I’m 34 weeks pregnant as of today and besides a bit of heartburn nudging around, nothing much has changed with this pregnancy. Except, maybe that Aurora has found a love for acrobats and making my digestive system miserable. Dear child, there is NOT enough room for you to be doing that. Please settle down.
In other news, there is no real other news. It’s been a week since my husband lost his job and….nothing. Lots of leads going nowhere, lots of nothing – except stress. I have plenty of that. I’ve been praying and thinking hopeful, good thoughts but then the other scenarios come rushing in – scenarios that include me giving birth without my husband – or without my doula in a place I don’t know – or, even all alone. And then other thoughts come rushing in, and I’m done.
So, for now I’m trying to purposely obsess over small and happy things that make me freak out less, if only just for a while.
It’s not really working, but anyways.
I was looking at my analytics page and found some mildly interesting searches (by which random folks have seemed to find me – HI! By the way). For your entertainment, here they are:
I drank at 31 weeks pregnant
I’ll save the finger wagging and just cut right to the chase – what do you want, a cookie?
what to do with strawberry cupcakes using cake mix
Ummm…eat them? DUH. Better yet, just mail them to me. I’ll sacrifice myself for you and show you with pictures what should be done with perfectly good cupcakes.
you can know me by the way I roll
Isn’t that a song? And, I’ll keep that in mind if I ever need to figure out how to move your body.
how to get rid of boss
Um, hopefully you aren’t meaning me – and, really…I have no experience in offing folks. Ahem. Nor would I ever admit to it if I did.
questions not to ask the boss
I’m not an expert at this or anything, but I’m pretty sure some good starters would be –
Did your daughter ever find her underwear?
Did you by any chance find a tampon in the freezer?
Is your wife/husband busy tonight?
Do you plan on actually showing up tomorrow?
And then I’ve gotten quite a lot of searches coming here for pregnancy stuff. I figured I’d write what I know all in one place so you could just find it here…
itchiness and rashes during pregnancy and what to do
First, go see your doctor. Some rashes can be serious and you may need to be referred to a dermatologist. If, however, they don’t know what it is or just tell you it’s a part of pregnancy and you get to deal with it, you may want to try the following:
-ask for a steroid cream. This helped take my rash and took the itch down from CRAZY to manageable
-wear loose cotton shirts – or eh, nothing over the problem areas if you can get away with it. Lots of air and things not rubbing against your skin makes a ton of difference.
-stay away from scented lotions! Eucerin calming creme helped mine once I had the CRAZY part of the itch taken care of.
-Drink LOADS of water and eat good and healthy stuff. It helps more than you know
-Scalpicin for your itchy scalp works too. So does tea tree oil if you don’t mind being smelly.
-Keep your rash/itchy skin COOL. Use cold dry rags from the freezer if you must, just keep the area really cool.
-No more hot showers. Stick to warm showers and make ‘em short with no scrubbing which will just piss your skin off even more. Trust me, it took me 2 pregnancies to figure all of this out.
-Scratching it will make it worse. I promise you. Tie your hands to bed at night to sleep if you must.
-Peppermint oil and lavender oil (therapeutic grade) mixed with a carrier oil may help some as well. I didn’t experiment much with my oils at first b/c I was kind of scared to, but those would be the first I’d try being pregnant and all…
overly sick during pregnancy and what to do and what it is
By overly sick, do you mean like morning sickness only EXTREME? If so, I can probably help. Of course, check with your doctor but if most of the labs come back okay and you still feel like dog doo, you may have Hyperemesis Gravidarum. It’s basically just a really BAD case of morning sickness that could end up being serious if you let it go. Google it, you’ll find all kinds of stuff about it. At first, I thought my issues were hypoglycemic related but soon found that even though I ate methodically and stuck my poor finger, nothing was adding up. If you have hyperemesis gravidarum, I’m going to recommend you checking out extra B vitamins, Unisom sleeping pills, and Zofran. Seriously, these are the ONLY things I found to work. I tried the ginger, the lollipops, the supplements, and EVERYTHING. My situation was bad enough that I couldn’t eat ANYTHING at one (or many) point(s) and had to move into my parent’s house for month just so I’d be close to help and the hospital so I could go in and get an IV on a weekly basis. The unisom pills pretty much help keep you from vomiting all day long (but you sleep instead) and the Zofran is generally given to chemo patients…so it helps with nausea. None of these things completely cured it, but they helped. I can honestly say that NOTHING I know of would have prevented this (although if you know the secret, be sure to email me) – not exercise or nutrition or anything else. I was SO careful. I had the exact same issues in my first pregnancy, only with this one I was trying to juggle a toddler as well. And, if you just figured out you probably don’t have this and it’s just regular morning sickness…lucky you.
baby movement
If I remember correctly, I felt some of the first flutters at 18 or 19 weeks during my pregnancy. For some, it’ll be a little later (or earlier). Try not to freak out, but if you get a little antsy, head to your OB and have them use the doppler. You can buy or rent one of those, btw if you’re the wringing-of-hands type.
when is baby viable
I’ve heard that at 25 weeks, with special medical care, if your child is born then it could be considered “viable” outside the womb. This isn’t the same as asking about “full term,” however, which is around 37 weeks.
nesting already
All I can tell you is that I’ve been nesting on and off since my 2nd trimester. And, with baby L, it was probably as soon as I found out (til I got sick) as she was our first! I’m sure if our budget would’ve allowed, I’d be nesting even more but somehow painting kitchen cabinets seems much less fun once you realize you’ll be doing it and not hiring help. I’m 34 weeks and still nesting and don’t feel like I’ll be having this baby any time soon, so I wouldn’t put too much stock into nesting…unless you’re having contractions too.
body hurting, being tired, stomach pains, funny smells, vaginal secretions
Congratulations, you’re pregnant! During my first pregnancy, I kept a journal full of diagrams of everything that hurt and pretty much everything that happened. Almost ever cramp (that lasted for more than 30 seconds) and EVERYTHING. I called our Labor and Delivery center at the hospital a LOT during that time. This time, I’m way more laid back about the weird body going ons. Your body will hurt and you will have funky cramps most likely and you will have weird discharges. If you think you have an infection or something is wrong, by all means…go to the doctor. And, as for being tired? All I can say is get used to it. Add some supplements and if you can fit in exercise, then good for you. Personally, exercising much makes me feel WORSE during pregnancy, but some folks swear by it. (It makes me dizzy and sick if I do too much) But, seriously. You have a little human growing inside of you, your body IS going to do some really funky and not so pleasant things – just blame the baby. Or your husband. 
I kid. Sort of.
Welcome back!
