Baby was the size of a cucumber (which makes no sense to me): (15.2 -16.7 inches, 2.5-3.8 lb.)

30 Weeks!?!? Whenever I heard that someone was 30 weeks pregnant I always thought they were SO CLOSE to the end! But, now as I’m sitting here with a little baby wiggling around in my belly, I realize that there is still quite a way to go! Baby girl has got to double or triple her body weight in the next 10 weeks! And this momma’s body has got some more growing and preparing to do before we can meet our little one. I’m glad the “30’s” are here, but I also am SO READY for life to slow down a little bit so that Daniel and I can spend some precious time together. Fortunately, classes end soon and I’ll be moving up to Cincinnati for GOOD!

Triple Baby Shower

In the picture above, two of my friends from high school are also expecting babies, and we’re due within a month of one another! September 20th, September 28th (our little one!) and October 16th. We had a “triple baby” shower this weekend and my friend Tori did some amazing Pinterest inspired decorating:

Amazing! We also played a fun game where the partygoers tried to guess what features/traits the mommas would “prefer” their little ones to have:

Eyes
Hair
Nose
Smile
Sense of Humor
Temperament

In the end, we all want a healthy baby but it was still a fun game to play! I said it would be neat if baby had my eyes, Daniel’s hair, my nose, either smile , and Daniel’s sense of humor and temperament. That man is as cool as a cucumber in almost every situation.

And… my bff Kristen got to “come” to the shower via Skype! Technology is awesome!

Pregnancy Stats Update

Baby girl and I met our new doctor up in Cincinnati! When Daniel and I visited a church a few months ago in Cincy, I saw a very pregnant woman and decided to ask her who her OBGYN was (nothing like making a good first impression, huh?) She warned me that she had done a few homebirths and that this doctor was all about having a natural childbirth and healthy pregnancy- I was SOLD! Anyways, we went up to the doctor on Thursday and I LOVED everything about the practice. I didn’t mind my Lexington doctor, but we just never connected. I’m excited to have doctors that have similar ideas about health/wellness and it makes me wish I had found a doctor that I liked sooner!

• Baby girl was head down at the appointment- usually I can feel a little tushie at the top of my belly near my ribcage. She still moves around a lot, but I’m glad to know that she’s been hanging out in that position for the majority of the time!
• Weight Gain: 8lbs (although if you add in the weight that I had to gain back after losing in the first trimester, I’m at +13lbs)
• I’m measuring “right on track” by my fundal height, this baby might just be a small one!

That’s all until next week!

My mom, me&baby and my sister Maggie!

Baby was the size of an acorn squash-  15.2-16.7in long and 2.5-3.8lbs!

Let’s see, there really wasn’t much that happened this week (which is always a good thing!)

How I’m Feeling

Starting to feel pregnant, for sure. I’m still having some heartburn at night, but a couple of tums solves that problem. Newest symptom: aching and burning around my rib cage. I’m still pretty thankful that baby girl hasn’t found my ribs yet (or she just hasn’t decided to use them as a kicking/punching bag yet). But the rib pain really isn’t too bad, but laying down for a little while helps! Check out my “new” bellybutton:

Daniel came to Lexington this weekend to help me finish packing up the house before he does our big move next weekend. Packing makes me realize how much stuff we don’t need, I’m ready to get up to Cincinnati to start making our new place a home. I can’t wait to wash and hang/fold baby clothes!!!

Baby and I got to “help” Daniel this weekend with a workout. He’s running a Rugged Maniac race in late August, and he decided to follow their workout schedule for a while! Those workouts look HARD! Yesterday his workout was 10 rounds of the following:

• Run 3 minutes
• 12 Jump Squats
• 12 T-Push Ups (push up then rotate into a side plank with one arm pointing towards the sky)
• 24 Crossover Mountain Climbers (knee to opposite elbow)
• 24 Jump Lunges (12 each leg)
• 12 Plank to Push Ups (push up position, lower yourself to your forearms, push back up to pushup position, repeat)

I basically hung out in the shade while Daniel was running, and then I got to play “coach” and count his reps, check his form and give him encouragement (and I got to play paparazzi)! Part of me wanted to be working hard like he was, but it was also really cool to be able to coach him along! I like being a wife.

