It seems like all I do lately is fight for space with this baby. As soon as I get comfortable s/he gets uncomfortable and has to find a new place to be happy. The problem isn’t that the baby moves around but rather the “new place” s/he finds is usually up under my ribs which is sometimes terribly painful for me causing me to change position and the battle begins again. All night long we go through this struggle.
It also doesn’t help that I can feel the relaxin (a hormone secreted during pregnancy which helps to relax the muscles, joints, ligaments and tendons to prepare for getting baby out) raging through my body so while I’m more flexible through my hips and pelvis, I also get much more sore. Just turning from one side to the other (while not as dramatic as I remember with Sugarplum—yet) often causes my pelvic joint to pop which is sometimes painful and startles me. Basically, once I get to a comfy place I would like to just stay there but baby disagrees and we have yet to find a mutually comfy place.
I usually spend a little time each morning before getting out of bed assessing baby’s position. Baby likes to curl up high in my belly while I sleep so this is usually the only time I can actually feel his/her head (Honeybun had the same tendency which resulted in my unnecessary augmentation of labor the first time). What I have learned is that not only is his/her head enormous but this baby is LONG! The baby’s head to rump reaches from my pelvic bone to my ribs diagonally and sometimes I feel the feet on the complete other side of my belly. Pretty sure we’re getting a big headed, super tall little bundle.
I also hope that the supersize of this baby and the pressure I’m already feeling my pelvis (baby’s thankfully been head down for at least 10 weeks—other than one morning when s/he was transverse) will mean an earlier full-term delivery. Not just because of the discomfort, but I have lots of other reasons earlier would be better. Most importantly the fact that I start back to teaching 4 weeks after my due date so every extra day I get to bond and establish a good milk supply, etc. with this little bundle will be extra helpful.
