week 20: Here comes the back pain

Mar 27, 2014 by Jessica

Okay, today is not week 20 anymore. It’s week 21+2 days and according to the pregnancy app in my phone, the baby will be here in 131 days! Crickey, I’m so not ready! But truth be told, who’s ever ready for a baby?

So starting from last week I started to notice few things;

More frequent kicks and they don’t only happen around bed time. I can feel kicks during the day mostly when I’m sitting down. So as soon as I feel it, I will turn on some music and I notice that the baby does more kicks when a song is finished. Cuteness.

Sometimes when I feel that the baby is fully awake I will tell Phodi but poor him, the baby rarely moves when he put his hand on my belly. It’s a bit unfortunate really.. but he’s also a bit impatient waiting for the kicks. Phodi will only put his hand for 30 seconds before he says, “Eh, I can’t feel it. It’s probably sleeping” and continue on with his stuff. Hahaha. So he’s currently feeling a little left out but he’s being very optimistic that the baby will be more cooperative later on.

It’s week 20 and we’re blushing

This week I’m starting to have back pain and dang, it’s making me feel so old! My mid back ached every single day I wake up in the morning, regardless of which sleeping position I had the night before. Although so many websites say the best sleeping position for preggers is laying on the left side, my doctor insisted that I should change positions while sleeping. Make perfect sense because sleeping on one position is bad for your spine.

However I notice that laying flat on my back is bad. Like BAD. Every time I lay flat on my back  for 10 minutes, my back will stiffen as if I haven’t moved / stretched for an hour. My best guess why this happens is simply because I have some extra weights on my tummy. This extra weights is pushing my back and thus, creating the pain.

So I prefer to lay on either of my side and have a very fluffy pillow to support my back. I started using an extra pillow 2 nights ago and it has been helpful. At least I don’t wake up with an aching back anymore… and fingers crossed, I won’t need one of this funny looking pregnancy pillow. Don’t you think it looks like you’re having an extra person sleeping on the bed?

pregnancy pillow

Thank God for a good massage! I had mine done in a salon near mom’s house and it was so good. Of course the lady who did it was so careful with massaging my lower back but regardless it was good. Some people might consider pregnancy massage as a no-no but my doctor said that gentle and relaxing massage is ok as long as we avoid the tummy area. I think it’s important with our gut feeling. As a mom-to-be, you’ll sense what’s safe for the baby. If at one point you don’t feel comfortable, shout it out to the masseuse and stop immediately.

Also this week, my tummy is finally showing but it’s still at the point where I can choose to either flaunt or hide it. With most of my clothes, people won’t notice that I’m pregnant and in a way I still prefer it that way. I think my tummy is still too small to be flaunted and it looks like I’ve had a beer filled week rather than pregnant. Oh.. I miss the taste of a nice cold beer!

Anyway, because my tummy has grown bigger, I’ve said good bye to all my shorts and cute skirts since last month. I’ve been hanging on my dresses – thankfully I always prefer wearing dresses than pants – but last week I had an urge to wear anything but dresses. Or maybe.. just maybe.. it’s an excuse to shop. Hehe. So I bought myself my first pair of maternity (!!) jegging (gosh! I hate that word). So far I’m happy with it because it’s thin enough to suit this weather, but also thick enough to be worn as pants. I always think wearing legging as pants and showing your buttocks or worse, camel toe, is one of the biggest fashion failures. Cover up people!

I do look pregnant here

Next week we’re going to see our obgyn and hopefully then we’ll be able to know the baby’s gender for 100%. Much more than knowing the gender, I hope the baby’s growing well and that my body’s adjusting fine. This month has been a quiet month for us apart from 2 travels to Jakarta. So I’ve been having lazy days and all. However in the months leading up to the due date, my brother is graduating in KL (week 29), both my SIL and my cousin are getting married / engaged outside town (week 31 and 33) and then my cousin’s wedding 2 weeks later (week 35). I’m totally unsure if I’m still allowed to fly for my cousin’s wedding. Also, Phodi will have to go to Australia for at least a week during my week 32-33. Whoa.. apart from thinking about what I’ll be wearing for those parties (Hello bigger tummy!), I need to think about the arrangement for when Phodi’s not in the country.

week 21: at Phodi’s office relaunch.

Adding to all this, we have started to research about baby gear such as bed, stroller, carrier, car seat (our most important one) and all the rest. I’ll probably share about this topic on a different post as I’ve talked too much here. Adios for now, I’m off for my pizza dinner.

Related Posts

• We’re having a baby!

  Posted on Aug 27, 2014

• Week 35-36: What’s been happening

  Posted on Jul 14, 2014

• Week 34: Visiting Obgyn after 5 weeks

  Posted on Jul 2, 2014

• Week 31 & 32: A wedding and shopping!

  Posted on Jun 26, 2014

Tags

• Pregnancy

Share This