29 Weeks

One of my resolutions with this baby was to try harder at getting "belly shots" to document how big my belly was getting.  I think that with Parker I have all of two pictures, from 32 and 38 weeks or so.  Fortunately, I now have a tripod, so I can take the photos myself without bothering Keith (not that he's unwilling, but he's got better things to do with his time).

So, here's a progression of where we've come so far, not to mention documentation of how quickly my hair grows (I got it cut two days before I found out I was pregnant):

                               4 weeks                                                               9 weeks

                                       10 weeks:                                                 13 weeks:   

                                       14 weeks:                                                     16 weeks:

18 weeks:                                                           20 weeks:

22 weeks:                                                           24 weeks:

25 weeks:                                                           27 weeks:

29 weeks:

I know that I'm getting pretty big, but I actually think I feel smaller than I look.  I remember being really giant and uncomfortable at this point with Parker, and except for the sleeping, I'm still fairly comfortable at the moment.  Although I do have moments where I feel like our little girl has a death-grip on my lungs, but walking is still fairly easy.  This could have something to do with it being the 2nd kid, Parker isn't really okay with me sitting around all day with my feet up.

I wish I was one of those Moms who keeps a journal for each of her babies as she's pregnant, documenting her thoughts & emotions as she's preparing for baby's arrival.  But I'm not.  Let me assure you, if something isn't on this blog, it isn't documented anywhere else either.  So, let me get a little blog-y for a moment (you don't actually have to read it).

Finally, after months and months of nausea, my "morning" sickness has gone away.  It started to taper off around 22 weeks and was completely gone around 24 weeks.  In the past few weeks I've started to get my energy back enough that I feel like I can be moderately productive during Parker's nap time, evenings still tend to be a loss though.  Baby girl is starting to get much more active, I still don't feel like she moves around as much as Parker did, but she at least moves enough that I don't ever get nervous.  As focused as I've been on the misery of this pregnancy for the past six months, it's kind of crazy to believe that we'll have a baby girl in the house in the next 8-12 weeks.

I started working on my birth plan this week.  When Parker was born, my birth plan went out the window in the first five minutes, and we still had what I consider a "favorable" birth experience (although I could have done without the four hours of pushing).  So, I'm not holding too firmly this time, but I do have a better idea of what I want, so we'll see how it goes.

I went to the Dr this week, baby's heartbeat is strong and everything is going well.  Although, I did get the (expected) lecture on my weight gain, so this week I'm journaling everything I eat.  Having spent my entire life watching every little bite that I eat, I wish I could go through this period in my life without worrying about the scale.  I totally understand that less weight gain = easier delivery (in theory), but I do get tired of spending so much time thinking about the scale.

This weekend we're getting baby girl's room all ready.  I'm looking forward to having it done.  It will be nice to have a place to store everything I've been making/buying, but I also think that it will help make this feel a little more real.

My biggest fears at the moment are:

1. What I do with Parker when I go into labor/how I get to the hospital.  Parker's delivery was so unusual (driving myself to the hospital, no pain until well into active labor), I'm a little nervous about how this one will go.  I'm hoping for a more  "normal" delivery with gradual labor pains, slowly progressing, which would give us time to get Keith home from work and someone to come take care of Parker.  But, I'm really concerned that if it goes similar to last time and I don't already happen to be at the hospital when the pain starts, things could go really quickly and I'm stuck at home by myself with a 2-year old.  I've put Keith in-charge of worrying about this part, but so far he's been pretty busy and I haven't been all that great about letting go, so my mind's not quite settled.

2. Nursing - I'm REALLY REALLY hoping that everything goes smoothly in this department this time.  I really can't imagine going through the 2-person feedings and pumping every two hours (day & night) with Parker running around.  So, here's hoping that my body does it's job and perhaps a slightly more patient baby this time.

Okay, that's about as close as I get to journaling.  I'm (We're) starting to get really excited about this little girl and ready for her arrival to complete our little family.