30 weeks

Okay, I swear I didn't fall off the face of the earth. I'm still here, and this is what I look like tonight. Today I am 30.5 weeks pregnant. And yes, that is me standing in our new livingroom. If you look closely you can see our gorgeous hardwood floors, but don't look too closely, I haven't swept in a few days...and our dog tends to shed that luxurious golden winter coat...everywhere.

In general things are pretty great. We have our health....oh wait, except that we had to take babyjama to the hospital today to make sure that she didn't have life threatening epiglotitis. One short x-ray and blood test later, we found out that she had just what we expected all along...croup, and she'll basically just get better on her own. Thank you modern medicine. Don't get me wrong, I love ruling out life threatening diseases, but I'm pregnant and cumbersome, and I'm allowed to be grumpy about pacing the halls of the hospital while we wait for the results of the tests and balancing a groggy tot above my belly. I seriously don't understand why my biceps aren't bigger from all the heavy lifting that I do. I should look like Schwarzenegger from his body building days (at least from shoulder to fingertip).

In other news, babyjama is two years old as of this past weekend. I cannot believe how big she is. I mean I can, but part of me remembers that squishy newborn, and I can't seem to get it in my mind that she's not that person anymore, well she is...only bigger and smarter, with more hair and smellier poop.

This pregnancy is so different from the last. First off, it's going by so quickly. I sort of held my breath between prenatal appointments the first time around and willed them to come earlier. I just loved hearing baby progress of any kind. I still love hearing progress, but this time around it feels like a week or so goes by and my next appointment is upon us. The other day I caught a glimpse of myself in a reflection of our door, and I couldn't believe how huge my belly had gotten. Okay, seriously, last time I gained about 50 pounds....possibly more, and this time I've gained 20 so far. So I get that I'm not really "huge", but we have no full length mirrors in the house, so to see my whole self like that was kind of a shock. Anyway, so back to the prenatal visits, we had one this past weekend, and I can't believe that I'm 10 weeks away, and already next weekend we'll be seeing our midwife again. We're down to the end of pregnancy stuff. I'm well into the third trimester, and I'm wondering where all my preparation time has gone.

Oh, and I have a confession to make. I have not bought one thing for the new baby. Not one. I haven't even started making the baby a blanket (although I do have a pattern picked out). Does that make me love this baby less or something? It's so strange. With babyjama everything we bought for her, and with the new baby it's like "meh, we can make all the old stuff work for this one too". We didn't find out what sex babyjama was either, so we have tons of newborn and 3 month onesies that wouldn't mortify a young man on prom night when I show his date the photos. Really I think that's all a baby needs for the first couple of months...well other than diapers, and we will have to get some extras of those, but for the most part, we're even going to be reusing our cloth diapers.

I won't bore you with all of my pregnancy aches and pains...or maybe I will. If you don't like to read about other people's bodily stuff, please avert your eyes. I'll do a little *** when I'm all done.

1) My back is freaking killing me. I know all pregnant women complain of this, but seriously, mine could catch fire and I wouldn't notice a difference. It's been much worse this week with all of the holding babyjama cradled in my arms with sickness.

2) I seriously think my pelvis is breaking in two. I know it's kind of supposed to do that, but come one, can't it just do that during labor?!

3) The bottom of my feet are crying out from the extra weight. I've gained 20 pounds, and I now understand why people who gain a lot of weight develop joint and foot problems, and I feel for them...a lot.

4) My bowels seem to be protesting the way that little Gonzo is taking up their space. Gonzo seems to think that's funny and keeps stretching and growing like a big F-You to my internal parts...and my internal parts are tattling and whining about it. Just for the record, I don't like bullies or tattle tales.

5) Did I mention my back?

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Okay, yeah, I think I've used up my computer time, but I couldn't seem to stay away any longer.