Pregnancy - 30 Week Update

As soon as I hit the 3rd trimester mark, I was overcome with a sense of urgency for the baby planning that we still needed to do; baby classes, registry, nursery. Registering for baby classes was straightforward because our baseline knowledge was essentially zero, so we signed up for 1. childbirth preparation, 2. infant safety and cpr, 3. newborn parenting and 4. breastfeeding. Setting up our registry and nursery were much more difficult as we quickly found ourselves pining through reviews on the seemingly endless number of baby products available. Ultimately, the review sites that we trusted and found the most helpful were consumer reports, the sweethome and the nightlight. And of course, we relied heavily on recommendations from friends and family.

At around the 28 week mark, Aaron and I were relaxing on the couch watching Dave Grohl’s new HBO series ‘Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways’ when we noticed the baby became active when Dave Grohl was singing. Initially, I thought it was just a coincidence but throughout the hour long show the trend persisted; baby was active until the singing stopped. But before we become those parents that think every thing our child does holds significance, I’m willing to acknowledge that our child may have been responding to our new subwoofer or possibly that he was sleeping and the loud noises were waking him. Whatever the cause, the feedback reaction was exciting for us to experience and, at the very least, gave us something to laugh about.

WEEK 30:

• baby size: winter squash
• my size: +27.2 pounds - One of the few positive things about not being able to wear most of my wardrobe is that it has forced me to rediscover pieces I’d forgotten about. Although at this point I’ve mostly transitioned to maternity clothes. Here are a few places I have found cute and affordable maternity clothes:
  • Ann Taylor Loft Maternity - The tops are looser fitting and extremely comfortable if you aren’t quite ready to show off your bump with a form fitted top. To get more for your money, hold off your purchase until Ann Taylor Loft offers an “additional 40% off” their sale items.
  • J. crew matchstick maternity pants - These are the first pair of maternity pants I started wearing and so far they have comfortably accommodated my growing midsection. The elastic waist sits below the belly and stays securely on without sliding down.
  • H&M maternity - Until I was pregnant I didn’t know that H&M had a maternity section, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a wide selection (online) of hip looking clothes at reasonable prices.
• my mood is: great with a slightly more delicate self-esteem.
• my fitness level is: mild but consistent. I have been alternating between swimming laps and working out on an elliptical machine at the gym. Even though we have shifted our routine, we haven’t wavered (at least not yet) from hitting our daily 10,000 Fitbit step goal.
• a few pros: still sleeping like a rock!
• a few cons: knees hurting from walking up stairs, occasional but mild heartburn, smallest bladder ever!
• exciting updates: passed my glucose test with flying colors. And finally set up baby registries at Babies R Us and Amazon.
• looking forward to: setting up the nursery.