2nd Pregnancy, week 27...Trip to L&D!

So to say we had a rough weekend/beginning of the week would be an understatement. I think the fact that I am about to be a mother of 2 under 2 years old has finally hit me and this week it all came to a head.

Did I mention that I am hugely pregnant? Yes, huge....I don't say that with exaggeration. I really am huge. People tell me every day. I get jaw-dropping expressions from strangers and family members/friends alike when I reveal that I'm 28 weeks pregnant and still have right under 3 months to go. No, I'm not about to deliver this baby as I walk up the stairs, or pull my stroller out of my SUV, or sit on the Pilates reformer and show my clients how to do a Pilates exercise, or insert-any-other-daily-activity...I'm short, as in reeeeeally short (5 feet even, people) and the baby has no where to go but out....waaaaay out.

I understand why I'm already big at this point in my pregnancy. I get that this is my 2nd pregnancy and women tend to show earlier and more prominently with their 2nd babies. It's my body, so I understand that she's got no where to go in my short-waisted abdomen than straight out...really, I do. But it does not make the inability to do my daily activities any easier.

I've spent the first 6 months of this pregnancy doing everything I normally do...picking Stella up off the floor constantly and carrying her around, setting her down and doing that all over again, going up and down the stairs millions of times each day, exercising regularly (Pilates, yoga, cardio machines at the gym, Zumba, etc...), bending over to tie my shoes, teach Pilates and demonstrate exercises, etc...but the past 2 weeks everything has come crashing down on me, throwing it in my face that I have to slow down OR ELSE. The fact that I've been having very strong, uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contractions every day since 20 weeks doesn't help, either. Well, the OR ELSE happened on Tuesday afternoon in the form of a tumble down the stairs in our house.

Don't freeak - baby is fine and I am fine, aside from a little soreness in my back. After I put Stella down for a nap I (of course) came downstairs in my socks and my feet slipped out from under me and I landed on my upper back on the stair treads. I was paralyzed with pain for a few seconds as the wind was literally knocked out of me, then realized I might have seriously hurt the baby. After trying to quiet my screams of pain for fear that I'd wake Stella up (and at that point I didn't think I'd be able to get up the stairs if she got upset), I slithered down the stairs and crawled to get my cell. Luckily, Matt works close to home and made it there in less than 5 minutes. After talking to my OB-GYN, she said we needed to head to the Labor and Delivery department of the hospital - I was fine until she told me that, then I started to freak out. Apparently any time you get into a car accident (minor or major) or have a fall while pregnant, you are supposed to go straight to hospital to get checked out just to be sure. So we got our sitter and headed there - went straight upstairs and were admitted 15 minutes after parking. Did I mention I love St. Tammany Parish Hospital?

To make a long story short, the baby was monitored and an emergency ultrasound was done to confirm that she was perfectly fine. It also confirmed she was HUGE. I got to spend 30 minutes looking her up and down on the ultrasound, which I LOVED, even though Matt couldn't be in the room with us:( - seeing her sweet little self almost made the hospital trip worth it:) Her overall measurements put her at about 29 weeks, 4 days even though I was at 27 weeks, 3 days. The ultrasound tech guessed she weighed about 3lbs, give or take 7oz, which is a bit heftier than the average baby (2.22lbs) at the same gestational age. If we went by how much weight the average baby gains from 27 weeks through 40 weeks, this chunky monkey would be 10lbs at delivery, at least. No wonder my doctor wants to take her at least a week early:) 

So the physical side to being largely pregnant with a 1 1/2 year old running around is catching up to me, and hopefully this little tumble down the stairs will inspire me to SLOW DOWN. I don't like being helpless or dependent on anyone - on a typical day I can do almost anything by myself, and now I can't. That is infuriating. What 28-weeks-pregnant woman can hold a 23lb baby on one hip, squat down to pick up a sippy cup and hold the diaper bag/pair of shoes/snack in the other hand while going down the stairs and out the door? That's what I try to do every day...it never fails. Hopefully I've learned my lesson.

The good news is I didn't have Stella in my arms and both baby and I are fine. We are very lucky!!!