Well, I'm creeping up on 32 weeks now and I'm beginning to wonder when I last got a full night's sleep.  What's strange is that my body seems to be growing accustomed to getting only a few hours here and there.  Lately it takes me forever to fall asleep at night.  When I finally do, I usually sleep about 2 hours (full of dreams) before waking up for one of my many nightly visits to the bathroom. 

Last night I went to bed at about 11:00 or 11:30.  I layed there, stared at the wall, and ran through to-do lists in my mind until about 12:30 when I decided to just get up.  So, while Jared slept I ate a little snack, read some, looked up a few things on the internet, and generally "piddled around."  Finally at about 2:30 I thought I'd try again.  I layed back down (still not really tired) and basically forced myself to stop thinking and just relax.  At some point, I finally fell asleep.  Surprisingly enough - I didn't have any trouble getting up this morning and I don't feel too tired right now.  Maybe what they say is true - is this prepping me for what it will be like when the baby arrives?  Only time will tell, I suppose.

On to other things - last Thursday was my baby shower at work.  It was fun!  There was lots of good snacks (including homemade cheesecake - yum!) and we got a lot of great gifts.  I included some pictures in my photo album.  We got 2 big gifts that I didn't take pictures of because they're not assembled yet - one is a high chair and one is a Pack 'n' Play.  I was really excited about both of those!

After lots of research, Jared and I finally bought a travel system yesterday (car seat and stroller combo).  It is SOOOO cute!  It's green and has little sheep all over it.  There are a few pictures in the photo album.  We also started hanging some things on the walls in the baby's room.  We're not quite done yet, but I added a few pictures of that also.

Today is my latest prenatal appointment.  I have about a zillion questions for the doctor, so we'll see how that goes.  Well, that's about it for now.  God bless and Happy Monday, everyone!

My hips hurt sooooo bad today.    While laying on the couch watching TV last night, I started getting hip cramps (which is unusual...they've only happened while I was sleeping before).  After I went to bed I woke up several times during the night with the threat of cramps...I could feel them coming on...but I kept switching positions until I got comfortable, so they never "actually" kicked in.  I don't know if I'm sore today from the past few nights of hip cramps or from last nights close calls.  There doesn't seem to be anything I can do.  I've tried exercising, stretching, Tylenol, etc.  Nothing seems to work.  Does anyone know of some miracle cure for hip cramps?  I'm willing to try just about anything!

On a happier note, today is my 1st baby shower!    My co-workers are throwing it for me at my job.  I managed to convince Jared  to come to this one, since there will be men and women there.  I'm having one other shower at the school I used to teach at, but that will only be women.  I'm really looking forward to the shower.  Like I said before, it will be weird to be the center of attention, but I'm excited to see what we get for the baby.  I'll be sure to update everyone about it tomorrow.

31 weeks now!  Only 9 weeks to go (62 days).  Woo-hoo!

I am such a worrier.   Being pregnant only seems to have made it worse.  Now I just have something else to obsess about and fret over.  For example - if I realize that it's been a while since I've felt the baby (even if it's been only a couple of hours), I panic.  I start to worry if he's okay in there.  You don't realize how used you get to feeling those movements all day long until you haven't felt them in a while.  I can't imagine how much I'll miss the feeling after the baby is born.  Of course I'll have a beautiful baby boy to distract me then, so maybe I won't miss it so much.

My hip cramps had diminished for a few weeks.  I would still get them during the night, but they would usually go away pretty quickly if I switched positions.  Well, that has NOT been the case the last 2 nights.  I've had horrible hip cramps, and it doesn't seem to matter how I resituate myself, they don't go away. It makes for a very sleepless night.   Then to top it off my hips are sore the whole next day.  It's not fun!  I just have to keep reminding myself that it's all for a purpose.

I'll be 31 weeks tomorrow.  Can you believe we’ve only got 9 weeks to go?  My next doctor's visit is Monday.  We're not supposed to do another ultrasound until April 24th, but I'm really anxious to know what position the baby is in right now.  I'm hoping the doctor can feel my belly with her hands and figure it out.

Well, I hope everyone's having a good week.  I'll update more later.

 ~ Mandy

Every once in a while, for several weeks now, I've felt this rhythmic thumping from the baby.  At first I just thought he was moving or kicking me, but it was so rhythmic, it reminded me of a heartbeat.   I knew it was too slow to be the baby's heartbeat, so I briefly thought maybe the baby was pushing against something inside me and it was actually my own heartbeat I was feeling.

I've only felt it probably 4 or 5 times, but every time that it happened, I would get more freaked out.  I started to think something was wrong with the baby.  I meant to ask my doctor about it at my last visit, but I had a "substitute" and she really rushed me out.

Well, last night Jared and I were at Borders.  We had eaten a piece of lemon pound cake and were sitting around reading.  The baby had been moving around the whole time like he does a lot lately.  Suddenly, I started feeling that rhythmic thumping again.  I made Jared move closer and feel it with his hand.  I told him that I had no idea what it could be and that I was definitely mentioning it to the doctor next time.  When suddenly, out of nowhere - I realized what it was... 

...The baby had hiccups! 

I had read in lots of preggers books and websites that the baby could start having hiccups several months earlier.  But every time I read that, I always thought - "Well my baby hasn't had hiccups yet."  It never even occurred to me that the thumping I was feeling was hiccups.

What's really weird is that the book I was reading at Borders was "The Pregnancy Book" by Dr. Sears.  Just minutes before I felt the hiccups, I had been reading about how the baby can taste the amniotic fluid.  Studies have shown that when the amniotic fluid is sweetened, the baby actually gulps faster and swallows more (sometimes giving him hiccups) and when the fluid is soured, the baby swallows less and not as frequently. 

Even after reading this, the idea of hiccups never crossed my mind.  It was only after talking to Jared for several minutes and repeating about 5 times that it was weird how rhythmic the movement was, that it suddenly hit me!   Then the more I thought about it, it made sense.  I had just eaten that pound cake a little earlier, so the amniotic fluid was probably a little sweeter, the baby gulped more, and ended up with hiccups.  I almost started crying in the middle of Borders - I don't know why, but it seemed so amazing to me.

Then this morning, while I was eating a bowl of cereal, the baby got hiccups again.  It's so funny now that I know what it is.  It's just ironic that all this time I've been worried and I was so sure that my baby has never had hiccups - and that's what it was all along.