eniarelocin | Project Pollywog: 31 Weeks, 1 Day

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Project Pollywog: 31 Weeks, 1 Day

I'm feeling cramping and not so great today. If I weren't at work, I believe that I would spending much of the day on the floor. I've been getting somewhat light headed, and was quite dizzy last night. I'm blaming Denny's food, but I'm hoping it's not a sign of anything worse than that. Also, it's raining today and there have been a lot of sharp shifts in preasure this week which has been definitely effecting my ears and drainage- so while we're at it, let's blame that too.

As long as this isn't Pre-eclampsia or something, I'm alright.

Either way, with all the back up in my neck, I think that a visit to the chiropractor or a massage would be a wonderful thing. Also, I'm really wanting to do yoga right now. That's what my body says it needs, but again, alas, I am at work- and I shutter to imagine the eyebrows I would get.

Catching up a little- I've had a rough week. I'm not sleeping very well. I've been ultra moody and really not had much of an appetite despite making myself eat. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of being tired. Worst of all though, I've not been as nice to Stephen as I could be, and I think I offended Mom yesterday. Sometimes I've been really short for no reason, other times I've just been angry with Stephen (and for some reason not wanting to let that go), other times I just cry. I cry over stupid things. I've definitely wanted to be left alone. And of course, my motivation to work has been somewhat down, which is never good.

So, welcome to 8 months pregnant. My apologies to everyone around me. Sometimes I really don't seem to be able to help it and I don't know what my problem is.

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Sorry you're having such a tough time. Chances are it's not pre-eclampsia or your midwife would have talked to you about it. If your blood pressures have been fine then I don't think you have anything to worry about. If they have been high then they will generally send you in for labwork and make you do this 24-hour pee test which is a hoot. Then, of course there are the weekly NSTs. Point is, it's not something they ignore if it's a possibility. The last months are a bit of an emotional roller coaster and, if you're like me, that makes you worry which just makes things harder. Sounds like you have the right idea, though, with the massage and yoga. Hope you feel better soon.

oops, that was me, didn't mean to be anonymous =)

Yeah, my blood pressure has been normal as can be, and other than getting headaches (which I think are more related to my neck) I don't think I have any real symptoms for Pre-eclampsia. We just talk about it a lot so I guess that's my first thought every time a headache arises.

I guess more than anything I just need to allow for taking more naps and try not to be a raging bitch. Both are much harder than they really should be. Heh.

Possibly a bit dehydrated? That always made me feel like that!

Not much longer before you can sort of reclaim your body :-)

I think at this point I've mostly decided to blame the weather. I suppose I could trying drinking more water but I thought I was doing pretty well there.

And I'm starting to wonder if some of that pelvic pain isn't the baby engaging; from what I've read it is possible for it to happen this early. Guess that's a question for the midwife next week when we go.

And yes... time is going. I have been guilty of perusing my closet and dreaming of the day when a lot of that stuff fits again. Especially for gigging! and there are a fair few of those coming up soon.

Ahhh, if you are drinking enough then yep, blame the weather!

Bethan engaged quite early, but I had pain before then. Most women do get some pelvic pain towards the end and it isn't always SPD.

I really missed my normal clothes, but I was packing away my maternity stuff the other day and getting all nostalgic ;-)

I'm certainly not ready to be done with pregnancy- especially with not being able to feel the baby anymore- but I am starting to get a little uncomfortable now... and I really look forward to someday sleeping through the night again.

Someday sleeping through the night - yep, I'm still looking forward to that too! But you knew that! :-)

I think pregnancy is trying to be helpful by making it awkward to sleep through the night to get you used to it. Honestly, it does help; those first few nights you're already used to being up several times a night and it's not such a shock to the system. The body is assuming that in late pregnancy we have all the time we want to take naps during the afternoon to catch up.. hmmm!

The body is assuming that in late pregnancy we have all the time we want to take naps during the afternoon to catch up.. hmmm!

If only!

I can appreciate the underlying wisdom of it all... but I do wish someone would have warned me. I've always heard everyone is tired at this stage but I didn't realise it was due to total lack of sleep and not simply from carrying around the belly.

Ah well... I guess soon the practice will pay off, right?

I was the same! I thought - how hard can it be to lug a belly around all day? Just like a slightly heavy backpack or something. I confidently told my bosses I'd be working up until my due date. They were both fathers and they shook their heads and said "Well, we'll see, but I don't think so.."

As you can guess I was whacked out for pretty much my entire pregnancy, with a sharp downward curve in productivity at about 24 weeks onwards! And most of it was, as you've found out too, lack of bloody sleep! Arghh!

You do adjust when the baby is born though. It's surprising how little sleep you can get by on for weeks at a time; you go into a sort of survival mode. And it gradually does get better. I get a lot more sleep now and have done for a while than when I was pregnant even if I rarely get more than 5 hours at a stretch! :-)

I used to barely sleep at all. I guess the worry at this point is that I haven't been able to survive on the little I used to get- so hopefully Super Insomnia Girl will make her triumphant return in a just a couple of months here.

Right now I don't feel so super.

And I really don't know how much time to take off. I really haven't planned for more than two weeks post birth.

The thing about the first few weeks is that you get by because there's no alternative!! ;-) But I think your body helps a bit as well - it goes into a sort of survival mode. I think one can manage at those levels for a while, but not forever because that would be terrible. But it isn't forever, so you'll manage.. somehow! Just be confident in that! :-)

The US has some pretty shitty maternity leave, doesn't it? Do you get anything through work, or is it all unpaid? It really is best to not go back before 6 weeks if you can, as the barest minimum..

I have no maternity leave. I'm largely self employed so really I can take off time from that if I need to, but at the same time I lose business.

For my part time job they will let me take time off unpaid, but that's all. I have no benefits through that job. By law they are supposed to hold my position for me, but in practice I don't know that it would really happen.

That's not good :-(

My dad is self-employed and has been all his life - I've seen how he's struggled when he's ill or wants to take a holiday so I know what it's like :-/

Once things are a bit more settled and you're used to the baby (it's impossible to say how long that'll be, but I'd guess around 6 weeks on average) there's plenty you can do with a baby strapped to you in a sling (for example!) Is your self-employed work compatible with that? It sucks big time about your part-time work :-(

Well, I'm a photographer. So, sometimes yes, sometimes no. The good news is (in this respect) that I spend a lot more time in the home office working on processing images and paperwork than I do actually shooting... at least for now. So I'm hoping to get the baby a nice comfy bouncy chair thingy to keep it happy next to me in the office while I plug away at the computer.

At least it cuts down on child care. And when I do schedule work out of the house I can do it when it's convenient for the most part.

I guess we'll see how it goes.

I thought you were :-) I've seen quite a few (US!) photographer mommies on one of the forums I read who had babies around the same time as me, and they seem to be managing okay! So it's definitely doable and sounds like rather a good job in terms of being able to keep baby with you!

I do highly recommend a swing if you can get one. Bethan kind of liked her bouncy vibrating chair, but not for long periods. Her swing, on the other hand, she would sit in for hours and hours. You do get what you pay for with swings unfortunately and the bigger ones are better (we got the full size Fisher Price Ocean Wonders one which is very popular for a good reason) but in terms of our sanity we more than recouped the cost! They do take up more room than a bouncy chair though. Not every baby likes a swing, so if you do get one, get it from a place that'll take returns..

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Project Pollywog: 31 Weeks, 1 Day

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