My not so adorable bump

Back in June Pat and I enjoyed a fun, but wet trip to Boston, which resulted in us both coming down with a cold. I was about 20 weeks pregnant at the time and my cold happened to get pretty nasty and included lots of coughing, sneezing, and nose blowing. All of that added up to one super sore abdomen. For about a week I had a horrible pain right above my belly button (it hurt to stand up!) and I swore I could feel a small knot. At the time I mentioned it to my OBGYN and he assured me it was probably just a pulled muscle, but if it didn't get feeling better to let him know. To my relief it improved significantly and I forgot all about it.

At about 30 weeks I finally started looking undeniably pregnant. I had a full baby bump and one adorable spot on my belly where the baby was consistently sticking out. The doctor said he thought it was probably a foot. I would occasionally push on it and it would go in and then later be popped back out. I fell in love with that little foot. However, over the weeks it didn't move and was getting quite a bit bigger, at that point I decided it was actually my baby's cute baby bum. Every where I went people would comment on my bump and I would smile big and say "I think that's his bum" and they would feel it and I would love it.

Then right before 37 weeks said bump became extremely painful. Too much standing, bending, lifting caused my little baby bum to cause me pain to the point of getting teary eyed. I went into my next appointment and asked the doctor about it, assuming baby had been comfortable in that spot for so long that it just became horribly stretched and sensitive. To my horror the doctor said "I actually think that's a hernia, I'll take a look at it after you deliver." He was so casual and nonchalant about it, but frankly it's freaking me out. I keep imagining my insides poking out through this hole in my body, not to mention it's getting more painful by the day. Some days it hurts to put a shirt on because it rubs against it. On top of all of that, I can't even tell you how many people I let rub my "adorable" hernia. Oh me, oh my! Today is my 38 week appointment and I'm hoping to get more information about said hernia, if there's anything I can do to help with the pain and how it may impact my delivery. Just another ache and pain to add to the joys of pregnancy!