Pregnancy Update, 24 weeks

It occurred to me that I haven't written about my pregnancy in a while.  Part of that is because I am in the sort of boring, middle section of pregnancy where really no news is good news.  But beside the above belly shot, I will fill you all in on what's been going on.

This baby doesn't seem to move nearly as much as The Boy did.  Now I reserve the right to retract that statement in a couple of months when I feel like all she is doing is kicking the shit out of me, but right now?  Not so much.  I feel her move maybe 5 or 6 times a day.  It always takes me by surprise.  "Oh yeah...HI!  How's it goin' in there?"  And then, of course last week when I was in Hawaii she barely moved at all.  Scared the living shit out of me.  Like maybe I felt her once a day.  I was convinced something was wrong.  I kept having The Boy give her zerberts, and I was drinking all sorts of juice trying to get her to move around, but really, either she was just relaxing or else I was too busy doing other things to feel her.  But basically it scared the crap out of me.  Of course the day we flew home she moved like crazy.  And then ever since we have been back in California, she is moving pretty normal again, so I am not sure what was going on.  But all seems to be good now.

I had my 24 week appointment on Friday and it was very quick and easy.  I got measured and am apparently measuring right on, she listened to the heartbeat and was able to find it quickly (this child has NEVER been able to be heard on the doppler before...again being difficult before she is even here...) and said it sounded great.  We had a quick conversation about previously mentioned paranoia on my part about her lack of movement and I was told that at 24 weeks, that is pretty normal.  If I had experienced that at 30 or 35 weeks, we would be concerned, but now?  Not so much.  She seems to be doing fine.  And joy of all joys, it is time for the lovely baby sugars test.  Fortunately they gave me the lovely liquid to take home and I am instructed that anytime over the next couple of weeks I am supposed to drink the crap with nothing else in my stomach at around 7:15 in the morning, and then come into the office when they open at 8:00 for my blood test.  Sounds like a great time.  But I will do it, and hopefully I will pass.  We're just going to assume that because I am NOT a fan of what happens if I don't pass.  So until we have to cross that bridge...

So now I get to the part where I complain.  I have been good so far in this post, right?  Okay here is the shitty part of it all.  Sleeping.  Now perhaps I should mention that me and sleep don't have a great relationship to begin with.  In fact, Ambien was one of the things I had to go off of before attempting to get pregnant.  So it is normal for me that I don't sleep.  Even expected really.  But what has been happening to me is above my normal neurosis.  So when I fall asleep lately I attempt to go to sleep on my left side (best for the baby, blah blah blah) with a king sized pillow between my knees and my arms loosely going around the top of the pillow.  At some point I might go to the right side, but that doesn't matter.  At around 1:00am I will awaken with HORRIFIC pain going down both arms because they have fallen sound, sound asleep.  Now when I say "my arms are asleep," it isn't a cute little pins and needles type feeling.  This is shooting pain and when I try and propel my ass out of bed (to pee of course), they literally cannot even move to help my large arse out of the bed.  When I finally get up, it honestly (this is NO exaggeration) takes at least 5 to 7 minutes of walking, standing upright to get to the pins and needles point, and about another 10 minutes to where they are partially functioning again.  And if god forbid I try and do something that requires them going above my heart, or even above my waist (like say, wiping after going potty), they immediately fall back asleep and cease all function.  Not kidding.  It is horrific.  So for the rest of the night, I cannot even lay flat (since that would not make my arms lower than my heart) on my bed to sleep, much less sleep in the coveted side position.  So I have to prop my pillows all up and, again--not kidding, sleep sitting up so that my arms remain below my heart at all times.

Now aside from the fact that this is completely and totally UNCOMFORTABLE, and no one without a horrific cold should have to sleep in this position, it still doesn't solve the problem.  Because see, in that position, the baby is apparently sitting directly on my sciatic nerve.  And therefore when I get up the next time to pee (sensing a pattern?), the horrific pain that shoots down my ass cheeks and all the way down to my ankles makes it so I literally cannot walk.  It is horrible.  For those of you out there who have experience sciatic nerve pain, you can agree that this is no laughing matter.  So my sleep is definitely a situation of damned if I do, and damned if I don't.  So the result?  Not so much sleeping.  And not sleeping makes for a very cranky human.  

So at my appointment I begged my doctor for some kind of help...ANY kind of help.  This is what we have come up with, and this is what I am going to try.  First of all she recommended a chiropractor that she knows and likes.  I am going to call on Monday morning and make an appointment to go and see her.  Secondly, even though they are like $50 and I swore I would never need one, especially with my king sized pillows, I went online and ordered the snoogle.  Still bitter about that one, but it is on its way.  The third thing she recommended is that I sleep with splints on my wrists for carpal tunnel syndrome.  She said a lot of times this is caused by a kink in the wrist that happens when we sleep even if we are purposely trying NOT to sleep in that position.  So I went to a fancy pharmacy place today and bought those.  Tonight will be the first try with them.  In the meantime, I should warn you that it might not be in your best interest to point out to me that I have bags under my eyes bigger than the luggage I took with me to Hawaii.  Oh, and why do I look like this when I just got back from a week vacation?  Yeah, it just might not be a good idea at all...Consider yourselves warned.  I will let you know how my three suggestions work out.

Other than that, pregnancy is going great.  Love it.  So pleased with the progress.  :)