Yesterday was my 30-week visit.  It was REALLY quick.  I think the doctor was with me for all of about 3 minutes.  Here's a brief report:  The baby's beat sounded great, my uterus measured right at 30 cm, and I gained 10 pounds in the last month. 

Let me repeat that last bit of info - I GAINED 10 POUNDS SINCE LAST MONTH!!!  That puts me at a total weight gain of 33 pounds!   Up 'til now, I've been right on target with my weight gain - less than a pound a week.  So, what happened this month?  Well, I HAVE been eating like a little piggy, and we DID have a lot of fast food this past month.  Plus, from what I've heard and read of other preggie women, everyone has at least 1 month where they have an explosion of weight gain.  So, I've decided that I'm not gonna worry too much about it this time.  The doctor didn't say anything about it, so she must not perceive it as a problem either.

I HAVE decided (actually before I knew I'd gained 10 pounds, but especially now) that I need to start exercising more regularly.  I've done so on and off throughout my pregnancy, but nothing consistently.  Now that I'm 10 weeks away from my due date, I'm starting to think about labor and delivery.  I know that being in shape and having more stamina will help me come delivery time, so I need to just suck it up and do it!

Speaking of delivery - I've been reading about the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth the last few days.  The main reason I'm even considering "natural" childbirth is because my body reacts kind of weird to anesthetics.  Every time I've had to be given anesthesia, it's either made my heart race, made me pass out, or I've had an extremely hard time shaking it off afterwards.  It just scares me to think that I might "freak out" (more than is expected) during my delivery.   I don't want that to happen. 

I plan to talk to my doctor about it, to see what options I have.  Plus my childbirth class is coming up the first 2 weekends of April, so I'm sure we'll discuss those things then too.  In the meantime though, I've been reading up on the Bradley method and I like the way it sounds.  If anyone has any personal experience or opinions on this method, please let me know what you think!

Well, that's about it for now.  FYI - I added a few pictures of the baby's room-in-progress and two 30-week belly pictures.  Happy hump-day everyone! 

Yesterday was mine and Jared's 2 year wedding anniversary.  We both took the afternoon off work and spent some quality time together.  We took a nice long nap, went to see a movie, ate, and watched some TV.  This may not sound like the typical way to spend an anniversary, but trust me...it was perfect!  We've both been run ragged lately and some down time is exactly what we needed.  It could only have been better if we'd had a few more days off...

Speaking of our anniversary...Marriage has been everything I ever hoped it would be.  Jared is truly my best friend.  He is everything I always wanted in a husband.  Before Jared I had pretty much lost faith in men and thought I would never find someone worth marrying.  I have to admit though, had I not experienced so many crappy relationships, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate what a great guy Jared is.  The Lord sure works in mysterious ways.  He has blessed me in so many ways the last few years, I can't even begin to express my gratitude. 

Changing subjects...what is it about pregnant women having CRAZY dreams???  I usually have at least 1 or 2 a night.  Last night, in one of my dreams, the baby was pushing his foot against my side and suddenly it popped out!    Jared had to push it back in and then bandage up my belly so it would stay in.  It was so gross!  I guess this is when I start having bad dreams about the baby coming too soon??  I don't know, but I don't like it!  I just can't seem to shake the image of that dream.  I still have this weird, queasy feeling when I think about it.

Otherwise, all is well here.  I've been feeling fine.  The baby is moving as much as usual.  Actually, I guess he's running out of room, because he's doing a lot less kicking and a lot more shoving.  Usually when I feel him, it's just strong pressure on different parts of my belly, like he's stretching or something.  I still love to feel him move.    I know that I'm going to miss that feeling after he's born.

We finally finished painting the baby's room on Sunday.  It looks SO good!  Last night, Jared moved the changing table, chest of drawers, and crib (not put together yet) into the room.  I also hung the window valance up this morning.  It's slowly coming together and I am so excited!    (I'll post some pictures once it gets a little more organized.)

Well, that's about it for now.  My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow, so I'll update again after that.  I hope everyone is having a great week!

We got another third of the baby's room painted last night.  Hopefully, we can finish it off tonight.  We only have one more wall and the closet doors.  (Ugh!)  I helped Jared paint a little bit last night.  We had the window open,  but the fumes started to get to me after a while, so I had to go lay down in the other room.  I'll be glad when we're all done with the painting.  That's hard work!

I haven't been feeling too hot for the last few days.  I'm afraid I might be getting a cold or something.  My upper back and neck have been really tight, my throat hurts a little, my head feels stuffy, and I have a headache.  I wish I could just go home and sleep for a couple of hours, but...I'm at work, so that's not an option.   

I'm REALLY looking forward to the weekend.  I want to do absolutely nothing!!!  I just want to lie around, read, watch TV, and sleep.  Of course, knowing me - once the weekend gets here I'll have a mile-long TO-DO list of things I want to accomplish.  It's so hard for me to just relax and do nothing sometimes, especially with the "nesting" kicking in now. 

One more week until my next prenatal appointment.  29 weeks now!

We've had a busy couple of days and gotten a lot of stuff done.  On Sunday we got the baby's room totally cleared out (it was our home office).  The hardest part was moving the computer desk from the baby's room to the spare room.  It BARELY fit through the door, and getting it down our angled hallway was even more of a struggle...but it's done!  Yeah!  I was tired and achy afterwards, but I felt so much better that we had made some progress on the room.  I was really starting to get worried.

Yesterday we started painting the baby's room.  Well, Jared did the painting...I taped off all the baseboards, door, window, etc.  We only got about 1/3 of it done last night, but we'll probably do at least another third tonight.  It looks great so far!  The color we're painting the room is called "Eclectic."  It's kind of a light purple/bluish/grey.  It's a little difficult to explain, but it looks nice.  As soon as we're done with it I'll add some pictures.

We also bought a crib, changing table, and chest of drawers this weekend.  Right now the pieces are strowed all over the living room floor, but we plan to get them all put together in the next few days.  I'm so excited!    It feels good to be getting things done.

I think I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions lately.  A few weeks ago, I started reading about them in my preggers books.  The books all say that some women start to get these in the last few months of their pregnancy - kind of like your uterus is "warming up" or "practicing" for labor.  I think I've actually had several in the last few weeks, but it didn't occur to me that they might be Braxton-Hicks until about 2 days ago.

When I've noticed them before is usually when I'm sitting or lying around.  Suddenly my stomach will feel all tight (but not hurt) and when I touch it, it's really hard.  Twice, I've noticed them when I was walking around (once at home and once at work).  Those times I felt kind of crampy, and it was hard to stand up totally straight...but they went away after a few minutes.  Kinda weird!  (I'll be sure to mention them at my next prenatal appointment just to make sure that everything is okay and normal.) 

Baby boy (still no official name - I'm so sad!) has been as active as ever, so the "fake" contractions obviously aren't bothering him at all.   He's actually hurt me once or twice with the force of his movements.  I'm not totally sure how he's positioned now, but lately I feel him right underneath my ribs on the right side.  It is not comfortable!  I guess you could say it's helping me with my posture, though.  If I slouch at all, he's all under my ribs, so I try to make sure and sit up straighter.

Only 79 days to go.  Woo hoo!  Until next time...