Sneaking up on 31 weeks...

How far along: 30 weeks 5 days! :)

Total weight change: At my last OB appointment I was up a total of 22lbs... We shall see what the damage is at our next appointment which will take place on September 4th. 

Maternity clothes: I bought a few shirts for our Maternity Photo Shoot, and LOVE them. I got them from Target, and LOVE them. My only issue, now that I'm back to work, is pants. I have some leggings and some fold over black "yoga" pants (that don't really look like exercise pants at all which I wear to work... but I don't want to look too casual, so we'll see how I navigate the next weeks. I'll definitely be around until about mid-October, at least, so I need to figure out some work-friendly outfits, without spending too much. 

Stretch Marks: No new ones... and the ones I have look a little less red/purple. So, hopefully there won't be anymore... 

Movement: He is moving a lot lately! Rolling and kicking... so cute :) I love to feel him move, and I love to see Mr. DBud's face when he sees my belly rolling :)

Sleep: Back to work, so not sleeping as much as I would like, but still sleeping well. I pretty much knock out, and only wake up about once a night to go to the restroom. I also wake up once or twice to turn over from one side to the other. Still loving my Boppy :) 

Best Moment This Past Week: My In-Laws ordered his furniture :) I need to find out when it will be arriving... hopefully it's in stock, and will arrive soon :) Can't wait to start putting it together! We also took our Maternity pictures today with a good friend of mine that has started up her photography business again. She is a teacher, but she is a very artistic and talented photographer. I'll try to share some pictures in the near future ;)  

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Going back to work, and having to re-adjust to the "new" schedule. Summer was such a great time for me... being able to rest and do everything at my leisure. Now, I feel like I don't have time for anything. The next time I am home for a long period of time, I'll be dedicating all my time to my son :) 

Belly Button In or Out: Still in, but definitely not as deep as before. It's getting more shallow each day... lol

Cravings/Aversions: ICE! It has been soooooo hot here in South Florida... I have been extremely thirsty. I drink water, but the ice is what really cools me off. I was a bit concerned, because I heard that craving ice during pregnancy could be a sign of anemia, so I am going to bring it up to my Dr. at my next appointment and see what he says. For now, I'll enjoy my refreshing ice :)

Symptoms: The Heartburn has been coming and going, and hasn't been TOO bad... but the nausea is coming and going as well, which is definitely not fun. Hopefully it will stay away more often than not :-/

Until next time :) 

Back....Sort of

The shower went great, as did my vacation.  I came back to immediately jumping into the school year.  I'll post more about all of that (and other things like my possible GD) later.  Right now I just have to say that starting the school year?  It's KICKING. MY. BUTT. 

I'm a pro at this.  This is my 3rd "get ready for the school year," first day thing.  But OMG, I never anticipated how much harder it would be this time around.  Hanging posters killed my back.  I couldn't lift all the boxes to take back to my room.  And that ladder I use to hang posters?  Yeah, it looked a little scary. 

Thankfully, I had Mr. Teacher Bud come an help me one day, and a friend another.  However, stubborn me still insisted on climbing that ladder! And hanging that poster! And!  And! And!... yeah.  I paid for it later.  There is a spot in my back that spasmed for days. 

And then there was today - the 1st day of school.  Whew!  I am wiped.  I mean, I know I always am after the first day.  You generally don't have your butt hit the chair ever, because you have to circulate constantly to establish a presence.  And you talk all time as you go over the syllabus, rules, etc.  And the whole time you're trying to set the tone, so you have to be PEPPY! And PERKY!  And ENERGETIC!  Yeah, do that for 7 hours without rest and you're exhausted when you're not 30 weeks. 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVED seeing my students after the summer, I love them and missed them, and they make me smile.  But whew!  Excuse me while I pour myself into the couch (with my feet up!) to try to recuperate for tomorrow. 

I'll leave you with my 2 funniest pregnancy related student comments today. 

1. From a student passing in the hall - "You're still pregnant???"  Well let's do the math dear - I told you I was 3 months in May.... Yup.  Still pregnant.  
2. From a student who I had for 2 class periods near the end of the second, upon hearing me mention the small child bouncing on my bladder to another student who was whining that they couldn't wait 5 whole minutes to use the bathroom.  "Wait, you haven't had the baby yet??"  First - seem my response to comment 1.  Second - No, this is just a basket ball under my shirt.  Welcome to paying attention!!  

