There’s no denying any longer that my belly button wants out. My former innie is not an official outie yet, but it’s getting more and more shallow. I think it’s just run out of room in there! Early on, JB told me that he would be totally accepting of my changing body… except if my belly button popped. He was convinced that a new outie belly button would freak him out.

Boy is he going to be shocked when he returns in a couple of weeks! My body has changed dramatically in the last 7 weeks, and I’m sure it will look completely different than it does today upon his arrival.

In other news, I developed a new pregnancy side effect this week: leg cramps. The searing pain of my first ever charley horse startled me awake, and I literally jumped out of bed screaming. I would have scared the crap out of JB if he were home. The following night I was woken up by a charley horse in the other leg. As you can imagine, I was nervous to go to sleep the next night for fear it’d happen again. Luckily, I haven’t had another charley horse… yet. (Knock on wood.)

At this week’s OB/GYN appointment, I was measuring 33 weeks. Previously my measurements were corresponding exactly with my weeks, so I was surprised by this sudden growth. Does this mean that I’m going to deliver early?

{self-portrait taken at week 31, day 5}

When I showed up for my OB/GYN appointment today and the friendly receptionist who usually recognizes me stared in confusion, I figured it was because she wasn’t used to seeing me with clean, straightened hair. Turns out she was confused because my doctor wasn’t in the office. My appointment, she told me, was actually scheduled for tomorrow.

What?? I had even double-checked my planner last night and this morning to confirm my appointment, but I must have only looked at the time, not the date.

I blamed the mishap on “pregnancy brain,” and the receptionist and I shared a laugh. Then we chatted for a minute about nail polish before I left, mildly embarrassed, wondering how many other pregnant women make silly mistakes like I just did.

So ‘fess up: What absentminded things did you while pregnant?

{image by Juliana Salcedo via UPPERCASE}

At March’s OB/GYN appointment, the nurse informed me that my Glucose Challenge Screening would take place on April 24th and handed me a bottle of orange liquid. Ever the naive patient, I asked her if she had any other flavor besides orange. I really hate fake orange flavor.

The nurse asked me if I liked jelly beans. I thought she was going to hand me a bottle of glucose that tasted like jelly beans. (What would a jelly bean flavored drink taste like?) Instead, she handed me instructions:

Eat 16 Jelly Belly or 18 Brach jelly beans. Do not eat the black jelly beans. Eat them all in 2 minutes and note the time you finish.

Yes, ma’am! I love candy and was more than happy to indulge my sweet tooth rather than trying to slurp down that sugary orange liquid, which I’ve heard is pretty awful. Guess the squeaky wheel gets the jelly beans!

Besides passing my glucose test, this past week’s milestones also included starting work on the nursery. (Sometimes I feel strange saying “nursery.” It sounds so formal and old-fashioned. What’s wrong with just “baby’s room?”) The painter came to transform what had been my home office into a room fit for a baby boy, and soon I’ll share with you my inspiration for the space.

And… I think I’ve picked a stroller color! I found a store in Omaha that carries the UppaBaby Vista, and while they only had the special edition in stock, I was able to see fabric swatches for the rest of the collection. So which color am I leaning towards? You tell me! Which color do you think I would choose?

Just for fun, I’m adding a third photograph to the mix this week. I call this one “Can I still see my feet?”

{self-portraits taken at 29 weeks, 4 days}

I’m so excited to finally share this little baby blog with my friends and family. During my first trimester, I realized I wanted a space to document my pregnancy, but it was too early to reveal the news on my personal blog, Somewhere in Middle America. So I created Bunny & Dolly to discuss my excitement and fear about having a baby BOY and to keep track of my favorite things for me and him.

Why Bunny & Dolly? Click here to learn more.

I invite you to browse through my archives to catch up on what my life’s been like these last couple of months and hope you’ll visit often!

{I feel so awkward posing for baby bump photos! Portrait taken by my dad at 29 weeks, 1 day}

Early in my pregnancy I quickly accumulated a stack of pregnancy books with the assumption that I’d read through them all because if I didn’t, how would I learn the “right way” to be pregnant?

Besides What to Expect When You’re Expecting, the only other book I read cover to cover was The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy, which was a gift from a friend. I can’t say I learned a lot from it; the book read more like a trashy tabloid you toss in your grocery cart while waiting to pay. Take this passage, for instance:

Here are the biggest reasons why we Girlfriends don’t think you need to keep up your gym membership while you are pregnant:

1. You will be too tired.
2. You won’t like yourself in the harsh gym mirrors.
3. You will get fat anyway.
4. Exercise will not help you in labor or delivery in any way.
5. You might endanger the pregnancy
6. Even if you don’t endanger the pregnancy, if something (god forbid) goes wrong, you will forever wonder if your exercising caused it.
7. It’s “nine months up and nine months down” in the weight department, no matter what you do (give or take a few months on the downside).
8. Our compulsion to exercise when we are pregnant is a reflection of our inability to surrender and let nature run its course.

I can find at least 17 things wrong with Vicki Iovine’s list of reasons why pregnant women shouldn’t exercise. I’m sure you can too, even if you aren’t pregnant. I exercised before I got pregnant and have continued to work out these past 29 weeks because it makes me good, physically and emotionally. “You will get fat anyway” is not a valid reason to avoid exercising. Yes, you grow a baby bump, but you don’t have to get fat. “Nine months up and nine months down” doesn’t sit well with me either. Friends have proven that it’s not necessarily true. Every body is different, but I don’t think “nine months up and nine months down” is law.

Once or twice a week, I lift weights under the supervision of a personal trainer for 30 minutes. I try to get back to the gym once or twice to do 30 minutes of cardio, but there have been plenty of weeks when I didn’t step on the elliptical machine at all. I’m not hardcore about working out. Never was. I listen to my body and try to do as much as it and my trainer allow me.

Normally I try to take my weekly self-portrait on the one day a week when I’m dressed in a proper outfit (one of the perks of working from home is that I spend most days in pajamas or lounge clothing), but I decided to take this week’s photo after a workout because, well, this is what I’m usually wearing! Very unglamorous…

{self-portraits taken at 28 weeks, 4 days}

As my due date grows nearer, I find I’m adding more items to my “Baby To Do” list rather than crossing them off. Unfortunately, as my time apart from JB increases, so does my anxiety. And it’s hard to be productive while you’re feeling anxious.

So what’s been stressing me out this week?

I was just reminded by friends that if I’m considering sending my baby to day care, I need to get him on a waiting list… STAT. There are only two places I would consider sending my boy. One of them requires a $100 deposit and the other asks for a deposit equivalent of one month of payment, approximately $1,000+.

I’m also open to the idea of in-home care, but researching and interviewing potential nannies seems more overwhelming than choosing a day care facility. If I go that route, I can only hope I’ll be as lucky as my friend, whose nanny basically fell into her lap.

Besides freaking out about child care, I also cried over strollers. No, not over which brand of stroller to choose. I cried over choosing a stroller color. I was over thinking what should have been an easy decision… If we pick slate blue but our second child is a girl, can we push her around in such a masculine-looking stroller? Will the silver stroller reflect the light when we take pictures of our kids in it? Plain ol’ black too boring?

Le sigh.

I blame it all on the hormones. (And my chronic indecision, of course.)

{self-portraits taken at 27 weeks, 5 days}