Adventures in Pregnancy: 30 Weeks

When I was making this collage, I thought the image on the left was from about 19 weeks. I cannot believe how much I (we!) have grown in 6 weeks. And I know I have a long way to go. Bring on the muumuus!

We had our first childbirth class this past week, and it was awesome. We love our teacher and all the great info we are getting. It’s definitely exhausting, though, just in a sheer informational sense (each class is 2.5 hours long). I think Tuesday nights will be early bedtime nights for me for quite a while.

In exciting news, my cousin had her sweet baby boy this weekend! Our boys will be just a few months apart, and I can’t wait for them to be little buddies, just the way my cousin and I always were (we are almost the same age). Seeing those precious pictures of him just melted my heart. And it made me even more thrilled that we’ll be meeting our baby in a few months.

We had our 30 weeks appointment last week, and everything sounded great. I was, however, rather alarmed at how much weight I had gained in only 2 weeks: 5 pounds! I weighed myself when I got home, and our scale showed the same number as the doctor’s. But then I remembered that the weight from 2 weeks ago was taken in the morning, while this one was taken in the late afternoon. I weighed myself the next morning and was happy to find that I was 3 pounds lighter than the afternoon before, putting me right back in the normal range of weight gain. I should say, though, that I have not been worried about my weight up to this point and have not been weighing myself at home. I eat healthily and exercise, so there’s no real cause for alarm. My only concern is that extra weight gain can result in a larger baby, which, yikes, would make birth harder. That’s the only reason I’m weighing myself to make sure I’m more or less on track. That said, so much of pregnancy weight gain can be due to water retention, and all you can really do about that is avoid salt, which I mostly do. So, anyway, that was a very long way to say: I freaked out! But then everything was okay.

I continue to be amazed by my total lack of interest in dessert. Chocolate? No thanks, I’d prefer an avocado. And I’d take fruit over ice cream. Really cold fruit. It has been hot here lately (90s-100s), and even though I’m drinking a ton of water, I think my cravings for things like melons has to do with my thirst. I am *so happy* that this has coincided with summer fruit season because I am basically in cold cherry heaven!

Physically, I am still feeling good. I have to get up a few more times in the night now, and walking is a little bit more difficult, but I am still quite comfortable and grateful for that. I did have one serious bout of nausea this past week that left me reeling, wondering how on earth I managed to live through feeling that way all the time for three months. Here’s hoping I get a break on the next pregnancy!

In baby prep news, we have ordered the rest of the big items! Now we just need to work on our registry and get the furniture moved. And well, there are a million other little things, but it feels good to have the big ones taken care of. Hillary and I are going to work on baby shower invitations this week, and that will be excellent because we’re going to make them together.

I am continuing to treasure these last weekends just the two of us, but already looking forward to all the fun things we’ll be able to do with the baby when he’s a little bit bigger. This weekend Eric and I caught the end of a Tour of California stage right in downtown Pasadena, and it was awesome. We saw the final sprints and were also just generally amazed by the speed. Eric keeps up with bike racing, and I have learned a lot about it alongside him, so it was extra cool to see some familiar faces. Also, it makes me laugh that our hats are casting a shadow on our teeth!

Saturday night we made dinner together, and we haven’t done that in the longest time (ahem, mostly because I am way too hungry to eat dinner at a normal hour). Eric turned on one of our favorite albums and we danced around each other in the kitchen, chopping and stirring and smiling and marveling at our great good fortune in finding each other. I realized that this was actually an imagining of a happy marriage I’d had as a child: cooking and smiling and dancing through the kitchen together. I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I don’t know if a sweeter, more compassionate, and more considerate person than Eric has ever been born. I just love him to pieces. And I am so, so grateful. I have heard it said that the best thing can do for your children is to love your spouse. Well, little baby, we’ve got that one taken care of!