Good News, Frustrating News, Repeat

We had our 34 week appointment this morning. I now have updates on several things that I was panicking about after my last appointment 2 weeks ago. Watch as I emotionally swing from good news to bad news and back again!

1. Good news: Barack is no longer breech. Woo hoo! After watching a video on c-sections at our last birthing class, I was even more anxious for him to get into position. Dr. M did an ultrasound and voila! Barack is head down, as requested. The ultrasound was also exciting because we haven't had a peak at Barack since week 19, more than 3 months ago, which seems like forever, and at that ultrasound, I wasn't allowed to see anything (because we had the worst ultrasound tech ever). This time, it was Dr. M running the machine. After he verified the position and finished his measurements, he let us "look around" a bit. He also showed me the proof that we're having a boy. As for the measurements: at the last ultrasound, Barack was measuring 6 days ahead of schedule. Today, he's measuring 10 days ahead, with a current estimated weight of 6 pounds. Those day estimates have error bars of +/- 3 weeks, and the weight estimates are +/- 1 pound, but still... he might be an awfully big baby, and I'm getting the sense that he might arrive a tad early.

2. Frustrating news: Two weeks ago, I was feeling physically great. Now... not so much. I'm absolutely exhausted. I wake up several times each night broiling hot and drenched in sweat, with the joints in my legs and hands painfully cramped. I have to get up and walk around the house a bit to cool off and stretch my legs and drink some water before going back to bed. Each morning, it takes 1-2 hours for me to be able to unclench my fingers enough to be able to type. Each evening, I'm completely sidelined by heartburn, to the point that my throat burns. My ankles and feet swell progressively throughout the day until I have gross sausage toes by evening. My hips hurt when I walk. And each afternoon, I've been getting headaches. Again. (Was that enough complaining for you?) With all of these (rather sudden) symptoms, I was worried that today's appointment was going to show elevated blood pressure, but I was only partially right. After months of being ridiculously low, my blood pressure was, indeed, up from two weeks ago, but only enough to bring it back into the "normal" range. Dr. M says it's still nothing to worry about. All the symptoms are just normal end-of-pregnancy stuff, and possibly a sign that I'm over-doing my sodium intake. I'm under orders to try to avoid salt, and to gulp water whenever possible.

3. If our baby were to be born as early as S was born, I'd be in labor today. The good news: I'm not my mother-in-law! I'll take good news wherever I can find it.

4. Back to frustrating news: We still don't have a crib. As I mentioned, the store we ordered from is going out of business. I talked to them 1.5 weeks ago, and they told me that the crib was due in to arrive in mid-August, which would be fine, because they were staying open until the end of August. On Saturday, they called us with an update. The manufacturer was now expecting it to arrive here in mid-September, which is after the store will be gone (and, more important for us, after my due date). The store refunded us our deposit, and helped us to transfer the order to a different store in the area, so that at least we wouldn't have to start the order process entirely from the beginning. Today, however, the new store called to tell me that they checked with the manufacturer themselves, and the new arrival estimate is end of October. Yep, that's more than five months after we placed the order, and nearly two months after my due date. This is causing me not a little stress. Despite my wanting to avoid it, I'm off to investigate inexpensive in-stock bassinets. Any suggestions?

So, the good news is all really truly good news. I'm in good health, Barack is in good health, and he's finally facing the exit like he's supposed to. Also, I had a truly wonderful baby shower on Saturday (a topic for a later post, because this one is already too long). But I'm exhausted and hormonal, way overly emotional, and this crib saga is pushing me irrationally over the edge a bit.