Holy smokes! 30 weeks! That means we’re 3/4 of the way done!

Baby

The weekly pregnancy emails are telling me Baby is anywhere from 3 to 3.5 lbs this week, and that she should be gaining about .5 lbs a week until the end, give or take. I am pretty sure I’m just going to be astonished by how big she’s getting every week until we meet her and I go, “whoa, she’s actually tiny!” when I see her in comparison to big brother Lewis.

My addiction to baby clothes continues. In the absence of other preparation, I find myself buying baby clothes, which I suppose satisfies my need to “nest” and get ready for Baby in a very minor way. I’d really prefer to be getting the nursery ready, but I think the rest of that has to wait until after my “sprinkle” in July. That is still plenty of time before Baby arrives, but it does leave me with about a month of having to scratch the nesting itch a different way.

The hunt for the perfect name continues. We have a definite front runner, but lots of other names keep coming up to try on for size. Nothing has beat the latest front runner yet, but just like with Lewis, we’ll keep open minds until the ink hits the birth certificate! I must admit though, that our shared front runner is not the same thing as my personal front runner. I’m still having a hard time letting go of my own personal faves that Kyle has nixed!

Baby Girl has been on the move a lot lately. I keep locating her head by using her hiccups, but even within the space of one day I can feel those hiccups in several different places, so she’s still swimming around in there. Now that we’re getting closer to the birthday, I find myself getting pretty excited every time the hiccups are down low. I guess I’m starting to feel a little anxious that she’s going to end up facing the right way, even though it is way too early for that to become finalized.

Me

I’m doing about the same – ups and downs. This past week was a little heavier on the dizziness, but a little lighter on the contractions. Although I had one day that was just rotten all around for most of the day, and I still can’t think of why it was worse than the others.

Working from home has been going great. When I have “bad” days, it helps me to feel more sure that being at home is the right thing. With Lewis in school all 5 days now, it is working out perfectly – I can get my work done and rest as-needed. Well, mostly as needed – work is busy and demanding so I sometimes don’t get to lay down when I should, but it is certainly better than being at the office.

I have been having some increased difficulty sleeping lately. The new reasons are two-fold: 1) Lewis keeps doing things in his sleep like falling off the bed, or yelling, or kicking off his blankets causing me to worry he is cold (we have a new video monitor in his room, so I can see this now!), or bonking his head on the wall. 2) I have been having very vivid dreams which my brain is so actively involved in that I don’t feel like I am getting quality rest even when I’m asleep. It’s like I’m aware I’m dreaming, but I don’t wake up – almost like a half-sleep state.

The dreams are usually silly and uninteresting, but last night I had one that I think tells a bit about what my subconscious is thinking. I dreamed that my water had broken and I went to the hospital (which was actually a mall), and I couldn’t find the labor and delivery department. It wasn’t a panic situation because my contractions hadn’t started yet, but it became urgent when I ran across another pregnant lady who was having actual contractions and also couldn’t find L&D. She asked me for help and we wandered all over the hospital (mall) and couldn’t find the place. Eventually we did, and my labor room was right next to a restaurant (we were at a mall, remember?!), so I excitedly bought croissants and soup because I didn’t want to be hungry like last time. And I could overhear the other lady two rooms away talking to her in-laws who were concerned about her fitting into an evening gown right after she was done giving birth, and she wasn’t worried about it because she had been so careful with her eating during pregnancy that she’d just bounce right back.

So… my subconscious is concerned about finding L&D in time, being hungry during labor, and getting back to my normal size after birth. Cool. Good to know.

I also had my 30 week appointment today and my subconscious’s concerns about my weight were proven to be justified through another colossal weight gain. My conscious self is continuing to just surrender to the fact that pregnancy means a total loss of control over my appetite and will-power, and to trust that I will lose the weight again after birth. Probably not so I can fit into an evening gown the day after Baby comes, but that’s not really my goal anyway. hehe.

Even with the scale being so cruel, everything checked out great. Baby has a good heart beat still, my uterus measures the right size, and I got my TDAP shot, which I was supposed to get last time, but which we all forgot. Doctor is happy with me, so I’m happy with me.

The final big news for me this week is that our bill arrived for the ER visit in May. Oh boy, is it a doozy. We had gotten one bill already from a different provider, but The Big One showed up this week. And just like that, we’ve doubled our medical debt again. We’ve been working so hard to get it all paid down, and we made excellent progress, only to have this hit like a ton of bricks. The only silver lining I can see is that we’re getting closer to reaching the out-of-pocket maximum for the year, so when Baby Girl comes, we won’t get hit with the whole out-of-pocket maximum at once. Because let’s be real, we’re going to hit that this year one way or another. Part of the amount just came sooner than we thought. Yikes. Being an adult is no joke, and growing/raising tiny humans is very expensive.

Lewis

I mentioned above that Lewis has fallen out of his bed a few more times. When we initially upgraded to the big boy bed, I had purchased a fold-down bed rail to help prevent falls. Kyle didn’t think it would be necessary, so I returned it. But even if kiddo doesn’t fall out of bed most days, it is happening often enough to be a problem. So I re-ordered a bed rail and it should be here tomorrow. I’m hoping that will mean consistent sleep for all.

Kiddo stepped on the scale yesterday (albeit after a huge meal), and he weighed in at 27 lbs! This is a huge milestone because it means his weight is finally in the 18-24 month size clothes category. Of course, his height puts him in the 2T category, which means that his pants and shirts either fit girth-wise, or length-wise, but never both. Of course, the 12-18 month size is also still a good fit in the waist for my skinny dude, but if he stays at 27 lbs even without a full belly, that won’t be the case for long!

Cutie patootie got a summer haircut last night. Kyle buzzed his head (that makes it sound like I didn’t know it was coming, but I assure you I did!), and the result is both adorable and totally shocking – he looks so grown up! I can hardly stand it! But it is actually a very good look on him, and I’m a big fan.