Pre/Post Drop

As I approach the due date, Zoe's head has in fact dropped lower into my pelvis. It's very interesting how much different this feels then it did before.  Let's just say, I'm glad the whole pregnancy isn't like this.

Here are a few major comfort differences between the baby being higher vs lower....

Prior to dropping I found that belly and by breast interfered with each others space.  Often times I would want to sit holding by boobs just so that my ribs weren't jabbing into them.  This sounds a lot worse then it was.  It was more just a random discomfort that affected me on occasion.  I also found that breathing was a lot harder.  When Zoe was higher going up stairs, felt like the most exhausting things I had ever done in my life.  I would get to the top of the stairs, and find my self breathing has hard as I possibly could. When a baby   is pressing against your lungs it not only makes it hard for you to catch a breath, but hard to breath as well.  Try to talk to a room full of students was extremely difficult during this time.

Now that Zoe has dropped breathing is much easier, and talking to my class is as well.  However, other discomforts have come with her new positioning. Imagine a little person pushing on your pelvis from the inside. As my pelvis is being forced to spread sleeping has become difficult.  My husband will tell you I am not a still sleeper.  I've always like to roll back and forth between my sides that I sleep on. But just rolling over in bed has become excruciatingly painful at times. I've heard it described as having a bowling ball between your legs.  I would probably describe it more like a cantaloupe, but that just because Zoe is smaller.  Regardless I feel it is better described as my legs fells like they are being pushed/pulled out of their sockets, and certain movements do not feel good.

I also find myself continually questioning if I am having contractions or not. A week ago Friday I swore I was.  After getting upset at one of my classes at school I found that I had this very sharp pain in me belly.  Something....new....I had not felt a pain like that before. The only reason I suspected that it wasn't a contraction was because it lasted for a while.  However during this cramp I was getting hot flashes and very uncomfortable. After, settling down with a water at friends house the cramp went away.  However on my way home for there I felt another one, however minor in comparison to the first.   That evening I sat relaxing, and very aware of what my body was doing.  Maybe a little to aware, and maybe reading into signs that were nothing. Regardless, my husband and I decided to take a stroll just in case it was early labor.  After the stroll lets just say it was not labor, and the kind of thing that a bathroom break helped fix. Since that night I have been feeling these random cramps (nothing rhythmic, repetitive, or even sever) but enough to raise an eyebrow in question at time.  At my last doctors visit I asked my doctor if  contractions start off mild.  She proceeded to explain that it is possible that my body is practicing contractions.  Today I feel as though I've been feeling these mild cramps on an hourly basis.  Yet, I don't feel like their anything to phone the hospital about or even get my husband excited about.  I don't believe they are true contractions because everything I read and hear tells me I WILL KNOW when I'm having contractions.  Part of me still wonders, Am I really going to know?  Or am I reading to much into my body signs that I'm making nothing into something just because I'm excited about meeting Zoe.

Here we are 3 days away from my due date.  This day that has been burned into my head for the last 9 months.  Is it possible to think of anything other then meeting my daughter?  Am I thinking about it to much, to the point where I'm causing her to take longer?  I just know the closer I get to the due date, and if I pass the due date there is a higher potential from them to induce her, and I don't want that to happen.