30 weeks

I made it to 30 weeks on Tuesday.  Now is the point that I've heard that you can breathe a sigh of relief. That is, if I could breathe! I've been getting more and more out of breath lately. I guess she's pushing my lungs up or back or something! Babies born at 30 weeks generally have a pretty good prognosis. I think the survival rate is somewhere around 95%. The next big milestone is 34 weeks, which I've heard has the same survival rates as a baby born full term. Those babies usually don't have any long-term complications either. So...here I am struggling to breathe that sigh of relief! Ah!

I had my regular doctor's appointment yesterday, which was at 30 weeks and 2 days. Bridgette is doing great! I figured she was probably doing just fine. She wiggles, kicks, jabs and stretches all the time. Each time I feel and see her move around, I wonder what she looks like in there! 

I had gained 2.4 pounds since my appointment 2.5 weeks ago, so that's about right. I am up 19.2 pounds total. I've never been this close to 150 pounds before, and the next time I am there, I will be over that amount! Yikes! I know that the recommended pregnancy weight gain is 25-35 pounds for someone of a normal weight at the beginning. If you're underweight, you're encouraged to gain more. If you're overweight, you're encouraged to gain less.  That means I am still on target. I've got about 9.5 weeks to go until my due date. I am still hoping to finish under the +35 pounds total, but it has become clear to me that if I make it to term, I am not going to be one of those women who only gained 25 pounds! My blood pressure was 120/60. Baby's heart rate was 147. I measured closer to where I should be during this appointment. Instead of two weeks ahead, I only measured one week ahead at 31 cm.

Chris and I are going to The Medical Center's Prepared Childbirth Class tomorrow morning. We're taking the abbreviated, one-day Saturday class because there were no more 5-week, one hour long classes available before my due date. I guess I should have started registering for these classes before my third trimester if I wanted to take the 5-week class. The abbreviated class is four hours long. It's also only offered one other time before my due date, and I already have a baby shower scheduled for that day. So, this is it! There are a few extra classes offered through the hospital that we'll try to take advantage of in the next couple of months. One is at the end of April. The other three are in May. These are all on special topics and are much shorter! Being in the abbreviated childbirth class means you miss some parts, so we're going to try to make it to some of those extra classes to catch that instruction, get a proper tour of labor and delivery, and get all the registration paperwork done in advance! I am excited about taking these free classes! Chris is not excited, but he's a supportive, caring husband. What a trooper!

welcome to the third trimester

Somewhere between 27 and 30 weeks of pregnancy, the medical community agrees that you've reached the third trimester. I am 29 weeks today, and since most sources say the third trimester starts at 28 weeks, I am going to say that I'm pretty much there.

I had a tiny scare a week in a half or so ago. A little bit of spotting had me calling the emergency line at my OB's office at 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night. The OB on call wasn't my doctor, so he wanted to be extra cautious. The spotting stopped as quickly as it began, and the only reason it really worried me was because they always tell you to watch for any bright red bleeding. I followed the on call doctor's advice and went up to the hospital to Labor and Delivery. He said he'd come up there if he was needed. I let the nurses monitor the baby for an hour or so and check me out. I wasn't having any pain, and everything checked out fine. They released me, and the doctor on call never even had to go up there. The only bad thing about the night was that I was alone. Chris had gone out of town to Mississippi with his dad to help his sister move some things. It was a bit scary to be alone in that situation. I had thought it was still a safe time for him to go out of town, but I made it through by keeping him updated on the situation over the phone.

I was released a little after 12:30 p.m. That's when the second bad thing happened. I got pulled over for going straight in a right turn only lane. I had already been flustered by having to navigate the hospital by myself late at night. Then, I couldn't find my car when I left the hospital because I left from a completely different exit. Plus, all the cars were covered in snow. The snow was starting to stick to the roads. It was by no means bad out, but it wasn't the kind of night you would try to be out until 1:00 a.m. To make matters worse, I was very familiar with the intersection that I went straight through in the wrong lane, so I just felt stupid for doing it. As soon as I realized I had made the mistake, I thought to myself, I hope there's not a cop around who just saw me do that. Then, I saw blue lights behind me.

When the officer came to my window, I immediately apologized. I told him I knew exactly what I just did. I had just accidentally gone straight in a lane that turned into a right turn only lane instead of switching to the left lane to go straight. I told him why I was out so late, why I was so distracted. He told me he totally understood, that he and his wife had some similar experiences when she was pregnant, and that he was sorry I was having such a night. He said he wasn't going to give me a ticket, but that he still needed to check my license, registration and car insurance. I presume to ensure that I was not a regular criminal. By the time he had come back to my window to give me my license back and send me on my way, I was in tears. I couldn't help it. Even though I knew he wasn't going to give me a ticket, I had reached my breaking point. He asked me if I was okay, and I told him I was just tired and wanted to get home so I could get some sleep.

The baby was fine. I was fine. AND I didn't get a ticket (even though I deserved one). I should be thankful. The night could have been much worse.

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Her skull face again!

The ultrasound tech at the hospital said the baby was measuring a little big. She said she was about 2 pounds and 9 oz. give or take about 6 oz.  The tech said she was measuring ahead about four days, but I could see on the screen when she measured her head that it said 28 weeks 5 days. I was only 27 weeks 4 days at the time, so who knows. Bridgette was an active little girl during the ultrasound. The tech said she had the hiccups. While the nurses were coming in to adjust the straps on my belly to monitor her, she was kicking them like crazy! It was pretty funny.

I had my regular 28 week doctor's appointment last week. I weighed 5.4 pounds heavier compared to my weigh in about three weeks prior, so I guess I made up for not gaining hardly any weight the last time. I've gained about 16.8 pounds total. I didn't get a look at my blood pressure reading, but the nurse said it was normal. The baby's heartbeat was 144. My doctor said I was measuring about 2 weeks ahead when he measured me with a tape measure! Yikes! I guess that means I was about 30 cm. He said if I keep measuring ahead like that they might do some more growth scans later on to see how big this baby is!
I have a feeling she's getting bigger and bigger each day. I sure feel it!

29 weeks

This past weekend was much better! There were no trips to the hospital, my husband was home and we got to finally get our baby registry started at Target and Babies R Us. It was fun, but a bit overwhelming. I think we have the basic stuff covered, but I will continue to add stuff as I figure this whole baby thing out! We've got so much work to do. We have barely made a dent in even cleaning out the nursery space! Hopefully, we've still got a couple of months!