week 30!

January 25, 2012

hitting the 30s
i wrote before about the myriad waiting games in pregnancy — starting with the whole TTC process. personally, i find this to be one of the more significant ones for a couple of reasons.


most importantly, i can say from my residency NICU experiences that most babies born after 30 weeks are not the truly sick ones. in fact, unless there are other issues involved [genetic defects, infections, etc], most babies at this level of prematurity do incredibly well.

second, 30 was the number i always associated with being really, really pregnant — ie, when i would hear someone was 30 weeks i’d think of them having their baby in the [relatively] near future. it’s the last 6.2 miles of the pregnancy marathon! and as someone who hasn’t really bonked one yet, i am hoping the same will be true for this journey.


30 weeks! if you want to hide it, pose face-forward and wear black . . .

but the side view is always dramatic
the lighting in our apartment is so hard! i want to get some decent pictures taken before it’s too late [aka before the whole swelling part inevitably begins]. hopefully i’ll be able to get outside with josh at some point!

the rundown
feeling: huge. weight gain has continued to be reasonable [i think i’m at +17 lbs at 30 weeks] but the growth still seems astronomical, and my abdomen feels tighter and more packed by the day! it doesn’t help that i am still measuring 2 weeks ahead — perhaps i’m getting to experience a normal 32-week belly a bit early. i know in 7 weeks or so i’ll look back at these pictures and laugh at my naivete, but right now it just feels like a LOT on my frame. sleeping is not fun. lying on the couch is even frustrating — i want to relax, but can’t seem to get my muscles [and considerable bulk] into a favorable position. the oddest part is the times i am most comfortable are when i’m moving — walking or even running! this brings us to . . .

workouts: ever since my little mishap on the sidewalk, i’ve taken my workouts indoors. i’m clumsy by nature, have a totally messed-up center of gravity right now, and can’t even see my feet — a recipe for disaster i think if i continue to run outside. however, i have continued to get my [necessary] endorphin buzz via the treadmill and elliptical. currently, my favorite is a run/walk combo: 4 minutes at 5.5 mph alternating with 2 minutes 3.5 mph with some incline for 30-40 minutes. i’ve never minded the treadmill — and i’ve also never fallen off of one, so i feel like this is safe. i’ve been supplementing with weights and prenatal yoga although i’d love to be doing more of it!

prep: we still have no semblance of a nursery, but we have a lot of baby stuff that just needs to be organized — once josh moves his desk out of the baby’s room, that is! our dresser/changing table was delivered yesterday, our futon is here, and our crib will be on its way mid-february. we aren’t going crazy with decorating [we’re going to live here only ~16 months after our baby girl is born] but i do want things neat and organized before her arrival.

thanks to generous relatives and friends, we now are set with strollers [including the bob!], baby carrier [i ended up going with an ergo], a TON of 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes [mainly beautiful hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law!], bouncer, car seat, breast pump, and so much more.

oh, and we do have a name picked out — subject to change, of course, but i think we’re pretty set. it’s very feminine and pretty and classic and i can’t wait to use it out in the open!

fatigue: definitely coming back. although i’m on call this week, so i know the 2 am phone calls aren’t helping. because i’ll be headed back into the lab, this will be my last 7-day stretch on the pager until post-baby . . . not that i’m looking forward to being woken up alternately by the pager AND a hungry little one! [but i’ll survive.]

things i am really glad i did [so far, anyway!]
since i am not even finished with my very first pregnancy, i may not be the best person to turn to for advice. still, i can look back on a few earlier decisions and say what has worked up until this point!

bought good spots bras
i’ve been using the same 2 since earlier in my pregnancy and they still work. i don’t think i could have continued running without the juno! even if i don’t fit into these once my milk comes in, i will still consider them worthy investments [especially since i hope to get pregnant again!].

started wearing maternity clothes early!
i feel like so many people resist buying maternity clothes until late in the game — and i don’t get it! i’ve been wearing the same clothes since week ~13 or so, and most things have continued to work just fine. i am very happy to have bought 3 pairs of gap maternity pants and some dresses which have become very comfortable staples. the only items that are starting to become problematic are a few of the shirts, which are getting to be short because of the new expanse of belly. while i may end up having issues with swelling and have trouble fitting into things by the end, at that point i will be in the lab and i really don’t care if i have to work in the same pair of yoga pants for a few weeks — i’d rather save up for clothes to wear after pregnancy 🙂

on that note, i’m also really happy to have borrowed a lot of clothes. after building a reasonably functional wardrobe, it has been very easy to resist shopping. because come on: i want anthro, not pea in the pod!! and i know it’s only a matter of time . . .

continued working out through the whole deal
next time i might transition to the treadmill earlier, but i am really happy to have kept up with physical activity throughout. for one, if i had failed my diabetes test this week, it would have been the one consolation for me to think that at least i tried my best to get in the recommended daily exercise! second, the times that i feel my absolute best [and the most ‘normal’] are during and after a workout.

__ weeks to go . . .
now that i can actually envision getting there, i’ve started to think of my due date as a less exact point — after all, less than 5% of women actually deliver on that magical 40 week mark. will i end up delivering at 37 weeks or 41?! i’m kind of guessing the latter, given my family history and generally slow-to-respond reproductive tract up to this point, but does that mean i’ll measure 43!?

i have a feeling that whenever i go, i’ll be more than ready.

5 Comments

  • Reply Mosbasketsmmoriak March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Congratulations. Getting to week 30 is great. I remember thinking that I have crossed a hurdle and worried a little less. I, however, did not make it pass 37 weeks. I was shocked to be early since my brother and I were both late. My husband and I were not ready, the car seat was still in the box which he quickly through in the car before we left. It didn’t even occur to us that there would be time to get the car seat and install it after the baby was born. Lol. We were definitely first time parents.

  • Reply Sarah March 10, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    YOU LOOK SO WONDERFULLY ADORABLE! I am serious! In every single picture lately in which you are showin’ off the baby-bump, you are simply glowing!

    Alright, so this isn’t to make you nervous or anything but make sure you wear the emergency-stop cord when you are running on the treadmill, okay? When I was about 7 years old, my family got a new treadmill and I was so so so excited about it that I used it without permission when both my parents were at the hospital (they are docs, like you and Josh!) and I was home with the babysitter. And I didn’t wear the emergency stop thing because I just didn’t…want to? I want to say I didn’t understand how it worked, but it is much more likely that I was just excited to use the treadmill without permission. So I got on and started running my little 7-year-old heart out, and splat, tripped. Well, let me tell you that falling down on a treadmill is NOT FUN. At all. I just kept hitting the tread again and again, and my knees got awful rugburn. Eventually I think I sort of flew off behind me and ran downstairs screaming bloody murder for the babysitter. Man I am cracking up thinking about this again, but it was rough.

    The moral of the story: wear that emergency stop thing.

    <3!

  • Reply Hotpotatokate March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    You look great!! And yay for hitting the 30s- I agree that it’s a BIG milestone, even if it’s not one of the traditional medical ones, or a trimester dividing line.

    So funny- I’m 5 weeks ahead of you, and it’s always felt to me like I am further along than you pregnancy wise. But we could both deliver in 7 weeks time without it being particularly unusual!

    Hope the next 7-12 weeks fly by- but not too fast!

  • Reply Shayla March 10, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    Sarah you look so great!!! I can’t believe you’re in the 30’s already?! The day will be here before you know it and I can’t wait for us all to "meet" your baby girl! 🙂

  • Reply Alison March 10, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    Congrats on the big 3-0 milestone! Sounds like you are in a good place for this point in pregnancy. I am getting so excited for you!

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