ZZZZzzz...

Here is a picture of me! It was taken today (Monday August 27 2007). I am 30 weeks pregnant.

In my first trimester, I couldn't believe how much I slept during a particular 3 week period. It was almost all day long every day. Well, I fear that it's hitting me again. I have slept SOOOO many hours the past 3 days. And I'm still tired! That's with a full night of sleep and 2 naps a day. I guess the baby is growing super fast right now, so that is probably why.

I have an appointment tomorrow with the midwives. Starting with that appointment, they will now be every 2 weeks. I guess that means we're on the home stretch now! I'm not as scared as I used to be about giving birth. Don't get me wrong, the idea of being someones Mama is still very scary!! But I'm calming down a little bit about the labor itself. I know it's going to hurt. A lot. But it will only hurt for a little while, and the reward will be great. I will have a happy, calm, alert baby as a result. I'm learning breathing and coping techniques in my yoga class, and I just purchased a book about the Bradley method of giving birth. Plus I have an extra special, caring, loving, attentive husband, who more often than not seems to know what I need before I know myself. No matter what ends up happening, he will be my strong support.

The baby is still wiggling a lot. It's so awesome to feel her feet poking my hands. I can kind of feel around and figure out how she's laying. She seems to be stuck with her head on my lower left and her back down across my belly, like she's laying in a hammock. She's been this way for a couple of months now.. I REALLY hope she decides to put her head down, otherwise this whole ideal natural pregnancy plan I have is out the window. You can't exactly deliver a baby sideways. I'd end up having to have a c-section if she stays like this. Say some prayers!

I am starting to get some aches and pains in my hips now. It's about that time where my body starts releasing hormones to relax my tendons and joints so the baby can come out of my pelvis. I have to sleep on my sides with a pillow between my legs (have I mentioned how much I love my Snoogle pillow??). I can't sleep on my belly or my back, so my hips are supporting my weight all night long. Now that they are softening they are getting sore and I'm starting to not be able to sleep comfortably anymore. I suppose that is practice for the baby, eh?

Warning! TMI paragraph!! I pooped today for the first time in a few days. I am a pretty "regular" person, usually about once a day. But since my hips started hurting, that same hormone relaxes your intestines too I guess. Cuz they ain't working very well! Pooping after not pooping for a few days is ALSO practice for the baby. It is God's way of saying "This is what labor feels like.. only 100 times larger." I will be sure to practice my breathing techniques for future bowel movements.

Let's see.. what else can I tell you about? Oh! I haven't shaved my legs in about 2 weeks. Very sexy. Our stupid shower is only 2 feet wide, and always required some graceful acrobatics as it was to shave my legs. I am not exactly graceful anymore, and bending over is nearly impossible now. It's just hard to try folding a baby in half! I have to sit in our gigantic bathtub (which is twice the size of the stupid shower.. it's huge. Really. Like a small swimming pool.), wet my legs, and reach as far as I can and cross my legs and twist myself into a pretzel. It's so not worth the effort when you can hardly see my leg hairs anyway. Well, you can't see them from my vantage point anyway. And that's all that matters. Right?!

John and I went to the fruit stand yesterday morning. I wanted to eat one of EVERYTHING! They had cherries and grapes and mangos and apples and pineapples and oranges and peaches and nectarines.. no apricots though. (I looove apricots.) They also had vegetables. I usually prefer vegetables any day over fruit, but yesterday my mouth was just watering. I sniffed probably everything there. They had a bag of peanuts sitting near the apples.. there is a squirrel that lives in the tree by the stand, and he visits about every 10 minutes and helps himself to a peanut. Very cute!

My heartburn is still awful. Really really annoying. Yesterday, I had fish sticks and a peach and grapes for dinner. Afterwards, I kind of sat there, because I felt nothing.. no heartburn what-so-ever. For the first time in weeks. I didn't want to move, I didn't want to speak. I eventually got up and slowly made my way to my bedroom and got ready for bed. I laid down and watched Discovery Health channel. For about 30 - 45 minutes, I was blissfully heartburn free. I fell asleep with only a mild feeling of it, and by morning it was back. It was wonderful while it lasted!

Until next time.. think those thoughts for the baby to turn upside down!