still pregnant

Here's a picture of my crib with the new GORGEOUS blanket that my mother made for me!! We had the matching pillow from ages ago and that mobile is actually adorable in person - 3 waves & 2 surfboards to inspire our future little surfer. That land whale in ethnic prints is me.

Had my next doctor's appointment today. Baby's still in there. My uterus is measuring about a week ahead of how many weeks I actually am. It's very strange how that works. All along it's matched up perfectly - when I was 24 weeks my uterus was 24 centimetres, when I was 29 weeks it was 29 centimetres. Now it's running ahead but doctor says not to worry, the baby doesn't feel big or anything like that. I'm also low on iron now so have had to start taking iron supplements, which doesn't thrill my soul because I've heard they often cause constipation and I would like to finish out this pregnancy with no troubles from that end of the spectrum please.

All else is well, he's in head down position and ready to go. Still an active chap kicking and punching in there constantly.

Cank it up

Oh, the tree stumps are back this week. Cankles are dirty bitches. It's especially annoying because they don't actually cause trouble or hurt but they're a little uncomfy and the most unsightly situation on earth. I had my feet elevated last night and Marcel kept getting freaked out when he'd catch a glimpse of them. Such a supportive hubby - where are my foot rubs??

My mom sent me the blanket for my crib. It's the most beautiful thing on earth!! I actually got all choked up opening the box at work and showed it off to my coworkers. I'll post a picture of it this weekend and I'll update the photo of me with my gargantuan belly and my new haircut. I'm getting it coloured tomorrow (the hair, not the belly) so I'll wait until after that. My terrible baby brain caused me to straighten my hair without actually turning the heat on the straightener today so I don't look so stylin' ... I actually have Milhouse's mom's hair when it's a bit puffy like today but I'm about to be a mom so I suppose I'm allowed the occasional mom hair day. Mom jeans on the other hand shall never touch my ass.

31 weeks today & the little devil is still poking, kicking and pushing me around. I'll admit I take some small delight knowing that his room is getting smaller so he only has so many options with how he can harass me. But I've started with pretty big Braxton Hicks contractions so I'll be walking along, suddenly my womb seizes up and I have to stop whatever I'm doing like a crazy person and just stand there until I can move again comfortably or I'll just waddle. I also have an odd stabbing pain in the middle of the left side of my back that makes me want to hurt someone. It causes me to lean a lot to stay comfortable. Finding myself cursing on public transport has forced me to make a massage appointment for tomorrow so hopefully that will solve this dilemma.

Anyway, here's the update:
Your baby's arms, legs and body continue to fill out -- and they are finally proportional in size to her head. She weighs about 1.5 kilograms and looks more like a newborn. She measures about 41 centimetres from crown to toe. You may notice your baby isn't moving around as much. Don't worry; she's just running out of space in your uterus. As long as you can feel her squirming, you'll know she's just fine. Believe it or not, she still has plenty of growing to do. You can expect her to gain at least 900 grams more before delivery. Your baby's organs are continuing to mature and she is passing water from her bladder: good practice for the urinating she'll do after she's born. Soon you can wonder what your baby is wishing for -- brain scans have shown that fetuses have periods of dream sleep around month eight.

30 weeks & all is well

This week your baby continues to open and shut his eyes. He can probably see what's going on in utero, distinguish light from dark and even track a light source. If you shine a light on your stomach, your baby may move his head to follow the light or even reach out to touch the moving glow. Some researchers think baring your stomach to light stimulates visual development. But don't expect 20/20 vision when your baby is born -- newborns can see a distance of only about 20 to 30 centimetres. (Children with normal vision don't reach 20/20 vision until about age 7 to 9.) To complete the picture, your baby now has eyebrows and eyelashes.

Around a litre of amniotic fluid now surrounds your baby but that volume decreases as he gets bigger and has less room in your uterus. As you and the baby continue to grow, don't be alarmed if you feel breathless, as if you can't get enough air; it's just your uterus pressing against your diaphragm.

Had a checkup last week and all seems good. Got blood tests done (glucose, iron, etc) so hopefully those will be fine as well. Why does my baby need to see what's going on inside me? It can't be pleasant. I hope he has awesome eyebrows.

Nothing else new at the moment - no progress on the nursery, still looks like we're getting an intern instead of a baby. Hopefully getting a pram/stroller this weekend. We shall see if we survive another round of testing those out. Ugh.

I'll update my stomach photo soon because I'm growing and am a moose ... or it looks like I'm smuggling a moose under my shirt.

It's a squash.

Oh my word, I wasn't sure I would live to see 29 weeks my friends (& family). Yesterday I was minding my own business eating the fruit salad I always get for lunch when nothing sounds good to me. Then I noticed a little red blotch on my wrist. What the hell? Oh yeah, it spread - my stomach and thighs were bright red and blotchy and started to itch like wildfire. So I went to the pharmacist and they gave me some cream. It helped, itchiness went away & the red went down but then a couple of hours later it flared into major drama - all over my body and itching insanely. I went to an after hours clinic, they said keep using the cream, don't use antihistamine if you can avoid it (apparently there's only one kind pregnant ladies can use and doctors still don't like that). So soothing bath and dousing myself in slime is all I can do. Today is much better so allergy must be working its weasly way out of my system - still itchy in spots but it's about time to go put more cream on so hopefully it will subside. Have my next doctor catchup on Tuesday hope all is well.

Your baby now weighs around 1.1 kilograms and measures about 38 centimetres from head to toe. In boys, testicles descend from near the kidneys through the groin en route to the scrotum. In girls, the clitoris is relatively prominent because it's not yet covered by the still-small labia. These will grow to cover it in the last few weeks before birth. Your baby's head is getting bigger, and brain growth is very rapid at this time. Nearly all babies react to sound by 30 weeks. Your baby's nutritional needs reach their peak during the third trimester. You'll need plenty of protein, vitamin C, folic acid, iron, and calcium (about 200 milligrams is deposited in your baby's skeleton every day), so eat foods rich in these nutrients.

the baby's room

Okay, we've got the bare bones of our nursery together so I'm posting photos. We went with dark furniture because I love it and we can't paint our walls so that baby white scheme wouldn't work so well for us. Our goal now is to get some baby crap in this room so it actually looks like a child will live here. Just looking in the door, it looks like instead of having a baby we've just decided to hire one to do a little temp work at the computer back there and we had to add a crib to his cubicle. It will look adorable once we get art on the walls ... & toys. The bookshelf is actually pretty cute already, just half empty. And yes, we do plan on getting a mattress for the crib and my wonderful mother is cutting down a bedspread for the crib, which I'm very excited about. It's got birds and birdcages all over it in bright retro colours. There are also a lot of stripes in the nursery & there will be more. I'm calling the theme Stripes .... & Shit. Ignore the fact that I look like a crazy person - I'm getting a haircut in another week & a half (it was the first appointment I could get) & that orange striped rug from IKEA makes me super happy.