Week 22...

Well, I've got 22 weeks behind me already. It really doesn't seem like I've been pregnant for over 5 months! And it really doesn't seem like I should be having a baby in 4! Time flies, I suppose. Anyway, a lot has happened since my last post. Mama, Rachel, and I did find dresses for Boo and me for the wedding. Amazingly, I found a dress for me at the first store we went to; however, Rachel did not. 9 hours and 20 stores later, we found one that would work for her and then another one for me that would coordinate. Hers is brown with large, cream-ish polka dots. Really cute. Mine is solid brown. Not only did they not have a size that would fit me in the polka-dots dress, I figured it wouldn't be appropriate for Scotty to moo at me as I walked down the aisle. Hers looks great and my solid brown, well it's good enough. :)

Even after the marathon shopping, my tailbone didn't bother me too much. It's been steadily getting better with each day. However, riding in the car for 5+ hours to Destin and back didn't do me any favors this past weekend. Laying on the beach (with sunscreen and an umbrella -- Mom and Deb) was great as was being with some of our friends. Here's a pic of the mom and dad-to-be in Destin:

And I got my hair cut. My hair guy said I could get two inches cut off and add fringe to "soften" the hair around my face. Apparently, I didn't realize how much 2 inches was nor did I realize that "fringe" was code for "bangs." Needless to say, I'm still getting used to the new 'do.

This afternoon I had a doctor's appointment. Everything went well. I've only gained 8 pounds. (YAY!) Baby Rain's hearbeat was 155 -- normal, but kind of on the faster side for a boy. As she had to kind of hold him down by pressing on my belly to get him to sit still long enough to obtain his heartrate, my doctor commented that I had a very active baby. Duh -- for the last week or so he's been kicking, punching, and flipping almost non-stop. Plus, does she know the parents of this kid -- Mr. and Mrs. Rambunctious -- well we used to be when we were kids according to our families. It's no suprise to either of us that our child is already a ball of energy and that we'll definitely have our work cut out for us when he gets here and then when he starts going places on his own. Look out world...

Finally, I gave in and bought my first pair of "fashionable" maternity pants (and a pair of jeans too). You can see them in the picture below. They are not cute, but they are so comfortable. I'm definitely going to buy a few more pairs as these are so much better than my regular pants in that a) there is no button or zipper for me to have to deal with -- or not deal with as has been the case for the last few weeks, and b) well, there is no "b," my reason "a" is the only pro to wearing these hideous things.

And, yes, I know I look tired. My doctor told me so. A client told me so. I get it. But this sleeping with a pillow is really no fun. However, it's one of my "must-haves" in order for this tailbone to get better. Incidentally, I started my PT yesterday. She said that I strained or pulled the ligaments surrounding my tailbone, prescribed me some at-home exercises to do and then I have to go back twice next week for exercising in their gym. Note to anyone going for a PT evaluation: wear proper underwear -- don't assume you get to keep all your clothes on for the whole evaluation. You don't, or at least I didn't. Perhaps it was due to the nature of my complaint (pain in tailbone). At any rate, you don't want to find yourself with the PT poking around your tailbone/lower back area face-to-face with your practically bare behind. Talk about mortifying... Oh well, before this is all said and done, I'm sure there will be much worse stuff going on than a PT seeing my butt in a thong. :)

Week 20...halfway there!

We had the "big" ultrasound this week where they take the baby's measurements and make sure everything is working as it should be. We're very blessed to say that Baby Rain appears to be in perfect working order and has "all of his parts" including his package which the nurse said he was proudly displaying. Naturally, my baby daddy/hubby was very pleased especially the part about his "display." Imagine that...a Rainwater boy who is not shy... :) Anyway, I too was pleased with everything. I didn't think to ask how big he was but according to the many weekly emails I receive from various websites, he's approaching 1 lb in weight and is 9 or so inches long. I'll go back for an exam with my doc in two weeks. However, while I was there, I asked to see anyone who could see me regarding the pain in my tailbone which finally started decreasing after laying on the heating pad for most of the weekend and sleeping with a pillow under my elevated legs.

The NP (Nurse Practicioner) said that they couldn't really do anything for the pain b/c I was doing everything they'd recommend except that I needed to take my Tylenol more frequently than once a day. She also sent orders for me to undergo a PT evalutation as a preventive measure since I was having problems so early when I'm really not carrying that much extra weight -- so that at least I can learn some proper stretching exercises in order to possibly avoid more pain later on in the pregnancy. I'm all about prevention, but the PT can't see me for another week and a half. The pain is subsiding enough that I no longer have to sit on the donut, but rather am able to shift from one side of my butt to the other but still having difficulty sitting down and rising from a chair/sitting position. Oh well, I'll just go on my beach vacay next week and not worry about anything but wearing enough sunscreen and drinking enough water.

AND, in even more exciting news -- one of my bffs (Betsey) is having a baby too! She's due in February about 3 months after Baby Rain is scheduled to arrive. We're both excited to be preggo together -- for a few more months anyway! Congrats, Betsey and Everett! Incidentally, I'm already predicting they're having a boy. Apparently girl babies are not being born to anyone I know with the exception of Jessie.

Mom and Rachel (Boo) are coming to BR this weekend and we're going shopping for Boo and I to have dresses for the wedding (Mom's). I guess she's thinking I'm gonna be hard to fit (read: hard to please), so she's basically planning everyone else's attire around what I get (read: am able to fit into). I thought that was pretty thoughtful. My MIL (Debbie) came to BR last weekend so we got to visit with her for a day or so. After shopping with Alicia two weekends ago, with Deb last weekend, and with my mom and sister this weekend, my bank account is going to need a vacation! That's about all that's going on. I'm waiting on Scotty to get home from work. We're having Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti for supper, which is probably not part of his P90X healthy eating plan, but it sounds really good to me right now, so that's what we're going with!

Back Pain

As I was getting ready for work on Wednesday, I sneezed and felt a "pop" at the base of my tailbone. Standing up didn't seem to be too much of a problem. However, sitting down and getting up from sitting down was uncomfortable to say the least. I called my doctor around lunchtime just to make sure nothing sounded out of the ordinary. It wasn't, as the tailbone tends to have a lot of pressure on it at this point during the pregnancy. My options were to take Tylenol or use a heating pad or both. I went for option 3 -- taking a nice, hot bath after work. That helped, but I was still uncomfortable on Thursday. You really don't realize how many times during the day you get up from sitting only to sit down again a couple minutes later.

Then today came. It's been the worst day so far as far as being uncomfortable and in slight pain. I'd been resisting the Tylenol but finally Scotty convinced me to take it. That was a few hours ago and it's not helping much. Standing up and walking around isn't too bad, so now I'm trying to get multi-task more than usual when I stand up so that I'm not getting up and down, up and down all the time. If you experienced this "normal" tailbone pain and found a remedy that either lessened it or got rid of it altogether, please let me know. I'm hoping and praying that this isn't some kind of payback for having such a pleasant first half of pregnancy and that I don't have 5 more months of this...