Baby Cookin' Update - 30

Thirty Weeks                                           

Size of Baby - A large head of cabbage. Approximately 3.5 pounds and although the averages state about 15 inches at this point, Clifton's measuring in around 17 inches already. I'm thinking we may produce teeny Hiscock girls and giant Elder boys.

Cravings - Still loving cheese and eggs and avocados. I'm eating a lot of fruit as well, but it's looking as though I may need to curb that. I failed the initial gestational diabetes screening and I'm not feeling hopeful that I passed the full test on Monday. If I do fail, that means severely curbing the sugars and carbs I've been stuffing in my pie-hole and upping the good fats and proteins.

What is different this time around - With Ryann, I passed the glucose screening with flying colors. Obviously not so this time. I'm slower and my energy levels are lower than last time. However, that may be due in part to us living in a hotter, more humid climate as well as packing up and moving at 7 months. This last Sunday was moving day for us and I am so beyond grateful for everyone who came out to help! We really couldn't have done it without you. As it was, by the end of the day it took me a good 10 minutes to make my way the 15 ft from our bed to the bathroom since both of my hips and my lower back were completely seized up. Luckily a good night's rest did wonders for them.

Symptoms - Heartburn, oh the burning! I'm on a regular schedule of popping Tums now and keep them within easy reach at all times. Still with the gimpy hip, but that's usually tolerable as long as I remember to not sit or stand for too long in any one stretch. I've also noticed that when I lay for very long on my right side I get terrible concentrated cramp in the side of my uterus. I'm guessing Clifton likes to jab a heel in. And when I roll over I have to push really hard on that spot in order to avoid it really cramping up. Clifton is now settled in head down and as a result I often find little feet jammed into my ribs. It does help with my posture, since he kicks me in my ribs when I let them squish him too much.

Appointments - We have our next checkup scheduled for next Friday, but we also had a 30-week ultrasound this past Monday. We were hoping for a great 3D shot of his face, but since he was already head down, along with apparently liking to keep his hands directly over his face and a leg directly over his hands, that wasn't about to happen. The only good shots he let us get was one of his foot (freakishly long toes) and one of his fully-extended-leg-in-front-of-face pose. The estimate of his size puts him right on track to be about 7.5 pounds when he's born, which is just what our midwife was estimating. About one pound bigger than our itty-bitty Ryann (6lb 11oz). At our last appointment with our midwife I also got my scheduled rhogam shot. Last time I got poked in the shoulder. This time I was not so lucky and had to drop my pants in order to get stabbed by a three inch long needle. For those of you unfamiliar with rhogam shots, they are an amazing medical advancement. For people like me, who have Rh-negative blood, our bodies will start to produce anti-bodies if we ever have a child who is Rh-positive. This generally will only affect subsequent Rh-positive children after birth, but would result in failure to thrive and eventually death. Can you imagine all the unexplained infant deaths that were simply due to unlucky blood types?! However, now they have a simple shot that all Rh-negative women get at about 30 weeks and again after giving birth that prevents the body from beginning to form these antibodies. Ryann was O-, like me, so there wouldn't be any worries for Clifton anyway, but it's good to know that these precautions are in place, since we've been screwed by genetics before.

                                                              



Just for a fun comparison, here I am at
about 30 weeks with Ryann.