30 weeks down 10 to go!

Well we have reached the 30 week mark. We are still not ready to welcome baby Charlotte and she is still not ready to be welcomed but there is something about entering the weeks that no longer begin with a "2" that makes me nervous and excited. Everything is going well, as far as I can tell. She is moving a ton, she gets the hiccups every now and then which is fun (for me), and she is definitely taking up more room. She is about 3lbs or a little over (depending on your website of choice) and she should gain up to 1/2 lb per week now. Space in my belly is definitely getting tight. I am beginning to feel some twinges under my ribs and my breathing is much more shallow now. I can only imagine how I will feel at 9 months!!! Sometimes I sit and think that a month before we conceived our fabulous, wonderful, amazing, and beautiful little girl I was in the best shape of my life having just completed our first marathon! Gone are the days that a flight of stairs wasn't my enemy and a 30 minute walk a was warm-up! I will get it back and I already have plans for my first post-partum 1/2 and full!!! Get ready Auntie Erin because you will be forced to run with me!!

So, my mom informs me that my blogs are too long. Part of this is because we are going to turn this into a book so we can remember our journey and to allow baby Charlotte to see how we prepared for her. If I leave anything out I will forget it - baby brain or not! These may get shorter, however, because my carpal tunnel is getting worse every week and typing does not help!

With that said, nothing happened this week so this post will be short!! We have begun to seriously discuss our birth plan as a team and we are still aiming for a medication free birthing experience. I have a variety of reasons for this and most of them are not holistic or 'hippy'. They are sensible and they are my own reasons. I continue to get the most negative reactions about this. I feel like people should just say, "if that is your decision then fine." I am not stupid. I realize there will be an insane amount of pain to deal with on that day or days. I know this. I just figure if I don't know how it is going to feel why should I automatically decide to pump my body full of medications prematurely. Let's get in there and actually experience child birth before we start all that. I read books that say don't 100% commit to a plan because then you will be disappointed when it doesn't work the way you anticipated. What with kids, childbirth included, will work the way you anticipate??? That's my question. I officially do not have children yet but this pregnancy has taught me flexibility is a necessity. I just want a goal to have in mind. A goal to focus on during her birth. I have two: 1.) to welcome a healthy beautiful baby girl into the world, my arms, and our family and 2.) to do it with as little medication as possible. Take it or leave it.

The baby room...is still unfinished BUT...it rained. I am hoping, any second now, for an email from our landlord setting up a time to begin the dry wall work!! I am so excited!!

So, really that is it for this week. Next week we are taking our child birthing classes so we will talk about that and, hopefully, we will have some news on the baby room. I am hoping to post pics this afternoon too!!