How far along: 29 weeks, completed 7/24/2012.

Weight gain: I had my appointment with the midwives on Monday, and the new gain is: 3 lbs! 147 up from my 144 last month. Total pregnancy gain is now 14 lbs.

Clothes: After my trip to Plato’s the other week, I feel pretty darn set.

Purchases: Nothin’ new.

Body: The midwife went over my ultrasound & blood test results from the previous Monday, and all is good! My hemoglobin is apparently awesome (whatever that means), and there’s no trace of anemia in sight. My vitamin D levels are strong. And little Alice is in the 44th percentile for size (“middle of the road” as my midwife put it), which is hopefully a sign that I WON’T be pushing out gigantobaby, but moderababy.

The belly disappearing act . . . well, I’ll just let this image speak for itself.

Heh heh.

And I almost forgot to mention–about a week ago, my husband noticed a very faint line descending from my belly button. It’s called the “linea nigra,” and Wikipedia tells me that it shows up “due to increased melanocyte-stimulating hormone made by the placenta.”

Whoop-de-doo.

It’s not too visible yet–in fact, I can barely make it out depending on the lighting. It’s a very faint pale color just a shade different than my skin tone, but it will probably darken over time. Then, after Alice pops out, shazzam! It’s gone.

But I guess I’d better make friends with it in the meantime.

Sleep: Gut gut, ja.

Best moment(s) of the week: I’m not sure if this is “the best,” but our past two Bradley classes have been really great, and very practical. Pushing positions . . . comfort measures . . . prenatal massage (with my darling husband gets to practice on me–wheee!) . . .

It’s weird thinking about the labor and delivery process ahead, because though I totally trust my husband to be there for me and do his darnedest to give me what I need, alleviate my suffering however he can, and stay attentive to how I’m doing for hours on end, I feel a sense of guilt about this. Being the labor coach doesn’t exactly sound like fun. Catering to my every whim? That just seems like a pain in the badonkadonk.

I think I need to pray about this and reach a place where I’m willing to let go and accept the fact that he is going to have to serve me. Intensely. For who knows how many hours or days. And I’m just going to have to let him. And not feel guilty that I’m putting him through the wringer.

He’s not at all thinking along these lines–he is ready. But accepting the fact that I’m going to be so weak, so dependent on his support and his encouragement–I find this frightening. Not because I think he’ll let me down, but because I’m not used to letting go of my self-sufficiency to that degree.

Oh, and speaking of good moments, since my parents were in town for our CD release concert (which I will write about soon!), my dad got to feel Alice move and thump a little, though she didn’t go as wild as she had with my mom the previous weekend.

Movement: What a sweetie–she was kicking back hardcore when we were trying to listen to her heartbeat on Monday. She definitely doesn’t like whatever light thingy shines in when they use the Doppler baby heart monitor.

Food cravings/aversions: Smoothies! I like ’em–a lot. Some frozen berries, a banana, some yogurt, some almond milk–bliss.

Symptoms: I’m feeling pretty fortunate in this area–besides starting to feel really tired again, overheating easily, and struggling more and more to turn myself over in bed without causing a mattress earthquake of epic proportions, I feel really good. This part of pregnancy is so much easier than the early part, when I wasn’t showing yet but felt bloated all the time (ugh). I will take this part ANY DAY over the bloated phase–any day!

Emotions: I’ve felt great, except for one disaster day (Wednesday of last week). First, I got home and pretty much fell apart for no reason as my husband and I tried to talk through an event we had coming up. After sobbing for a while, I recovered enough to jump into a packing project since our move is getting closer and closer. I built some boxes and started packing up vases and decor items from the living room and dining room area. As I moved a bunch of silk peonies, I caught the antenna of my brother-in-law John’s radio, which promptly crashed to the floor. And despite my husband’s valiant attempts to take it apart and fix it, that thing was determined to stay broken. Guys, I spent the rest of the evening crying about this radio. It didn’t matter that it was an accident, that John wasn’t upset, or that we could easily buy another for him (and did)–I felt horrible. Make that horribly horrible. My deepest desire was that someone would walk up behind me and knock me out so that the day could just. be. over.

I crawled my sorry butt into bed at 8:30 and sank into blissful oblivion.

Thus endeth my tale of misery.

Possible explanations include: hormones. And something our friend Jon theorized about–de-nesting. I’m packing and taking apart a living space during a period in which my instincts are crying out to nest. This makes total sense. Hormones + de-nesting = crazy lady. Children, please don’t try this at home.

