Only a few weeks left in 2009

Well, since my last update, we have taken our last vacation before we are officially parents. We went to Florida, and had a great time. As you know, Matt competed in the half Ironman World Championship in Clearwater. We stayed with Aunt Helen who lives just outside of Tampa, so we had about a 20 minute drive to Clearwater, which was a piece of cake.

This race isn't as spectator friendly as other races, but there is one spot that you can hang out and see the athletes bike out and back and then a few times on the run, with out moving, so its not as bad as it could be. I spent the morning visiting with my friend Erin, who moved to Florida in 1992, and that was the last time we had seen each other, thanks to Facebook we were able to reconnect.

After our time in the Tampa area we drove about an hour and a half to Orlando, and spent 2 days at Sea World. This was my first experience at Sea World Orlando, I was let down a little bit, but it was relaxing and that is what is important. Matt said that the only difference between Sea World now and Sea World when he was last there (in junior high, he thinks) is that they have added a few roller coasters. We bought our tickets online ahead of time, so we paid kids price & we got the second day free, so we can't complain to much.

We also wandered around the two outlet malls, Downtown Disney and Universal City Walk. My only complain the entire time was how hot I was. I'm glad that I won't be at the end of this pregnancy in the middle of summer. I am warm all the time now, luckily when we were there it wasn't much over 80!!

At this point, I am 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant! Less then 10 weeks until we get to meet this little person. Each day that goes by, I get a little bit more excited. Luckily, I am enjoying being pregnant and I am not miserable. I feel really good my only complaint has been my left rib cage has been hurting for about 3 weeks and the on and off sciatic problem - which are all common. This past Tuesday was the 30 week ultrasound/growth scan. I learned that the rib pain is compliments of the baby bum and tailbone that is wedged right under there shoving all my organs into my ribs - awesome!! Lets see, we were also told that the baby's head is measuring a full week ahead (nothing like being told your baby has a large head! However the tech did also laugh and say that the head isn't what keeps them in), organs are all working like they should be. We were able to see the nose and the upper lip. Baby was practicing breathing and we were able to see the tiny little mouth move, and the chubby cheeks - which makes me happy, I love chubby cheeks!! We were able to see the organs and they are all doing what they should be doing and where they should be. Head is down, so baby is smart enough to know which way is out, which makes me one happy Momma. The best part was seeing where the different body parts were in relation to the movement I've been feeling, so when I have lump sticking out, I have a pretty good idea of what is what. Head down, back/side is curved up along my left side, bum is under my rib cage (or near it, I guess), feet are on my right size, this baby is folded in half, and running out of room, we'll see how the next 9 weeks go and what kind of changes happen to my bump.

I cannot believe I am going to admit this, but I have gained about 27 pounds at this point. However, as of Tuesday 3lbs 5oz of that was pure baby love - and this baby love has a lot of baggage also - placenta, amniotic fluid, etc. They say that about 30-35lbs of weight gain is normal and healthy. My goal was to be right around 35lbs, we'll see what happens, if its a little over, that's ok to. Just more motivation to get back into shape and be ready to hit the Hawaii beaches just 7 short months after the baby is here.

And, for those of you wondering, the gender of baby.....still a surprise! We did not find out, I never even attempted to look or try to find out. Usually surprises drive me nuts, but for some reason this is totally different and I cannot wait to be surprised in the delivery room. It doesn't matter if I have a son or daugther, this little person already means the world to me and I Love this baby more then words can describe already.

Last Saturday, was our first of 4 labor and delivery classes. They are 2 hours each, and at the hospital I will be delivering at. There are 10 couples (I think, including us), 2 of them are having girls, we are the only ones that don't know and the rest are having boys. Last week was pretty much an intro and a what to expect from the class, and a little relaxation breathing. Yesterday, was our second class, we went over the stages of labor, what to do during each stage - at home, when to head to the hospital, etc, and pain management options. At the end we did some relaxation breathing again, this time holding ice as a distraction to see if we could forget about our and how cold it was while we were concentrating on our breathing. Next week is the tour of the hospital, the following we have off thanks to the holiday and the last class is the 1st week in January, I don't know what will be doing in that class, but I do know there are some videos involved.

That is about all, I will update again very soon with some pictures. Hope everybody is doing well & enjoying the start of the holiday season!