Fleas, pinched nerve...other 39 week news

I'm 39 weeks and one day today and feeling okay except that I have somehow pinched a nerve in my neck. It really hurts. The pain radiates from the left side of my neck, to my shoulder and down my left arm.

It makes sleeping practically impossible, so between the more intense contractions I felt last night (my hubby said he woke up to me moaning out loud a couple of times) and the neck pain, I got very little sleep. I actually think I cried myself to sleep and thank goodness my heating pad has an automatic shut off, because I slept on it...I know you're not supposed to, but it was the only way I could get to sleep.

:-(
Big time.

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In other news...we have seen a few fleas in our house and that doesn't settle well with me. I'm somewhat OCD with things, especially in my house and the thought of fleas or other bugs freaks me out. We've only see a few, which is good considering we have the two cats and we did have a bit of a gap between Frontline applications, because we kept forgetting to buy it and Kroger stopped carrying it. The fleas we HAVE seen are so near death they don't even jump.

So we are taking care of that. The crazy thing is, we never had fleas until our neighbor moved out. She "fostered" dogs and had several. I forget how many. Anyway, as soon as she moved, we got fleas. They were pretty bad last year, but luckily I was still living in another city and Izzy and the gerbils were with me. K had to bomb the basement, but after that we never saw any until recently.

Thankfully it's not an infestation or even in the realm of an infestation. I just worry because my boys have their hangout spot downstairs. I don't want them to be around fleas. T only saw two and C saw zero, so that was a good thing. It's not good enough for me, but at least they never got bit or anything. I also worry because C's gerbils live downstairs. I can't imagine those sweet little guys getting fleas. :-( That would be terrible.

With the baby coming, we also wanted to get it taken care of ASAP, because it'll be harder to have to leave the house with her, especially because she will be so young. I'd rather take care of it now.

I just have to have them GONE. I want ZERO. I don't want to see my cats scratching or anything. I can't stand it.

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Other than all of that, I'm feeling pretty good. What's strange is I feel somewhat energetic, despite the fact that my neck is killing me and I'm sleepy from my long night of no sleep. I'm not getting my hopes up for labor. I'm probably just going to clean the house and relax a bit today. Maybe I'll be able to take a nap. I think I need it. I might also spend some time on a new project I started last week. I traced the shadow of my belly on a canvas board and I'm decoupaging fabric on it that matches the nursery (at least I think I'm going to use that fabric. It will hang in the nursery as a momento. I'm decoupaging it so that it'll be raised up off of the canvas. It's a long process, but I like the way it's coming together. I want to make the fabric have a pattern, sort of like Starry Night by Van Gogh. 

en.wikipedia.org

My hope is that I can subtly show the baby in a vertex position in my womb in the image. It's going to be tricky, but I'm going to try. 

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I hope I don't have to take a Tylenol again. I hate taking medication while pregnant, even if it is approved and considered safe. I only take one regular strength when I do take it and I only take one a day. I just get so scared of doing something to harm my baby. I know it's overkill...but is there a better reason in all the world to be careful? I'm the same way with my boys. They are my loves. They are my sunshine. I'd literally die for my children. It's that simple. 

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I feel bad. 

Today as K was heading to work, he asked, "Are you happy?" 

I replied, "Of course I'm happy. My neck is really just killing me." And it is true. I'm very happy and if it wasn't for the pain I'm feeling, I'd actually be feeling better now than I have in several weeks. I'm hoping a few days of heat and ice will help to alleviate it and I really hope it goes away before I have to give birth. I can't imagine having to push with this pain...especially considering how you have to curl up around the baby to push. At this moment, the thought of that makes me cringe. I can't imagine having to do that.

Prodromal labor continues...and it SUCKS!

I've technically been in labor for weeks, but of course nothing serious...and nothing that has produced a baby. (obviously) However, I have technically been in labor because my cervix is dilating and effacing. That said, the last week has been so annoying. My contractions sometimes last for hours and they will be 7 minutes apart the entire time, along with pretty painful twinges in my groin area and down my inner thighs...this actually takes my breath away sometimes and makes it very difficult to walk. I usually have to stop, catch my breath, wait for it to pass and then go on about my business very gingerly, because I never know when it'll happen again.

What worries me is I'm afraid I'll start having real contractions like an hour before she decides to come! That would be so scary. I have a doctor appointment today. I'm sure she'll want to check me again. Maybe I'll have made more progress. We'll see.