30 Weeks

OMG....I can't believe I am 30 weeks pregnant today! I only have 10 more weeks to go (give or take a few weeks, I am sure!). I can't believe it! Time is flying by and I am loving every minute of it.

Well, that's not exactly true!! I am tired of having this cold and awful cough that I have had for almost two weeks now! The stuffy nose & sore throat are gone but I still have a dry, hacking kind of cough all day long! Oh, and nights are no fun as I am up every 30 mins or so with a wretched cough (and my nose tends to get stuffed up at night too). Pair that with at least two trips to the bathroom in the middle of the night and that doesn't make for a very restful night! I am hoping that it goes away soon but for now, I just have to deal with it. My aunt Sharon gave me some suggestions today (from her sister-in-law who uses only natural herbal medicine), so hopefully some of her ideas will help cure this soon!

Other than that, I am feeling pretty good. Jacob is starting to move more and more every day. It used to be that I could only feel a slight flutter inside me, but now the movements are becoming stronger and more frequent. He moves the most after I eat something and usually I can feel it best when I am either sitting or laying down. Keith has tried to feel the movements by touching my belly, but unfortunately, he hasn't been able to feel anything. I am sure it won't be long before the poking and prodding begins so I am ok with just feeling the flutters right now.

It is interesting/scary/weird/cool for me to think that I actually have a real, live, moving, developing baby inside of me right now. I mean, I have known for 6 months now that I have had a living being inside of me, but it just gets more and more "real" every day. I saw a picture of a baby born at 31 weeks the other day and I was fascinated that it looked just like a regular baby. I mean, I knew that preemies still look like regular babies, but it really brought home the concept that there is an actual functioning baby inside of me right now. And he has fingers and toes and eyes and hair (hopefully!) and boy parts (weird to think about that!!). WOW! It is truly an amazing and miraculous process!

One not-so-nice thing that has been happening to me (and I hesitated to even share this but hey, I am sure I am not the only pregnant woman to have this happen....or least I hope not!). The thing is with all of this coughing comes the not-so-nice side effect of not being able to control my urine when I cough. I swear it has gotten worse over the past two weeks! Last night I even had to change my underwear and pajama bottoms because it was that much! And, it happened even after I had just emptied my bladder! YUCK!!! Guess I need to start doing some kegal exercises on a regular basis!

We have a lot of fun stuff happening over the next week or so that I am really looking forward to. On Sunday, my parents are coming over to help with more household preparation stuff. Dad and Keith will hopefully be able to finally get the garage shelving project 100% complete and my Mom and I are going to put the border up in the baby's room. (My mom is so awesome - she bought the border for us so that we could get it up before we get too much stuff in that room. THANKS MOM!!).

On Tuesday evening, we have our first Childbirth Prep class. We will go for two hours every Tuesday for six weeks and then we will have one Breastfeeding class in early June. I am really excited about the classes! Also, next weekend I have my first baby shower! YAY! Some wonderful friends from the church we attended in Richmond are throwing me a shower and I am very much looking forward to it. It will be great to see everyone again and celebrate Jacob's impending arrival! (And, I am not going to lie - I am excited to see what cool presents we get!)

I will be sure to post pics and info about all of this fun stuff. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!