29 whole weeks and I have (had) yet to have any really weird symptoms, late-night calls to the Doctor, or other major freak-outs of any sort. Until last weekend.
Jake and I have practically given up catching up on DVR’d shows in favor of the much more entertaining evening activity of watching my mid-section bounce and jab and flip and turn… all while imagining what our little bundle-o-baby is doing in there (practicing going out for pass patterns?…, ballet recitals?…, math problems?…). But then after several weeks of gloriously fun-to-watch Dance Party 2008 in my tum, Baby Fling decided to take a weekend off.
Of course all you hear when you hit 28 weeks is how important it is to do “fetal kick counts” every day to be sure the baby’s moving enough. So after 2 days of a disturbingly (to me) calm belly, we ended up spending the good portion of a Sunday afternoon in a hospital gown strapped to a fetal monitor, with nothing but red cheeks and a missed Panthers game to show for it (sorry Jake!). As soon as they hooked me up to the monitors the Flinglet started bouncing around and practically knocked off the suction thingys on my belly. Show-off. Must have been all that energy he’d built up after sleeping for 2 straight days! Baby Fling was fine, I was fine, Jake was… well, very sweet and impressively restrained in his teasing considering the situation.
And might I add a little tip here for those of you considering having a similar over-reaction sometime soon?Shave your legs. Yeah… you’d think they could just hike up your shirt and lube up your baby bump to get a read on the little one… kinda like they do at the OB . Oh no. At the hospital they make you get butt neked right when you get there and then give you nothing but a flappy cotton “dress” and socks (The socks have these cool traction lines on them though and are actually pretty great. Jake stuffed 2 extra pair in my purse when they weren’t looking, so we didn’t come away completely empty-handed. Shhhh, don’t tell.)
So I’m curious… did any of you have episodes like this while you were preggo? I feel like it’s so not “me” to over-react like this, but when you know you’re the only person in the world who’s really 100% in tune with what’s going on with this kiddo 100% of the time until he’s out of your bod for the world to enjoy… well, that’s a lot of pressure. Who’s gonna over-react on behalf of my baby if not his mama?!
So share your over-reactions with me and let’s celebrate our well-intended Drama Queen-ness together!
First off, I love that you finally have a little belly showing! Gotta love the bump!
I didnt have a similar experience – Nate jabbed me everyday up until I delivered – but reading your post reminded me of an episode of “Tori & Dean: Inn Love.” (No I did not usually watch that but I did catch an episode or two…) Anyways, she was preggo with baby #1 and went into her doctor almost every DAY if she did not feel him kick. I am not exaggerating. Thank goodness her doc was super sweet. (It could have been just b/c he was on TV though). Anyways, I was laughing the whole time, like, what a psycho. But of course, I was not preggo at the time and had never experienced it. I can now understand why she was acting psycho!!
Hi, we haven’t met, but I’ve known Jake forever, and I must say your posts are here have been great for a chuckle! I had a similar experience with my first, on a day when my hubby was out of town, so my sister-in-law took me to the hsopital, where we, and my entire family spent the afternoon. That wasn’t so bad, the only bad part was the nurse going, “Hmmm, I can’t find a heartbeat here” and walking out of the room….Luckily everything was fine, but you want to talk about drama? I was sure someone was gonna get arrested! Anyway, maybe you can use this opportunity to ask Jake for one of those headphone thingys so you can listen to the baby…
So cute. So fun! Keep the stories coming.
Oh no! I’m sorry you two had to go through that!
I only had one freak out moment, and they ended up having to enduce 3 weeks early. Better safe than sorry!
Hahaha… thanks for sharing Emilys and Kendra! And mom… glad you find my trauma’s “cute and fun.”
-Tori
Drink a tall glass of icy cold water….that should get the little one dancing. (hey if it has the talent of the two of you it probably was taking a break from dancing, throwing, swinging…etc…) But hey, that’s what the hospital’s for…get used to the undressing…it only gets better!!!
Margaret
I ended up in tears in my doctor’s office around week 20 swearing up and down that I was having appendicitis or a kidney stone. Nah. Just a ligament stretching or something. yeah, I felt stupid but whatever. Better to be safe than sorry sometimes. I don’t know why it so entertaining to watch the belly move too! I gave up on shaving my legs. Can’t reach them. and thank you for getting a bigger pooch for my own selfish reasons.
Same thing happened to me. Here is a tip. Orange juice is a great way to get that little one going again. I don’t know if its the sugar or what, but my sister told me that and it worked for me.
Oh, go ahead and give up on the looking nice for the doctors. Once a doctor is holding up your naked hoo ha in front of a room of moving nurses as doors are opening and closing, shaving is the last of your worries… Oh, the joy of childbirth. No one said that modesty was included.
Jake needs to “MAN-UP”. Mark was shaving my legs every other day and painting my toe nails at least bi-weekly. Have a I taught you nothing in 15 years? Play this pregoness up. When else can you over-react and be dramatic AND get away with it? I’m glad that the Flinglet is back in full fling and I can’t wait to watch him/her move all around next week!
I literally over reacted to EVERYTHING. The OBGYN must have thought I was crazy. I got so accostomed to sonograms because of my complaining…I got angry when at a normal checkup they weren’t going to do it…in fact, I guilted the PA into doing one…call that my pursasive sales skills at work.
I was such a baby that when they tried to do a normal routine exam at the end, I had a fit during it and after the Dr said “you are a great candidate for a epidural”. I laughed until about an hour later when I realized I should have been insulted. Of course, she was completely right!!! I could be the poster child for epidurals and all things in relation to drama…it is your first baby…you are allowed!!!
I almost forgot…pedicures, massages and your husband waiting on you hand and foot…this is the time to exploit it all. In fact, now after giving birth 3m onths later…I miss the “I’ll carry that for you” or “You can have the last piece of cake-you’re pregnant”. It all ends too soon. Take advantage now!!!