The Third Trimester.....

I have hit my third trimester and we are into the home stretch. (hmm.. stretch, I wonder if that's why I suddenly have a map of the Massachusetts highway system in stretch marks on my stomach) I had my dr. appointment yesterday and I have hit the 200lb mark (208 to be official). And I still KNOW it's only a number and it's all baby weight and I don't FEEL like I've gained that much and Daddy, bless his heart, tells me I don't LOOK like I've gained that much, but here I am..a card carrying member of the 200lb club. I'm trying really hard to not get caught up in the number. Although Miss Arlene (a very nice woman I work with) told me this morning that I look very well and don't have "pregnant ears or hands" so that is something I guess!! So I am embracing my new number and am just going with it...anyone want to go out for an ice cream??

I have also developed, of late, a very painful case of sciatica. This is not strictly a benefit of pregnancy, but because the sciatic nerve travels under the uterus to the back and down the legs, the additional weight of the baby on the nerve often leads to this condition. For those of you who have never had it..be thankful. The best way I can explain it is that there is a knot on the lower right side of my back, almost in my butt cheek. Every now and again, someone tightens this knot and sends shooting pain down my right leg. On occasion, if I sit too long or the wrong way, I loose all feeling in my right leg. You want to see something fun, watch a 7month pregnant, uncoordinated woman try to stand up only to realize she can't support any weight on her right side. I look like a new born horse stumbling around trying not to fall on my face!! The only remedies...hot showers and Tylenol unless I want to go to PT or a Chiropractor, which I don't!

One really cool thing happened yesterday, while my dr. was chasing Fluff around trying to get a heart beat reading, my son burped...twice. It was the strangest thing, the dr. was listening to the heart beat and then there was this "gurgle" sound. She looked at me and said "I guess he liked his lunch, that was a burp"..and the little bugger did it again. That's my boy!!!

I'm now going to my dr. every two weeks and will keep that up until the beginning of March when I start going every week. My next visit I get to have the RH shot, a glucose test and an anemia test. All of which involve needles and having blood drawn, what a joyful day THAT will be!!!

Our birthing classes start in two weeks and it seems like things are really gearing up for the race to the finish.