Yep, that’s about it! We have an appointment with our new doctor up in Cincinnati next week (well, technically this week), so I’ll be sure to include that next week!

Just to end things- bare belly pictures! My linea negra is starting to appear! WEIRD!

A non-baby related post? How can this be?

I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen lately. I think it’s probably because my stomach capacity is decreasing by the day, and it’s probably because Daniel doesn’t live here. Meals have been pretty simple- I was “proud” of myself when I cooked brown rice last night. I ate it alongside some sautéed onions and spinach and some tofu straight out of the fridge. (Silas LOVES cooked spinach, his eyes got all crazy today when I pulled out the container for lunch!)

So yeah, not a whole lot of cooking beyond scrambling some eggs or putting some veggies in the microwave has occurred.

But today, I just needed a break from my online classwork. A few weeks ago, I bought 3lbs of plums for $2 and some change. However, I haven’t really been eating the plums on a regular basis, and I didn’t want to just throw away the fruits whenever they finally started rotting. I poked around online for some recipes to use up my excess of plums and I decided to make a Plum Jam inspired by Martha Stewart’s recipe.

Plum Jam

A quick and easy homemade “jam” recipe. Use other sweeteners to your taste. See original recipe for spice additions. Yields one Mason jar of jam (~2 cups)

Ingredients

• 10-12 plums
• sugar (to taste, I used 1/3 cup)
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Wash plums, cut in half, remove pit, cut halves into quarters. Do not peel.
2. Add plums, water and sugar to a non-reactive pot (NOT aluminum or copper)
3. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer about 20 minutes (or until there is barely any liquid left)
4. Transfer (CAREFULLY) hot plum mixture to a food processor or blender and whirl away (you might want to let it cool first, exploding food processors are no fun!)
5. Store in an airtight container, the jam will thicken as it cools.

Plums have lovely floral notes when they’re really ripe, and you can definitely taste some of those flavors in the final product!

The jam also has a bit of tartness to it, reminiscent of a cranberry. And check out that color!

Baby girl was the size of an eggplant!

Well, we’re in the 7th month! Third Trimester! WOWZA! Every week seems to be getting shorter and shorter- only 3 more weeks of class! Yippee!

This was a big week! We had our 28 week doctor’s visit (complete with the gestational diabetes screening), we had a lovely baby shower given by Daniel’s mom and sisters, and I got in a bunch of great workouts!

I totally forgot to bring out my camera for the baby shower, but I did snap this gem while I was stopped at a stop-light on my way back to Lexington after the baby shower: (see the bump?!?)

That’s pretty much Silas’ favorite way to take a car trip. If we’re around town, he sticks his head (and sometimes his whole upper body) out the window to catch the wind, but on longer trips, my leg becomes his pillow.

I am still so shocked at how much we have for our little girl! We are beyond blessed to have friends and family that give so generously, and I know we’re going to have lots of items that we’ll be able to pass along to friends/family in the future!

Stats

• Weight Gain: 8.5 lbs (that’s the weight gain from my very first doctors appointment (pre-pregnancy weight). If I add in the pounds that I initially lost in early pregnancy (6lbs) that puts my total weight gain around 14lbs. I’ve never been able to figure out if they count that or not though!)
• Baby’s Heart Rate: 135bpm
• Fundal Height: 28cm (right on target!)
• Number of Diabetes Tests Failed: 1
• Grams of Sugar I had within 24 hours: 150g
• Number of 3 Hour Diabetes Tests Passed: 3
• Number of cupcakes eaten to celebrate: 0 (but I did have an awesome macaroon at my baby shower)

I failed my first gestational diabetes test. My appointment wasn’t until 1:30 in the afternoon, and I had to eat breakfast since I had class prior to going to the doctor. I read a bunch of boards that said if you ate before your test (before drinking the sugar solution), you would probably fail. Yep- I failed. My nurse said “we’re looking for a 140 or lower” (on the blood sugar meter), and I scored a whopping 184. That guaranteed me a 3 hr. appointment the following morning. The second gestational diabetes test was no fun- fasting for 10-14 hours, drinking a 100g sugar solution in 5 minutes and then getting blood drawn every hour for 3 hours. BUT- I passed and I’m glad to know I won’t have to do any major overhaul of my diet/exercise!

