Summertime heat and humidity have arrived in Virginia, and it is even more miserable than usual. It's hard enough to breathe in the muggy air without a 5-lb baby resting up against my rib cage, and the swelling in my feet is now a permanent condition no matter how much water I drink. Earlier this week I had a meeting downtown so I wore my work-appropriate flats (otherwise I am in flip-flops every day) and by the end of the day I couldn't get my shoes back on and had to walk to my car barefoot.
Oddly in the last few days Ian has become a kicking machine. I think he is dancing in there or something because he's been seriously active. I much prefer this to the times when he's quiet because at least now I know I don't have to worry about him.
I am doing better adjusting to the idea that we could have a baby in the house earlier than I thought. The way I figure, the birthing window is anywhere between July 15th and August 10th, and I've resigned myself to the fact that going into labor randomly at home is probably not going to happen. If we have to induce for a medical reason then so be it, but I am still going to resist induction out of convenience for the doctor (unless my due date has come and gone of course).
4 comments:
i don't know if you have access to a pool, but i read somewhere that going into water up to your shoulders can help reduce swelling because the pressure helps force the fluid back into your blood stream where it can be filtered out or whatever.
a few more weeks! then we'll have screaming infants! but at least we won't have to pee 47,000 times a day, right? :\ (i'm getting a little scared!)
Hi Alison! This is a great site! I finally checked it out and love it! It will be wonderful for you to have this as a record of how Ian progresses once he's born as well, if you keep up with it.
I second Emily. Don't know if you remember me saying I swelled a lot in my last few months and getting in a pool and just moving around gently does WONDERS!!! The swelling went away and I felt much better. I wish I'd done it sooner in my pregnancy but it gave me a lot of relief. Best of luck with that and I had the same problems with shoes during that time.
Jen
I tried the pool when we went away to the Bay a few weeks ago and it did help a lot. The swelling didn't go away entirely, and it came back after a few hours, but it definitely felt really nice to have it reduced for a while.
Usually if I prop my legs up to the same level as my hips and drink a TON of water then the swelling goes down enough to not even be uncomfortable anymore, so I feel like that's just as good as the pool (and doesn't require shaving or wearing a bathing suit).
Emily, I totally understand about getting scared. I am definitely scared, mostly about how painful labor will be and how I will possibly be able to recover physically while taking care of a newborn, but I think my excitement over meeting Ian is balancing it out. Also, I think that the last few weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks with a newborn are really the valley in the curve of getting back to a normal life, so I'm trying to focus on how much better it will get soon.
yeah, i think the pool is a temporary fix. it's nice having one in the back yard, i just go in hairy, hahaaa.
i'm feeling less scared now :) it'll be great to finally meet the babies, and being able to roll over and not pee 10000000 times a day will be awesome.
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