The Journey of Parenthood…

30 Week Update

I realized the other day that throughout my pregnancy I haven’t really had that many “pregnancy symptoms” or at least if I have had them I haven’t noticed. Well, those days are over. I’m in the third trimester now and am being hit like crazy with a million different things to deal with here!

First here are some updated belly pics. I’m going to try to take these more often because I think there are much more drastic changes in the size of the belly now! I’m 30 weeks and 2 days in these.



Here are some of the changes I’ve been noticing lately:

  • Baby’s Movement: Before it was just kicking, and sometimes I’d feel a tough one to the ribs or something but now it’s not really kicking it’s JABBING. At pretty much any given moment if you felt my tummy you’d be able to find at least one really tight spot where Clover is pressing a foot or hand or something really hard against the wall. I can also feel hiccups (in the lower belly since that is where the head is…strange to think about) while feeling the pushing of the feet (at the top of my belly). It’s neat but often painful and I can make the baby reposition too! We can also SEE the movement going on which is really neat too.
  • Braxton Hicks: It’s so funny to me because Zach actually wanted to name a son Braxton for the longest time! I thnk of that everytime I think of this term. I’m experiencing some of these and they aren’t that bad. Mostly when I move too suddenly or roll over in bed. I am also getting a lot more cramping in my lower stomach, kind of like period cramps but obviously not caused by that! None of it really bothers me and I feel like it’s a good sign that things are moving in the right direction!
  • Weight: I’ve gained a total of 18 pounds (but I’m saying 22 because I want to lose an extra 4 pounds after). I don’t think that’s too bad, I’m honestly not trying that hard to not gain though.
  • Swollen: Thank GOD it hasn’t reached me face (yet? please let’s not think that…) but I have noticed my feet and hands get swollen now. I’m drinking a lot more water to help with this and so far it seems to be working. I’ll do anything if it helps prevent the face swelling…but I know it could be unavoidable.
  • Can’t See: People always talk about being so big that you can’t see your feet. How big do these people get? I mean yeah if I stand PERFECTLY straight then maybe I can’t see them but come on no one stands like that! I can’t see my privates though. Not at all! It’s awful!
  • Hair: My hair is looking awesome. I’m not going to lie it’s the best part of being pregnant! It’s so much thicker! Sadly I read it will all fall out (not all my hair just the new extra ones) once the baby is born. A bad part of hair growth? It grows other places as well. Even though I can’t see my privates anymore I know that areas needs A LOT more maintance. The random hairy-ness on the face isn’t any fun either.
  • Getting Ready: It’s a lot more of a pain than it used to be. Now I understand why most pregnant women I see at Walmart are walking around in their husbands huge t-shirt. It’s tough to look halfway decent at this point. My bathroom has really high countertops. I loathe them now. It kills my stomach to lean over them in order to get a good look in the mirror (in order to pluck all the face hairs haha). Thankfully, Courtney got me one of those lighted mirrors to sit out and it’s helping a lot. Another thing the high countertops did was prevent me from seeing my butt. When we went to Mom’s for Christmas her countertops are lower and I got a good look at that thing. NOT PRETTY. It’s awful actually. Actually let’s give it it’s own category to vent about it.
  • My Butt: Zach claims to be a “butt guy” but yet I’ve never had a butt. Ever. At least I never thought I had one. Now that pregnancy has hit I realized I did have some-what of a butt. Now I have nothing. The way my baby weight has been it’s not just tummy, it’s in the back too and that great chunk of nasty makes my butt pretty much blend into my back. I may hate my high countertops when it comes to getting ready but I’m thankful for them when it comes to pretending like I don’t know about this butt situation.
  • Nights: My nights are no fun at all. I guess it’s practice for when the baby gets here. First, I’m so so so tired. All the time. Yet when I get ready to go to bed, I can’t sleep. Then once I get to sleep I wake up having to pee. Early-on in pregnancy I’d have to go in the middle of the night but I was able to go back to sleep and hold it until the morning. Well, those days are gone. I HAVE to go. Last night I was up three different times. Then once I go I can’t go back to sleep. I feel like I toss, turn and moan all night long (Zach can agree to this!). Then I also wake up in the night drenched in sweat. So gross. It makes it worse that I have to sleep on my side. It’s hard to do. It also doesn’t help that Sadie has now become obsessed with sleeping on my stomach so while I’m laying on my left side like a good pregnant girl should I have a dog laying on my stomach. Or a cat with his long hair rubbing up on me all night. I told Zach one night that I was going to punch Zeke in the face if he came near me. Seriously.
  • Side Sleeping: I wish I’d never asked about this. You ARE supposed to sleep on the left side. Stacey told me that while sometimes sleeping on my back if I have to is okay that it could cause problems with the baby getting oxygen so I need to be sleeping on my side. She also said it helps prevent swelling (protect the face!!!). This makes it SO much harder for me to sleep. I think it’s the reason I have such a hard time falling asleep. It’s more comfortable to lay on my back but I worry so I turn to my left side but then I’m uncomfortable. I haven’t worried AT ALL this whole pregnancy about my baby. I have always felt like the baby is fine and healthy. Now every morning (I’m not kidding) I wake up scared that I killed our baby by accidently sleeping on my back. I wait to feel movement before I get up!
  • Back: Yup. It hurts. All the time. Always. Especially under my bra. It’s so annoying because it feels like it needs to be cracked or popped (like knuckles feel sometimes), but yet I can’t make it pop. No matter how I twist and turn it doesn’t help. Sleeping on my side REALLY doesn’t help either. I’m ready for my Shiatsu to get here to save me 🙂
  • Feet: Speaking of pain, my feet will hurt very badly if I have a busy day of walking (usually shopping). They were actually worse those earlier in the pregnancy…or maybe my back just hurts so bad that I don’t notice them as much.
  • Body Temperature: I am soooo in tune with temperature now. I can physically feel it when our house gets one degree warmer. I keep the heat (or ac since it’s been so hot) on 70 at night and 72 during the day. I have to or I’ll die. At night now I’ve gotten so bad that I only sleep with a sheet and I’ve been turning it down to 69 (or sometimes 67…).
  • Food: I’m eating the same as I have the whole pregnancy, which is the same as I did before pregnancy. I’m not eating any more than I used to although the foods I’m eating have changed. Before I was a Slimfast drinker and obviously I can’t do that now! I make a lot of smoothies though so it’s kind of the same. The biggest change in food lately has been poptarts. Since day one of no-more-Slimfast I’ve eaten Cinnamon Toast Crunch practically every morning. Well one day last week it hit me…I wanted a cherry poptart. I’m eating them now instead! Random! I still don’t like chicken either which is odd…and the only fast food I’ll eat is Taco Bell (and it’s so amazingly good) Still no random I’ll-die-if-I-don’t-have-it cravings though.
  • Body Image: I looked in my closet the other day and tried to remember what it must have felt like to walk in there and have so many choices! I have like a million different colors of pants in there! Now I have to chose between jeans, my one pair of black pants, or my one pair of khaki pants. I miss my clothes. I especially miss my body. It’s so funny (not ha-ha but ironic) that everything I read talks about the great porn-star type chest pregnancy brings you and how you should totally enjoy it. Are they stupid? Sure you have an awesome chest…but no one can notice that because they are too busy looking at your huge stomach. Plus this “awesome” chest leaks stuff. All the time. Not sexy. And they literally touch my stomach. Gross and sweaty. I really really miss my body. I miss looking down and not seeing my stomach! I wasn’t even that thin of a person but I was smoking hott compared to what I am now! My New Year’s Eve post really lets you know how I was feeling about this but it’s a daily thing. I’ve always been the type of person who hasn’t ever thought I was beautiful but who felt like if I looked my personal best then I FELT my best too. Stephanie Emerine told me that forever ago and it stuck with me. When I feel crappy I always put on something cute and I instantly feel better. Confidence is key and it’s so hard to feel confident right now when I feel so icky and so ugly.
  • Excitement/Scared: I’ve read that this is normal but one minute I’m soooo ready for Clover to BE HERE and the next I’m sooo scared about what Clover being here will mean. I’d say it’s 85% ready and 10% not ready with a solid 5% in total denial about it all. It is scary to think that I will be a MOMMY. Zach will be a DADDY. I look at the dogs and worry how they will feel. But every night I see that bassinett by my side of the bed and I just want Clover to be there. I want to know that she/he is OURS and I want to be able to hold her/him and be a mommy! I’m so ready. Not just because I’m SICK of being pregnant but because it’s so much anticipation and I just want it to hurry up and be here!

