Week 30

Advice Request

Our in home daycare provider wants us to provide a pack and play for her house, which we are happy to do.  We already have one that a friend gave us.  This one has a top attachment that is used for a changer, but the actual crib part does not raise up or adjust.  We want to keep a pack and play at home as well because I want to set it up downstairs as a changing/sleeping station, plus we want to have it for travel.  So we are in the market for a second pack and play.

The question/advice needed is:  What type of pack and play should we get?  And then, which one should we keep for home and which one should we send to the daycare?

How I am feeling 

I am starting to feel kind of big (eeeek!)  It started a little while ago when I would lay in the recliner and I would struggle to get myself back up again because I no longer have the ab muscles I used to have.  It was kind of amusing at first to hear me grunt and groan trying to get up from a chair, but it’s a little annoying now!  Getting out of bed even takes new maneuvering, and Lilly is only 3 pounds!  What happens when she is 8?  Or heck, even 9?  I was a big baby, so I have no delusions that I am going to give birth to an itty bitty baby.  Big or small, I just want her to be (cliché alert!) a healthy baby.  Isn’t that what everyone ultimately wants?  And if it’s not too much to ask, I want her to have big chubby cheeks that I can kiss and smush with my face; I love that!

I am also NOT comfortable on my back at all anymore.  If I lean too far back in the recliner, I start to feel short of breath and light headed.  Funny story actually, I was getting my eyebrows waxed (is that TMI for a blog???) and I was lying on my back waiting for the girl to start.  She was taking a little longer than expected and I started to feel a little dizzy.  When she was finally ready I had to ask her to hold on while I sat up for a minute and got some water.  This may sound scary, but it was really more funny than scary, even for me at the time.  This poor girl looked very confused (why is this woman getting light headed from laying down???) but was nice and didn’t mind waiting.  But I think she tried to get me out of there pretty quickly after that! 

Here is what I look like at 30 weeks:

Baby movement:

So, here is something that was not described to me in the books: “kicks” at this point in my pregnancy feel like small bombs going off in my stomach!  Is Lilly lifting weights in there and bulking up, because she is REALLY nailing me!  I had no idea a 3 pound baby could pack so much punch.  Don’t get me wrong, I love it (how weird is THAT?).  I love feeling her movements and to feel how active she is because that is really the only connection we get to her.  It’s hard after we had so many ultrasounds early on to never get to see her and get that reassurance that she is ok.  I love hearing her heart beat at the doctor’s appointments, but it’s definitely not even close to the same as feeling her move or seeing her on an ultrasound. 

Shout Outs

Thanks to Jared S for coming over to help Darren install Lilly’s ceiling fan!

 

Also, shout out to Antonia H. (my fellow mama-to-be) for getting me girl clothing that her friend had and that she did not need since Antonia is having a baby boy (and we can’t WAIT to meet Joseph soon!)

Nursery:

Remember how I said I was going to get the nursery done over track out?  Well, we haven’t done anything else yet except I did buy a touch lamp at Home Depot.  

Don’t worry though, we still have 2 more weeks of track out and I am determined to get everything settled.  So I promise by next blog, I will have some new pictures of the nursery and it will be more complete.

Labor and Birth:

I started a blog page for the members of our birthing class so we can all stay in touch.  It’s amazing how connected you feel to other moms who are going through the same crazy time that you are.  I am lucky that we also have friends who have had kids or are currently pregnant so when I have questions or need advice, there are plenty of people to go to.  It will be nice though to keep in touch with our classmates so we can see each other’s babies and maybe even get together once everyone is here J

I was also pleasantly surprised the other day when I had my doctor’s appointment.  It was the first time I was going to be seeing one of the OBs in the office and not a midwife.  At the practice I am going to, there are 5 midwives and 2 OBs.  During your prenatal care, if you are choosing to work with the midwives for your delivery, you cycle through the OBs as well, just in case there is a complication that requires an OB, that way the doctor is not a stranger.  I thought the doctor was wonderful.  He was very attentive, kind and answered all of my questions without making me feel rushed.  It’s nice to know that, even though I hope it does not come to this, that at least one of the OBs in the office is still very receptive to my birthing goals and that I am comfortable with him. 

I am also interested in attending a breast feeding class, or a La Leche League meeting before I give birth so as to make the process of breast feeding go very smoothly.  If anyone is involved in La Leche League or was in the past and has information, please share it.