30 Weeks and A Bigger Belly

The Basics:
I had an appointment yesterday, at approximately 29.5 weeks. My blood pressure always freaks me out because its higher than my not-pregnant BP, but its still fine - 135/57. I'd gained 4 pounds in the past month, bringing my grand total up to 12 pounds. Let me just tell you how happy that makes me! With both of the other kids, I gained nothing in the first half, and then 2 pounds per week for the second half, totalling about 40 pounds both times. I know that my metabolism has slowed down in the past few years, and was really not looking forward to the "new me" after this baby, if I couldn't shed that weight as quickly as the other two times. But this time, I gained a little in the first half, and then a pound a week in the second half, so far. Its much better.
I've gotten pretty good at figuring out which parts are where this time around, and have known that he's been head down for about 2 weeks now. Still, its nice to get proof from someone trained to determine such things. Before checking the heartbeat, it helps for the midwife to find the head, so she can figure out about where the heart might be. It's definitely down. His heart sounds fine, she never tells me the rate though.
And the "big" news, which is really no shocker... My uterus is measuring about 2-3 weeks ahead. See, at my ultrasound, when they said he was measuring a few days behind, I laughed and said "oh, he'll catch up!" And now he has. For those who dont' know - they measure from the pubic bone up to the top of the uterus, in centimeters. The number they get should line up approximately with the number of weeks you are in the pregnancy. My measurement this week was 32. Now, these figures are not 100% accurate - they can vary depending on how you're carrying the baby, and what position the baby is in. But I still think its pretty safe to assume that this is a big kid.

The Bigger Belly
These lovely photos were just taken this morning by my very talented almost six year old photographer.
Look, I got dressed in real clothes, before noon, just for you, my dear blog readers:


And then, because I figure if strangers at the pool can see me like this, you can too:


Granted, they usually see my face at the pool, but like I said - these were taken by an almost 6 year old! I promise I told him that including my face would be fine.

In Summary
Overall, I'm still feeling fairly decent. I'm tired - I need more iron. I've got insomnia, mostly due to my legs which are only restless during late pregnancy - and we read that this is usually caused by an iron deficiency. The baby, who is still nameless, is moving a ton. He likes it when we go to the pool. He squirms around a lot when I get into the water. I guess it could be that he hates it when we go to the pool, but I like to think that he enjoys it. We've realized that in less than 2 months, I'll officially be full term - 37 weeks. I still have to get a carseat and a new sling because my old one has gone missing, and we still have to officially hire a midwife for the birth. That midwife part may be confusing to those I don't talk with often - I'll explain later, its a long story in itself!