Happy Halloween & 30 weeks

 Monday being Halloween, my picture this week is of me in my "costume".  The pics aren't very flattering (Josh was sitting on the couch, which is never a good angle), but I had fun making my hat & name tag. I free-handed the foam cutouts from some pics online and drew/glued my heart out.  As the evening grew cooler, I threw on the hoodie that goes with the pants and looked even frumpier, but had a blast handing out candy all night.

30 weeks - Josh teases I should be saying "Welcome to Hippo Hamburger Hut, can I take your order?"

I AM PREGGOPOTAMUS! :) (and look short and stumpy from this angle, but I'm proud of my crafty costume)

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along : 30 wks

Size of Baby : averages say 15.5" and 2.75 lbs.

Total Weight Gain : ~24 lbs

Maternity Clothes : it was my maternity clothes (in combo with Josh's nickname for me) that helped me figure out what I was going to wear this Halloween.  I've got nothing orange in my wardrobe and would have had a hard time looking very festive without a viable costume idea.

Best Moment This Week : 

Gender : boy

Movement : this week's movement highlights were me recognizing hiccups AND crazy Aliens belly twitching and writhing on its own.

Food Craving : still chocolate.

What I Miss Most : I know I keep saying it, but truly I miss being able to eat whatever I want.  I'm having a hard time finding foods that DON'T trigger my reflux.  I think this may be PART of the reason for the slowing in my weight gain, b/c I just don't feel like eating sometimes.  And water makes it worse, so I miss being able to chug all I want when I'm thirsty.

Sleep : I've started sleeping with my body pillow again, laying my head on an extra pillow to try to help the reflux.  But I'm still up at least twice a night and I've stayed up too late about half the nights this week, so I'm feeling a little tired.
 

What I Am Looking Forward To : November holds SO MANY exciting events!!  A couple awesome video game release dates, 2 four-day weekends, a service project, a tour of the hospital birth center, our first doula meeting and our first childbirth class, a visit from mom, a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends... I'm going to LOVE November... although I'm aware that all the busyness is going to make the month fly by and we'll be staring down a due date before I'm ready for it :)

Belly Button : still threatening to pop with no results.
 

Symptoms : the reflux is really atrocious.  I'm up to one pill in the morning and two at night, and some days I still have a sore throat in the morning (hence the extra pillow) and often feel the burn despite the meds.  And they say it's just supposed to get worse.  I told Josh this weekend that I don't know how I'm going to do 2 1/2 more months of this... ugh.

I've also been pretty sore lately, which I think is just mostly due to the fact that my belly is protruding farther and father, putting more strain on my back.  But it's been helping my posture to be so squished b/c I sit up straighter to give my stomach and lungs room to do their thing and to help minimize the rib-stretching.