Into the 30s

 

 

Today officially marks 30 weeks pregnant.  THIRTY WEEKS.  If you assume that a pregnancy is an average of 40 weeks, well...you do the math!  We're are heading into the home stretch, folks, and it's crazy how quickly time is flying by.  Last night I even said to Michael, with a slight pout, "The days are just going by so fast!" I was more upset that we'd gone a whole day with separate schedules and hardly seen each other, but it also applies to this pregnancy.  

I don't even want to think about how much there is left to do...

So let's talk instead about some more milestones!

• After I wrote this post, I had a lot of questions and some tentative plans regarding the birth of Baby R, and I'm happy to say that my OB is fully on board with low-intervention birth.  We talked about when they start saying the "I-word"—induction—and they don't even bring it up until 41 and a half weeks.  Good.  He's down with low intervention of meds, too, and he even called himself "the midwife of obstetricians," which made Michael and I both very happy.
• OB appointments are now every two weeks!  Until 35 or 36, when we go ONCE a week.
• We've started childbirth classes!  We had our first one last Thursday night, and we have two more left (tonight and next Thursday), and then I have a breastfeeding class the Wednesday following the final childbirth class. 
• Thanks to the incredibly generosity of our family members, we now have a crib, changing table, crib mattress, dresser, stroller, car seat adapter for the stroller, and an infant car seat! SO MANY THANKS to our parents for helping us with these big ticket items!!
• We're having maternity photos taken by the one and only, the fabulous, the hilarious Lynn Michelle tomorrow night.  This is going to be a bittersweet time for us, as LM is moving to doing only weddings, and this may be our last family session with her.  She's tracked our relationship via photograph from engagement to now, and the results are priceless. Check back here next week for some of those photos.  
• Baby showers! I have one this weekend, and another one in May, and I'm so excited to celebrate this baby with my family and friends. More on those later, too (with pics).

 

Now how about some stats??

 

Baby R's size: Allegedly, Baby R could be 15.2- to 16.7-inch, 2.5- to 3.8-pounds! Yikes! (If you must have the produce aisle comparison, we're at Butternut Squash. Yikes!)

 

Baby R's developments: Baby R's skin is getting smoother but the brain is getting more wrinkly (with all that genius it will inherit from us, no doubt). Baby R is also now strong enough to grasp a finger! How cute is that?

 

Currently Craving: Same stuff...sweet and cold. Orange juice almost as soon as I wake up is a necessity. I'm hungry a LOT more often, but I get full faster (probably because my stomach is being shoved up into my throat by this growing baby!).

 

How's the belly looking: Good! Big. I actually almost knocked a bowl of oatmeal off of the counter with my belly bump the other day at work.

 

Sleep & Dreams: Dreams are fairly normal. Not as many baby dreams as one might think, though. Sleep? Eh...it's not great. I sleep a few hours at a time, get uncomfortable and lay awake for an hour or so, and then sleep a little more.

 

How I am feeling: Large. Sitting in a desk chair at work is starting to be uncomfortable, so I have to make sure I stand up several times an hour to stretch and not feel so cramped. But I feel good. Heartburn comes and goes, back pain comes and goes...pretty typical pregnancy stuff!

 

Evidence of Pregnancy Brain: Let's just say that if I didn't have a calendar on my iPhone that integrated with my email, I'd be in a lot of trouble.

 

Movement: LOTS more! Last night, my stomach looked like something from a science fiction movie and it was highly entertaining. I'm starting to notice movement much more often during the day and while eating/after meals, so the quiet or "still" times don't freak me out as much. I just figure s/he's taking a li'l nap.

 

Exercise: Taking some great walks with Michael and Carmen when the weather and our schedules allow and, if that can't happen, I try to take a walk around campus at some time during the work day. Starting to notice the cankles after those walks, though. :(

 

Innie or outie: Still an innie! But it's definitely more shallow.  Belly buttons are so weird.

 

Stretch marks: Still none.

 

Rings on or off: Still on! I don't wear them when we take long walks, though, just in case I get sausage-fingers.

 

Maternity wear: Starting to have to get creative, especially on warmer days.

 

Baby related purchases: See above bullet point!  Michael and I bought carpet to re-carpet the nursery (again with some help from the 'rents...thank God for them!), which will be installed in a week or so.  I'm SO anxious to get this nursery put together...

 

Days until due date: 71. Which feels much farther away than "10 weeks," so maybe I should start thinking in days instead!