 I love them - I really do. 

30 Weeks

Belly Measurement/Weight: 30 centimeters (not inches!)/ -2lbs from last week.

Physical Progress: My belly button is definitely an outie. My daughter thinks it is because the baby's finger is poking it from the inside.

How I am feeling about my body: I have been feeling good about my body but now I am at the point where I just feel huge. When Mr. BB and I try to get intimate its awkward and frustrating. I think we are on hiatus until we try to kick-start labor around my due date.

Energy Level: I.Am.So.Tired! Like First tri tired.

Baby Movement: Still a lot of movement. Baby likes to kick both his/her feet into my bruised ribs. Baby also sticks their butt out a lot.

I had a follow up ultrasound yesterday and my fluid levels went up so no more extra monitoring! We could see that Baby B has hair which I was super excited about! He/she is still measuring in the 90% for weight. This makes me nervous for delivery! We also got to watch Baby blink and suck, so cute!

75% Done!

Since I never did the survey thing in my other post this week, here goes.

How far along: 30 weeks and 6 days

Total weight change: Going by the doctors scale, +23. I'm totally dreading my next check up. I wasn't a tiny woman when I got pregnant and its all but a sure thing that the next appointment will put me over the 200 mark. For the most part I'm alright with the increasing weight of pregnancy...but that milestone will be a hard one to swallow.

Maternity clothes: I started Round Three of maternity clothes this past week. Some of my shirts were getting too short and pants were getting too snug in the waistband. I'm still on the lookout for yoga pants and maxi dresses. I've also realized that wearing more supportive shoes made a HUGE difference in my foot and back pain.

Stretch Marks: No new ones.

Movement: I feel nudges and wiggles each day, enough for him to pass his kick count, but not a ton.

Sleep: Normal for me in 3rd Tri, I guess. I'm up 3 to 4 times for the bathroom. I'm finding myself really loving squeezing in an afternoon nap as well. Not sure if its because I'm not sleeping soundly at night or if its because the extra weight is taking a toll on my physically.

Best Moment This Past Week: Hearing everything looked good at the appt.

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: Just knowing that I have another 10 or so weeks to go. I also had a hard time with the realization that cloth diapering just isn't realistic for us. We can't wash them in house due to the landlord getting a low end washer and using a diaper service was more expensive than disposables.

Belly Button In or Out: Still an inny.

Cravings/Aversions: Nothing

Symptoms: Tingly fingers, particularly on my right hand. Bloat, including the infamous cankles. I had my very first big time Braxton Hicks contraction in the week hours of Wednesday morning. BIG difference from the one I had at 15 weeks. It was like my whole belly had a giant muscle spasm at once. Pretty intense.

What I'm Looking Forward To: Our glider and ottoman coming in (due within the next week) and our changing table getting assembled.

30 Week Appt

I'm officially on biweekly appointments now that I'm in the 3rd Trimester. Had my 30 week one bright and early on Monday and the 32 week one is on the books for later this month.


I don't think I've done a summary of what a typical prenatal appointment is like, so for those that are curious, here goes:


Typically I arrive at the office and check in. The receptionist gives me a bunch of lab labels that I'm to hand to the nurse when I'm called back. I sit and wait, usually guzzling my water because I know what's coming next. Eventually I get called back by the nurse. They do my weight (boo!), temp, BP and ask if there is any pain or big changes since the last appointment. Then they hand me one of the labels mentioned earlier and direct me to the nearest bathroom where I'm expected to pee in a cup. Let me tell you, that's getting more challenging as the belly gets bigger. Kind of like flying blind, lol.


The sample gets left for the nurse and I go back to the room they've told me to wait in. Typically the nurse then enters the new vitals info into the system while we wait on the doctor (there are computers in the exam rooms). She'll often ask me several questions, usually stuff that is trimester appropriate...but questions of bleeding/spotting/pain are always included.




Then the doctor comes back. She goes over my vitals and asks about any issues I might be having. This is where I chime in about the tingly fingers of the past month, or earlier in the pregnancy about the spotting. I'd recommend highly writing down your questions on a list as you come up with them. When my appointments were monthly, that was a lifesaver. I hated forgetting to ask something when I had some face time with the doctor and then having to call.


Lately, as in since 24 weeks, the doctors are starting to ask questions to get me thinking about the future at these appointments as well. Things like what we intend to do for birth control after the baby, if we've thought about our preferences for delivery (basically a nudge to come up with a birth plan) and a heads up about upcoming testing such as Group B Strep.


