ache. Usually at night, since I’m officially limited to sleeping on a side. Usually the left, on account of the aforementioned heartburn, but I wake up in the night and have to roll over because I can tell I’ve been putting all my (extra) weight on one hip for too long. I usually sleep with a pillow between my legs, but it doesn’t seem to do that much, unfortunately.
  • I had really wanted to have a handful of frozen dinners ready to go in the freezer, and do all of thing pre-baby things that Pinterest articles constantly suggest, but I haven’t really been in the mood to do that. Prepared and Planner Me is really disappointed and wants to heed the mental calls to action that scream “there’s still time! Do it today!” but then I feel like sitting with my feet up instead, or scrapbooking, or doing other random things that don’t necessarily need to be done, but seem like a better use of my time (they’re not). If anyone has easy freezer meal recipes, feel free to send my way and hopefully I will get inspired…but I’m not making any promises.
  • Along those lines, I don’t actually feel like I ever got into a “nesting” stage. Weird? I don’t know if it is because we’re not creating a dedicated nursery, per se, or what, but I don’t feel like I’ve nested. I feel like I took a more “all business” approach, which I hate, because it seems so cold-sounding. Functional, but not very warm-and-fuzzy. Our guest room is a semi-nursery, but the bed still takes up quite a bit of space (with nowhere else for it to go), so we opted to put the crib and a bassinet in our room, which seems logical for the first six months or so anyway. The guest room/nursery does have a dresser with all the (freshly-washed) baby clothes, diapers and definitely serves as storage for extra baby “things” like blankets, toys, etc. But most of the baby gear is scattered throughout the house. Logically, it all makes sense to me: the pack-n-play is in the family room, for napping during the day, since the crib and bassinet are in our room ready for nighttime feedings, but it all seems more functional (great, yes) but not “nesting” in the sense that I originally thought it would be. Maybe function over fuzzy is a form of nesting? Who knows. I guess I just think of nesting as setting up a room and decorating it just so, but we didn’t do that— we went with function instead, which also makes sense to me, but doesn’t feel like a traditional “nesting period.” Chalk that one up to unexpected things you realize about pregnancy, I guess.
  • We still don’t have boy names nailed down. We’re 100% confident in our pool of girls names (I say pool, because the plan is to see the baby, then figure out which name best suits him or her) but boy names? Still a little ways to go on that, as far as I’m concerned. Dave thinks we have a decent pool, but I’m not so sure. Stay tuned on this, as eventually we’ll need to come to a consensus, right? Are you even allowed to leave the hospital with a child referred to as “the baby to be named later”?? Sigh.

For now, we just sight tight…and wait. (Which is awesome for me, on account of how I’m just so patient…I can almost hear Dave laugh from the winery in Kenwood as I write that.) The doctor says I definitely won’t be pregnant beyond November 3, as that is the two-week mark from my due date and, assuming I make it to my next appointment on October 26, we’ll start planning an induction, so it’s definitely getting real.

2 comments on “Pregnancy: 40 weeks

  1. Good luck when the little one decides to make the grand debut! I didn’t find out the gender of either of my children until they were born, but i will say with one i did not have any nesting feelings and with the other (opposite sex) i had definite nesting (or at least what i think qualifies for me since I’m not great at housekeeping). I’m sure it’s totally a random thing, but I’m curious to see if it’s the same result for your non nesting little one. 🙂 Good luck, mama, wishing you a safe and easy delivery!

    • Thanks for the well wishes, Maria! I will totally keep you posted. I wanna know if the nesting/non-nesting pattern holds for this one!!

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