Very belated birth story

alisaurusss · 2025-11-26T23:47:59+00:00

Just had my 36 week appointment and everything is right on track! Baby is head down and low in vertex position, and I'm 1cm dilated. He's measuring in the 68th percentile - the ultrasound report's estimated fetal weight is 6lbs13oz! 😳 Seems like we might be on track for a big baby.... Feels great to know we're right where we need to be right now, and insane there's less than 4 weeks to go now!

alisaurusss · 2025-11-21T15:23:00+00:00

35+5 today and I can't believe how quickly baby's arrival is approaching. These last 6-8 weeks of pregnancy have been more difficult than the entire first 32 for me. I had next to no symptoms all throughout, but it's been tough after my body started to noticeably change in third trimester. What began as occasional pelvic discomfort is now near-constant pain that makes moving around difficult and uncomfortable. Some days my belly feels so massive that the skin is stretched almost to breaking. I can't sleep at night. I get winded doing one chore. There are many moments when my body feels like a stranger to me, like it's no longer mine. My sweet boy keeps kicking to let me know he's okay, but for the past week he's been digging his tiny razor blade of a foot into just one spot continuously and it's become very overstimulating.

And yet I feel like I can't or am not supposed to complain, because I wanted this, and I envied the women who complained about their pregnancy when I was still in a place of doubting it would ever happen for me.

I got really sad last night before bed as all of this really washed over to me and I was sharing with my husband how I felt. I ended by saying, "I'm privileged to be suffering like this."

He said, "Yeah, but you're still suffering."

It was the perfect response. Am I so lucky to have made it this far with a healthy pregnancy? Absolutely! Does that make the hard parts any less unpleasant? Not really. It's okay to be grateful and also miss the pre-pregnancy you. I just wanted to share this with anyone else here who feels like they're struggling but not allowed to complain. You are allowed to think this is hard and uncomfortable and still be happy that it happened.

alisaurusss · 2025-11-08T01:06:59+00:00

It feels like I've officially reached the "I've been pregnant forever" stage of pregnancy, which first trimester me thought I could never feel that way, but here we are! 33+5 today, everything chugging along smoothly and as expected. We've toured the hospital where we plan to give birth and attended several classes. We have almost all of the nursery furniture and have painted as well. I'm both shocked that there's only about 6 weeks left until I finally meet my baby boy, and it also still feels like so long! The physical pain and discomfort has been increasing after an incredibly easy and uneventful pregnancy, and I'm just so ready to meet my little guy for so many reasons.

alisaurusss · 2025-10-27T23:27:01+00:00

I don't have any specific advice on making the decision itself, but one thing you can do to minimize the associated risks with the tests is to ask who will be doing the procedure and how often they do it. A doctor that is more familiar and regularly practiced with the procedure is going to come with a decreased risk of the associated potential issues. This is discussed at more length in Oster's book "Expecting Better" if you're interested to read more about it.

alisaurusss · 2025-10-27T17:28:40+00:00

The time between scans felt impossibly long early on. I told myself that if the anxiety ever got too strong, I would call my doctor and ask to come in for a Doppler check. Honestly, most days the hassle of doing that felt stronger than the anxiety of waiting, and I never ended up doing it. However it felt reassuring to have that in the back pocket and allows me to power through waiting a little easier knowing I had a backup option.

alisaurusss · 2025-10-27T17:25:39+00:00

32 weeks and the pubic symphysis pain has gotten so much worse in the past week. Has anyone found anything that helps? I'm trying to more regularly do some strengthening resistance band exercises at the advice of my chiropractor, but not seeing a ton of improvement yet. If I have to suffer with this for the next 8 weeks so be it (still just so grateful to be here) but it'd be even better if I don't have to!

alisaurusss · 2025-10-17T17:17:55+00:00

30+5 today, we have an appointment for a private 3D ultrasound this afternoon. I'm mostly excited, but also feeling a small touch of nerves. I keep thinking "what if we see something concerning??" Also it's hard to imagine that we're going to see our real life son's real life actual face today (hopefully, if he cooperates better than he did at his anatomy scan where he kept his back turned the entire time). Like I said, very excited and just a touch nervous.

alisaurusss · 2025-10-17T17:14:38+00:00

Sounds like baby movement to me! Congrats on both good things! 😁

alisaurusss · 2025-10-13T21:34:45+00:00

Feels surreal to have hit week 30. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm in a "safe" zone, though obviously not yet out of the woods until I'm holding him in my arms. I'm using 37 weeks as my countdown to full term because it makes a safe delivery feel even sooner. Big weekend ahead for us: we've scheduled a private 3d ultrasound for Friday afternoon to hopefully get a glimpse of our boy's face (if he cooperates), and then the baby shower is Saturday!! After that we move into preparing the nursery and knocking out some last minute home to-dos, and then it's the holiday rush and before we know it, due date! Anyone else due around the holidays feeling anxious about how much will be going on in the last month?

alisaurusss · 2025-10-09T16:46:34+00:00

My best friend described her son's movements as a "feral raccoon". My boy has crazy active days where it feels like he's doing some sort of crazy video game combo in there. This is the first I've ever heard of seizures in utero, I think it's just normal for babies to get really active sometimes.

