week 30: when you look up "normal" pregnancy, i am apparently the poster child.

i am pretty sure the sum total of my doctor's visits are about 10 minutes.  maybe a little more, but i think i spend more time peeing in a cup than i do talking to the doctor. i could be annoyed by this, but i have no real questions (and he's wonderful when i actually do) and our pregnancy is a freaking healthy textbook. so i'm not at all.

to date: i have gained 20.5 pounds, according to the doctor. as in, remember that month when i gained 9 pounds? i haven't really gained since then.  in SIX WEEKS OF THIRD TRIMESTER. what the awesome. even if i gain a pound a week from here on out, that's perfectly fine with me.  of course, there's no real need for that, but i'm prepared for the worst case scenario (per usual) and i'm pretty stoked that that worst case scenario is actually TOTALLY NORMAL AND AWESOME.

(i don't know. i still think i eat too much for this to be true. i think it's like a miracle like the reverse of the loaves and fishes or something like that.)

there's this one nurse who works with my doctor--she's his regular nurse. i love her. LOVE her. she is so zen-inducing to me, no matter what. when she takes my blood pressure, it's something insanely low like 105/70.  when anyone else does, it's usually 130/80.  i told her today that she has a calming effect on me, which my doctor heard and joked with me about later.  i really like her.

i knew that i had passed my glucose screening already, but hearing the doctor call my sugar "perfect" was rather nice. and apparently my hemoglobin is 12.4, which is "very good" for this stage of pregnancy. 

(i just looked it up. it's also termed "great" when you're near term, which i'm not sure i really am, but i'll take it.)

thanks for letting me joyfully declare this.  i am excited. 

(not so excited about insurance company nonsense that force me to jump through hoops, but that's okay. it will all get worked out in the end. i really hate insurance companies of all kind. my mom says their job is to make life difficult. i think i believe her completely.)

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after my appointments, i almost always feel this compelling urge to eat WHATEVER THE HECK I WANT because i don't have to go to the doctor for a while.  i suppose this is not a very healthy reaction, but since i try so hard every other day to eat only healthy things, with very little deviation, i don't begrudge it much.

but here's the thing.

i was watching cake boss last night (seriously--i could watch any cooking reality show ad nauseum forever).  they run a bakery. and they showed the front of the bakery and i was like I WANT TO GO TO A BAKERY AND GET ONE OF EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW.  of course, i couldn't, but i tried to think if our little college town even has a good bakery.

(i couldn't really think of one.)

but after my appointment today, i decided i wanted a donut.  so i went to the grocery store, where i needed to get some stuff anyways, and walked by the donuts.

i just couldn't do it.  i COULDN'T do it.  there's just...no redeeming value in them. at all.

so i bought waffles instead.  and ate several. and they weren't that good.

boo.  boo to cravings that don't turn out to be what you really want. 

but seriously--this kid of ours? i think she prefers fruit and healthy things. she's like my dream kid.  may she be blessed with this preference, and not my sweet tooth, for all of her life. 

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speaking of this kid of ours, she has decided to amp up her kicks.

like she's been kicking the HOLY HECK out of my left side for at least 24 hours. she's chilled out a little bit today, but good grief yesterday and last night were a show. too bad musicboy was asleep for most of it. she was up all night and making it known. 

part of me wonders if the reason why i couldn't really sleep was because of that. i didn't really WANT to sleep that much. maybe we were in sync.

(not 'nsync. that's something different.)

i asked the doctor if that's normal, and he said yes.  between 24 and 32 weeks, the baby is bigger but still has enough room to really be moving around. apparently that will come to an end as i get bigger but not big enough for tall lanky girl baby.  i sincerely appreciate the kicks, as they are reassurance that she's doing awesomely, but good grief.

the soccer kicks could wait a few years, couldn't they?

(of course, i had been feeling a bit left out of those pregnancy-related stories about being kicked most aggressively. i don't feel left out anymore.)

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people are just genuinely good.

do you know that?

we have gotten two huge bags/boxes of clothes for Baby Girl, that are just sort of randomly coming our way without really asking about it or even thinking about it. we have gotten diapers and a bassinet and a swing awaits us whenever we want to pick it up. then, on sunday, we were approached by a mom in our ward who asked if we wanted baby blankets of all types. 

i always say yes. i figure it can't hurt, and anything we don't use we will pay forward. 

i am just so astonished by how genuinely good people are, sometimes. i really shouldn't be.  people are good.

i hope i will be that good.

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what i do promise that i will never do (and hold me to this if i ever fall short) is be the doom and gloom police. no matter how fussy my baby is, i will not tell a pregnant mother that she will never sleep. no matter how hard nursing is, i will not tell a pregnant mother that it's a horror show.  i will share what they would like me to share, but that's it. 

i will remember that every body is different and i will allow someone to enjoy those last few moments of blissful ignorance. don't we really just get too few of those in life?

they all know it in the back of their heads anyway. but it's awfully nice to think that sleep will improve when there's not another human being sharing my body.  it may be less, but i bet it will hurt my hips less.  i bet my bed will feel more comfortable, if only because i so rarely get to enjoy it for any stretch of time. i bet i will appreciate it more.

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yeah, i ate tons of waffles and i'm still hungry. this might be one of those days, you know? ask me if i'm going to care.

nope.  not going to care. 

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on a totally unrelated note: have you tried a green monster? i did, yesterday. i'll admit that i was more than skeptical, but after hearing from at least three friends that it didn't, in fact, taste like crap and realizing that i actually do, in fact, like to eat spinach raw anyway, i tried it. 

here's a helpful note: when you add blackberries to spinach, it will turn brown. an unfortunate shade of brown. put the beast in an opaque cup and pretend like you don't notice the color and all will be well. 

i added, to 4 cups of spinach (which sounds like an insane amount but actually isn't because spinach is FLUFFY), 1/2 a frozen banana, 1/3 cup of frozen blackberries, 1/3 cup of frozen peach slices, 1/2 cup of milk, and 1 6 oz carton of strawberry yogurt. it was good.  and my food diary LOVED it. i think it was something like 230 calories and it filled my pregnant self up for several hours. 

go healthy smoothies!

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