Ooomph. I swear this baby put on like 2lbs over the course of a week… okay, maybe not. But he’s sure gotten more uncomfortable in leaps and bounds. My belly feels so much heavier than it did before, though I think a lot of that depends on the position Devin puts himself in. I find that when he’s forward it feels a lot heavier than when he’s closer to my spine – makes sense, really. I really am not a fan of when he leans forward… it feels heavy, it puts a lot of pressure on my bladder, and it’s much harder to move around! Just lifting a knee up feels like I’m squashing myself.

Sleep is frustrating. Ever since my limb circulation started sucking and I can’t sleep on my arm anymore it means I can’t sleep in my one and only favored position. Which makes life more difficult. I really thought my belly would be the thing preventing me from sleeping, not my damn arms! So as it is I have to have both arms in front of me (I can’t put one behind me, hurts my shoulder), basically “hugging” a pillow, and sleep entirely on my side. Which puts pressure on my hip. Which starts aching after a few hours. So then I wake up and kind of stretch and roll around and try to roll over, which, because of the pressure down low, makes me really have to pee. So yeah. Getting up to pee about 2-3 times a night now. I don’t wake up because of it but when I do wake up and try to move I gotta go.

I do find it funny, though, that however much bigger he is (and my uterus and whatever else goes on in there), my stomach must be more squished than it was in my second trimester, and yet I’m able to eat a lot more. How does THAT make sense?? But sheesh, I’m constantly hungry. This morning I woke up and didn’t want to get out of bed right away (it was cold, and I had a cat or two curled up on me), but about half an hour later I was starting to feel nauseated with hunger. So I had to go eat. (French toast – yay for fitting another egg into my meals.) Two slices and I’m still hungry. You certainly wouldn’t know my stomach was being squashed in there. Or maybe it’s just become a straight-through bottomless pit? LOL

In terms of eating habits I’m doing my best, but it’s hard to get 80g of protein every day. I’m getting tired of protein-laden foods, but if I eat a meal with little to no good protein in it then I find it really hard to make up later. I try to keep good snacks around, either protein like little cheese packages or nut bars or yogurt, or else I like to grab fruits and veggies. Strawberries are hit-or-miss at the grocery store at this time of year (they’re all a little pathetic looking), but I’m keeping stocked on bananas and I’ve rediscovered how good celery with peanut butter tastes. (I normally can’t stand celery, I ONLY eat it sliced up with peanut butter. I will even pick celery out of sandwiches and salads.) And of course I still try to get some servings of whole wheat in every day, whether it’s from cereal or bread or something else.

And then there’s the chocolate I “let” myself have every evening, but that serves no nutritional purpose… just emotional. ;)

Admission: I don’t do kick counts. As I was explaining to Den last night, this kid is so active that doing “kick counts” lasts only about 2 minutes until he hits his quota of 10 separate movements. Of course he’s not always THAT active, but he’s active often enough that I feel no need to track it. On the rare days that he’s pretty quiet I do pay more attention to make sure there’s still some movement going on, but it usually just means he’s in an odd position where I can’t feel as much.

Gotta love the kicks down low though. Talking with Den last night I kept punctuating my sentences with “Ow!” and “Hey, cut it out!” Sometimes it just felt like wiggles down low that made me squirm… sometimes it was a nice sharp jab to something that made me jump. I think I have an octopus in there.

Well the monster is satisfied with the food, so it’s time to try to catch more sleep. I’m not sure exactly how many hours I’m getting at night, but I know it’s not enough. Growing a baby is exhausting!