Week 34 – The Nerves!

I’ve been having pains on my left buttock down to the thigh – mostly at night when I sleep on that side. As the recommended sleeping position is on the left side, I’ve been trying to do just that – but it often leaves me walking funny when I wake up in the morning or in the night when I have to pee. The books say that as the baby’s head moves down into the pelvic it often presses directly on the pelvic bones which may affest the sciatic nerves in the lower back and legs. The sciatic nerves are responsible for movement, pain and sensation in our legs, and the baby’s head pressing these nerves can cause numbness, tingling, weakness and pain down one or both legs – known as sciatica, and apparently it’s just another “perks” of late pregnancy along with constipation, haemorrhoids, leg cramps and swollen ankles. There is nothing I could do except waiting for the baby to pop out, but I find that lathering my back and upper thighs with muscle relaxant balm (the kind that you use when you have sore muscles from exercising) helps a lot. Warm bath is also a relaxing solution, so I’ve been spending a lot of time in the bath tub with some candles and a good book.

Week 33 – A whirlwind visit

I am an impatient person, and more than a few times going to the doctor is a frustating experience for me because of the long time I have to spend at the waiting room. I find most physicians never establish a clear system when it comes to making an appointments, so you end up sitting for hours in the waiting room, catching germs and diseases from other patients. However, my ob-gyn is different, when you make an appointment you know roughly what time you should come in so you won’t have to wait for too long. He’d come at around 5PM so you know that if you get number 4 when you make the booking then you can come at 5.45 or 6PM.

This is of course not always the case. Sometimes a baby decides to be born, and the ob-gyn would rush to the hospital and leave the other patients at the clinic waiting for 2-3 hours. When it comes to childbirth, I understandably have higher tolerance – it’s not like the baby would arrive in the precise hour or day that the doctor predicts (unless it’s a pre-set date for Caesarean section). I know that baby Jojo would most probably do the same, he would decide to arrive at a certain time and the doctor would have to tear himself away from other patients waiting to see him. I hope the others will be as understanding.

Week 31 & 32 – Am I ready for this?

During Week 31 it was time for another doctor’s visit, this time after a three-week interval instead of the usual four. Got the blood and urine test results back, everything is peach and dandy, no problemo. Great! I suppose I have to be grateful that my pregnancy has been progressing really smoothly so far, no complaints other than the usual discomfort. I’ve heard of pregnancy stories where the mother had to undergo bedrest for months, or painful medical intervention, or even end up in fetal demise.

Even though the baby was in his proper downward position three weeks ago, this time the ultrasound showed that the head is now facing upwards. This is normal as there is still considerably a lot of space in the tummy, a lot of amniotic fluid for the baby to move around… although at time it feels like he’s doing gymnastic instead of just moving around! During the next pregnancy class I was taught a certain “anti-breech” position to help bring the baby back to his proper position. Supported by a pillow I lay my chest on the bed, head circling around my head or flat on both sides, buttocks up in the air, knees bent on my left and right. I do this every evening before bed and every morning after I wake up, for about 10 minutes each time. The yoga DVD also has some tips and tricks to help bring the baby into position, such as pelvic tilts and downward dog.

Week 29 & 30 – the clumsy whale.

Now that I think back about it, month 5 and 6 were probably the most comfortable period during the whole pregnancy. The nausea was subsiding, I got more energy and my movements weren’t so limited by the bulging tummy. By the time I entered month number seven, everything got slow and uncomfortable.

My tummy is now so big I can hardly lift my leg up or bend my body down. It’s getting heavier and heavier just to walk around the house to do chores, so I’m often out of breath. I’m also getting clumsier, knocking things over and dropping food from my mouth – good thing the big belly can act as a retainer for the fallen food bits so they don’t drop to the floor! Back pain is now constant, in addition I also have the tingling pain along my left buttock down to my left thigh due to the baby pressing on the sciatic nerve.