30 weeks!

Best moment of the week:  Yesterday, we rented a boat for the day with our good friends Maggi and Chris.  It’s become our annual summer tradition since about 2008 to take a boat out on the lake for a day.  We had a blast as always.  They brought a cake and some non-alcoholic bubbly to celebrate my birthday early.   Fun!

Baby bump status:  Here’s me at almost 30 weeks and Maggi at 34 weeks:

Maternity clothes:  I had to retire a pair of maternity jeans this week!  They are the first pair I bought and are the only maternity item I have that doesn’t stretch all the way around the waist; they actually button in the front.  I’ve maxed out the stretch of the back waistband.

Baby weighs as much as:  A head of cabbage

Total weight gain:  19.2 pounds (change from last week: +0.8)

Days until due date:  70

New this week:  My dad refinished my old high chair for Baby D.  It looks great!

Names:  Himal and I have had a list of potential baby names for years.  We have narrowed it down to a few names with one as a possible frontrunner.  We aren’t going to announce Little Man’s name until he is born.  I can tell you that, following in Himal’s Indian tradition, Baby D’s middle name will be the same as his father’s name, so Himal is set as his middle name.  It has been a challenge finding a first name that flows decently enough with that name.

Symptoms:  Baby D and my body are preparing me for life with a newborn; my sleep hasn’t great, and Little Man starts moving around at 6:00-ish which wakes me up.  Doesn’t he know that I’m not a morning person?!  It’s also hard to fall asleep when he’s moving around at 1:00AM.

I use a heating pad on my back almost every day because it’s still hurting; the heating pad definitely helps temporarily.

Cravings:  I’ve been digging Sonic cream slushes (a mix of slushie and ice cream) lately, the lemon slushie flavor, specifically.  I think I’ve had 3 this week!  One day I also really wanted a grape and lemon Sonic slushie- a strange flavor combo, but it was good!

Baby’s movement:  Baby D was punching me in the bladder some this week; that was quite uncomfortable.

When Little Man gets the hiccups and moves all at once, it can actually become a bit of a sensory overload with my belly moving in all kinds of crazy directions.  Himal was able to feel him stretch out sideways on both sides of my belly this week which was neat.  He has had his feet over my right hip a lot, and one night, his kicking feet were tickling me in the side as I was trying to go to sleep.  He’s quite a silly baby.

Looking forward to:  Our baby shower at Himal’s work on Wed. and my beach vacation coming up later this month.

Dissertation update:  I printed my flyers and am dropping them by the clinic tomorrow.  I also figured out how to use my digital voice recorder which I’d been putting off for weeks.  Now, let’s hope some people respond to my flyers!