34 week hiccup

(No, that isn't a tail growing off my belly, just the strings to tie my pants up)

I had a little hiccup in my thus-far normal pregnancy. Today marks 34 weeks. I wasn't planning on doing a pregnancy update this week, but because of the little hiccup, I thought I'd document it.

Over the weekend my back and hips started hurting non-stop. All of a sudden I felt like I was almost bending all the way backwards, which put strain on my lower back. My waddle became almost impossible to hide.

Monday, after a long day on my feet at school, I found some stretches to help with lower back pain on a pregnancy website and tried them. Ben got home and we were going to watch a tv show together before I went to bed, so I came into my office to turn off my computer. As I went to sit down, my chair rolled out from underneath me and I went boom on my butt...only it didn't hurt my butt. Instead, I felt like I had broken my pelvis or pubic bone. I screamed for Ben to come help me up. I didn't fall very far and it couldn't have been too hard.

Mostly I was just in a lot of pain and sitting on the couch hurt. As we watched the tv show, I felt the baby moving a ton and when it was time for bed, it took way longer than normal for me to walk to our bedroom. I could barely lift my legs, let alone 'hop' into bed. Ben had to literally pick me up and place me on top of the bed and then position my legs around my body pillow. I still continued to feel the baby move like normal.

After a few minutes in bed, I decided I hurt too much to just lay there, so I went and filled up the tub and soaked in warm water for a bit--which really did nothing for the pain. I took a Tylenol, sat on the couch painfully, and slept for a couple of hours until the baby kicked my ribs and woke me up. I hobbled back to my bedroom, took about 5 minutes to actually get in bed in a semi-comfortable position, and slept on and off until my alarm went off.

Tuesday at school I could barely walk without the pain on my pubic bone. Sitting wasn't comfortable, walking was impossible. The pain would go away only if I stood in one position, which was really difficult with the added pressure of a baby breaking my back.

Finally during lunch, I called my doctor's office to see what they thought about the pain and possible harm to baby. After a few back-and-forth phone calls between me and the nurse, I finally got a call right before 7th period that my doctor wanted me to go to the hospital to get a non-stress test (NST) just be check out the baby. She also prescribed me loratab for my pain.

I found someone to cover my class and made my way to the hospital. Obviously this wasn't a scheduled visit, but they maternal fetal medicine unit got me right in. They hooked me up to the fetal monitors and started an ultrasound. Right away I saw the baby moving and wiggling. Mostly I saw the cute little feet which are right under my ribs; baby H is head down. The ultrasound concluded that the amniotic fluid was at a perfect level. I was hooked up to the fetal monitor for about 30 minutes and was able to listen to the heartbeat go up and down with the movements baby made. The specialist determined that all was well with baby H and I came home.

The loratab has helped take some of the pain away, but it's still painful to walk, get in & out of the car or bed, and going from sitting to standing. I was actually able to sleep the whole night last night without getting up thanks to loratab. I am in pain, but am more thankful that the baby is OK.

Other than the constant back pain and now pubic bone pain, I'm feeling pretty good. I will go see my doctor again on the 9th, then every week after that until the baby is ready to come.

We went to our first birthing class on Saturday and have one more this Saturday. I learned a lot and even though it freaked me out a bit, I'm more excited just to meet the baby! Ben spent several hours on the baby's room on Saturday after our class--he tore down walls and took out carpet. Behind one of the walls he found the original (in mostly perfect condition) and a random window and door. Now he just needs to move to the next step, which is refinishing and painting the walls & laying the new carpet.

We're getting SO close!!!