OMG, third trimester already? Really? I can’t even believe it.
Last night, we went to see my dad’s band play at a free holiday ball thing. For the first time since I’ve been visibly pregnant, I wore a dress. It wasn’t even a maternity dress. Just a normal dress with an empire waist, and it normally gathers in the front a bit, so I thought maybe I could get away with it as long as the front wasn’t a lot shorter than the back. =) It fit fine, so I wore it! I did observe, however, that dresses make a pregnant girl (at least this pregnant girl!) look a fair bit larger than she might look otherwise! I wasn’t self-conscious or anything. More amused than anything else. =)
After the event, I was up later than I probably should have been. If I stay up too late, it seems baby girl will always let me know. I don’t know if she’s like, “Heyyyyyy, Moooommmm, go to bed!” Or she thinks it’s late enough that Mom is sleeping so she can play. (Or the more likely scenario, she just happens to be really active at night, and this mom just likes to make up dorky stories to go along with it.) But anyway, she was really going to town in there.
I also noticed last night that it was suddenly getting harder to sit comfortably and get a deep breath. She couldn’t have gotten that much bigger since morning, so I guess her little legs (probably legs?) just discovered the higher-up areas of my uterus. I was kind of wondering when I’d start feeling those famous rib-jabs. And sure enough, baby girl decided to “kick off” (pun intended) the beginning of the 3rd trimester by “tickling” my ribs a few times. It wasn’t painful, like I hear it can be, but it definitely got my attention.
I was gently poking my side to show Pete where she had been kicking me. He said something like, “Keep poking her, and she’s going to…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, I felt it, and I exclaimed, “Ah, she poked back!”
Pete was like, yup, that’s my kid. =D
And now for a story about boobs.
This was probably a week or so ago. I have a patient. A very nice patient, but she is a bit boisterous, and the kind of person who will say whatever she thinks. She asked me, “Have your boobs gotten bigger since you’re been pregnant?”
…
Awkward! I’ve only been doing this optometry thing for about 2.5 years, so I’ve only met this person a handful of times. And frankly, I’m not sure that’s the kind of thing a normal person would want to ask his/her optometrist even if you’ve had a doctor/patient relationship for many, many years. You could say it caught me off-guard.
I posted about this on facebook, and someone commented, “That is so funny but weird. I was thinking they should be looking at the eye chart, not your boobs. lol”
I replied, “*lol* I’m pretty sure there’s an inappropriate ‘Which is better? ONE…or TWO…’ joke in there.”
I amuse myself. Just a little.
Later, the patient asked if I was offended. And I told her I wasn’t. I really wasn’t, it was just weird. Apparently, she wondered because when she went to visit a previously flat-chested friend in the hospital after she had a baby, this patient was super impressed by how huge her friend’s boobs got. I figured they were probably huge then because they were filling up with milk and the girl wasn’t breast-feeding.
Anyway. To answer the obvious question, YES THEY HAVE!
One of the perks of pregnancy. Though I have to admit, it was a little more fun when it was just my boobs that were growing and not everything else. (I do like my belly; it is fun in a different way.)
Maybe ~3 weeks ago, I finally broke down and bought some new bras. I didn’t want to do it b/c they won’t work in a few short months anyway. But the old ones were getting annoying. So I went to Marshall’s (my favorite place to buy bras…name brands for MUCH cheaper, and more variety of sizes than most places…unless you go to pricey stores). The most expensive one I got was $7.50. And my boobs are much happier now. I no longer have quad-boob. Not a problem I’m accustomed to having.
Other news: Last week I finally got a pediatrician lined out. Yay!
Tonight, I’m interviewing a doula. I’m struggling with justifying the expense, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s a good idea for me. According to at least a few sources (I didn’t get these from the doula herself), having a doula present may:
– decrease the overall cesarean rate by 50% (I really, really, reeeaaallllllyyyy do not want a c-section if I can help it. If that’s what it takes to have a healthy baby, then so be it…but for a lot of reasons, I do not want it.)
– decrease the length of labor by 25% (yes, please)
– decrease the use of oxytocin by 40%
– reduce the request for an epidural by 60% (everyone looks at me like I’m on crack or I sprouted another head when I say this, but I’m really gonna try to go without the epidural. I know I don’t get a medal or a t-shirt if I don’t have one. And I know many–if not most–people who say that end up caving and having it anyway. But, for a few reasons I may go into in another post, I’d really like to try to avoid it.)
So. While I’m struggling justifying the expense, I think I’d rather regret spending money (so long as I don’t run out of it, haha)…than not spend it and then wish I did. I’ll probably know more after our meeting tonight.
Week 28 cartoon baby!
