32 Weeks!

Sorry -- I usually post a photo with the even-numbered weekly updates. I'll have to do that later. I'm already in my pj's, and it's not photo-friendly.  Rest assured, there will be a photo posted this week.

So I'm 32 weeks pregnant. I understand that Mac is about 19 inches and 4 pounds. He may get a little longer, but mostly he'll be adding weight for the next several weeks. He's also been very, very busy, and his kicks are definitely getting stronger. Sometimes, the MacDaddy can see them from the outside -- my belly bumping out in weird directions. It almost looks like an alien's about to burst out of there!

No more than 9 weeks to go!  We'd better get going on the nursery...

Which reminds me: all my hard work* this weekend? No good deed goes unpunished. I had my 32-week appointment this morning and it turned out I had high blood pressure.  122 over 86.  Not through the roof, and in fact the "top" number is fine. It's just the 86 that's a problem.  It should be no higher than 80.

So what does high blood pressure mean? Well, it's virtually the only symptom. I had a headache this weekend, but that may have been related to my flights to and from Vegas on Friday. And I've been swelling, but, hey, I'm pregnant and it's August in Arizona. But if I have some combination of high BP, headaches, swelling, and protein in my urine, then I get diagnosed as having pre-eclampsia. Which would be very dangerous.

Fortunately, I had told my doctor that I was pretty tired and achy from the weekend and my knees were hurting, so she was aware that I had worked pretty hard. She thinks I overdid it and everything will be fine.

So for now, she told me to take it a little easier, get plenty of rest, and take my blood pressure in about a week. As long as it's below 130 over 85, she'll see me at 34 weeks. If it's at or above that, she wants me to call.

So no more major moves or building armoires for me. I'm hoping I can get away with putting together the nightstands and helping the MacDaddy assemble the crib, but it doesn't have to be such a rush.

In the mean time, I'll continue with my high-chocolate diet to help prevent pre-eclampsia.

* I'll describe all my hard work in later posts on Phases 2 and 3 of the nursery set-up. For now, suffice it to say that I worked hard. I worked my bootie off. It may not have seemed like much to someone who has never had to carry around a baby in the belly, but my entire body ached, both Saturday and Sunday nights.