Pregnancy Update Weeks 30-32

Baby size/Important facts: Baby should be around 18" long and 4 lbs! Is mainly working on developing senses and accumulating more fat!

Size comparisons: We went through cabbage and coconut to a Jicama fruit. Still hovering around a loaf of bread, passed up a jar of nutella, compsognathus (adorable tiny dinosaur), and american football to now rival a Mega Chup Chups lollipop, deerstalker hat, or hard hat. 

Weight Change: Total gain of ~27 lbs, back on the gaining train. Though I'd be fine stopping about now.

Waist Change: 

• Week 10
• Waist: 29" 
• Bellybutton: 33.5" 
• Size gain this week alone:
• Waist: N/A
• Bellybutton: N/A 
• Total gain: 
• Waist: 6"
• Bellybutton: 10.5"

Maternity clothes: I actually blew out a pair of maternity jeans. Sigh. Also: my jeans just fall down ALL THE TIME. The rest of my pants seem to be doing alright. Otherwise alright except that it's been chilly and wet up here and I didn't really accumulate clothing to deal with that. Luckily my pre-preg hoodies are Men's Large - so they still fit - barely.  

Bra changes: No new sizing, which is good! Picked up a few more for nursing. I have one more online store that carries I think ONE bra in my size before I'll have to resort to $80 bras at Nordstroms or even more pricey options...

Stretch marks: Still not seeing any. Still surprised!

Sleep: My new wedge pillow has helped amazingly well. Also I've been more tired the last couple of weeks and now that we're done unpacking mostly I think it's a pregnancy thing and not just a too busy to function tired. 

Workouts: My workouts have consisted of moving and unpacking and moving and unpacking. Then once we got the house unpacked, it was unpacking and sorting baby items, plus putting together a crib. Plus some nice long walks. So not as regimented but I certainly don't feel like I've been physically lazy.  

Diet: Well we had three birthdays to celebrate in the last week, plus all the random craziness from moving and everything else. There's been a total crap ton of pizza. I've been trying to otherwise do well, putting some grain supplements (chia seeds, flax seeds, etc) into my morning oatmeal and adding spinach to everything I can, plus snacking a lot on carrots & apples. Working to do better this coming week now that things are settling down. 

Best moment this week: Some wonderful cuddling up on our couch with my wonderful husband. 

Miss anything: Painless driving...that's the biggest one. Also missing being able to go 8 hours overnight without peeing.

Food cravings: Not much. Not as hungry as I had been for months. Mostly now I eat because I feel obligated to.   

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope

Sex Guess: After this leech spent a few hours today completely sideways, I decided only a stubborn boy would have struggled that long and hard for something so not helpful. 

This picture on the wall at the hospital made me feel better about my choice to travel to the birth center. I hate the idea of not being allowed to hold my baby (or keep him/her in a carrier with me) while I walk the halls if I'm going to be stuck on the hospital for a couple of days...

Labor signs: Spent a few hours in the hospital the other morning due to braxton hicks contractions every 3-6 minutes for a few hours. After an icky cervical check plus vaginal ultrasound (nope nope nope in the fun department) it was determined that my cervix is still quite favorable for holding onto this baby for quite a while and the contractions aren't do anything to hasten labor, so I should just ignore them...Also normal advice to slow them down is to drink a lot of water and lay down quietly. My experience so far is to stop drinking so much and get up and do things is the best way to slow them down. Either way, it could be a long 5-8 weeks of a lot of contractions. 

Symptoms: Braxton hicks and lots and lots of pinched nerve in the ribcage pain. Plus everything that goes with having a basketball stuck to your front. PUtting on pants and shoes is quite humorous, and I don't want to talk about shaving or cutting my toenails. Suffice to say I'm thankful that I've spent years doing yoga. 

Baby position: Other than the few hours transverse (sideways) still breech. Started seeing chiropractor on Friday and starting some exercises and such this week to try to help out, plus burning some herbs near my toes. I'm not sure if the herbs will help, but I'm willing to try anything. What I can say is that since the first chiro treatment, leech has been especially active and has been making more major movements. 

Belly button in or out? It goes further out everyday I think.  

Emotional state: Still pretty stressed out. The move itself went about as well as it could have gone - the truck was huge but stable and it was a workhorse it did everything we could have wanted and was definitely big enough. It was still four very long very hard days of moving, then 4 more days of unpacking and just a lot going on all the time. Doctor appointments are an hour drive one way, birthing classes are more like a 90 min drive to get to, only 45 minutes home. Taking care of Mystique's leg injury is a 60 minute drive. And that is how I spend a lot of my week in between readying baby's room. Adding time spent packing labor bags and readying labor music this week. Luckily the chiropractor is a short drive. Also, hired a doula for the birth last week too, so it's nice to have another fountain of information and advice. At the same time: I am borrowing a car for next week because mine is in the shop...I think the water pump went out. Grrrrrr. 

Looking forward to: Getting all the baby stuff sorted, clean, and organized this week. The only things I am still in need of before birth are the new tubing for the breast pump and a few more mattress covers (they're already on order), and baby carriers. I think I can amass those in the next two weeks. The other things we need (stroller, high chair) we can wait at least a little while before they get here. The stroller is on order and should deliver right around 38 weeks, which is OK because if little leech arrives any earlier than that we probably won't be taking stroller walks for a few weeks anyway.

Week 30 shot was taken after the first day of driving. During unpacking week we apparently for the first time missed taking our weekly shot! Oh well!

Here's moving pictures, plus my favorite set of new shots: Barley testing out all of our baby gear!

Our truly ridiculously long/large rig for the trip

Truckin' while Barley tries to sleep

Barley curled up in his favorite towel for the trip, because we didn't think to leave him out a blankie and the vinyl seats were too cold/slick for him.

The cab. It was a huge huge truck. Like eye level with semis, looking over the top of lifted pick ups. 

Our car seat! Britax Marathon in Kiwi, but really it's nothing without those ears

Our stroller "cocoon" aka Moses basket. It doubles as a napper or cosleeper for the tiny time but clips snugly into our stroller (when it arrives) for safe newborn travel.

Bouncy seat. And that's the harness, not a diaper on Barley...we did not try out the vibration feature - I didn't want to literally scare the piss out of him.

Super awesome bassinet that we are borrowing for the next few months. You can fold up wheels and rock it like a cradle, or pull out the basket and use it as a cosleeper (larger than our cocoon) or portable nap space if you want/need.

Super awesome handmade solid wood rocking horse!

Our new swing that is portable and foldable. 

Last but not least - the crib!

Next week I'm hoping to have nursery photos up once everything is clean, folded, and put away. Working on it for sure. Also should have an update from the chiropractor AND the midwife as it pertains to breech-ness and contractions.