30 Weeks, Cakes & An Ultrasound!

This weekend was pretty uneventful.  I finished touching up pain in the baby's room, tied the new rocking chair pads to the rocking chair and am kind of at a stand still in there until the dresser comes, closet curtains are done and after my shower - where I am sure I will have to find room for tons of stuff.  Ian worked outside on the back and front yards getting them ready for Matt to come in town this weekend!

Pregnancy aches and pains (figured I should add these so I can remember for next time, if I do this again!):

My back has started to feel better but my ribs are still sore.  They stopped feeling pinched when I breathed but now just kind of bug me.  The OB said it's the way I'm sleeping and it isn't related to pregnancy, but I have never gotten this pain before so I'm thinking it may be related to pregnancy and just that my body is carrying something and has to adjust.  My yoga teacher recommended a chiropractor but I've never been and am a bit nervous going while pregnant, even though she said this lady is amazing for pregnant people, even if they've never been.  I may have to try it out!  I think it may be the way I sit at school too, kind of slouched over.  Before I was pregnant, and because of yoga, I had really good posture but now my belly weighs me down and I just hunch over, letting it all hang out.  Something else to work on I suppose.

My tailbone gets sore when I sit too long so it really hurts by the end of the day at school.  I also have to make a conscious effort to put my feet up, sitting with my legs crossed is apparently my thing and it's hard to stop doing!  My feet feel extra floppy and tired when I walk a lot or stand for too long, but nothing is swollen yet.  My yoga teacher told us a great way to help with swollen or tired feet and that's to have your partner rub your legs, hand over hand, towards your body starting at your ankles.  Ian is a pro at massages and it really helps!

Now let's talk about sneezing and coughing and how every time I do it, I have to pee!  Sometimes, when I have to pee before it comes, I pee a little while I do it!  (I know, TMI but it has to be shared for you other pregnant ladies!)  It totally started with the miscarriage, before that I had a super bladder and could hold it for hours and hours, but after it's like my muscles just gave up down there.  So now, being really pregnant, it's tough to hold it at all and when I sneeze or cough - it comes when it wants to!  I am sure it's like this after labor too and I know I have to do my kegels, but I forget.  Now I'm getting down to the wire and KNOW I need to do them more often, but I just KEEP forgetting!  That's about it for now, doing much better than the past couple of weeks, no aches/pains that are unmanageable. 

I went shopping with my mom to find new bras, undies and a dress for my baby shower this Sunday.  I got measured at Victoria's Secret and was surprised to find out that I went from a 34B to a 34DD - what the heck?!  These babies better produce milk or they grew all of those sizes for nothing!  I was amazed, I knew they got bigger but didn't know it would be that big.

I got some wireless bras (they only had two kinds in my large size, at the store and I went with the cheaper version and some new undies that I thought would work.  I have been wearing my same old undies for a while and interchanging them with some cotton ones I think I got at Target (just Hanes or something) but by the end of the day, both kids stretch out and it's not good for holding in a pantyliner (I know, TMI).  So, I am in search of some better undies, maybe made of something other than cotton, but the ones I got at Victoria's Secret don't work either, I had them on for 20 minutes before school the other day and they went up my butt, not good.  I read online that maternity stores make undies, or people recommend these Bravado kinds or some sort of Hanes ones that are made of cotton and rayon so they don't stretch.  I will have to report back to you on this because I totally googled "best panties for pregnancy" and couldn't find a thing so this is definitely something that needs to be discussed further.  Stay tuned (and please share in a comment if you've found something that works!) . . .

We didn't find a baby shower dress and I was so disappointed.  Ian and I even stayed at the mall for hours walking around, trying everywhere and we found nothing.  I was looking for something like this:

(In a dress style, obviously.)

(But longer or in a maternity style, short dresses are just too short now with the belly and the elastic waist would have to sit up higher and then it would be even shorter!)

(Longer but exactly this, except with an empire waist to accommodate belly.)

(Obviously longer and without cutouts.  Found a cute one like this in green at Macy's but it was too big and not yellow!)

But no such dresses existed at the mall or anywhere else we went.  By the end of the day I wanted something longer, I was discouraged after trying on so many regular short dresses because I couldn't fit in any of them and they were all too short with my big baby belly, and headed home to look online.  I searched all night, even woke up in the middle of the night and searched for a couple of hours, and found something on Amazon that I thought would work.  The next day we went to Charming Charlie, just to see because everything is arranged by color, and I found a long maxi dress that was pretty cute.  There was another one that had a ruffle and was cuter, but it was in a mustard yellow and I wanted something bright.  The one I got is just ok, it's just a long, cotton maxi dress, nothing special and I wanted something cuter and more special I think.  I know that you're probably thinking that there are a ton of dresses online that I could buy and that's kind of true but I didn't want to really spend over $100 on a dress that I probably won't wear that often so that limits my fancy dress choices.  Oh well, time is ticking away now and Matt comes in tomorrow so I don't want to be dragging the boys all over this weekend to see if I can find another dress.  It will be comfy and cool so that's good, I just wish it was a bit cuter or one shoulder.

