Swelling

So I'm pre-registered at the hospital. We're signed up for the diaper
service and are pre-paid for 6 weeks of service. We've contracted with a
doula and she's been paid in full. We had our last Bradley Method class on
Tuesday, and our midwife looked over our birth plan and signed off on it
today. The few things remaining on our baby to do list are to finish
setting up the baby's room, install the carseats and get them inspected by
the sheriff, pay for placenta encapsulation, and finish packing a labor and
delivery bag. Oh, and get some more prenatal pics done. A photographer
friend of mine took some after my baby shower the other day and they looked
pretty good, but she wanted to do some more one day. I've also got another
baby shower coming up in four more weeks, a breastfeeding class and a baby
CPR class.

In other news, a lady at work mused that it looked like I was starting to
carry lower. That same day, I started noticing some pretty severe hip and
pubic bone pain. It's really bad today, so I asked about it and the
midwives say it's completely normal and that the baby is probably preparing
to engage in my pelvis (albeit a little early). Also, my fundal height
measured 36cm at 34 weeks today, so it's right on. I've been drinking red
raspberry leaf tea and eating figs and doing anything else I can to make
sure that everything goes smoothly for delivery.

I've had pretty bad swelling since Sunday when I spent a few hours outside
in really bad heat on a riverboat cruise. I didn't drink enough water that
day either, so when I swelled up on Monday, I wasn't too surprised. What
did surprise me is that it persisted. I kept trying to put my feet up and
even iced them, which usually does the trick. When I woke up on Wednesday
with swollen feet AND ankles (which was new since usually I just notice a
bit of puffiness on the tops of my feet, but my ankles are okay) and my
hands were also feeling stiff and swollen, I decided to take some drastic
action. When I got off work, I soaked in a tub of epsom salts with the jets
on for over an hour. That seemed to do the trick. I have also been sucking
down massive amounts of water. I was really worried about the swelling, but
my blood pressure if still fine and I haven't had any protein in my urine,
so it looks like I'm not headed towards pre-eclampsia.


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