Thankfully, other than that one evening, I’ve felt fine, dandy, and generally peaceful. Of course, there have been tears related to Eric and Carrie’s moving away (more about that tomorrow . . .), but we can’t go blaming that on tiny Alice.

Hopes and dreams: I’m eager to get past the de-nesting and into the nesting.

What I miss: Walking up stairs without feeling like a limping hippopotamus.

What I’m looking forward to: The last-minute baby shower that my extended family is throwing for me in Wisconsin this weekend–and my sister Erica is coming! We are road tripping out Friday morning and I can’t wait to get some quality time with her, and to introduce her to the kicks and jabs of her niece Alice.

I didn’t think I was going to be able to see Erica again until Christmas since her move to Arizona is imminent, but she decided at the last minute to put on her hardcore road-tripping helmet, and it’s happening. Hallelujah.

Husband update:  This guy is the sweetest, sweetest, sweetest. I can’t even tell you the ways that he shows me love constantly, but I’ll give one example. The past two Sundays, I’ve been so tired after church that I’ve had to stop for a nap. Instead of waiting for me to get my motor back up and running, he’s taken it upon himself to get our grocery shopping for the week by himself, in the heat, while I slept.

Seeing such a model of Christ-like servanthood in him (and being the direct recipient of it) is so . . . humbling. Inspiring. And I pray that I can and will do the same for him–go out of my way for his happiness every single day.

I love you, baby!

How far along: 28 weeks, completed 7/17/12.

Weight gain: My next midwife appointment is on Monday, so I’ll know then!

But I did get an ultrasound on Monday so that the technician could get the shots of Alice they couldn’t get during the first attempt (of her spine and brain, especially), and she weighs 2 pounds now.

The technician got the images, said everything looks great, and confirmed that she is indeed a girl. Side note: I was definitely afraid she might turn out to be a boy, and that I would have to return all the cute girl stuff that people had just given me at the shower. Also, as my husband and I walked out of the Thorndale El stop on Sunday, a potentially crazy woman sitting on the sidewalk shouted “It’saboyit’saboyit’saboyit’saboy!” as we went past.

I’m so glad she wasn’t truly clairvoyant.

The pictures they gave us from ultrasound #2 don’t scream ‘cute’ in particular . . . unless you know what you’re looking at (the images are confusing at times) and happen to be her mama (me). Since she’s bigger, the shots are more of isolated body parts. And with the fuzzy black and white images (and her hand in front of her mouth), her face looks a little . . . interesting. BUT while we were watching her move around in there on the screen, she was kind of snuggled against her own arms, and the pinky on one of her hands was daintily lifted in the air. Or should I say in the amniotic fluid? Anyway, it was so cute! It looks like she’s ready to drink tea with the Queen!

I also had some blood drawn while I was there so that they can do some standard tests for gestational diabetes, vitamin D leves, iron levels (and I already know I have anemic tendencies) and the like. If anything funky comes up I should know on Monday at my appointment.

Clothes: So my husband was in Madison doing research for his dissertation most of last week. The three things I love doing the most when my husband is out of town are as follows:

–Shopping–especially thrift shopping–because I don’t have to hurry home. I can take my sweet time and try on half a million things without even a glance at my watch to tell me I’ve been going for two hours straight.

–Purging my closet, because it’s very time-consuming and requires trying everything on and making a big mess, and once I start I can also go for hours.

–Watching chick flicks–particularly the ridiculous ones that I’m afraid my husband would laugh me off the couch for.

All this to say, chick flicks were watched. Purging was done. And shopping happened! I double dipped and went thrift shopping both to Salvation Army with my friend Carrie, and to Plato’s Closet on my own. I found so much non-maternity pregnancy wear! (which was my goal–stuff that works for Belly Days that I also won’t have to cast aside this fall) Flowy tops, leggings, dresses, more flowy tops . . . and a few tiny and adorable things for Alice, and my nephew James and his soon-to-be-born little brother Liam while I was at it.

Purchases: As mentioned above, clothes! Oh, and my baby shower was of course on Saturday, so many things were purchased for me! Recap coming soon to a blog near you.

Body: The back pain I was experiencing hasn’t happened all week–hallelujah! I don’t know if there’s much to say here other than: I continue to get hot and pathetic way too easily.

I also get tired sometimes . . . in a big way. Especially after a lot of human interaction (like talking to my Mom all Friday afternoon, or the baby shower on Saturday), I get completely worn out and my brain becomes oatmeal. Cold oatmeal that’s been left out on the counter all day. In fact, I was ready to go to sleep at about 7pm on Saturday. I managed to make it until 11pm, but I had drooping eyelid syndrome the entire time.

