33 Weeks

Here I am at I’m 33 weeks. 8 months. Less than 50 days. In my magical black pregnancy pants.

It is getting more real to me that there is a finish line in sight. I was telling someone about how this pregnancy has gone faster than the first one… then I reminded myself that I have been pregnant longer than my sisters have been married. So, there’s that. Anyway, I feel really great for 33 weeks.  Despite the hugeness and the fat face and the not being able to pick stuff off the floor, I’m mostly comfortable. I had a measuring tape out for a sewing project and just casually measured my belly and then I wished I hadn’t because damn. Sleeping is getting only slightly more difficult as rolling over involves a three step process.

This week was my big appointment at the UC Davis hospital in Sacramento. (See why I am transferring my care to Davis here.) As you know, Isabelle was super sick with the croup but I could not miss this appointment so Jazz took a half day from work and me and mom zipped down the 5. Right away I could tell that the hospital is ginormous. It is on a university campus so there are like a million buildings and huge parking structures and residents and nurses and patients everywhere. The doctor I met with was wonderful…we had a good conversation about labor and delivery expectations and when they want me down in that area, how everything will go etc. When I left I felt empowered, not discouraged, like hey I can do this! She gave me about a 70 percent success rate for a VBAC, which is significantly greater than the 0 percent I have here in Redding.

There are some conditions, of course. They would like me to be permanently in the Sacramento area around 38 weeks, which puts me basically the day after Christmas. I’m thinking closer to 39 weeks is more realistic, but if I had my way I would stay home until my due date UNLESS there are signs of labor. They will let me gestate up to a week over my estimated due date, which is good because some hospitals won’t let you go over at all when you are trying for a VBAC. Other things: I have to be continually on a monitor once at the hospital, I have to have an epidural line placed even if I don’t want the medicine right away- just in case of an emergency c-section, and I have to start my weekly appointments down there at 36 weeks. which means, yes driving to Sacramento basically every Monday during the Christmas season. Plus side- shopping.

Overall I was very impressed. My doctor down there is younger and just recently had a baby of her own, and I feel like she really knows whats current with labor and delivery. I feel like sometimes Redding is out of touch with current information and falls behind compared to the rest of the world. All the doctors at the women’s center encourage VBACs, so even if my doctor isn’t available to help me deliver, it’s nice to know that I will (hopefully) be treated the same.

In other news, I’ve started some projects for the baby.. Isabelle “helped” me sew a little blanket for the ninja, and in the next few weeks we will make the switch from guest room to nursery. And probably buy diapers. I’m just feeling very nesty and as a result- I have put up Christmas. No complaints or judging, whatever I don’t care. I am going to enjoy this season as much as I can and if it means throwing my tree up a few days early, then so be it. I’ve been to Joanne’s fabrics like seventy times in the last few weeks and the poor woman that cuts my fabric off the bolt must me so confused with what I’m making. Baby boy stuff! Christmas decor! Thanksgiving crap! Nursing cover! Schizo pregnant lady.

Nothing to report on the baby naming process.

Random stuff that I may want to remember next pregnancy: No feet swelling! So yay for that. Though it might be because I wear my danskos literally every single day. I mostly wear just my engagement band now, no point squeezing all three rings on my sausage finger. Um, also I am hot all the time. Don’t tell Jazz but I had the air conditioning on at one point last week because the open windows/fans were just not cutting it. I can’t imagine ever wearing a coat ever again. Also, did anyone else have way more braxton hicks with their second baby than their first? I can barely remember having any with Isabelle, and this time it’s like constant. The baby moves a lot, especially about 2-3 pm when Isabelle is napping and I have some quiet time to myself, I really notice the squirming.

I’m overwhelmed with excitement and the upcoming holidays and the smell of cinnamon pine cones in my kitchen. Christmas decorations are like a natural drug for me- I just feel so happy during this time of year I might burst. Add in Isabelle, who makes everything twelve times as fun, a helpful bearded husband, and this baby on the way and it’s almost too much excitement to handle. Family coming and going, colder weather, hot chocolate every morning… I wish it was Christmas year round.