Sleep, You Slippery Eel

35 Weeks
Honeydew Melon
Little dude is now about 5.5 lbs. and 18 inches long (crown to heel). My concern about him still being head-up has been mitigated by lots of support from friends and my midwife. I've been doing some exercises, and there is the possibility of an external version at 37 weeks (so, basically, right after my next appointment). I'll also have to have a Group B Strep (GBS) screen at the next appointment so they can determine if I'll need antibiotics during labor and birth.


Sleep is elusive at this point. Not because I'm not tired... I am SO tired. It's not as bad as the first trimester, when everything was ridiculously exhausting. However, by the end of the day, I'm beat. Hubby says he will just pretend I have the flu so he won't be surprised at how frequently he finds me taking rest breaks on the couch.


The infuriating thing is that most websites talk about how getting good sleep now is very important because of the certain deprivation I'll have in a few short weeks. They, of course, say nothing about why a woman at this stage of pregnancy might wake up from a dead sleep at 3 AM for no reason. No, the baby is not wiggling around. No, I'm not about to pee myself. No, I wasn't uncomfortable. Just.... awake. I believe it to be training for what will surely come later. But it still makes me mad because I already know what will come later. I just want to sleep now, while I still can.


Five weeks to go (more or less).

No Rest for the Weary

25 Weeks, 1 day
Cauliflower, Rutabaga, or Bag of Flour (depending on the website)


I have had to travel a bit for work lately, and it won't slow down anytime soon. In the interim, I have had the worst sleep one might imagine. People say that later in pregnancy, baby is helping mom gear up for the frequent sleep-wake cycle of newborns. But that junk doesn't usually start until later in the third trimester. I am still (for a couple weeks) in the second trimester, and I'm supposed to be enjoying this time.


Don't get me wrong, I truly do enjoy the fun wiggles and jiggles of my squirmy-worm baby. I just prefer that they not be at 3am. And, being pregnant with a third kid while managing the lives of two other kids is not exactly a cake-walk in the first place. Thus, I am about as exhausted as I have ever been, despite this time supposedly being the "easiest" or the most relaxing part of pregnancy.

Physical Exhaustion and the Easily-Spooked Appetite

15 Weeks, 1 Day
Pear

I'm feeling a little better in terms of rest. Got my first prenatal massage yesterday and opted for another in two weeks. It's a little weird to lie on your side the entire time and cuddle with a body pillow, but apparently that's what the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends (or so it stated on the consent form). I could stand a few more hours of sleep each night, and the muscle tension isn't too bad. Had a small bout of sciatica, but it seems to be very mild.

My appetite seems to be creeping back toward normal. I go through more predictable cycles of hunger these days. I haven't had too much trouble incorporating things back into my diet that I was just not "feeling" before. However, the amount of food I can consume at any given time is still fairly small. We ate cheeseburgers for dinner (homemade, mostly). They were tiny, so I thought I could also eat some raw veggies and a handful (maybe 8) tater tots. I was wrong. I managed to get the burger and tots down, but only a few veggies. Probably should have eaten them first. Oh, well!

But even though I just said I wasn't as sleepy as I used to be, it is now just before 10pm, and I'm struggling to type. Just going to listen to my baby body now. Time to sleep! Maybe my other babies won't decide it's a good idea to get up and demand pancakes at 6:30am (like one of them did today)!