As you can tell, I’m pretty much ready for the next 10 weeks to FLY BY in a hurry. I pray (and pray and pray) that I’m further along than what my due date suggests and that maybe instead of being here on March 12th that Clover could PLEASE be here on like Feb 26th. That would be great! I know this was a rather long post but I haven’t really been talking fully about this whole experience like I should be and I really want to be able to compare how this pregnancy has been when I get pregnant again! And yes, surprisingly, after all my complaining I totally plan to do this at least three more times!

Emily Parker
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1 Comment

  1. Anonymous
    January 4, 2009 / 10:33 pm

    The babies movement gets worse, and more uncomfortable! Greg would be worried when I “repositioned” Macy but sometimes it was all I could do to get relief! You are doing AWESOME on weight, I definitely gained way to much! I was super worried about facial swelling and there really was nothing I could do about it. That seriously was my least favorite part. I laughed out loud when you were talking about sleeping! That was exactly how I was! Don’t stress about laying on your side, I swear, your body will wake you up to turn over. I slept a lot om my back, that was the only way I could fall asleep but Greg said I would roll to my side automatically in my sleep. Also, towards the end, sleeping on my side was more comfortable. Take some baths with epsom salt to help with your body aches and pains. There nothing I can say about the temperature, we had a HUGE electricity bill, because I was keeping it on 67!! hahahaha CLOVER WILL BE HERE BEFORE YOU KNOW IT! My last trimester was the worst but it went the fastest! I pray it (she) haha comes early!Rachael

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