Post Holidays & 30 Weeks!

Cody changed out of his usual black tee shirt for this special photo of us at 28.5 weeks along. Fancy!

Sara being Sara. And yes. this was the week of Christmas. Not even a little snow til after New Years.

A rare quiet moment from my Mackie Dean.

29.5 weeks here. PJ pants are the highlight of my wardrobe nowadays.

Let the 10 week countdown begin folks! Wow - we are finally here. I remember thinking this whole baby thing is going to get crazy real once we start counting down from 10 weeks. As people start purchasing stuff off our shower registry it really hits home. We soon will be parents! Aghhhh! I'm still hoping that the time goes by not TOO fast, but also that it doesn't drag. So...just go by normally time, okay?

So the last time I wrote I was crazy busy and the hustle and bustle of the holidays were upon us. They were great but as usual, pretty tiring. More so this year too because of the state I'm in. We had our usual absurd amounts of family Christmas parties to attend (four altogether this year, not counting the party we threw two weeks before Christmas - whew). Tiring yes, but it's always nice to see everyone. This year seemed to be more relaxed than others. Not a whole lot of attention put on gifts and lots of food, warmth, and laughter. The way it should be every year in my opinion.

It really felt like one of the best Christmases we've had in a long time. Also my sister and her boyfriend Dave stayed with us for a whole week, and they left just before New Years Eve. It was nice to have the company and helpers in the kitchen but I'm now glad to just have my quiet house back. Cody took down the tree the other day, which was kind of a bummer but oh well. At least I didn't have to do it, right?

Dave is an amazing photographer, and he was nice enough to take some shots for us while they were here.

Christmas Eve at Aunt Linda's

Christmas Day/Night at Dad's



So being almost fully pregnant sure is weird. I for whatever reason had this idea in mind that I'd feel good enough to work up until I went into labor, pretty much. Silly me. Lately at work almost every day I have some...issue going on. Even though I'm drinking TONS of water and resting a lot at home I seem to be getting Braxton Hicks contractions quite often. And they freak me out.

Thank goodness my workplace is understanding of pregnant people. I have a break scheduled pretty much every three hours, so it's not so bad, but some days I just really, really don't wanna be on my feet at all, let alone massaging multiple people back to back. I am still hoping to work as long as possible, but for now my goal is to work til the end of February. Who knows just how big I'll get but it's starting to get really difficult to stand normally while massaging guests. While I'm working on them face down, a lot of the time my baby bump literally bumps into their head while I'm massing their backs. And when I have them turn over I have to move pretty far out of their way so they don't accidentally bump into my belly with their arms. Kind of hard to explain, but if you get massages or give them you must know what I mean.  

Also sleeping has started to get difficult. My ever-growing belly seems to be pulling on my hips even while I'm lying in bed on my side. Which wakes me up with dull, aching hips. Which then of course causes me to turn over to the other side, then perhaps again, and then refluff the pillows, until I get comfortable finally. But by then usually I have to get up to pee for the hundreth time. Seriously - I think I have to pee every 20 minutes! Beh.

Oh, and carpal tunnel has gotten the best of me I think. Almost every night at least once I wake up and one or both of my hands is asleep. It's even started  happening at work here and there, which is a scary thing to happen to me. Every LMT's worst workplace nightmare - injuring their wrist or hands or getting carpal tunnel. I read that it's common to get during pregnancy due to the extra fluid compressing the nerve, but again, for some reason I just assumed I'd get lucky and it would pass me by. Hmph...why the hell do I think I'm so invincible? Luckily I work part time. If I were really pushing myself at work it'd probably be much worse.

More changes:

My belly button has become puffy, weird, and "flap"-like. I don't really know how to explain it other than that. Really hoping it goes back to normal after the baby comes. Cody makes fun of it just about everyday.

Little baby kicks have turned into big baby kicks, and sometimes they are square in the crotch (or is it the birth canal?). Or bladder. Or other unidentified organs...OUCH. I really haven't gotten used to that feeling yet and am a teensy bit scared of how much more painful they'll get in the next ten weeks. And sometimes he starts thrashing around in there, which is seriously awesome and at the same time weirdly alien-like more than ever.

Also - rib pain. Ugh. I don't know if it's the baby stretching out in there or if it's my ribs expanding, but JesusMaryandJoseph is it uncomfortable. Feels like a little pinching, dull pain stemming from the sides of my body and kind of makes me feel sick.

Insatiable cravings for chocolate? This I am questioning because I'm not a real big fan of chocolate normally. It's so weird. But now I just can't seem to get enough. Brownies, hot chocolate, peppermint patties (Sara and I FINALLY perfected our recipe this Christmas. The secret is using real peppermint essential oil instead of peppermint baking extract), just to name a few. Oh, and I recently discovered too that hot chocolate is really just a vessel for whipped cream. Other big cravings have been fresh pineapple and oranges and lasagna.

Me, wondering where the nesting phase went? I was on a roll there for awhile. Now it just seems awful to think about cleaning or organizing anything. I've been having Cody do laundry for me just so I don't have to walk up and down the basement stairs. Maybe after our baby shower it will kick back into high gear. We will surely have a lot of stuff to get in order. Cody did set up the crib over the weekend, so that's done. Thanks again for the crib Mindy!!!