The Journey of Parenthood…

Officially Full Term

When I walked into the dr. yesterday the first thing Stacy said to me was. “as of tomorrow you’re full term!” I hadn’t even realized that! Isn’t that amazing to think that is Clover came today she or he would be healthy and not considered early?

Today is a pretty significant day. I’m due exactly one month from today (less if you count the days but by the date it’s one month away!). I’m 36 weeks pregnant and starting my 9th month of pregnancy. It’s truly hard to believe that it has been 9 months. Everyone I have talked to says pregnancy feels like it lasts forever but honestly the time had flown by for me! It seems like just yesterday we found out we were pregnant and now we will be parents at any time!

Here are the latest pictures of me:

I’ve been experiencing lots more changes with my body:

  • Pain: My lower back has been hurting A LOT more than usual. Especially whenever I go from laying to standing, it’s horrible. I also have a lot of stress built up in my shoulders. I remember right before the wedding Mom and I got massages (such a fun girl’s trip…can we have another?!) and they told me that’s where I hold my stress…well it’s back!!!
  • Attitude: I am relating to those huge pregnant girls at Walmart who wear their husbands huge t-shirts more and more each day. For pretty much the first time in my life I don’t care so much about how I look. Why bother? That’s my attitude right now! I wear the same jeans pretty much every time I go out and I don’t care at all.
  • Puffiness: Drinking all the water seems to be helping as my face isn’t as big as it was, however it’s still bigger than the norm. Also I am retaining some water in my hands as even now my engagement ring feels too tight after awhile!
  • Appetite: It’s grown for sure!!! I didn’t really notice it until Zach pointed it out but I have been eating more (doesn’t that 31 lb weight gain say something? haha). The biggest thing I have noticed is that Ashley and I got Bruster’s the other night and I ate an ENTIRE waffle cone! I don’t think I’ve ever done that before! And I didn’t even notice that I was doing it until it was gone haha. I have also noticed that if I don’t eat often enough I will feel nauseous so I snack more often too.
  • Foods: While my appetite has increased to more than normal, my desire for foods has gone back to the way it was pre-pregnancy. I want ice cream again! I actually am starting to like chicken again too! And duh I am loving some peanut butter too! The only “strange” thing is my new love of strawberries, but I can’t have them that often because we don’t do the typical once-a-week grocery shopping trip!
  • Stomach: Zach jokes that it grows bigger each day. Looking like that picture of Crissy that I posted back when I first started blogging doesn’t seem like such a stretch anymore! My belly button is so strange now too. The other night in bed I rubbed Zach’s stomach and felt his belly button. I miss mine going in like that!!! While it still isn’t 100% an outie…it’s really gross and flat. It’s like even with the rest of my stomach, so strange! It has also become waaaaay more sensitive. Not the whole stomach, just the little area directly below the belly button. If the dogs rub against it, I hit is against something, or just anything touches it it feels very tender and sore.
  • Nose: I heard pregnant women get nosebleeds. While I haven’t had any gush of blood my right nostril seems full of the stuff. Everytime I blow my nose (which is often because it’s soooo stuffed up all the time) blood comes out. And I’m not just talking bloody boogers, I’m talking chunks of actual blood. So nasty.
  • Breathing: It’s become much more difficult for me to breathe. I don’t know if it’s the nose being clogged or the baby but I get winded very easily and feel short of breath often. When staying up late with Danielle Sat night I really struggled to be able to talk because I just didn’t feel like I could catch my breath. This happens a lot at night too…kinda creepy!
  • Leakage: Will it ever stop? I know it’ll only get worse! I’ve had to say goodbye to the little cotton swabs and say hello to actual nursing pads because I was leaking through the cotton onto my bra!!! I’m having to wear them even at night and cannot go without a bra at all or I leak on myself. Not cool. Also more leakage “down there” too and I have to wear a panty liner not just during the day but also at night.
  • Privates: The other day I was curious so I looked at them in my full length mirror (I haven’t seen them in MONTHS). Um what happened down there? It is not what it used to be either…it looks more swollen and bigger. Zach said it’s been that way for awhile (thanks for letting me know buddy) but I guess it’ll return to normal?
  • Sweating: Oh Lord it’s gotten SO much worse! At night now I’ll have the ac going on 68 and will still wake up soaked through in my own sweat. My hair looks super crazy each morning and I feel so dirty all the time. The other night I woke up and it was actually 64 in the house and I was sweating so bad that it was dripping down my arms. So gross.
  • Sleeping: Speaking of nights…I wake up more often now to go to the bathroom. The most I’ve gotten up in one night is 4 times so far! Also I droll a lot. I guess God has us produce more liquid EVERYWHERE haha. It’s so gross though to wake up and have droll on my shirt (mixed with the lovely sweat). Also I’ve been dreaming a lot…not of the baby…not of parenthood…not nightmares about delivery…I’ve been having these wonderful dreams where I wake up and feel my stomach and it’s flat. They make me so happy until I actually do wake up and realize it’s not flat AT ALL. Maybe someday 🙂
  • Legs: My stomach is so big now that I cannot shut my legs. I noticed this the other day at the Student Center. I have to force them shut and they can’t stay that way for long. So basically I sit like a dude. I’m not joking! Look at the shower pictures…total dude sitage.
  • Movement: Clover is still a very active child but now I don’t sit and enjoy it. I don’t think aww how sweet. Instead, most of the time, it HURTS. BAD. It feels like my child hates me and is bruising me on the inside. Not fun at all.
  • Contractions? Stacy asked me if I am feeling any contractions and I told her I have no clue! It took me FOREVER to realize I could feel my baby move! So I am clueless as to what contractions should feel like. I do get a lot of tightening in my stomach which sometimes hurts and I will get super sharp jabbing pains in my lower stomach. But no clue what they are yet!

On the bright side: I still only have one stretch mark, I haven’t yet been constipated, no hemorrhoids, never any spotting. So I think I’m still in pretty good shape 🙂 Overall, God has blessed me with a pretty easy pregnancy and I try to stay grateful for that. I just hope I continue to be blessed with an EASY delivery 🙂

Emily Parker
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1 Comment

  1. Rachael
    February 12, 2009 / 7:12 pm

    Ahh I hated when I was “full term” I just was ready for it to be here! I was like… okay it’s time and all the googling I did made it seem like EVERYONE went into labor early! My back also hurt a lot, and it hurt for about 2 weeks afer, it is SO FUNNY you still waddle like you did when you were pregnant, and you have to re learn how to walk again! I would still kinda hunch over! My appetite was INSANE at the end and I packed on 10 pounds the last month (don’t do that) because now I am not pregnant and have no reason to be fat. it is very depressing 🙁 HAHA do you remember that I googled excessive drooling?! I TOTALLY did that. I mean, I would wake myself up because my pillow was so wet!!!

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