Sleep: Great! A little restless once, but after I got up and did some squats, I was able to sleep like a baby.

Oh yeah–and one night was particularly not fun because Alice kept waking me up with her acrobatics. She does love to bust her big moves at night, but I can usually sleep through them. Not this time, though.

Best moment(s) of the week: My baby shower was really amazing! (thank you soooo much, Carrie and Beth!)

I was a little nervous about being the center of attention for so long since I’m a semi-introvert, but once I got there and started soaking up the love from all these ladies (and eating the food–mmmmm!), all was well, and I had a blast! I had a little bit of a sense of unreality during some of it, kind of like I did on my wedding day, just because it’s one of those mile markers in a woman’s life and it didn’t seem quite believable that it was happening to me. But there were some really beautiful moments. In particular, after the women prayed for Alice and me, we all sang “Take My Life and Let it Be” but with the words changed so that it was about Alice (“Take her life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee . . . take her moments and her days, let them flow in ceaseless praise . . . etc.). To hear all those sweet female voices lifted up to God singing this beautiful prayer for my daughter was just wonderful.

Movement: As you know, my mom was with us here in Chicago for the weekend, and I loved having her touch my belly constantly to feel Alice move. She was the most enthusiastic, determined baby-movement-feeler ever. Whenever I made a face that might mean “the baby is moving,” she would rush over to see what was going on–and she never seemed to tire of it. She must have spent cumulatively an hour and a half with a hand of my belly over the course of two days. She rubbed my belly, poked around to see what bits of Alice were where, and interacted with my baby girl as much as it’s possible being that the Wee Lass is still in-utero. And Alice really delivered in this respect all day Saturday, with kicks and punches and rotations galore! I really, really enjoyed this. Like, really.

Food cravings/aversions: Nothing–but I’ve noticed I feel full faster than usual. I think now that Alice is 2 lbs, my stomach may not have as much space as before . . .

And on the subject of food, I said something silly the other week about you guys feeling free to send me cookies and how I wouldn’t turn them away if they happened to show up, not thinking anyone would take me seriously. Well, my sweet friend Chelsea called my bluff, and Friday a delivery showed up at my office of Cheryl’s cookies, laced with buttercream frosting. Aaaaaah. Chelsea, what an awesome surprise. Thank you from both Alice and me!! (and from my husband–because I promise I’m sharing . . . some of ’em)

Symptoms: Occasionally hot and tired–and it’s still weird not to be able to lift my own torso upright when I’m lying down (I can’t seem to get used to this state of affairs). I either have to request help or execute an awkward roll onto my side. It’s also hard to lift my entire body to standing from a deep squat, and after watching me struggle and grunt the other evening, my brother-in-law took it upon himself to extend the strong hand of mercy and lift me up. Thanks, John. Your act of kindness will not soon be forgotten.

Braxton-Hicks contractions are also happening all the time. It’s wild to feel your belly turn hard as a rock within seconds. I hope all this practice means less pain later? Probably not . . .

Emotions: Feeling pretty stable! Is it just me, or does it seem like it’s one week off, one week on, and so forth?

Hopes and dreams: After seeing images of Alice’s snuggly little face during the ultrasound, I’ve started thinking more about the moment we’ll actually get to see her face in person, wailing and red (hopefully), covered in slime–but incalculably precious and beautiful.

What I miss: Physical stamina! We’ve started packing some boxes in preparation for our move in about a month. And I’m so glad we’ve started early! Because I get worn to the bone after packing about 2 boxes. The bending and twisting required even to put stuff into a cardboard box (not even to lift the box) does a number on me, man.

What I’m looking forward to: Another baby shower! It turns out that some cousins and relatives are converging in Wisconsin the weekend after next. Somebody said, “why don’t we throw Jenna a family baby shower while we’re all together? Can she come?” Well, I can! So baby shower #2 it is. And I’m thrilled to be able to spend time with my extended family and their crazy, generous, creative, fun-loving, type-A, BIG personalities. I love them all.

Our next Bradley class is tomorrow evening, and even though it falls on a not-so-convenient day (with my parents both in town, a women’s ministry gathering that I’m leading Saturday morning and our CD release party Saturday evening), I’m still looking forward to spending that time with my husband, learning about what awaits us.

Husband update: I’m so glad he came with me to the ultrasound so that we could both rejoice together over that dainty, lifted pinky finger. The next time we see her, she’ll be in our arms!