30 week update

Hi all! Here is a 30 week belly pic and update!

Here is a link to my 29 week pic with Brennan. Amazing how I went from being smaller in the beginning with #2 to a much bigger belly this time around (though other parts of me are still smaller - just different overall!).

Things are going well with this pregnancy. I am feeling large and my face is starting to get blotchy, but I guess that is to be expected now that I am in my third trimester! Feeling good, but can tell I am slowing down. Had a dr. appt last week which went well, though I have to say, for someone who didn't gain a lot of weight during my first trimester, I sure have made up for it and then some! All in the spirit of a healthy baby of course! Heartbeat sounds great. Had my glucose test but have to redo it b/c the timing was off between the nurse and getting my blood in a timely fashion. bummer. Thanksfully the dr is really close to work so they told me just to pick up the drink, drink it when I can, and then come by the office to have my blood drawn - sometime this week.

Once again this dr visit I was reminded why I LOVE my doctor! The first thing she asked me was if I hired a doula and when she was coming to an appt! She is really on board and supportive of my hypnobabies practice as well, which I really appreciate. In addition, she reminded me that even though I had major tooth pain, it was totally appropriate for me to have to take vicodin (and she threatened to lecture my husband if he gave me a hard time about it). I managed to only take it one night for my tooth.

Speaking of teeth, my root canal went well - we managed to get thru it without using epinephrine, b/c it can cross the placenta. But afterward I had planned to go back to work and commented to the assistant that I was so happy to have the root canal behind me so I could be pain free. She smiled and told me that I would probably need vicodin that day! I smiled, took some tylenol and though, whatever - I am headed to work. I didn't even get to work when the pain hit. seeing that I rode the bus to the dentist, I still had to get back to work - then I sat in my office in tears and made the decision to go home. B/C I had taken tylenol, I couldn't take anything else, so DVRed episodes of Oprah got me thru the afternoon. It was not pleasant!

On another note, I read about the benefits of drinking Red Raspberry leaf tea throughout pregnancy and decided to give it a try. My dr told me she thought it was fine and would do some additional research on it. I am drinking a hot cup every morning and made cold tea to drink in the evenings. It is actually very good, though as recommended, I am making it very strong. Supposedly it strengthens and tones your uterus and surrounding muscles which aids in childbirth.

Hypnobabies continues to go well. I am in week three of my study, 2 more to go and then I start my maintenance program until Baby Girl McCool is born. I joined a Hypnobabies Yahoo Group as well, which is a nice support system. One of my favorite parts of the study is the daily affirmations that I listen to - here is an example of one, "Babies come when they are supposed to, not when doctors tell them to". It is a good reinforcement for what I am reading, the scripts I listen to at night, and the overall postive philosophy behind birthing a baby.

Had partner prenatal yoga the other night - but I was the only one there without a partner (we don't do babysitters yet unless they are family, and no family in town), but it worked out just fine as the instructor partnered with me. It was very nice. Continuing my chiropractic practice as well. My hope is to start walking on a regular basis soon as well - if only it would stop raining and warm up I would have the opportunity! Hopefully all of these things will aid in my successful VBAC and natural birthing of this little girl!