Progress

This week, I had my third chiropractic appointment. I'm going to confess something now, if you'll promise not to tell on me.

The first week I went in, when I laid on my stomach (sort of; she has a pregnancy pillow thing that's like a crater for my belly), a dull pain shot down my left leg. It was "dull" in the sense that it was old and worn, but it still hurt like the Dickens. When she worked my lower spine, where the ruptured disc was (is?), it recalled the pain from before, though obviously not as acute as it was a year and a half ago.

When I'd turned to my back and she had me squeeze my knees together with her fist in between them, it was difficult and uncomfortable. I felt weak. I couldn't work up a good squeeze because it hurt.

That first visit, she asked me, "Does that hurt?" And I said, "Nope."

So, yeah. That was a lie.

Same thing the second time I visited. I chalked it up to, "Oh well, it's just always going to be sore. And, besides, delivery is going to be worse if I don't get everything aligned to the most advantageous position."

But then, I went in on Tuesday, and when I laid on my stomach, it didn't really hurt. When she manipulated my spine, there was not the same tenderness. And when she asked me to squeeze, I felt like I was operating under my full strength.

Maybe as my back healed, I still favored one side or another or had my balance weird enough to the point that, while I was avoiding experiencing pain, I hadn't worked out some weirdness. Also, I've been told that my premature swelling might be due to some stagnant fluid left over from that whole thing.

I didn't really think that my back was an issue, pregnancy-wise; I wasn't worried about it. But now it seems like the first thing chiropractic might be doing is sweeping out the cobwebs of that to make way for a completely healthy start.

I'm excited to see what happens over the next two months. I feel great, and I felt great going into chiropractic care... So if, after three visits, I'm already seeing appreciable improvements, then I wonder what seven more treatments will yield.

Domestically, we're in the throes of getting the cats used to the nursery, but trained not to get into the crib. Although they're welcome to lay on the Wampa rug or under the crib in "baby jail," the crib itself is off-limits. Aish jumped in once, and got the message to stay out. Rudy has hopped in a few times, but he's not obsessed. Carol, however, is determined to make the crib her new home.

When we try to remove Carol, she digs her front claws in and tries to pull up the sheet. I had the "brilliant" idea to put the baby gym in the crib, but it turns out that she loves that, too. She especially loves the crinkle-paper features. So we throw her out. Again and again.

Some friends online suggested a mesh crib cover. I looked this morning, and while "crib tents" used to be a "thing," they don't appear to be made anymore, so that existing ones are over $100. And the tie-down mesh covers have really bad reviews.

So we throw Carol out of the crib. (Being careful to palm her front claws first, so she doesn't grab anything with them.)

This morning, I threw her out six times within the span of just over an hour. This is probably good exercise. Sit down, get up. Sit down, get up. The seventh time, though, she hopped out of the crib as soon as I started to stand up. She tried two more times to get cozy in there, but all I had to do those times was to walk in and ask her to get down, and she did. She hasn't gone back in during the past hour.

More progress, right?

It's been very humid and sunny and disgusting the past few days, but I'm thinking that tonight (after a day of more humidity but mostly cloud-cover and some downpours), I might try to ride my bike up to Wheatsville Co-Op to get a couple of things, but mostly to get some exercise.

We have been swimming a few times, and that feels divine. There are free pools all around Austin, but so far we've only gone to Deep Eddy and Lifetime Fitness when they had a homeschool day. We'll go to Barton Springs soon, too. The closest free pool to us is a neighborhood pool with literally no parking. We *could* walk, but it's in a valley and we'd have to ascend a pretty overwhelming hill both ways. It's not so bad on the way there, but once you've cooled down by swimming, it sucks to get all gross on the way home.

Although I've done this, riding my bike home from Deep Eddy. I wish I could get Daphne to do this with me, but I don't think she's ready to make the ride back; it's a little more challenging than our "normal" rides.

This weekend, we had a childbirth class at our birthing center, and it was pretty interesting. Apparently, until I've had contractions every 7-10 minutes for an hour, they're not ready for me to come... unless it goes from 7-10 minutes to 5 minutes pretty consistently and quickly.

She said they try to be very aware of how much information the mom wants, and if I say I don't want to know how "far along" I am, they won't tell me. And they'll stay out of the way unless I need something.

After the baby is born, they don't cut the cord until the placenta is delivered, which is interesting. And as long as there are no concerns, they don't usually perform the newborn check-up for an hour or so.

The instructor said that usually an hour or two after the baby is born, it will go to sleep, and they encourage the mom to shower at that time. Then we can plan on leaving 3-6 hours after the baby is born, as long as there are no complications or worries.

This sounds so much better to me than petitioning after hours and hours in the hospital ti finally be "allowed" to go home.

Today I'm starting my 30th week, which means we're pretty much 3/4 of the way there. Two and a half months to go! And I'm not rushing it... I don't know whether it's the weather or the chiropractic adjustments or what, but I'm sleeping like a rock for 8-10 hours per night. I'm enjoying it *so* much and trying not to take it for granted. I know I only have 10 weeks, max, to revel in the sleep before everything gets bonkers.