31 weeks

Yikes..it's been a while since I posted last! Luckily for me (since I use this blog as sort of a record of Ryan's life), not much has been going on but regular day to day life.

I'm now 31 weeks along and SweetPea is making her presence known even moreso now. Being this far along is new territory for me although some of the symptoms I have are not new. Two weeks ago my legs started swelling and when I went to my doctor appointment the scale showed I had gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks! Needless to say I was upset. I pretty much knew the weight gain was because of the swelling but it still didn't make me feel good to see that number on the scale. I saw the Physician's Assistant, whom I really really like and both her and the doctor said not to worry myself with the number on the scale. At this point, I just need to keep drinking my water, put up my feet as much as I can (haha, that's a hard one with a 3 1/2 yr old) and watch my sodium intake. When I was pregnant with Ryan, my legs started swellling at 22 weeks and never went back to normal until I delivered, but it was because I got dehydrated at an outdoor fair. At least this time, I know it's just another sign of my progress and that I'm 31 weeks. Another symptom that I have now is sciatic nerve pain. I also had this with Ryan which started at 24 weeks. It got so bad that I would have to hobble to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Right now, it's not that bad. But, it does stop me in my tracks all the sudden. All in all, I'll take whatever symptoms this pregnancy wants to give, because it means I'm still pregnant!

I'm getting fetal non-stress tests twice a week now. This started last Thursday because my ultrasound showed SweetPea was growing a little small, by 2 weeks. A fetal non-stress test is where the baby is hooked up to a monitor and the heart rate is monitored to make sure there are no destats or high accelerations. It also would show if I was having any contractions, which I might not feel. The 2 times I have gone, she has been perfect. The nurses say that she is "beautiful". She likes for me to sit back in the recliner and just relax because she starts kicking and moving like a jitter bug. My gut feeling is that she's just on the smaller side so I'm actually not too worried (about the only thing I'm not worried about). I have an appointment next week so hopefully we will schedule a c-section date.