Sunday I went to my first weekend yoga class ever at my yoga studio.  I have been going there for over 5 years and have never gone on a weekend, so it was interesting waking up on a Sunday morning and heading there first thing (although I liked not having to fight traffic!)  It was a prenatal class, like the one I go to on Wednesdays (I had to miss last week so I was making up for it) but there were only about 6 people in the class and the teacher is a different teacher than we usually have.  It was a really cool class, totally relaxed and my yoga friends were there so I was happy.  And get this - I did right angle up the wall and wasn't even afraid!!!  This is the same pose that we were doing weeks ago, and when I was the only one who didn't do it, but this time I just got up and right into it like it was nothing, and my body remembered right where to go.  It was awesome and I felt incredible, and powerful, and I knew that baby, and me, were going to be ok so what was there to be afraid of?!  This is the pose in case you were wondering (this is not me, I just found this pic online, you can't take pics during a yoga class!):

Monday I headed to the cake store to get cake making supplies for the gluten free lemon cake we're making for the baby shower.  We decided to make it ourselves because we make awesome cakes, and because every other gluten free baked goods I buy really suck compared to the things we make at home.  So, we bought 5 boxes of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix at Albertsons (it doesn't rise like regular mixes so you need more than you think), 2 cans of lemon pie filling, other supplies for the cake and then I had to get fondant and lettering stuff at ABC Cakes..  I also got our 4runner washed (after years of not washing it) for Matt to drive, since we have to work Thursday while he's here, and then finished painting my watercolor dog paintings for the nursery that night.  They turned out ok but Zoe's was tough, she wouldn't put her ears up for for me!

Here are pics of some of our cakes in case you didn't believe that we are masters at making cakes (I am not lying about this, we made each and every one of these ourselves!).  All of the shapes are hand cut (most free hand) and the fondant that we buy comes in white so we have to dye it if we want colors.

We are going to be busy tomorrow night baking the cakes (we are making a three level cake) and then Friday or Saturday covering them with fondant and designing them.  I feel bad now that I decided to do this because Matt will be here and will probably have to help, but it's going to taste good and look so cute and so we will figure it out.  And, we will be revealing the baby's name at the shower on the cake!  So, in my next post there will be a BIG NAME REVEAL!!!  And, if you follow me on Instagram, I may even give you clues this weekend while we are putting the cake together so download the app and follow "allisonpants!"

Last night I met a friend who was in for out of town for her husband's graduation.  She was Department Chair at my school last year, just like me (but in a different department), so we became fast friends who had to overcome a lot in a short amount of time and she moved to California at the end of the year.  Meghan is 22 weeks pregnant and so it was fun to see her and talk pregnant lady stuff, it is ALWAYS fun to hang with pregnant ladies when you are pregnant, it just makes you feel like less of an alien and more like a normal person, it's weird.  My friend Elise, from school, came too and we had a blast, I didn't want to leave to clean my house but I had to!  Meghan sent me some cute gifts when she found out I was pregnant and we, of course, had to pose for pics last night together. 

We are off to our 30 week OB appointment today where we get to see our baby girl again.  We haven't seen her since our 18 week appointment and I am really nervous but excited.  I've been watching doctor shows like Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, and scaring myself, so I just can't wait to see her and know that she's alright in there and developing right on track.  I will post more after we go today at 3:30pm and then upload this tonight - exciting!

After ultrasound and doctor's appointment:

Everything went well (even though I was SO nervous for some reason)!  Our baby girl is measuring in the 37th percentile so is small for 30 weeks and 4 days but that's ok (they can be up to 2 weeks off in measurements).  Her head is down and my placenta has moved - thank goodness because I was really worried it hadn't (see this post)!  And, she has HAIR, the tech pointed it out to us in pics and in the videos - so amazing!  I am not having any contractions or pain and everything else looks good, her heartbeat was 150 and she was moving like crazy at the office.  The ultrasound tech even told me that I was "all belly" and "so cute" which made me feel better because I feel like I'm all belly, boobs and butt at this point!  My weight was also on track, so far I've gained a total of 30 pounds, so that makes me happy because sometimes I feel like a giant!

She had her eyes open during the ultrasound and we saw her blink a couple of times, the tech said that hardly ever happens and it was SO COOL.  See the videos below to check it out!

 (Her face, straight on, eyes closed.)

(Yep, in the middle there where it looks like a cloudy blob in the picture right above this, that's the back of her head, full of hair!)

 

Matt comes in tomorrow morning and my step-dad is dropping him off at our school, I can't wait to see him!  His mom, Sandy, is best friends with my mom and is coming to the shower on Sunday and I'm happy they will both be here all weekend to hang with us.  Another good friend of mine, Andrea, is flying in on Friday for the shower too and I can't wait to see her either - so many people that I love all in one place - Sunday is going to be awesome!!!  I also scheduled a 3D ultrasound for Saturday afternoon and so Ian, my mom, Sandy, Matt and hopefully Patty and I will get to see our baby girl's face, if she lets us!  So fun!  My next post will be full of family, friends and fun and our little girl's name reveal so I hope you're ready!