Today marks the beginning of the last week in the fourth month of pregnancy. Wild.
I’m so relieved that I am finished with the academic paper I was writing. It was actually a very interesting one to write; I enjoyed the topic, but the more I researched, the more I had to research and even though I started very early, I was working on it until the last hour before it was due. Depending on the feedback that I get from my instructor, I may publish pieces of it on here. It was on fetal health surveillance in low-risk labouring women.
I have a few smaller academic papers to write for another course, but they aren’t as research-intensive, which is where most of the time gets spent.
Onto the pregnancy! We are now seventeen weeks pregnant. I’m finding it harder to suck my bump in, which I tend to do while standing simply out of habit for proper posture. See above 😛
I’m feeling the little gaffer tumbling around here and there. Definitely nothing consistent yet, but I hope it starts being more consistent soon. With the low levels of nausea this past week, I’m anxious about the well-being. They say every pregnancy is different, but I am so used to having debilitating nausea from week 7 until the end, so this is new territory for me.
Old territory, however, is rearing its ugly head. My pubis symphysis dysfunction (PSD) is starting up. It’s not yet at the PSD state and I’m hoping I can manage my symptoms enough to prevent it from progressing to PSD. For now, I have pain in my pubic joint while walking and very definite movement at my SI joint. If I stand too long, sit too long, or lay down too long, it becomes painful. As I commute to work, this is becoming an issue as the long car rides are down-right painful. I also have very intense pain in under my right knee cap if my knee is bent too long, which makes even short car rides painful and classroom time almost unbearable.
The plus-side of this is that I won’t be able to carry heavy items, sweep, vacuum, or mop for a long time. Thankfully, there are four other members of this family that can help and are okay with helping out. Â (I still do it when no one’s looking… I can’t help it.)
I’m about as tired as I’ve always been, but it’s a comforting kind of tired. I’m so grateful that I am in a position to not take any night shifts at the moment. Having a some-what regular schedule is helping with the tiredness, managing the insomnia that pregnancy has induced, and I think it’s really helping with the morning sickness. With my last night shift, I was flat out sick the following day and a half.
Also grateful for a hard-working partner who has been thoughtful towards me in my times of sickness, but also encourages me not to be a sloth 😀