Good Like a Medicine

Well, here is baby Shepherd hanging out at 27 weeks. Sorry for the not so glamorous pictures and the bad hair. There were a few with me smiling like a cheese ball, but they were blurry. Everyone tells me that he looks very high; my prediction is that he is already settling in like his siblings with big feet and stretching out his long body! Everyone says also that he looks like a nice little basketball, and I totally agree. That just makes me laugh! Steven looked like a basketball, too. The kids are kissing my tummy all the time now, and Meredith has made a habit of trying to lift up my shirt in public - oh no! That is always hard to explain to a little one!

This is also the time when Eric starts laughing and poking fun at me because I make the oven buttons start beeping. We have a cooktop with lots of digital buttons on the front, and when I start getting big, I’ll turn on the burners just by standing there. He loves to make fun of me about that. So… I turn the “oven lock” on just to avoid the jokes.

I know it’s annoying when pregnant women say, “I am SO HUGE,” but I really do feel so huge. I am simply not able to get to the gym very much because of our busy schedule and can certainly feel the impact. Apparently having four kids so closely together has really wreaked havoc on my muscles and their ability to stretch and “relax” well, too. (I love to state the obvious!) Seriously I am in a good deal of pain right now from my abdomen to my thighs, and although I knew it was going to happen, I thought it would be closer to June / July — not now. After each delivery I have had some kind of nerve / muscle issue which makes me pretty useless in my legs for a few days. I don’t know why, but I am experiencing that issue right now. I’m not mentioning this to whine; I am quite scared about managing this pain and ask for prayer that God helps me take care of the kids and do the things I want and need to do between now and July without downing a ton of Tylenol, which I refuse to do.

Women are at risk for developing SI joint problems later in life due to childbirth. Female hormones are released during pregnancy that allow the connective tissues in the body to relax. The relaxation is necessary so that during delivery, the female pelvis can stretch enough to allow birth. This stretching results in changes to the SI joints, making them hypermobile (extra or overly mobile). Over a period of years these changes can eventually lead to wear-and-tear arthritis. During pregnancy, the SI joints can cause discomfort both from the effects of the hormones that loosen them and from the stress of carrying a growing baby in the pelvis. The more pregnancies a woman has, the higher her chances of SI joint problems. – All About Neck and Back Pain

Anyway, I’ll probably post more pictures a few weeks before the birth and have a little birth weight guessing game just for fun. I’ve really enjoyed the baby games before on here. It’s always fun to watch someone else getting bigger, right?! Honestly it’s all worth it because I am already getting so excited to meet our little Shepherd!