34 Weeks (May 16, 2014). Well, it’s somehow been 8.5 months already, which just seems like SO long. This week I feel like my belly has really “popped” so to speak. I feel giant-sized. It’s getting difficult to put shoes and socks on, my back is aching like crazy and I just feel VERY pregnant. With that said, I also feel like we’re in the home stretch now. Only 6 more weeks… and 2 more weeks until I’m 9 months pregnant. It’s just crazy. According to my phone app, she is weighing in at around 5 lbs (no wonder my back hurts) and measuring at nearly 18 inches. So crazy…

Symptoms

Besides it being hard to put my socks and shoes on and my back feeling pretty terrible, I’ve also been noticing some swelling (mostly in the morning or late at night) in my hands and feet… sometimes face, too. My wrists are also really sore, too. I read something on Babycenter I believe that said this was normal and to try to stop to do wrist and hand stretches throughout the day. Also, my doula advised eating lots of protein and drinking TONS of water. She said to factor how much water you need to drink, you take your weight, divide by 2 and that’s how many ounces you should drink. For example, let’s say that I weighed 130 lbs, then I should be drinking 65 oz of water per day. This includes water that goes into your tea/coffee/etc. I’m REALLY going to try to drink more. I can feel that I’m not getting enough water. It’s just such a pain. If I’m actually drinking enough water, I have to pee every 30-45 minutes instead of the normal 1-1.5 hours.

Wow. That was a very whiny post, huh? I’ve been feeling a little off this week. I have spurts of chipperness, but as a whole, I feel pretty worn out. I could really go for a mental health day to just sleep all day. In theory, I should do this on the weekend, but our weekends are SO packed with activity and events. Not that I don’t love that… again, I just feel a little drained mentally and physically.

To end on a more positive note, I am a very lucky gal. Our baby is growing like a little champ and my husband is amazing. Every night, after he reads our girl her bedtime story, he’s been reading The Birth Partner. He really is the best birth (and life) partner I could ever ask for.