Pregnancy Update: 39 Weeks

Let’s talk about the worst parts of pregnancy, ok? Indulge me a little bit.

At 20 weeks

For those who haven’t been through a pregnancy yet, maybe knowing all of this will prepare you a little better and therefore make you feel okay about getting pregnant. Or, you may be all “yeahhh, about that…” and run for the hills. My takeaway (before I’ve even started my list) is that pregnancy really isn’t that bad, at least in my experience, and everyone is different.

So here are the facts:

• You’ll tinkle in your pants at some point. It’s true, I’m sad to say. And, yeah, totally gross, but you’ll be okay. You won’t need adult diapers (that comes after delivery, haha).

• You’ll have so many blood draws. If you’re like me and despise needles, you’ll become kinda used to it. Before I got pregnant, I read tons of articles and heard from other moms who promised me that I’d come to be okay with needle pokes because you just do it so often. I thought they were nuts. I mean, I’m the girl who cries and has a sudden bout of undiagnosed IBS when I know needles are involved in anything. I’m like a 5 year old. But you know what? I almost did a 180 on this one. And you can too!

• You may only get a couple of ultrasounds. I had an ultrasound during my first visit at 10 weeks to confirm pregnancy, another at around 14 weeks to look for chromosomal and heart defects, and a third and final around 20 weeks as an anatomy scan. That’s when I found out I was having a boy and saw two perfect feet. It’s a little crushing to not be able to see your baby after that last scan, but just remember that usually more ultrasounds are reserved for any anomalies that are detected. If you don’t have additional ultrasounds, chances are your doc has every reason to believe your baby is progressing as he or she should!

• You don’t need a full bladder at every visit! Good news! You’ll definitely need a full bladder at your first ultrasound, but ask about it beyond that. Before anyone told me, I would chug way more water than my body felt comfortable holding and I would wiggle in the waiting room just waiting to be called back to leave a urine sample or do an ultrasound. Oh, and you’ll need to leave a urine sample every visit too so get used to that, but they usually don’t need a whole cup filled (another thing I learned).

• You’ll get a not so pleasant swiping down there – everywhere, if you catch my drift – to test for Group B Strep. It’s a slightly uncomfortable test, but over in no time at all and then you can be on your merry way.

• Testing for cervical dilation is not painful, but it’s pressure-filled and uncomfortable. That starts around 38 weeks, but they did ask me if I wanted to see how far I was dilated at the appointment prior. No thanks.

• You go from monthly appointments, which let’s be honest, is already a wreck on your work schedule and time off, but then, UNBEKNOWNST TO ME, you’ll have to go to bi-monthly appointments and THEN weekly appointments. It’s exhausting and some of these seem completely unnecessary, but stick with it. It’s for the good of the baby. They’ll do any routine tests and then measure your stomach and listen to the heartbeat.

• Your feet will swell at some point (mine started around week 36) and they’ll get worse before they get better. And you’ll feel ultra lazy because the more they swell, the more they hurt to walk around on and you’ll want nothing more than to put them up in bed and watch Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

• If you’re going through this with someone, your significant other will tell you that you’re beautiful, despite all evidence to the contrary. Try to believe it.

• At some point, you’ll come to terms with your legs not being as smooth as you’re used to. It’s just impossible to get everything and you kind of just wave a razor around and hope for the best.

As for me, at this point, I’m ready for delivery. But, turns out, delivery isn’t ready for me. At my last appointment, my outer cervix was 1 cm dilated, but beyond that, nothing. And apparently baby is still “sky high” and my birth canal is really narrow. It’s still a little early so they’ll continue to watch and hope for progression. Since then, I feel that baby has lowered a little bit. I’ve been doing everything in my power to get him to “engage” (all these pregnancy terms feel weird coming out of my mouth). Let’s see what Wednesday brings!

May the Fourth be with me.