29 Weeks

Weeks: 29 weeks! Each week has brought another sigh of relief and thankfulness to God for bringing us closer to our girl, and for keeping her safe in utero.

Weight Gain: +11 lbs from pre-pregnancy weight!

This Week's Cravings: This must have been the week of the quesadilla. I've made a quesadilla using sharp cheddar cheese and a stove-toasted tortilla on most days and washed it down with, of course, cran-grape juice. 

New Maternity / Baby Purchases: I was so excited to get another set of ruffle butt diaper covers this week. I bought them for Cam to use for her newborn photos from a store on Etsy. For J, his highlight of the week was purchasing the baby monitor. We reviewed many and had a really hard time picking which one to get. With all the options out in the market right now, how do we know what the best will be? Up for debate were the Angelcare Baby Movement monitor (which includes a mat that goes under the crib mattress that monitors the baby's movement and breathing), the Summer Infant Video Monitor, and the Samsung Video Monitor. We asked for opinions of many friends and fellow parents, but in the end, we bought the Samsung Video Monitor. J was so excited the day we bought it, and he set it up in Cam's nursery right away. We absolutely love being able to hook up the parent unit onto our TV and being able to monitor her in the nursery while we watch TV in the other room. Another purchase of the week was a car seat cover for her, as I absolutely hate the covers that come with infant car seats. I bought her a pink minky dot seat and canopy cover. 

Moment of the Week: Any and all of Camden's movements are great moments for us. There was one night in particular when I was laying flat on my back and I pulled my shirt up to show my belly and J and I watched as the belly flickered and twitched with each of Camden's kicks and swishes. Moments like that have really made our now required daily kick counts even more fun. Another particularly joyous moment came today after our doctor's appointment. Dr. Moore measured my cervical length today at our routine appointment and according to his ultrasound machine, my cervix went from being 3.17 cm at my last appointment to 2.29 at today's. Although not a trigger for panic on his part, it was definitely a point of concern, so he sent us to radiology to have it examined further {the ultrasound machine at the doctor's office is not as good as the top-of-the-line fancy schmancy one in the radiology department}. On top of his ultrasound analysis, he did do a physical examination and noted that everything did, in fact, look normal, but needless to say, we headed off to the Kaiser hospital in Irvine with quite a bit of anxiety. J tried to keep me calm, but I could not help but be worried. During my last pregnancy, it was during our survey ultrasound that they had found the effaced cervix {initially told to us as just "thinned out"} and I was sent to the same hospital, but in the Labor and Delivery unit. I tell you what, even if Dr. Moore reassured us prior to heading off to radiology that it wasn't anything to be worried about and that the measurements in radiology would more than likely be much different from the one in his office, there is still nothing worse than hearing the words "stat ultrasound" in a situation like ours. An hour into waiting {and an incredibly and painfully full bladder that I was not allowed to empty to go with it}, I was called into the radiology department while my poor husband paced nervously in the waiting room. The radiologist took a few pictures of my little party animal {who, of course, only allowed us to take her choice of positions and angles} and then examined the cervix. Thank goodness he found that the cervical length was actually 2.9 to 3.2 cm instead. What a scare, but on the same token, what an absolute RELIEF!!!

Do you see how her eye is open in this picture above??

It was all about the closeups today with our little one!

This Week's Pregnancy Cheat: By my husband's own request, we went out to sushi on Friday. He had a pretty stressful week at work and it was he who was craving sushi this time. Suffice it to say, I didn't do much any resisting to his request.

Things to Look Forward To: We are excited to be starting our Childbirth Preparation classes next week. It is a series of five weekly 2 1/2 hour classes every Wednesday evening starting May 9th. The Childbirth Preparation classes are basically the Lamaze classes. An in-depth look at labor and birth, c-section birth, medications, how to be an effective labor partner, relaxation, breathing, pushing techniques, and postpartum care will be covered. J also noted that these next 10-11 weeks will be completely jam-packed with events and classes for us -- and he's right! He will soon be registering for the Daddy Boot Camp class and I will also soon be registering for the Baby Care Basics and Lactation Counseling classes as well. In between those, we will also be having the baby shower, J's birthday, the primary elections {J has volunteered to be a poll worker for the primaries, which means a training / certification class on top of working during the election day itself}, and some pre-baptismal classes we have to take through our church so that we can get Camden baptized very soon after she is born. I know it's going to be a whirlwind, but this is how I thrive -- I absolutely love a full and hectic calendar. I live for this stuff.

Sleep Pattern: Believe it or not, despite the constant sleep interruptions due to my child headbanging on my bladder, I have actually grown accustomed to it, and don't particularly mind it anymore. Like I mentioned before, this is a sign that there is actually a growing baby in there and I am more and more thankful everyday.

Things I'm Really Missing: There is a large part of me that misses going to work everyday. Having always had a job since I was 17, there is pride and comfort in making your own money and being able to bring something to the table. Of course, as my husband has reminded me so many times, my job now is to take care of myself and our baby and to make sure she gets here alive and safe and healthy. Don't get me wrong -- being able to stay home and dictate my own schedule is fantastic, but sometimes I can't help but feel insecure that I should be bringing some income home too. Still, I am beyond thankful that J and I are able to have me stay at home and not work right now. I have said this before and I say it again: Not everybody has the leeway to be able to do this, and J and I know that we are right where we need to be -- having me rest at home and prepare our life for the little one who's going to be joining us in more or less 75 days!!!