Week 31

How far along?  31 weeks.

Baby is the size of:  A pineapple

Maternity clothes?  Yay!! Went shopping with my mother-in-law and found 3 skirts for work, a dress, and a few tops.  Also got some nursing tops and a nightgown.

Rings on or off? Mostly on... except for Saturday.  It was so humid and my hands got puffy.  Seem to be back to normal today.

Sleep: Last night was rough... I have knots in my back and had a hard time getting comfortable.

Belly Button: M says it's officially an outie.  I say, not quite.

Exercise:  Pilates twice and walked on the treadmill once. 

Pineapple this week!

Food cravings:  Pizza.  And apple juice.

Movement: All over the place this week.  He mostly seems to be laying sideways and is long enough that I can feel his head on the left side of my belly and him kicking all the way over and around my right side.

Fun fact:  He's about 4 pounds this week and has fully developed senses.  His irises are even reactive to light at this point.

Symptoms:  Starting to have a hard time taking deep breaths.  And I can't get off the couch without help.  I think it's just too soft... The backache is worse this week.  I've been stretching a lot and trying to move around as much as I can.  I've also found that my skin is sensitive to something in my carpet - my hands and feet break out when I'm in contact with the carpet for more than a few minutes.

Best moment of the week: Baby shower!  Had great turnout... not to mention, a surprise!  M's parents flew down and surprised us at the shower.  Was not expecting that!

MIL and me at the baby shower

Mood?  Pretty good this week.  Less stress at work toward the end of the week helped.

Blessings of the week: Baby shower.  And my friend Sara's cloth diaper demo.  I learned  a lot from her experience.

Baby Shower:  We did a baby safari/jungle theme for the shower, since that's the nursery stuff I currently have.

MMMM! Good cake!

My stash of baby stuff is expanding!  We received so many useful (and cute!) things at the shower.  This baby is off to a good start.  We've got most of the basics now, just need to pick up a few more things before he arrives.

Week 30

How far along?  30 weeks

Baby is the size of:  An English cucumber

Maternity clothes?  Ugg... can we not talk about clothes?

Rings on or off?  Hurray!  Finally something that HASN'T expanded yet.  That would be my ring finger, by the way.

Sleep: Not too bad, between multiple trips to the bathroom

Belly Button: Almost an outie...

Exercise: I wish.  My midwife recommended an iron supplement to help with the sluggishness.  I've been too wiped out the last week or so to do any kind of exercise beyond walking to/from work.  Hopefully the energy improves enough that I can work out again soon.

Week 29

How far along?  29 weeks.

Baby is the size of:  A buttercup squash.

Maternity clothes?  It was slightly depressing this week to find that I don't fit into any of my shorts and most of M's shorts are also too tight.  Yuck.  Apparently, my expanding hips and shifting hormones have shifted my saddlebags as well... :-)

Rings on or off?  On, except for Saturday.  It was so hot and humid, I couldn't get my ring on.

Sleep:  Not terrible.  Being away from my normal life stress this weekend was nice and I could definitely tell I slept better as a result.  Except for Saturday night/Sunday morning when a really loud clap of thunder made me jump... and the baby jumped (LITERALLY) as well.  He was all over the place kicking and squirming for over an hour after that. No more sleep for me!

Week 28

How far along? 28 weeks.  Welcome third trimester! 

Weight Gain:  22 lbs so far.

Baby is the size of:  A medium-ish head of cabbage.

Maternity clothes?  I hate waistbands...

Rings on or off?  Still on!

Sleep: I wish...

Belly Button:  Still a half-n-halfie.

Exercise: Need more!  I felt pretty rotten at the end of the week and didn't exercise (other than walking to/from work) on Thursday or Friday.

Food cravings:  Spicy cheese and tortilla chips; apples.

30 Before 30 Update: March 2013 Edition

Ok, so I didn't get as much accomplished this month toward my 30 before 30 list as I would have liked... but, I did finish 2 books...

1. My fun book was actually a pretty challenging read:  Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.  I've read several of Austen's works over the years, and portions in literature classes, but never Sense and Sensibility in it's entirety (although I have seen the movie). 

I enjoyed the story, although I felt it moved at kind of a slow pace, compared with Austen's other works.  The gist of the story is:  Elinor and Marianne Dashwood are sisters, but have very different personalities.  Elinor is sensible, rational, and always tries to do her duty.  Marianne is passionate, creative, and can be somewhat given to flights of fancy.  Both the sisters fall in love and have their hearts broken, but what's interesting is how they each deal with the emotional issues they face.  As the story develops, so do the characters... Marianne realizing the world does not revolve around her and endeavoring to take a more steady approach to life and Elinor realizing that there is a time for passion as well as duty. In the end, the sisters grow closer together and do end up happy in love, although not quite in the way they had originally expected.

As with most of Austen's works, this is not a quick read.  The language and terminology of the day take some thought and time to absorb the meaning. That being said, I did enjoy the book and do recommend all women read it at least once in their lives.  The themes of love, devotion, selfishness, and honor are timeless.

Confession:  It actually took me more than a month to read... but I'm counting it as my March fun book since I read most of it in March.

2.  My educational book of the month was The Birth Book by Dr. William Sears and Martha Sears.  My midwife recommended it to me, and it has been very informational.  Although a few portions of the book are out of date (it was published in the 90's), the large majority of the information is very solid.  It has given me a much better grasp on the process of birth, common medical interventions and how to avoid them, and what's "normal" in terms of labor and delivery.

I'm very much a "I want to know what's going to happen before it does" kind of person, so what better way to be prepared than to do extensive research.  I feel the Sears' provide a thorough description of what's going on with your body during pregnancy, labor and delivery... all from a pediatrician's and RN (childbirth educator)'s point of view... not to mention they have 7 children of their own...

Although much of the book is geared toward natural childbirth, I believe that any woman will benefit from reading this book.  It gave me a lot of things to think about and do further research on. So, if a complication arises at the hospital, I'm not as prone to say, "ok, whatever you think".  I'm more apt to come back with, "why do you feel this is necessary" and "is there a less invasive procedure that will accomplish the same thing", knowing now that often there are alternatives that may be less convenient for the physician, but lower risk or more to the benefit of the mother/baby. 

I pray that I will have a complication-free labor and delivery, but since there is always the possibility that something unexpected may happen, I believe it pays to do your research ahead of time and know what options you have available to you.

All that to say, I learned a lot of valuable information from this book and do recommend it highly to pregnant women (as early on in their pregnancy as possible).