We’re in love. We got to have a second ultrasound today at the ultrasound center to check on the location of my placenta (it’s all good!) But it was great because we got to see our little blueberry! I had some irrational fear that they would figure out she was actually a boy so I’m relieved to say she’s still a she! She’s getting so big, right now she’s 4 lbs 4 oz! Just like last time she didn’t cooperate very well with the pictures, especially the face ones. She has her head down really low, tilted back and smooshed right up against the placenta. And of course, she’s normally quite active but for this she wouldn’t budge to give us a better look! Still, we got a couple 3D views of her sweet face.

That nose!! We LOVE it. Can’t get enough. I keep going back to the fridge to look at the picture. Jacob was cracking up about her little lips. He even asked the doctor, “Are those really her lips???” Jacob sticks his lips out like that when he’s thinking so I’m getting a kick out of it. He’s calling them “Stephenson” nose and lips. Wherever she got them, they’re adorable.

The ultrasound tech said she could see some hair on her head. Maybe she’ll come out with some pretty locks of hair, we’ll see! The best part of the ultrasound was that for the first half she had one (just one!) of her feet right up next to her face. Then suddenly decided she was done and put it back down. Which explains the crazy movements I feel from her almost nightly. She’s quite the little gymnast.

Those are the best of the shots we got. Jacob says she’s stubborn like her mama. (Hmmm, I think she gets it from her dad!) I’m pretty sure we’ve never seen a sweeter face. We love you, baby girl!

(Here are her 18 week ultrasound pics.)

This photo was actually taken last Sunday, so 31 weeks.

For comparison here’s last month’s photo at 27 weeks.

Still feeling pretty good! The only really annoying thing has been that I seemed to have developed pregnancy related carpal tunnel syndrome. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. It started with my arms falling asleep several times a night (especially the right one) which would wake me up. Then when the arm wasn’t asleep it was just aching. A couple of weeks ago it started spilling over to the daytime. My fingers were constantly tingling. It was getting to be painful to hold cooking utensils, write, and obviously type. Brushing my teeth was killing my wrist! So Jacob picked up a wrist brace for me at the store and it’s helping a lot…as long as I wear it! I try and wear it all night and that helps. I have to put it on for an hour or two a few times throughout the day, especially if I’m typing or sewing or doing something else with my hands. (When am I not? What is there to do that doesn’t involve your hands?)

The funniest pregnancy symptom has been the smell cravings I’ve developed in the last couple of weeks. I haven’t had any real food cravings but I can not get enough of the smell of cleaning products. My cleaning product smell of choice is Lysol 4-in-1 All Purpose Spray in “Lemon Breeze.” I’m looking for things to clean with it everyday just so I can smell it!! Sometimes I’ll be doing something and just suddenly have the strongest desire to smell that spray. It’s crazy! I also like the smell of dishwasher detergent, hand sanitizer, bleach, and laundry detergent. We were at the store yesterday and I insisted that we walk twice through the cleaning aisle just so I could take another whiff. This is especially funny because I hated all smells during the first trimester and had to buy unscented laundry detergent.

My parents were here for a day earlier this week on a detour from their trip to Zion’s. Mom got to come to the doctor with me and hear the baby’s heartbeat.

I’m making some progress in my plan for the nursery. I’m too much of a worrier to handle crib bumpers. So I’m skipping the bedding set altogether (the rest seems pointless without the bumpers!) I’m just going for some cute crib sheets. I’m pretty sure we’re going with the Gulliver crib from Ikea too. It’s a third of the price of the one I wanted and still is the style that I like. We don’t have Ikea here so we’re planning to get it in Utah in 2 weeks when we go up for my baby shower.

We went today for the labor and delivery tour at the hospital we picked. There are lots of hospitals around here and the one we picked isn’t the closest but is newer. My friends who have delivered there really like it. It wasn’t very “cute” but everything seemed nice. I won’t lie, the tour freaked me out a little. Mostly because I can’t believe how close this is getting. We’re planning to take a one day crash childbirth class next month.

And somebody asked about the name. We have chosen her name but won’t be sharing it with you until she arrives. Something to look forward to!

I bought soy milk last night at the grocery store that expires AFTER the baby’s due date. Less than 2 months to go now. Wow! Ready or not…

Tuesday night I had scary experience. It was early evening and I was sitting in the armchair (drinking some orange juice, if you’re curious) when I suddenly got a sharp pain in my lower back. I’m pregnant, so that’s not all that unusual. The pain immediately started spreading wider and higher on my back, though, so I got up and started walking around the house to try to loosen up the muscles. No success from the walking so I tried lying on the floor, the couch, the bed, sitting on a hard chair, standing, and nothing helped. In fact, the pain was getting worse. After about 5 or so minutes the pain was continually increasing and spreading now to my abdomen and even up into my chest.

I should pause and tell you that Jacob was home studying Tuesday night. A week or two ago that wouldn’t have been unusual but with midterms approaching (starting tomorrow) he has been studying at school in the evenings, leaving me home alone and without transportation. But on Tuesday school was canceled and the building closed for the day because of the death of one of the school’s founders. So he was forced to be home studying all day. Thank heavens.

At this point I felt my breathing becoming labored so I decided to get his attention. He tried rubbing my back but that hurt. He got the heating pad on the bed but no help and lying on the bed was really painful. He ran a really hot shower for me but it just wasn’t relaxing the muscles. It felt similar to the worst charlie horse I’d ever had but instead of being a leg cramp it was a tensing of every muscle in my back/torso/chest until I felt like I was in a vice. My breaths had become tiny, shallow things that barely brought in any air (and I’m sure this was making the tensing worse.) Jacob hadn’t seemed too worried until the breathing became gasps and we were scared I was going to pass out. We decided we should go to the hospital.

For the record, I KNEW that this wasn’t contractions or anything to do with the baby (other than the fact that being pregnant probably triggered the back pain, of course.) The pain was definitely in external muscles. But I was worried about causing stress to the baby.

Jacob tried to find the address of the nearest hospital while I somehow managed to get dressed again (looking like a wet mess from the shower.) He pulled the car up to the door and we dashed out in the rain. While the GPS was trying to find the address Jacob was also calling 911 for directions. He got an automated system that eventually hung up on him but the GPS found it for us anyway. Then during the 10 minute drive to the hospital, something finally triggered the muscles and they slowly started to relax and I could start breathing normally again.

By the time we got to the hospital I was feeling fine, just sore. Start to finish the pain had probably lasted about a half an hour. We waited in the parking lot for a little while to make sure the attack was over. I was only nervous about the baby. Jacob ran into Walgreens to get some candy to hopefully get her moving and once I’d eaten some of that and some dinner she started moving around. I was SO relieved!

I’m so grateful for Jacob. He’s so cool under pressure. The only hint of stress I got from him was when he was trying to find the hospital address but he took care of it and stayed calm for me. He was so good to reassure me that nothing that was happening would be hurting the baby and not to even worry about it. He’s my rock.

We’re still not sure exactly what happened. I think if it hadn’t restricted my breathing it wouldn’t have been such a problem. I did call my doctor yesterday and I’ll talk to her more about it next week at my appointment. But here’s hoping it was a one time occurrence.