30 Weeks

Well today I'm 30 weeks along. Only 10 more weeks to go.

I am getting much bigger. I know the picture probably doesn't do my belly justice since it is a patterned shirt which blends things in. Adelle took the first picture and Wes took the second.

Violet is still very active and I am finding out that she already has a personality. Wes was laying next to me in bed a few days back and was resting his arm across my belly. Violet started kicking at his arm and didn't let up until he moved it off. He moved his arm a little higher and she then proceeded to kick at his arm again until he moved it. She has done this a couple of times. I have noticed that she also does it when I am cross stitching if the frame is resting on my belly at all. Funny girl. It makes me wonder what she will be like once she is born. I hope this doesn't mean that she won't like being held, because I love snuggling my babies.

The Braxton Hicks contractions are unfortunately getting stronger. I had a pretty bad episode yesterday and since I was working in the office I really couldn't lie down to get them to stop. It got so bad that it was starting to move into my back as well. I knew it wasn't real labor when I was able to get home and lie down for awhile. They proceeded to slow and eventually stop. The bad thing of course was that I was pretty much stuck lying down for the evening trying to get my body to relax. Wes and the girls attended the fall festival at the elementary school and I was unable to go with them. It was sad :( I do have some pictures of the festival that I will have to post later. Hopefully I won't get too many of these contracting episodes, but I now it is very possible to happen again. The nice thing is I'm more experienced with this pregnancy. With Adelle we kept going to Labor and Delivery to be monitored, but this time I'd rather try and get things to stop on their own before jumping in the car and driving to the hospital. They don't stress me out as badly as they did last pregnancy, since I was able to have a natural birth with Adelle and remember what it feels like when you get into the real labor stage. Granted, the braxton hicks still don't feel great and usually leave me tired, worn out and sore.

I just found out that the hospital I will be delivering at will not be allowing children under 14 to visit and you can only have 2 visitors at a time. The new rules are thanks to the H1N1 fears. I am sad that the girls will be unable to visit me and Violet at all while I am inpatient. I am really hoping now that I won't be in the hospital over Christmas, because if that's the case then I won't even be able to see Lydia and Adelle at all on Christmas.

It was great to see Violet on the ultrasound a few days back and know that her cysts are gone. For some reason though my girls seem to have a fear that Violet with die. Adelle kept asking the ultrasound tech if her sister was going to be okay and if she would die. I came home the other day and said I had some sad news (I was going to let them know about the visiting rules). Lydia right away asked if Violet had died. I don't know why these little comments keep popping up. I certainly don't worry about it and when brought up I reassure the girls that everything is going to be fine.

We still have quite a few preparations to complete before Violet comes. Wes needs to finish painting the basement. Now that the tape has been removed there are a few spots that need touching up. Once that is done the girls need to be moved downstairs and the stuff currently in the painted room needs to be moved into Lydia's soon to be old room. We were thinking of painting a wall pink in Violet's room if we have time. I need to pull out clothing from storage and get it washed and ready for Violet. I am waiting to do this one once Adelle has moved downstairs and moved her clothes into her new dresser. I am hoping I have some newborn clothing that will work. With Lydia being born in June and Adelle in April the clothing may be too light and summery. Wes needs to finish the quilt for Violets room. I also have a few more presents to buy and quite a few to wrap for Christmas. Wes also still needs to make the tea cup lamp for Violet's room. He is trying to work out a few problems like how to drill through the fragile porcelain without breaking it. We have bought everything for the lamp and it would be a shame if we can't get it put together.

Wes stated the other day that he might want a refresher of sorts on labor and delivery. At first we considered a Lamaze class, but realized that a 6 week class would be difficult since it means finding a babysitter every Saturday. Also, it makes it hard to get needed things done since Saturday is our project day. So, we have decided to see what sort of DVDs are available for our own little refresher course. I have ordered a few things through the library and it might be very humorous to see what we end up getting. Lydia heard us talking about this the other day and got all wide eyed and worried. I assured her that we wouldn't be watching any videos while she is awake. I do wonder though how Wes will handle the real birth scenes. I'm so cruel! Honestly though, he was the one who made the request and I think it is a great idea. It has been a long time. I am really hoping to go natural again.

I can hardly believe that I only have 10 weeks left. That really isn't much time especially when you chop it down to 10 Saturdays left. I am really excited for Violet to come. I hope everyone will adjust to having a new little one in the house. I wonder if it will be particularly hard on Adelle since she has been the youngest for so long. Hopefully it will go well.