Pregnancy Update: 26 Weeks

How many weeks are you now?
26 Weeks + 6 Days

Baby's size? 
Eggplant and measuring right at 27 weeks! My little basketball! :)

Weight gain?
According to my home scale, I've gained 14 pounds but according to the Doctor's office scale, I've gained 18. Sooo, somewhere in there!

I officially weigh the most I've ever weighed in my life and it's the oddest thing to see those numbers on the scale! As long as everyone's healthy, I'm ok with whatever! :)

Symptoms:

Oh boy. This week has been a doozey.

Apart from the sinus garbage that's been going around (and losing my voice), I've also had a few strange symptoms. Here's the problem - as a first time mom, I have no clue what's normal and what's not normal. I wasn't sure if I was going crazy, dying, or just having normal pregnancy symptoms.

The first symptom I've experienced is this odd sensation over my bump - tightening when I stand up from a sitting position to walk around. I've also felt a lot of lower pelvic pressure and some cramping (which is the part that really freaked me out). When I described the sensations to my MD this week, she got concerned that I was having early contractions and pretty much took me off all of the "extra" stuff. I have to be careful at work, sit as much as possible, don't push wheelchairs anymore, sit as much as possible, take it easy, did I mention sit as much as possible? Well, you get the picture. None of the above is easy for me and my non-diagnosed ADD self but it's absolutely necessary to keep Baby Seal in there as long as possible. If I don't follow those instructions, the next step is bed rest and taking me completely off of work. Needless to say, I'm following her instructions and I'm a-ok with that right now!!

She also checked my cervix and I'm not dilated or anything like that. The last thing she did was an fFN test to check and see if I'm going to deliver in the next three weeks. Thank goodness that was negative!

The other symptom I've been experiencing is near-syncope. It's the ODDEST thing. At first I thought I was just standing too long but then it happened while we were watching Star Wars earlier this week (and I was sitting down)! Basically, my heart rate will slowly rise and before long, I can feel it pounding out of my chest...then I start to see stars. Now, I do have PSVT but this isn't my normal PSVT - this isn't like my heart is jumping into another rhythm like an electric shock. Basically, my heart rate just slowly rises and I start to see stars. The fastest I've counted so far has been in the 130's but it's usually in the 120's. Most of the time, I just have to change positions and it slows back down again and the stars go away....like when it happened during the movie, I just moved to my left side and laid my head down on Jason's arm and my heart rate returned to normal and the stars subsided. My thoughts are that the baby is pressing on something he's not supposed to which is causing my heart to go out of whack. My OB thinks I might be anemic and we'll see on upcoming blood work. I know I'm not dehydrated because I've been drinking at least 120 oz of water per day!

In the meantime of all of this, I ordered a Gabriella support band from Amazon and it arrived yesterday. I'm hoping that helps!

Whew...see what I mean? This week's appointment was definitely a full one! We would appreciate the prayers that Baby Seal cooks as long as possible! :)

Exercise:
Does sitting count? As mentioned above, I've been taken off all "extra" which includes walking. I'm glad I already made the decision to defer Princess!!

Cravings?
Nothing new this week!

Aversions? 

Just keep the fish away from me....

Sleep:

I've woken up a few times with Charlie horse cramps in my legs but other than that, it's been great! I am back to being super sleepy during the day, though...almost feels like the first trimester in that aspect.

Purchases:

Nothing new this past week.

What I miss: 

Moving around and being my normal hyper self.

What I’m looking forward to:
2016....it's the year baby Seal will officially meet us! My husband and I are also supposed to go furniture shopping (without a lot of walking) sometime in the near future and I'm really looking forward to that!

Best Moment of the Week:

Feeling Baby Seal move so much...he's really super active lately (probably because I'm not super active and he's wondering what in the world is going on)!

Well, that's it! Although I'm encouraged not to partake in anything distance related for the time being, I'm super proud of my accomplishments while pregnant thus far and looking forward to logging more miles with Baby Seal once he's out in the world! :) My present circumstances will only be for a short time and I'm ok with that - my running shoes will still be there waiting for me when I return!

Happy New Year's Eve! Here's to a fun-filled and safe 2016!

Were you ever on "extra rest" while pregnant? If so, what did you do to pass the time?