My Big Fat Belly 2.0 - 30 Weeks

How far along: 30 Weeks, 2 Days

Symptoms:  Not much of anything.  Still some on and off braxton hicks but very infrequently.  I didn’t have these with Carter, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if that’s what it is.  They say that if your stomach gets really tight then it’s a braxton hicks contraction…well sometimes my stomach does get really tight, but I don’t feel pressure.  Other times, I feel pressure and am sure that it’s a BH contraction.  Either way, the stomach tightness and the pressure is very infrequent so it’s normal for this stage in the game.

Maternity Clothes:   Pretty much all maternity.  Still wear a few things that aren’t maternity (like workout clothes and jeans), but it’s mostly just maternity for comfort for me!

Weight Gain:   21 pounds total so far.  I’m doing better than I did with Carter at this stage.  I was up about 25 pounds with him at 30 weeks.  As far as total weight (the actual number on the scale), I’m 13.5 pounds less than I was with Carter at this point.

Sleep:  No change-still sleeping with a bunch of pillows around me for comfort.  As my belly gets bigger I am having a harder time rolling from one side to the other in the middle of the night.

Belly Button:  Still in and I still think it will stay that way since it never popped with Carter.  And there’s still no sign of the line from my belly button this time around.  It showed up with Carter around 28 weeks but no such showing with Baby Garrett yet.

Stretch Marks:  None yet.  Didn’t have any with Carter so I’m hoping it stays that way.

Cravings/Aversions:   Nada.

Exercise Routine:  Well, let’s just say I’m starting to get tired.  I’m doing good to have 5 days a week of exercise, but sometimes it’s just 4.  Though I’m hoping that will change now that Carter starts school twice a week next week.  I’ll be able to pick back up my pure barre workouts while he’s in school and that will certainly help.  Still doing P90x at home.  Planning to literally workout until I push this baby out but we’ll see how it goes.  Right now my struggle is waking up to workout.  I’m going to bed super late these days for some reason so I’m not waking up till almost 8.  Most of the time I’ll workout anyway and Carter just watches and imitates but sometimes I’m just too tired and my body is saying no so I don’t on those days.

Baby Size:  Garrett is a whopping 3 pounds and 17 inches from head to foot now.  He’s getting close to the length he’ll be when he’s born but he still has some plumping up to do!  The good news is that if he were born right now, he would survive.  He’d be in the NICU, but he would survive with medical interventions. 

Movement:   Still moving a lot, but his movements are starting to slow down a bit.  This is expected since he’s kinda running out of room.  I’m not counting kicks or anything like that (who has time for that with a 2 year old running around the house??) but I know he moves enough to satisfy my curiosity of whether he’s ok or not.  Plus I still have my fetal doppler to hear his heart beating whenever I want to, which is something I’ve been doing a little bit more often this week since he doesn’t move quite as much as he used to.

Swelling and/or Signs of Labor:  No swelling yet!  Every now and again there will be a day where my feet appear swollen at the end of the day, but they’re still normal for now.  Fingers aren’t swollen yet because I’m not having any issues with my rings.  With Carter I’m pretty sure that I stopped wearing my rings around week 33.  Hoping I can still wear them up to delivery!  And definitely no signs of labor.  Hoping those won’t come for at least another 7 or 8 weeks!

Gender:  I am the queen in my house of boys!

Appointments and Such:  Just had my 30 week appointment and all was fine.  The belly is measuring right at 30 weeks and my weight and urine sample looked good.  Something I am grateful for is that I haven’t had an iron deficiency with this pregnancy.  With Carter, I had to take medication for low iron.  Also, I got the prescription for the PPD medicine (Zoloft) that my doc wants me to go ahead and start taking.  For those of you that don’t know, I had PPD with Carter and was on medicine for several.  My doc said that since I got PPD once, I would likely get it again so this time we’re trying to be more proactive.  Most anti-depressants can take up to 6-8 weeks to kick in so he wanted to go ahead and start me on the medicine at 30 weeks, just in case Garrett came early.  I’m really hoping this works.  I can’t begin to tell you how much I didn’t enjoy Carter’s first months.  I cried daily and most days regretted having a child (I’m so ashamed saying that now).  I desperately want to know what it’s like to be smitten with a newborn.  To come home with him in my arms and never want to let anyone else hold him.  The 30 week appointment was my last appointment in a 4 week series.  Now that I’m close to birth, I’m moving to appointments every 2 weeks until week 36 and then it will be every week until Garrett arrives.

Nursery Developments:   Carter’s new furniture is painted and done!  We still have to move it into his room and move all of his furniture into Garrett’s room.  Once the furniture is in place, I can do better planning on decoration for Garrett’s room.  At that point, that’s all we’ll need is a few decorations and pictures on the wall.  I’ve already gone to one consignment sale and got Garrett a few things.  Mostly, I just buy clothes for Carter that will end up being passed down to Garrett.  But of course every baby should have something of their very own so I have been getting Garrett a few things.  Anyway, we have also gotten out Carter’s newborn clothes storage box and put together all of the clothes Garrett will wear.  I still need to wash them and get them hung up though.  Something funny….my app on my phone for babycenter told me I needed to go ahead and pack a hospital bag.  I laughed a little bit because had I done that at this time with Carter’s pregnancy, that bag would have been sitting by the door for a whopping 2 1/2 more months.  Needless to say, I doubt I will pack a hospital bag until a little closer to week 37 or 38.

Maternity Pictures:  My fantastic sister owns her own business, Lindsey Smith Photography, based in Tuscaloosa.  She recently did our maternity photos at River Walk in Tuscaloosa.  I am SO excited to see how they all turn out!  She is so dang talented with taking pictures!  She sent me a couple of sneak peeks that I put on my Instagram account and I’m pretty sure that her business page will have a few on Facebook within a couple of days, so go like her page on Instagram (@lindseysmithphotography) or Facebook (Lindsey Smith Photography) to check them out.

Bump Pic for Week 29:

Bump Pic for Week 30:

 

I’m not gonna lie, I despise BOTH of these pictures of me.  But it’s all I have so I’m just gonna go with it.  I imagine that the pictures from here on out will just get worse as I get bigger and more swollen ;)