The pregnancy wall I couldn’t see about a month ago, well I ran face first into it yesterday. All of the sudden my body went from medium rare to well done. My knees are so weak now I can barely get myself off the couch. My right foot is now resembling a loaf of bread and the only shoes that fit are my flip-flops. I have so many contractions that I can’t be on my feet for very long and on top of that I have to pee every 30 -45 minutes.  The doctors advise me to drink 3 liters of water a day to help with the contractions but they also say that having a full bladder can cause contractions so I might as well put a pillow, blanket and take my computer into the bathroom and just live there until baby decides she is ready to come out.

I had my weekly OB check yesterday and nothing has really changed..oh wait I take that back, I managed to lose a pound. It must be the little bit of walking around I have been doing. Oh and now that I can cook my own meals we are eating more vegetables, quinoa and protein and less macaroni, pizza and CRAP. Although I did have to whip up a batch of cookies the other night 😉 I think my nesting is coming out in the kitchen. I have made a Thai chicken pizza, pesto pasta with vegetables, marinated skirt steak with quinoa tabbouleh and last night we had chicken gyros with a greek salad. I think Gordon is wishing I was back on bed rest so he can have his macaroni with chili or hot dogs again.

My doctor is sending me on weekly non-stress test starting next week. They hook my belly up to two monitors one to measure babies heart rate and another to measure contractions. Movement, heart rate and “reactivity” of heart rate to movement is measured for 20-30 minutes. If the baby does not move, it does not necessarily indicate that there is a problem; the baby could just be asleep. A nurse may use a small “buzzer” to wake the baby for the remainder of the test.

I also was informed that I will have internal fetal monitoring during labor.  That is where an electrode is attached to the baby’s head to record heart tones, and a pressure catheter to record contractions. This is more accurate than the electronic monitoring, does not use ultrasound, and can provide continuous monitoring for the high risk mother. I don’t know much more that, hopefully all will go smoothly.

So for now I just sit and wait, hoping she comes soon. Maybe the end of next week. I am sure I will miss being pregnant but I sure would like to start moving around again…pain free!