Next up is the best part. I lay down on the exam table and they break out the doppler. I love getting to hear the little guys heartbeat! Its usually not for very long, but its long enough for me to know its for sure there still which is comforting.


After that we wipe off the gel and I get helped up off the exam table (can't get up very well on my own these days). The doctor typically goes over a few things as the nurse sticks her head in and says I passed the pee test (nowadays they are looking for proteins and sugars in particular). I then make an appointment for the appropriate number of weeks in the future on my way out.


This past appointment I found out that a referral for wrist splints, intended to help with my carpal tunnel and ulnar nerve issues was approved by insurance, so I got information about where to get fitted for those.


I actually went to get the wrist braces today. One for each wrist. They are (thankfully) Velcro closure and are reinforced by a metal plate on the underside of the wrist. I'm supposed to wear them at a minimum when I'm sleeping to keep me from flexing my wrist in my sleep and aggravating the issue. I feel like a boxer with them on, take a look for yourselves. Sexy, aren't they? Just kidding of course. There pretty much is nothing sexy about pregnancy at this point.

30 Week Update!

Wow, I cannot believe I just typed a week that starts with a "3"...incredible how fast this pregnancy is progressing! Here's a formal update:

How far along: 30 weeks, 3 days.

Total weight change: 30 lbs as of Tuesday. Thankfully, my crazy weight gain of second tri seems to have ended...between my last appointment at 28 weeks and my appointment this week at 30 weeks, I was only +1. Whew!

Maternity clothes: All the time. I've actually found some maternity tanks that are a little too short. Boo!

Stretch Marks: Very few, on my lower hips. I'm doing everything I can to prevent them though!

Movement: All the time. Although the movement has changed from kicks and jabs to general rolling movements. It's pretty neat to see my whole stomach shift--almost like it's doing the wave. Once in a while, I feel like baby gets startled and jumps, because I'll feel sharp-ish jabs on my right side, down by my cervix, up in my ribs, and across my belly on my left side. All at the same time. It normally startles me too!

Sleep: Not great, but not too bad. Mr. Magnolia Bud and I go back and forth on sleeping in the same bed and one of us sleeping in the guest room so we can each have our space (thanks to four pillows...). I wake up 4-5 times a night to pee, but at least the first few hours still seem to be uninterrupted sleep. On the sleep front though, I've also been VERY tired for the past week. I have no idea how I'm going to stay awake for Harry Potter tonight at midnight!

Best Moment This Past Week: We had our first baby shower last weekend! I'll write about that separately, it was fun :)

Most Difficult Moment This Past Week: General feeling of tiredness with a little bit of blues thrown in. I feel like there's SO much to do, and am starting to flip out a little because there's just over two months to go (two months, five days to be precise)...I know everything will get done, but it's an overwhelming feeling.

Belly Button In or Out: In. Mr. MB thinks it's hilarious that it's getting so shallow.

Symptoms: Not too much--swollen ankles and upper back pain are about it (aside from my growing belly that I spill food on most days!)

What I'm Looking Forward To: Spending this weekend doing NOTHING! (Well, in our world getting more projects checked off the pre-baby to-do list is counting as "nothing" since it doesn't involve travel :) ).

Hope you've all been well!
-Magnolia Bud

It doesn't get much better than this!

Those of you who know me well, might be having the same thought as I am right now.

How on earth is it possible that I am 30 weeks pregnant?!


Well - i may not know how it's possible - but I know that I am. 30 weeks and 1 day pregnant. And yesterday I had the greatest OB appointment of my pregnancy so far. It was the first time I think I left without any doubts or concerns. And I left with a smile on my face.

So - this is how it went....

First - the typical, pee in a cup, blood pressure check and get on the dreaded scale. Except, as much as I dread getting on the scale, there was no reason to be worried. I had only gained 1 pound since my last appointment, making my pregnancy gain for the past 30 weeks only 14 pounds. I'm so proud of myself. Mr DB is proud of me. Dr Loh is proud of me. I'm well on track to gain no more than the 25 pounds I've resigned myself to, even though I originally wanted to stay under 20. It's really hard to be a fat chick with a huge appetite and control your pregnancy weight. But we're doing all of the right things with my diet - and I guess it's helping.

