by Lyndzie » Thu May 24, 2018 8:10 am
Yesterday marked 37 weeks pregnant! I'm in the clear to have a baby at home.
My first daughter was born at 37 weeks, 2 days, which would be tomorrow for me. I feel totally comfortable that the baby will come at it's perfect time, and feel very at peace with that (unless I'm still pregnant a month from now, then I might totally change my tune!). I got all the new baby clothes washed, and have been working on removing those magic reappearing stains from the clothes in storage. In case anyone else is trying to remove 4-year-old spit up stains from baby clothes, oxy-clean is the magic that makes old onesies look new again. We made a makeshift clothesline on our rooftop terrace and have everything hung up to dry in the sun, which will hopefully clear up the few remaining really stubborn stains.
I have diapers, but still need wipes, and need to wash the receiving blankets, too. Also, a friend is letting me borrow her bassinet, and her husband hasn't dropped it off yet, and we haven't gotten the crib out of storage yet (a.k.a. from my mom's house), so that part would be winging it. My birth kit should be here today, and I have a few other additional supplies to pick up from the store, but all-in-all we're in a good place.
I'm up to my maximum weight that I'm comfortable with. I'm retaining a little extra water, so if I'm mindful the next few days I could probably loose that. We've had one celebration after another around here, and I've been more than happy to indulge in off-plan foods, but I'm keeping it on plan at home. If things don't level off, though, I'll get more strict. I'm already thinking this is going to be a big baby, and there is no reason for me to be a big mom, too!
On a somewhat related topic, my mother-in-law is seriously the nicest person that I've ever met, but this pregnancy she has been saying the meanest stuff. I tried to think of clever come-backs, but none of them really suited me or my personality. Finally, last weekend she saw me and the first thing to come out of her mouth was, " You look particularly large today!" All I could muster was silence and a blank face, and it was the right response. Later on she started to say something else about my size, and I simply said, "Please stop." It worked! The next time I saw her, she gave me a very heartfelt apology, and stated that no one in the family has had a healthy pregnancy with appropriate weight gain before (both her daughter and daughter-in-law gained 80+ lbs) and how facinating it has been to see the changes so clearly take place, because I'm all baby (which is true, it looks like I'm doing a poor job of trying to smuggle a large watermelon under my shirt). I feel much better about it, and it feels good to have handled the situation in a way that didn't make me look like an asshole.
I've been taking the iron supplement for about a week now, and it's been interesting to experience the effects of it. My glossitis has improved dramatically, and the burning mouth along with it. The tinnitus has returned, but it's intermittent and not daily, and usually it's so noisy around here that I don't notice it anyways. Apparently iron supplements can cause all sorts of tummy troubles, from constipation to diarrhea, and unfortunately I've been dealing with the cramping and loose stools end of things. On the plus side, I'm more energized, and am sleeping more soundly, which feels great. My sister has been dealing with anemia, too (she's not pregnant, and it's common in our family), and we both started supplementing at the same time, but she hasn't had the same results as me, but then again she was having different symptoms as well.