Journey through Pregnancy: Month 7

How far along

I am writing this on Friday, June 11, 2021 which is in the middle of week 32. Month 7 of pregnancy can go through week 31. So this is my reflective blog post on “month 7.”

Sex

It’s a boy y’all. And I case you are wondering, we are planning on circumcision.

Total weight gain/stretch marks

Ohh boy do I have stretch marks. I look like a zebra. We are still doing daily lotion & massages and I never had a huge spike in weight gain, but some women get them more than others (especially, I learned, Hispanic & Black women). It’s part of life & doesn’t bother me so much but I would very much like them to go away after all this mess is over.

My weight at the end of 31 weeks was 166 lbs. This puts me at +30lbs. I feel that’s a lot to be at when I still have 2 months left but my doctors aren’t so neither am I.

Maternity Clothes

Nothing this month.

Sleep

I found a rolled up blanket under my belly was pretty good for this month. I do wake up to switch sides & I just move the blanket to the other side. I still wake up just about once a night to pee or drink water but not every night. I thankfully still wake up feeling decently refreshed in the morning. yay!

Miss Anything?

I miss normal mobility for sure. I was hoping to get more bendy this pregnancy, as some women do, but nope. Everything is a bit slower and stiffer, especially first thing in the morning.

Cravings

Not at all. No 10pm “OMG I need a pickle.” lol I am probably eating more sweets and bread than I should but I’m overall really good with moderation and balance.

Symptoms

No tears, no hormonal mess. I’m still super even keeled. I actually HATE it when people want to ascribe me forgetting some minor thing or being anal to “being pregnant.” That’s actually really offensive personally. I know some women are really affected emotionally & physically by pregnancy but please stop saying everything I do because I am human is suddenly because I am growing a little human inside.

Mood

Overall good, just some days I get very overwhelmed. Probably because I try to do everything at once. My downfall! I need to step back sometimes and remember that things will get done when they need to, I don’t have to do everything that minute. And, no, this mood thing really has nothing to do with pregnancy, because I am always this way. I jump down a rabbit hole, get overwhelmed, Will pulls me out, & I realize I was going crazy for no reason.

Best Moment this Month

I have a few best moments actually:

1. We found the best best best childcare for the baby. She’s a coworker’s mom & seriously Mary Poppins. We are so lucky to have found someone who will love & take care of our baby like we would (probably better).
2. Maternity photo shoot. 🙂 I wasn’t going to do them at all & then another friend mentioned she was and it got me thinking. I just didn’t feel “plugged” in for so long with this baby &, with all my complications, just was afraid of celebrating the pregnancy. But I felt incredibly beautiful and confident doing the photos.
3. My little “win” against HR! Long long long story short, my HR was trying to say I would have to use all my sick time (~7 weeks) before using my short term disability leave (6 weeks for no complications). And then they tried to argue that because I had more than 6 weeks of PTO, I wouldn’t be able to use my short-term because it wouldn’t go beyond 6 weeks. Well that’s crap & I knew it was crap & I couldn’t find that policy written anywhere. Anywho, my persistence paid off because they realized it was indeed not a policy and they sent me an email with the correct update & were going to correct their handbook!

Hardest Moment this Month

Not being able to get a cardiologist appointment no sooner than 2 months after my first (of 2!) ER visits was immensely frustrating these past few weeks. But we finally got our appointment. Some frustrations include that my heart condition (SVT) is random, so the cardiologist couldn’t really give me any guidelines for labor & delivery. Not that I want to have to do a c-section or anything but I do like a good game plan. He would like that I deliver at a hospital with an in-house cardiologist (which my hospital of choice does not have). He also really wants me to do another heart ablation while on maternity leave. Hormonal changes have the biggest impact on my heart condition & he doesn’t want me landing in the ER again. I have my OBGYN & FMH doctors appointments coming up so we’ll discuss what that will look like with my leave. Sounds like I will now have to be out until Thanksgiving (which was my original plan, but one I wasn’t sure was going to be able to happen due to HR rules).

Exercise

I slowed down far too much this month. I really was only walking a few times a week. We just had so much going on with the end of school & summer plans reving up. I can (& will) make this much more of a priority this summer!

JMF