Then I asked a few questions about weird movement that I've been having. One of them feels like a vibration - and I asked her about it. Apparently babies can have the startle reflex in utero. Who knew? Then I mentioned the weird cervix feelings, where it feels like the baby is trying to dig it's way out.

So, she measured my uterus - all is well, and pulls out the doppler. Not long after she pulls out the doppler, she's pulling over the ultrasound machine. Now, she tells me that she just wants to check position, with what I was telling her. But silly nurse that I am knows that she really did it because she couldn't find the heartbeat. She kept getting mine. And i know the difference. I wasn't worried. Smudge had been moving around all day - and I knew the heart was right by my aorta. But it was awesome to get a surprise peek at Smudge, who is too big to even fit on the whole screen anymore! Smudge is transverse, again, surprise. Head on the right, butt on the left and fist in the mouth. And don't forget all the arms and legs hanging down dangling right on my cervix - explaining what i'm feeling.

Then we talked about some other symptoms I've been having - dizziness, cramps, contractions... we talked about my extreme water intake and she wants me to add more electrolytes and even gave me permission to eat a little bit of extra salt. So, i just downed a bottle of Gatorade Natural (thank you Whole Foods). I also got permission to change my PNV to a natural vitamin recommended by a friend, since my prescription PNV is no longer being made.

Oh - and at the end of my appointment, we discussed my ongoing back/hip and leg issues.... and she decided to pull me from work effective as soon as I want to be out. So, even though I'd rather never ever ever go back (ever)... i decided to do the responsible thing and stop working October 8th - exactly 2 months before my due date.

photo credit

I'm SO out of there.

So meanwhile - Smudge is growing strong - and kicking the crap out of me. Tuesday night, we actually were able to watch my belly move for about 15 minutes. We had never seen such exaggerated movement before. It was so much fun to watch. I've been having a lot of contractions, but I still haven't hit her magic number to require monitoring (4-6 in an hour) - so despite contracting all day long, it's never been more than 3 in 60 minutes. Hopefully the electrolytes help.

Work in progress

We've also been working on the nursery almost non-stop. The floor is in, the walls are painted. This week, we're going to put up and paint the wainscoting. It's going to be white. Now I just have to arrange for furniture delivery, which I'm planning for 36 weeks.

So, that's our update for now... 4 shifts left at work. 10 weeks (or so) left of pregnancy. Starting my biweekly OB visits now and hoping to complete my clinical hours for school before the beginning of November. Our childbirth classes with our doula start on saturday, also!! We're really excited.

Smudge is almost here!

29-30 weeks - 3/4 of the way there!!

Woot - only 7-10 more weeks till Baby Worry Bud gets here!!! I can't believe today is the first day in September! I feel like time is just flying this summer & thank goodness...we have had an extremely HOT summer this year. Of course, the year I'm pregnant over the summer, we get one of the hottest summers on record! Not that I'm complaining - it's just definitely uncomfortable at times! I have tried to reign in my baby buying obsession seeing that we still have four baby showers being thrown in our honor - the one Mr. Worry Bud's family is hosting in his hometown, my main shower in our area/my hometown, plus a work shower at each of our jobs that some co-worker friends are planning to host - we are so blessed! The shower at Mr. WB's office was a big surprise to me, but it's so sweet of them! I can't wait to see all the cute stuff she gets!! I found an awesome maternity dress on sale & decided to get it for my main/big shower, so I ordered it last week:

Photo Credit

According to the Bump, during weeks 29-30 (month 7), the baby is about the size of a squash, or about 15.2 to 16.7 inches and about 2.5 to 3.8 lbs. Although she's already pretty big & cramped in there, her weight will triple by the time her due date rolls around. And she is gaining additional energy due to white fat depositing beneath her skin. And Baby WB is definitely getting a workout in there - exercising by stretching & kicking - it's even beginning to hurt a little now, but nothing her mama can't handle!  I had my 30 week doctor's appointment this past Friday & I met with Dr. P this week. I really like her a lot! She gave me the pre-registration information for the hospital I'm going to be delivering at & she said that I could just turn it in during my hospital tour, which is scheduled for September 9th! She also checked the size of my belly, which is measuring right on track & she checked for the baby's heartbeat, which was a very normal 135-140 bpm. When the Dr. was trying to find the baby's heartbeat, she couldn't at first because the baby was wiggling around so much - she even kicked a few times for the Dr. to see! She is not a shy baby - she kicked/moved for two of my co-worker girlfriends & for my mom last week, haha! At the end of the appointment, I scheduled my next several appointments with my OB's office & it hit me just how close we are to meeting her - we ended up scheduling appointments through the end of my pregnancy! We even scheduled one for the week after my due date just in case. :o/ Hopefully we won't need that one, but we'll see.



