Happy Tuesday ya’ll! Another month has passed and “shit is gettin real” round here. We have made it passed the 37th week mark which is what we needed to get to in order to go to the birth center we attend to give birth. Now to go into labor before the 42nd week. After that, (legally in CA) we would then have to deliver in a hospital. I’m actually at 38.5 weeks today. So here’s to heavy squattin and all the other pregnancy “tricks” to stimulate labor! (Kidding, I’m not actually trying to go into labor just quite yet. Baby Hines is apparently content to keep cookin for now).
CrossFit
As I stated last month, I’m still feeling good working out. It’s the other parts of the day that are getting difficult. Luckily I coach mostly in the mornings and can go into my cave (house) to hide as I slowly break down later in the day. I have more than doubled my weight gain for the entire pregnancy in this third trimester. Kinda crazy. I’m right around 30#’s up in weight. I’ve officially decided that I’m done going for runs. I will still jog very slowly at the gym if it’s in a workout or for warm up, but I no longer go out for a run. It’s not that it’s super painful or anything, but the pressure in my pelvis is getting very uncomfortable and sometimes I feel as though I’m going to lose all my organs when I jog. Not the most awesome feeling. Giovanni is a little disappointed, but he’s coping.
Here is a VIDEO of a partner workout done with my husband. In between thrusters, ring rows, and step-ups, your partner is running 200m. I still don’t really feel like I have loose joints as many women state feeling. Especially in the hips. They feel stable and strong from all my squatting. I do hope that they are actually getting looser so as to let Baby Hines slide on out, but so far I don’t notice anything. Strength-wise I am really feeling good. I have been back squatting around 160# still and a couple weeks ago I power snatched 95# easily. While these are not super high numbers normally, they are still more than I thought I’d be doing at this point in my pregnancy. Check out the VIDEO. It looks like I will not be changing up a barbell for kettlebells or dumbbells during this pregnancy. Except for kettlebell swings, I just lift differently with the barbell. Hopefully this doesn’t make my lifting terrible post partum. Here’s another VIDEO that I made during a Saturday morning workout at CrossFit Cypher during power snatch day. The rest of my workout modifications are the same as about a month ago in my last blog post. Coaching is still going well except that I have to rely on other people to do my demos a lot of the time. This mostly revolves around core work. I haven’t tried going into a handstand since 35 weeks. I’m sure I still could, but it doesn’t really appeal to me at this point.
Pregnancy
I start the day feeling pretty ok, and then dwindle to a hopeless mess on my living room floor by the afternoon/evening. I have a nice little padded nest set up in front of the tv and fireplace with my necessary 7 pillows. Giovanni thoroughly enjoys it. My list of pains is pretty different from last month. Surprisingly foot pain is not really a complaint anymore. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m on my feet for shorter time periods (i.e. not working at the school anymore), or my feet finally acclimated even with my heavier self. Related to this is that any swelling I had in my feet and ankles is dramatically decreased now too. I can tell I am slightly swollen because I don’t wear my wedding ring anymore. It is too tight and I 
start to get a red, itchy rash underneath it. So a single, prego, lady I be. My sacrum/SI joint complaints have also decreased. Baby Hines has definitely gone lower into my pelvis. I still feel it once in awhile, but not nearly as often. This has helped my breathing issues slightly, though he still is high up under my right rib kicking away with those tootsies. At my last prenatal appointment (4 days ago) my midwives estimated him to be 6.75 pounds. And we’re still 2 weeks out! Eek! He’s freaking me out with this growth rate. He is a good, healthy size though and that makes us happy. The bulk of my belly is still on my right side, which confuses the student midwives every visit. They think that that is the side his body is on (which would make sense) but it’s not. That is the side of his limbs and where I feel all the kicking. They always find his heart rate on the opposite side where his body is. This is due to 2 possibilities: 1) I am a small person with a short torso so his limbs are just all jammed up and crossed creating the bulk or 2) He already has little speedskater/cyclist quads and they’re just massive inside there. Or both. My latest list of physical discomforts looks like this:
- Braxton Hicks– I never felt these contractions until week 37, and boy have they been making up for lost time. They are pretty intense and usually come in the evenings. I really don’t feel much of a relief or break from them once they start. They feel constant. The only way to make them stop is to lay down. Freakin gravity! grrrrrrrr……Today is actually the first day that I started having them earlier in the day. At about 9:30am (when i got home from the gym) is when they started. So clearly they are getting more frequent.
- Pelvic pressure- This is how I know that Baby Hines has gotten lower into my pelvis. Almost 2 weeks ago now I started waddling more when I walk and feeling like something may fall out of me. And my bladder is basically being crunched all the time. I literally never know when I actually have to pee because it feels like I always do. Again, this isn’t super painful, but very uncomfortable and makes me grunt a lot more.
- Major Kicking– I feel him kicking the most in the evening, but I definitely feel him more and more often throughout the day. When I’m sitting at the gym at 5:45am waiting for my 6:00am class people to show up I feel him. He’s much gentler in the mornings. The worst is when he head butts my bladder. It sometimes stings and feels like my urethra, specifically, is getting pinched.
- Skin tightness/feeling full- This continues to be a big complaint of mine. I literally have to take a few bites of a meal, go set it down, and come back to it an hour or 2 later because I get so full. This is extremely hard to do when I’m starving so I try to not let it get to that point. My skin actually stings because it’s being pulled so tight, especially over my ribs.
- Hips/adductors/groins cramping- This is a newer symptom that keeps popping up more frequently as well. I drink about 3 liters of water a day and take magnesium and potassium, so I know this is strictly a pregnancy thing. Calf cramps are normal at night (I even had a shin cramp up when I was trying to counter a calf cramp), but these bizarre groin/adductor cramps are crazy! Also a small muscle on my left butt cheek continues to spazz out and go bezerk. Always the same spot.
- Rock feeling in my belly after laying down- Now that he’s estimated to be around 7 lbs, when I roll over at night or anytime really, it’s like a huge pit in my stomach shifting dramatically. It’s slightly painful. I try to go onto my hands and knees to switch sides vs. rolling over onto my back.
- Anxiety- My last symptom started about a week ago. This tells me labor is near. Some may relate this to “nesting”, but it’s just weird. I can only be away from my house for a few hrs at a time before I start getting panicky that I need to get home. I have nothing I need to get home for, but I have this irrational urge to hurry up and get home. Some of it is physical discomfort, but it’s definitely more in my head. I almost feel as though I’m going to have a panic attack and have an emotional breakdown when I’ve been out for over 4 hrs. Last Friday I was gone from 10:30am-4:30pm and it got pretty bad. So I try to roll with it and know my limits for the day.
On a Lighter Note
I have now washed all of Baby Hines clothes, have my Birth Center Bag packed, and have cooked my meals/snacks that I will take to the Birth Center. I have to say, going through his clothes is what makes this all very real. We are using cloth diapers, and they are so stinkin cute! 2016 cloth diapers are nothing like cloth diapers of the past. I was folding them the other day and they made me smile:)
bhinesinmotion.com 