28 week updated update

(of course I forgot a few things!)
An amazing thing happened two mornings ago: I squeezed the tube of toothpaste! I hadn't been able to do that for about two weeks with that stupid thumb pain. I still can't bend it very far on its own, but if I push down and bend it, it doesn't hurt. My hands are still painful, but I think that in the last couple days it's gotten less intense. I'm not sure why--maybe from drinking more water? Maybe my body is just being nice and doesn't want to torture me forever? Whatever, I'll take any progress I can get.


I've visited the chiropractor twice now, and WOW, what a difference. My left back/hip joint basically stopped hurting two days after the first appointment. My front hip was still flaring up some days. Then, last Sunday, I unpacked a bunch of boxes and even though I didn't lift or move anything heavy, all the bending got to be too much. I could barely walk the next day--the back of my right hip was out of joint and very painful. Whoops. Happily, my next appointment was for Monday afternoon anyway. And lo and behold, on Tuesday, the pain was gone. Hallelujah! My front hip still hurts when I'm lying down, but overall the pain has gone way down.

Tonight we went to the Portland Art Museum--it was our first real outing! It felt good to be walking around again. Partway through our visit, I noticed my hands--when they were hanging by my side I could feel fluid pooling in them (sort of tingly and pulsing), so I spent the rest of the time holding them up on my belly. Also, my back and hip starting hurting and I had to slow way, way down. So I clearly overdid it; next time I should probably keep track of the time and only be up and moving for maybe an hour and see how that goes. 

I also went to a dermatologist last week (referred to one by the OB) and she prescribed some clindomycin, which is a topical acne treatment that's safe for pregnancy. It's a relief to finally be battling my skin back, but it's an uphill battle after a few weeks of no treatment. :)

Oh! We also finally got the official results from my sugar test, from back in Brooklyn. All is fine! They also checked mineral levels, and those are fine too. That made me feel good that I've been taking the extra iron supplement (in addition to the prenatal, which has iron).

My belly button seems to be edging its way toward popping. The top part of it at least is starting to stick out, and the rest is feeling pretty flat. Also, I think I'm developing a light linea negra, but it's only on the top part of my belly, not below my belly button (although maybe there's one there; I just can't see it!).

After three weeks of no growth around my belly circumference, this week it's finally grown another two inches--44! As always, see the full series of belly shots at the link to the right.

We had an ultrasound this week, the first one since early August. It was great to see the fetuses (the "b" word still is a little too real for me! :D). Overall they seem to be doing fine, though they're not huge (which explains why I'm not huge). There's a 23% size discrepancy between the two of them, which is borderline iffy, so we'll have another ultrasound in three weeks. Really, I would prefer to have one twice a week!

I do feel plenty of movement (though there are times/days when it seems like it's more of one than the other), and I love putting my hand on my belly to feel whatever's going on in there. It's fascinating and one of my favorite things. :)The movements are big enough to be visible or move things that are touching my belly. I finally got a video capture of one--take a look!