I still have been doing pretty good overall, although I can tell that I'm slowing down. My lower back & feet hurt by the end of every day & I get so short of breath doing even the smallest tasks. I have also been getting pretty bad heartburn at the end of the day & I am literally exhausted by the time I get home from work. The problem is - this is the busiest time of year at my job thru the end of September & then I have about one more month until I go out on maternity leave, so I'm sure I'll be busy up until the end. My job is mainly a desk job though, so I'm fine still working, it's just exhausting! Right now I take public transportation to work, but I think sometime this month I'm going to start driving in - I'm sure navigating my area's horrible traffic will suck, but it'll be good for me to have easy access to my car. And I hear that once I start driving in, that I won't wanna go back! We shall see. :o)

To celebrate the 30 week milestone, I thought we'd go for a 3D/4D ultrasound this past weekend, but Baby WB was NOT having it at all! She had her arm up in front of her face the entire time. Urg. She moved for like 2 seconds & we got to see her yawn!! It was seriously SOOOOO adorable. I wish we could have seen more of her cute face, but she was being camera shy, so the 3D place let us re-schedule to try once more & we went in last night & she actually cooperated!! The pics are not the best quality because she is very close to my uterine wall & the lady said you need a good amount of fluid between the wall & baby's face to get really GREAT pics. But these were good enough for me & Mr. WB b/c we got to see our little miracle's cute face:

I think she has her daddy's nose & a my cheeks! Not sure about those lips, but I suspect they may be my dad's!

And now on to my 29 & 30 week bump shots. I still think I'm pretty small in comparison to some other pregnant women I have seen who are as far along as me (maybe it's all in my head?! My mom thinks it is b/c she says I'm "big".), but as long as the Dr. isn't concerned & the little one is doing good, that's all that matters!

29 weeks:

30 weeks:

I can't believe we only have about 2 more months till she arrives...I know time will continue to fly! I'm keeping busy getting my ridiculously long Baby WB to do list done & finishing up the nursery - it's almost done!! Can't wait to meet our little girl!

Baby Shower!

I got so caught up in Glucose Hell that I completely forgot to post about my fabulous baby shower that my mom & my sister threw for me!!! It was Jan 17th at my mom's house and we had so much fun. It was so good to see all my family - it would have been nice to see my girlfriends but now-a-days we are spread all the way out from Virginia to Texas to Oregon and all over Washington so I totally understand!

First of all, they went with mexican food - which I of course couldn't get enough of! Between the Cornbread Taco Casserole, taquitos, chips, salsa, and guac... lets just say I'm glad I hadn't gotten my Gestational Diabetes diagnosis beforehand!!!

The first game we played was a baby word scramble - I tell you what some ladies were very saavy at unscrambling these words! Me? Not even the easiest of words could I get!!! Who knew what a Layette was anyway??? Is that like a bassinett cause I do have one of those??? Ha-Ha

Second game was HILARIOUS - my sister took newborn diapers and melted a different candy bar in each. They then get passed around and everyone has to guess which candy bar is in each... via smell, texture and **ahem** taste (for the oh so brave!). So funny...Then they had everyone take a piece of yarn to guess how big I am around my belly... all I have to say is I'm glad I was only 30 weeks and we didn't have the shower 6 weeks down the road as some of the guests may just have been right - but for now... THANKS GUYS... THANKS! :)

And... PRESENTS!!!! Seriously I'm so thankful for everything everyone picked out. I can't wait for Baby GB to make use of everything!And last but not least - I'll leave you with the best picture of the day... I love my dad! :)

More to come on the Gestational Diabetes diagnosis in my next post!!! (I think I have a little bit bigger outlook now that I've met with my nutritionist.. thank goodness!)

A Bump in the Road

I just got the results from my test last Friday... Gestational Diabetes.

I am in shock - what did I do wrong? I've only gained 13 lbs, I wasn't overweight to begin with, I eat fairly healthy, I exercise... ok not enough but I still get it in...

I know I should be happy that this is the only bump that's really come up so far but I can't help it - I'm so upset that I just started bawling at work.