.:30 Weeks:.

Finally 30 weeks!

I know I've said it before, but this pregnancy is d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g.

It's not because I'm uncomfortable, because, aside from the usual aches and pains (mostly my hips!), I'm not uncomfortable at all. But it just feels like I've been pregnant forever. Well, maybe that has something to do with the fact that for the past over three and a half years, there's only been two months I haven't been pregnant or nursing. Yeah.

But, like I said above, not hitting the uncomfortable stage at all. My hips do hurt quite often, but I am carrying lower this time, so I haven't had the shortness of breath or baby up in my ribs. Yet! I do feel like my belly is strung pretty tight a lot of the time, which is odd to me, since I'm smaller this time than I was with either of the girls. My belly button has decided to come all the way out to play. (Gross.)

I think that being in fairly decent shape coming into the pregnancy has really helped me to stay feeling okay, and to continue exercising as much as I have. I still get up at 5:00 to go walking and do strength training for 4-5 days out of the week. Sometimes it is tough to get going in the morning, because I have to wake up to roll myself over like a rotisserie chicken almost every hour during the nite (like the comparison, I stole it from my pregnant friend!), but I'm always glad afterwards that I got up and did it.

Baby girl has been getting the hiccups a bit more frequently lately. Reece and Remi only had them once each I think, so it's been kind of funny to experience it more. Just little rhythmic bumps, it makes me giggle. She moves pretty frequently, and I just love it. I know I'll miss it when she's out, so I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it now.

I've been doing some sewing for her. Not that she needs anything, but it is fun to have a few new things for her. I'm not overly anxious to get her out, but at the same time, I am so excited to meet her and see what she is like - especially compared to her sisters! Reece and Remi have such distinctive personalities, so it will be fun to see if she favors either of them, or if she's just her own little person.

She is still totally nameless. We really need to get serious about names! There are a couple of names that I adore, but Josh just basically hates. We still have one name left that we almost used with both girls - Kirra - but I have to admit, I'm not as crazy about it as I used to be. We'll see what happens!

Today was yet another follow up ultrasound. I've been kind of on edge all week long, which definitely had something to do with our girls being pretty sick, but it wasn't until talking with my friend that I realized it was probably some sort of manifestation of my being nervous about the ultrasound. I've done pretty well having a good attitude about it, and not dwelling on it, but I'm sure as it got closer, the fears started creeping in more than usual.

The ultrasound tech had a resident physician in there with us, so she was explaining everything as she was going along (i.e. what she was looking at, how she was getting the angle, etc.) Baby's heartbeat sounded perfect, which was a relief once again to hear. When she got to the bowel, she was explaining to the physician that the criteria for echogenic bowel is that the bowel shows up as white as the bone on the ultrasound. She said that you could still see it, but to her, it didn't seem very white. That was the first clue that just maybe we were going to get our good news.

The tech finished up the exam, and the OB came in and confirmed it: the bowel was not as white, nothing 'remarkable' (to use her word), and we were free from having baby checked out anymore! I honestly couldn't believe it. After everything the past 10 weeks, I was just kind of expecting that this wasn't going away and we were going to have to start talking seriously about what it could mean.

I feel so blessed. Not only is this beautiful little lady a tremendous blessing in our lives, to have her heartbeat and her bowel both turn out to be completely okay is just more than I was expecting. It has been more of a stressful pregnancy for sure, and I haven't quite enjoyed it like I usually do. I feel so relieved, and am anxious to start enjoying having this little girl so close to me all the time.