How I’m Feeling

I’m still feeling good! I mentioned in the beginning that this was a great week for me workout-wise, I got in a good day of lifting biceps, a great triceps workout and I even squeezed in a simple leg routine on Saturday morning. I’m really excited for Daniel- he’s doing a Rugged Maniac race at the end of August and he’s been letting me “coach” him through some of his workouts! It kind of makes me sad that I’m not running or pushing myself super hard like he is, but it’s really fun for me to get to be a part of his training!

New Friday Tradition

For the past few Friday mornings, I’ve found myself reading birth stories on various blogs. I suppose my new Friday morning tradition is sipping my coffee (half-caff) while crying into my bowl of blueberry oats. I love my new tradition!

See you all next week!

18 Weeks vs 28 Weeks

Baby was the size of a turnip!
Just another note- these posts are a week behind, I wanted to do a recap of each week!

Well, nothing too much to report this week! I’m pretty excited for next week’s recap- 28 weeks= third trimester! And we have a doctor’s appointment next  (actually this week) week, I’m anxious to see how baby girl is growing and I’m also ready to get my gestational diabetes screening test OVER with!

My aunt found a HUGE lot of baby girl clothes at a yard sale a few weekends ago and my mom brought up the clothes on the 4th of July. I spent some time this past weekend organizing the clothes by size and I think our little girl is going to be pretty well dressed for the first 9-12 months of her life! I didn’t expect myself to get that excited over baby clothes, but the teeny-tiny little shirts and pants make me so excited to dress her up!

Little clothes arranged by size, stashed in the bottom of the Pack n’ Play for the time being!

Baby closet! I really want to hang up all of the clothes….

I had a couple of headaches this week and I had a few days where I just felt exhausted… but I’m fortunate enough to have some nap time on some afternoons that I can use if I’m feeling super sluggish! I definitely didn’t get in nearly as many workouts as usual this week due to the heat (I drove to campus the 3 days that we had class because it was so stinkin’ hot!)

Bye bye, feet!

Sorry I don’t really have much more to report! I can just say that I’m getting more and more excited about meeting our little girl each day! I still don’t understand what she’s doing in there sometimes, the movements are so crazy sometimes!

And I FINALLY updated the “Mini-Coop” page, so it should be easy to go back and see the weeks that have FLOWN past!

17 weeks vs 27 weeks

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Baby is the size of a head of cauliflower! She’s also about as long as an English cucumber! WOW!

It’s no wonder that I’ve been feeling kicks/punches on both sides of my belly, she’s getting so big! My bump is officially here! You can see it even when I wear a t-shirt! I’m thinking that I might actually have to get a few maternity items, but for now my athletic shorts and some of my regular pants still fit (I just have to wear them LOW!)

At the beginning of week 26, we moved Daniel up to Cincinnati! I went to stay this past weekend, and I thought I’d take a few pictures of our new place! Our “big move” isn’t until July 28th, so please excuse the sparsely furnished living spaces.

Living Room/Entry to Kitchen (and downward-dog Silas)

Kitchen and adjoining Dining Room

Master Bedroom (With our make-shift futon bed)

Our lone bathroom (complete with a glass-block window in the shower! Love the natural light!)

Mini-Coop’s Room! (I just HAD to get something baby-related set up!)

First Belly Picture in the new House!

Still feeling great, moving part 1 went well (except when Daniel and I had to move the futon up from the basement, that was NOT fun!) I can’t wait to be up in Cincinnati for GOOD!

Geez, Louise look at that belly!