Stats:

3o weeks and 5 days pregnant

About 66 days till due date

Up 13.5 pounds

Baby girl’s heartbeat has usually been in the mid 140′s

Belly measuring on track

-Love the double take strangers do to see if you are in fact pregnant.

-Smiling right back at the strangers who smile when looking at the kiddos and my belly.

-Still have not settled in on a name for baby girl.

-Decided to try for VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). Met with a Dr. in Portland who delivers at St. Vincents where they are “allowed” to do VBAC’s.  But, the hospital has a very high rate of cesareans (which he says is due to their high level NICU).  Striving for a “natural” child birth and hoping I am supported in that. It might be an uphill battle. I would love to give birth at a birth center, but still appreciate being at a hospital because of the (low) risk of rupture that comes with a VBAC.

-Found out at my first appointment with the OB in Portland that my stomach muscles are in fact separated from my pregnancy with the twinners. Wonder why my Dr. here in Salem never mentioned that before.

-Do not have gestational diabetes. Always nice to know.

-Baby girl is quite active. Especially after a good dessert and always at bedtime.

-Pretty sure she has assumed a position that is now sending me to the bathroom every 22 minutes.

-Little man recommended “Louie” as a good baby name. I think we will keep looking.

-Planning to register with no intentions of actually using it except for the 10% off coupon you get after the baby is born.

-Slowly getting things checked off my “Big To Do List”

-Wondering if my “decaf” coffee was really decaf. Sorry baby. Blame Starbucks.

P.S. If you take a Carmel Macchiato and add more ice and a little chocolate ice cream in the blender it tastes really good.

-Read almost all of 6 “natural” childbirth etc. books in one week by carrying them around the house. Kiddos call them my “baby books”.

- Trying to do some of the “Bradley” and yoga exercises from my books.

-Had to keep from chuckling when the intake nurse asked if I was exercising. Wondered if going up the stairs 87 times a day, doing 122 baby gate hurdles, and 200 toddler lifts counted as my main form.

-Baby found my ribs. Pretty sure the twins did not even manage that.

-Tons of baby hiccups.

-She is quite particular about her space. Does not like counters, tight fitting pants, bowls of cereal, resting arms, toddler elbows, or anything else that encroaches upon her space. Will kick back at anything that offends her.

-Need to take more belly pictures. Must be in sweats and pj’s too much lately.

-Laughing every time I find one of the littles walking around with a very rounded back trying to stick their belly out.  Pretty sure they are making fun of me. Caught little man doing it with focus again before bed last night while watching his shadow. Also found little lady happily going about her business with a wadded up item of clothing shoved under her shirt for quite some time.

-Trying to teach the kids that babies only have milk (to prevent them from sharing food). Little man says “just milk” and little lady told me “Not dinner!” Ok, I promise.

Today is the third day my husband has biked to work.  I am very proud of him.  We have talked many times about how to make it work for him because he is a mortgage broker and wears a “bat suit” to work every day. Its pretty hard to bike in a suit and also hard to shove one in your Kelty back pack.  A local “Bike Commute Challenge” was just the thing to get him to attempt it (apparently he is still swayed by peer pressure at his mature age).

There are many benefits to biking to work both for the environment and your personal health…I know this.  But at the end of the day sometimes I would rather have my man in the door in 9 minutes flat.  I also miss my Grande Iced Decaf Extra Caramel Caramel Machiatto after those rough days (which we usually get with a “treat receipt” which makes it only $2).  They don’t travel well by bike and the caramel would most definitely be all thin and half mixed in and the ice would have surely be melted by then (can you tell that I have put thought into the logistics?)

One other thing I miss is having him occasionally join us for lunch (read-bringing home lunch).  It’s a fun, special treat that is not practical when he bikes to work.

The other downside, no more stops at the store on the way home to pick up our two gallons of milk we go through at lightening speed…Which leads me to claim that you don’t actually save as much money on gas (etc.) because you have to make extra trips out in your vehicle because you can’t always carry everything on your bike. I know some people have snazzy gear that lets you pack all your worldly possessions with you on your bike, but he does not have that stuff and has plenty of altitude to climb without two gallons of Organic Valley catching a ride.

So in short…proud, coffee deprived, eating leftovers everyday, and a touch cynical……but most definitely proud.