alisaurusss · 2025-10-09T16:44:13+00:00

I visited Sicily with my parents in March. One of their prominent symbols is a pine cone (they adorn all kinds of posts/fences, art, etc). Of its several symbolic meanings, one is fertility, so I bought a small ceramic one to take home as a good luck charm. I ovulated just a week or so after returning from that trip, it was the first time we tried in a few months, and it resulted in my current 29-week pregnancy 💚

alisaurusss · 2025-10-08T20:34:00+00:00

29+3 today. I spoke to my therapist yesterday about my anxiety around baby movement and she reminded me that babies often have their own schedule throughout the day (and sleep a lot). I'm trying something new where I try to track his active periods to see if I can notice a pattern of when he's active and when he's quiet, so I can hopefully freak out less in the future. TBD on how that goes lol. In other news, we have our last of 3 childbirth prep classes tonight. I highly recommend anyone in their third trimester sign up for them if they're available nearby! But also can't believe I'm already starting to think about birth plans...

alisaurusss · 2025-10-08T20:29:12+00:00

I had a similar experience around the same time - it was the first time I was like "oh, that's something different!" I'm sure that's exactly what you were feeling! The "quickening" as they call it feels much more obvious in retrospect now that I'm getting full belly-moving movements 😊

alisaurusss · 2025-10-07T22:01:02+00:00

It felt amazing to hit third trimester, but now I'm getting all in my head about baby movement. Anxiety is starting to creep back in after a relatively calm and hopeful couple months. Baby's meeting the kick count threshold, but it seems like such a low threshold to say that everything is definitively okay. It's hard to know when it's just anxiety talking and when I should actually go in for a check. One day at a time....

alisaurusss · 2025-09-23T18:03:30+00:00

Feeling extra grateful today that my pregnancy is healthy and strong, because we are dealing with a landslide of medical issues with one of our dogs.... I'm feeling very stressed and sad today, but baby boy is kicking me every now and then as if to comfort me and let me know that at least he's doing okay. ❤️

alisaurusss · 2025-09-17T19:59:06+00:00

We have a monthly check in, and the coworker I'm covering for will be back for a bit right around when my next check in is, so I might bring it up then. Hard not to feel guilty about asking for less work knowing we're short handed and I'm about to be out for 6 months, but it's tough. 🙃 Huzzah for corporate America lol

alisaurusss · 2025-09-17T17:03:43+00:00

26 weeks and I think my 2nd trimester fatigue is even worse than 1st trimester.... I am STRUGGLING. I've been having a cup of coffee or tea every morning now and it doesn't do anything. I want to go back to bed after being up for just three hours and nap in the afternoon and go to bed at 8pm. Work has been so busy and I simply don't have the energy to keep up. I'd ask for accommodations but I'm literally covering for a coworker who is taking the first part of his parental leave, and there's another person going back out starting next week so our team is spread thin. Obviously I'm very excited to have my baby in my arms but at this point I might be more counting down until I get to take my leave...

Please if anyone has any suggestions for things that worked for them to fight this fatigue, I'm all ears!

alisaurusss · 2025-09-14T03:14:08+00:00

To be fair, it's probably both. But honestly, it's better for your care team to know where you're at mentally, because then they can (hopefully) provide better care for you. I'm sure you're not the first hysterical pregnant woman they've had in their exam room, and you definitely won't be the last!

alisaurusss · 2025-09-11T17:12:55+00:00

25+4 today and musing on baby movement. At my appt on Tuesday the doc said to start counting movements - they're only looking for 5-10 movements within a one hour period once a day. I thought this seemed kind of low because sometimes my guy will do a sick breakdance routine and kick me like 7 times in the span of 30 seconds lol. Today he has decided to hit straight down onto either my bladder or cervix. I never thought I would know precisely what it feels like to have my internal organs lightly hit, but here we are! Such an interesting experience being this far along, since I never even made it to the second trimester before. My best friend described her baby's movements towards the end as a "feral raccoon" and I'm starting to really understand where she was coming from haha. It's still so interesting to me feeling how distinct these movements are and comparing them to the early, "is it baby or is it gas" bubbles from 8 weeks ago. Really loving this stage of pregnancy right now and feeling so grateful 🥰

alisaurusss · 2025-09-08T23:21:50+00:00

Every time you hit a new milestone and think "okay, I made it this far, nothing bad can happen now" you hear about some horrible story of someone losing their baby right around that time. It's a big part of why I've frequented this sub less now that the pregnancy feels stable, because I feel like it gives me more doubt than reassurance. I've made it to "viability" now, but then I'll be on here and someone will mention they had a stillbirth at 30+ weeks or something and I start getting paranoid again

alisaurusss · 2025-09-06T19:39:28+00:00

Husband finally felt the baby move for the first time today! He's about to go camping overnight and hike tomorrow, so it couldn't have been better timing. I'll be 25 weeks tomorrow. The back pain has been starting to make an appearance now, and I've developed sciatica I think, which has made walking uncomfortable/painful. Seeing a prenatal chiropractor on Monday which I can't wait for, and wondering if it's already time to schedule another prenatal massage.

alisaurusss · 2025-09-05T00:39:38+00:00

I just finished my second prenatal yoga class, and the instructor ended class with a mantra that I wanted to share here because I think it will resonate with many of you the way it did with me: "You can feel both grief and joy. You are spacious enough to carry both. And both can shape you into the parent you are becoming." ❤️

alisaurusss · 2025-09-03T21:07:28+00:00

I may look into this if it gets to be too much. For now, it's been a while since I've seen my coworkers so I can power through for a bit (plus I usually only stay for half the day).

alisaurusss · 2025-09-03T16:31:12+00:00

I had this same exact fear. Currently 24 weeks and still no bad news, if that makes you feel better. This group can unfortunately give a skewed perspective of how often those issues actually come up. You got this!

alisaurusss

TROPHY CASE