33 weeks

I am pathetically late in posting this, but whatever - as of Friday, I am 33 weeks pregnant.



This picture was taken after a long day of taking the CBEST and strolling through Ikea, which later turned into hobbling through Ikea. We bought our crib, though - totally worth the hobbling.

Charlie is now the size of a honeydew melon. He's getting really big. And boy, have I noticed the difference.



The shit kind of hit the fan last week. I was in remarkably good shape over last weekend, but with our shower and celebrating Roy's birthday, I really think I overdid it. I'd been dealing with discomfort and some sleepless nights for weeks, but I really didn't expect what happened last Wednesday.

I am fairly sure Charlie was breech and then turned within the last couple of weeks, because I recently started feeling a lot of movement in the area of my ribs. When I say movement, I don't mean kicks or punches, but more like a wall of pressure that I could feel building up. As a result, my ribs (especially on my right side, since Charlie favors that side) were extremely sore. While it wasn't fun, it was manageable.

Very early Wednesday morning (around 2 AM), I woke up in complete, utter, no-doubt-about-it pain in my back. I could barely move, and every time I did move, it hurt so badly that I ended up crying. Roy and I were both up for the majority of the night while he took charge of both icing and applying heat to my back and then giving me a bath and a back rub. We were both able to eventually go back to sleep (me in the bed, him on the floor - what a rock star he is), and the next morning I called both my OB and chiropractor. I left messages for both, and then Roy and I decided to basically show up at the chiro's office and take them by storm. I was able to be seen right away, which is wonderful considering...

My ribs are sprained and bruised, and I have muscle spasms going on all throughout my back. And oh my god, I had never known pain like that. Having scoliosis, I have dealt with back pain for most of my life, but nothing could have prepared me for the level of pain I experienced. Remember how I talked about back pain three weeks ago? Yeah, well. That was nothing.

The good news is I am doing so much better than I was. I worked half a day on Wednesday, came home, climbed into bed, and didn't really get out until Thursday morning. The difference in me was amazing. While I still had (and have) a lot of back and rib pain, my range of motion has returned to normal and things are much more bearable. I will be seeing my chiropractor once a week from here until the end of my pregnancy so that this (hopefully) doesn't happen again.

I will say this, though - it feels like my ribs are broken. I have definitely crossed over into the realm of being pretty damn uncomfortable, as it hurts to do anything, from laugh to turn to the side to lay in bed. My acid reflux is also out of control, and Charlie still stretches out into my ribcage on a very regular basis. As a result, if I'm not at work, I'm usually in bed. I am really tired at the end (okay, and at the beginning) of every work day, even though I just sit on my ass all day.

I am also becoming a bit swollen in my hands, wrists, ankles, and feet. The stupid admin who sits across the hall from me has taken great joy in telling me about this. I also get a lot of "You look so tired" comments from random people, but I also still get a lot of "You look great" comments, which helps.

And naturally I can't wait until I'm 36 weeks so I can go out on maternity leave. The countdown is so on. I am in great need of a lot of rest, considering there are only 40 something more days (give or take a few) until I never sleep again. Plus it'll be nice to get nice and swollen at home and not have to hear about it every second of the day.