And breathing. I remember that. It was so nice and relieving. No longer a thing. I've gotten winded going up and down steps but now I got winded bending over to pick something up off the floor.
I started to understand why people get really sick of being pregnant.
Thank the goddess that my insurance fully covered osteopathic manipulation. That put me back together and would give me about two good days before my hips opened again and my low back started barking.
In this phase, I was faced with decisions like when to stop working and when to pull back. Originally, I planned to work up until the end. I didn't realize that might actually make others uncomfortable. I started noticing that others seemed concerned about me, or worried that I might go into labor at any moment. I also couldn't dependably find words or be on time. Everything is just slow.
I decided to go on maternity leave at week 38 so that I would have some time to settle into the next phase. It's tricky, because I very well could go up to 42 weeks of pregnancy, meaning I will have taken off a full month prior to giving birth. But, how to predict? And, appointments start increasing towards the end. My midwives want to see me weekly, plus osteopathic manipulation, and the other birth prep that I added on, pelvic floor physical therapy.
In this stage, I began eating 6 dates a day and taking evening primrose oil. Both are said to help the perineum stretch in delivery. Six dates a day is a LOT of dates.
My pelvic floor physical therapist taught me perineal massage so I began doing that as well. I took slow, ambling walks. I rolled and looped on the birth ball. I aimed to do 40 cat/cow tilts daily. I slept on my left side.
All the things. In a slow, muddy period. A weird open space with no boundary or definition.
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