about 8 months

[aryanhwy]

So it's 4 weeks left by one count, 5 weeks 3 days by another. Average that, and you've got 8 months gone.

Highlights (and lowlights):

- I've reached the "basketball under my shirt" stage, or at least so it feels to me.
- Nevertheless, I can still shave my own legs.
- No stretch marks!
- This despite a weight gain so far of 13.3kg.
- Last Tuesday I gave a talk in the TiLPS Logic and Language Seminar, and was astonished to find how out of breath it made me. I'm used to getting out of breath doing anything vaguely related to physical activity, but for whatever reason I hadn't considered "talking" to count as a physical activity.
- I've finally reached the dreaded "not sleeping so well" stage. I can be really, really tired, and yet I just can't fall asleep. Once I do, I'm still sleeping pretty well, but the amount of time that elapses between when I turn off the lights and when I'm actually asleep is getting longer and longer, and making getting up a little after 8am to get to Tilburg at a decent hour harder and harder. Luckily, today's the only day I'm going down this week, as we postponed Monday's meeting of the research seminar to tomorrow due to one of the students being ill, so I'll be in Amsterdam for that, and then Thursday - Saturday I'm in Geneva. Next week I'm planning to go Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then my leave starts the following Monday (whoo!), though I've actually got a meeting the Thursday after. But by then we'll have the keys to our new place, so I'll take advantage of having to make the trip by filling up one of the rolling suitcases with stuff and do a partial move, and maybe try to do a bit of organization/unpacking down there.

Last night was our last prenatal class. We started off with 12 couples and lost 10 by the end; one gave birth to a (thankfully healthy) little girl at 35 weeks, and another couple who were due on the 9th were currently at the hospital during last night's class; no news before we left, though. The course was more useful than not, I think; the biggest benefit I got was knowing now that Joel knows how things generally go, and specific things he can do to help me cope, and knowing that he'll be there to support me is pretty much all I really need to know that I'll make it through. One thing I really appreciate about him is that when he says "It's going to be OK", I can always believe him. It makes such a difference.

So that's how things stand for the time being...

Comments

Stretch marks

[(Anonymous)]

Unfortunately, the stretch marks don't show until the balloon deflates!

But you're looking good!

C

Re: Stretch marks

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Oh, sometimes they show up before hand, at least according to friends of mine! But we'll see if maybe I'll get lucky...

Re: Stretch marks

[englandbound.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was very happy about not getting stretch marks, but then she got them when the baby dropped.
I've been overweight most of my life, so I had stretch marks *before* I was pregnant with Valerie. My goal was to not have them get much worse.

Re: Stretch marks

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

To be honest I've always expected that I'll get them (I know that two contributing factors are gaining weight at an uneven rate -- something I've mostly managed to avoid -- and genetics), given that my mom and my sister both did, but both only late in the third trimester. So each month that passes and nothing shows up, I'm surprised.

We'll see what happens both when the baby drops and when I "deflate"!

[xrian.livejournal.com]

Friends of mine who have been pregnant generally agree that 7+1/2 months would be just about the right length of time to be pregnant -- the last six weeks or so are kind of a drag. So best wishes for cheerfulness and comfortableness.

BTW, if your birthing classes haven't discussed postnatal depression, find a good discussion somewhere and get Joel to read it. I don't think it's necessarily likely for you, but it can get pretty grim, and it usually takes someone other than the new mom to recognize the symptoms and get some help for it.

[katerinfg.livejournal.com]

Yes. This.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Heh, that sounds about right. I was surprised at how quick the transition from "half-way there" to "three months left" went, but then was also surprised at how those three months began to drag. 7.5 months might be a bit too quick, but that's definitely the point where I started thinking "yeah, I wouldn't mind if it were only a few weeks more. I can handle another 6 weeks, but I wouldn't mind less!"

We did cover post-natal depression in the course, though something I was surprised the teacher didn't discuss is the fact that it can hit the fathers as well as the mothers. It's definitely something I'm planning to talk to him about, both so that he knows to be on the look-out for me, and that I'll be on the look-out for him.