29 Weeks

How far along? 29 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: +27 pounds
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? Some under my boobs, still none on my belly (yay!)
Sleep: I wake up once in the night to pee.  Hips still occasionally fall asleep so I just have to rotate throughout the night from one hip to the other.  I am also now sleeping with a body pillow, a regular pillow (under the head of my body pillow), and a wedge (under my belly).
Best moment this week: We had a doctor's appointment today and it went really well.  Here are some of the highlights:

• Baby girl had a HR of 154. 
• The doctor measured my fundal height (the distance from your pubic bone to the top of your uterus) and said it was 33 cm.  I looked this up and realized later that it's a little big for 29 weeks, but my doctor didn't make a comment about it, so I'm assuming everything is good.
• The doctor pushed all around on my belly to see if he could feel the position of the baby.  He said his "educated guess" was that she was head down.  I totally believe this to be true because whenever she kicks I feel it up really high.  It's only every once in a while that I feel major movement down below.
• I told him I was so happy to have passed my 1 hour glucose screening and he said that my blood glucose level was 126.  Again, I later looked up this number and it is in the normal range.  The cut-off for most practitioners is 140, some cut it off at 130.  To know that I was below both of those is such a relief! 
• My doctor did not mention anything about my weight this time.  Last time he said I needed to "slow down" (on the eating, I'm sure) because I had gained 7 pounds in 4 weeks.  I tried to not let his comment affect me, but no matter how much I tried to ignore it, it kept bothering me.  I was relieved when he didn't say anything this time. 
• I inquired about pre-registering and our doctor really didn't know anything about what to do.  So, we went to the Birth center and they said that they don't really pre-register people anymore.  As much as I tried to get them to give us the paperwork to fill out in advance, they said they couldn't and that we would just have to fill it out when we were admitted.  We got a tour of the center and met a really nice charge nurse.  She showed us the different rooms they had and gave us a lot of helpful information about their policies after I give birth.  Here are some facts we learned:
• If you give birth vaginally, most insurance policies let you stay for 2 midnights (I will probably have to investigate this to make sure this is true for my insurance).
• If you have a C-section, most insurance policies let you stay for 3 midnights
• Immediately after birth, the doctor will place the baby on me for skin-to-skin contact
• The baby will stay in the room with me, unless I request a break for something like a shower.  They have found that the babies respond better to the quiet, dark room with their mom, as opposed to the loud, bright nursery with other babies.
• They have lactation consultants on hand to show me how to breastfeed.  All of the nurses have also been trained in basic breastfeeding. 
• The baby will get a bracelet to wear that has a tracker device in it.  If someone tries to take the baby out of the center an alarm will go off.
• The waiting room has a phone that we can call from our room.
• We can have people put on a special list where if they call the hospital to inquire about us being there and we don't want them to know, then the nurses will say that we're not there.  (Not that we're planning on doing this, but it's nice to know that they can take extra security precautions when needed).

Have you told family and friends: Yes
Miss Anything? Sleeping on my stomach and back, my old body, hot dogs.  I'll be so ready to bust out the grill this summer.  I foresee a lot of hamburgers and hotdogs in our future.  I especially love when we grill, because Jimi does all of it!
Movement: Lots!  I showed our doctor my kick count chart today and he said it looks great and that she's very active.
Food cravings: I'm eating pretty normally.  I still crave oranges and have also been eating canned pineapple.
Anything making you queasy or sick: No
Have you started to show yet: Yes
Gender: Girl
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: Stretch marks, minor swelling in my hands and feet, and just a little heartburn and pelvic pain
Belly Button in or out? Barely in
Wedding rings on or off? Off.  I've been wearing a different ring instead - one that Jimi got me on one of our spring break trips.
Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!  I'm still having laughing fits.  I told Jimi we need to tape one of them some time because they are crazy.  I can hear myself laughing and just can't stop.
Looking forward to:  Our next doctor's appointment.  We have made it into the "every 2 weeks" appointment schedule and I love it!!

Here's some info. from babycenter.com on pregnancy at 29 weeks:

How your baby's growing:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.