Me as a baby, being held by my Mother. I need to keep looking thru for better pics of Mom's whole face. LOL

I was having some fun this morning going through old(er) photo albums (before digital!) and uploading pictures of family and friends.

I was a total chub!!

And always smiling!!

Looking at the pictures of me as a baby makes me wonder, what will Hunter look like? Will he have my smile? Or my squinty brown eyes? Or Daryl's nose or cute round cheeks? It makes me kinda sad that we don't/won't have any baby pictures of Big D to compare little Hunter to.

Photos are SO important to me.

I will continue to make lots of photographic memories of Daryl so even though we don't pictures of him as a small child, we'll have plenty of him holding HIS child.

Pictures ARE memories!

Ugh. I am sick.

I don't really know if it's a cold/allergies/whatever...I did see some friends Saturday night and found out (after already being there for an hour) that both their 7 year old and 3 month old baby have colds. I've been really good almost this entire pregnancy with steering clear (as much as I can anyway with work, etc) of sick people. Oops. So, not sure if I inherited their cold or what. Sore throat, runny nose, head ache...blah, blah...

I ended up calling out of work yesterday between that, my tummy issues this weekend (and the only culprit I can see is...Doritos? Cuz I had the SAME issues again last night and it was after dinner where I had with it, what else, Doritos. Hmmm....) and also for one other very important ANNOYING reason.

My damn PUPPPS rash. (PUPPPS stands forPruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. Now THAT'S a mouthful, huh?). Yep, the doctor confirmed it yesterday at my prenatal appointment. I had already read enough about it during this pregnancy (and even done some research when I first developed a rash with small-red bumps, and which has now morphed from just bumps into an almost blotchy, red hive-like appearance) but had almost talked myself out of it. You know, "Oh no, April, that's not what you have. It's probably just a dang heat rash." But no heat rash is going to last for going on two weeks!

It started on my legs (specifically my upper thighs, on the outside of my leg) and since this weekend it has spread to my hips and down one leg, mid-thigh. It is itchy as all HELL.

No, wait, that doesn't give it enough credit. It is insanely, annoyingly, uncomfortably, painfully, "scratch-your-skin-until-it-almost-shreds-and-still-don't-get-any-relief" kind of itchy. Yeah, it's that bad. Last night I was even woken up a couple of times to scratch. And that annoyed me becuz #1, I knew that scratching would bring me no relief. And #2 that I wake up ENOUGH to pee and now there is something ELSE getting me up at all hours of night. Argh. So just to make these wake-up's worth my while, I added in a pee break. ;-)

Needless to say, I'm feeling like a hunk o' crap today. I had to come back into work cuz I had too much stuff to get done otherwise I'd still be on the couch, under a blanket, scratching away.

Yesterday I went for my prenatal appointment. It was actually supposed to be today but since I called out from work, I asked to switch days. I've gained two pounds the past two weeks which normally might sound bad, but since I had gained FOUR pounds the previous two weeks before...LOL...I'll gladly take just the two pound gain and not question it! Baby Hunter's heartbeat sounds great, as usual. The doctor told me to pick up some OTC 1% hydrocortisone cream for the itchy rash but basically said "The only cure for PUPPPS is...birth of the baby!" with a big smile on his face. Thanks, buster. Heh.

Also, good news I'm sure you all were dying to find out...I CAN have sex again! WOO HOO! Of course funny enough, I find this out yesterday when I felt so crappy. Convenient. I did, also, bring up briefly with him that I've been feeling "down" (for lack of a better term) for the past two weeks or so and while I do NOT necessarily think it's depression creeping in, I did just want to mention it becuz my own doctor said it's something to keep an eye on (considering I suffered from depression and/or anxiety multiple times in the past and they like to be aware of it to be on the alert for PPD after the baby is born). Eh. I don't *think* I'm at that point. I seem to be in a slightly better frame of mind the past couple of days so I'm going to try to run with it! But I certainly don't see the harm in being hyper-aware.

So that being said, I have NOT been a good blogging buddy lately and I apologize for that. I just haven't felt the "energy" to do much comment-posting. Plus when you are in a funk, it's kinda hard to pull it together to sound all peachy keen, ya know? So I'm sorry for being a slacker. Don't hate me (becuz I'm grumpy)! Heh.

Good weekend.

I left work on a sour note on Friday night, so luckily Big D was up for pizza for dinner. The idea of cooking/cleaning up afterward seemed way too daunting to this tired Preggo chick. After dinner we vegged out on the couch, but not for long, since I went to bed pretty early.

Saturday, knowing we were supposed to have company that night, I began cleaning and Daryl put up the new shelves in Hunter's nursery closet (I LOVE how it came out!). While in the process, our friend Sean called to cancel becuz his dog was having seizures (poor baby!). Realizing I didn't have to go crazy cleaning after all, I contemplated laying down. But then something crazy clicked in my brain and instead I cleaned out and reorganized every cabinet in the kitchen! Hours later, when my belly hardened uncomfortably, I took a break and sat on the couch with my feet reclined. But I soon became antsy, so off I went to clean the bathroom! Cleaning the tub now is SO freakin' hard. I kept getting frustrated becuz I either couldn't lean over far enough with my belly in the way, couldn't scrub as hard as usual, or after a while kneeling, I had to get up off the floor as my body ached. I told Daryl this is probably the MOST half-assed job I've done yet in scrubbing the tub. Daryl went fishing in the late afternoon with his friend Todd, so after I finished cleaning, I really DID take a good long break on the couch. After a shower and clean clothes, Daryl called to see if I wanted to go to dinner at Todd and Mindy's so he came home and picked me up. We spent a few hours there but by nine, I was REALLY beat.

Sunday was a GORGEOUS day...sunny, warm, breezy...just beautiful! After going to Panera for bagels and coffee with Timber, we went to a nearby park to eat our breakfast. Timber did great, although he did bark a bit at some people but once we distracted him and he was back to paying attention to Daryl, he stopped the bad barking behavior (this is an ongoing problem we've been having to work on with him). After that we went back home and let all three dogs play outside while Daryl mowed the lawn and I lounged in a lawn chair with a book and a glass of iced tea. It was SO relaxing! We filled up the dog's baby pool and watched them splash around a while (and I even got my own feet wet!). Later, after a puppy-play date with another Fidelco foster family in town (where I continued to sit in a lounge chair, chilling out!) we headed back home to eat an early dinner and watch some tv, during the sudden brief rain that blew in. The only LOW point of my Sunday was the bad stomach ache I got and my (TMI) million bathroom breaks. I haven't really suffered from constipation too badly so far but yesterday was NOT fun. My tummy still slightly hurts today.

And speaking of today, I ended up calling out sick after still having my stomach hurt, and not getting a lot of sleep. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow but hoping I can have them squeeze me in today, instead. Two weeks ago, I developed a rash on my upper (outer) thighs and it itches SO bad. At first I thought maybe it was a rash that I read about caused by pregnancy (it's called PUPPS) but after reading how PUPPS starts, usually on the stretch marks on your belly, now I'm not so sure. This is ONLY on my upper thighs and even as of today, spreading to my hips. Part of me wondered if it was just a heat rash that won't go away, but two weeks later? It's red, little bumps all in the same area...SO itchy. I wanna see what the doctor will let me take for it so I can get some relief! After reading up on PUPPS, I just don't think it is that...PUPPS is so bad for pregnant women that it often wakes them up at night. Mine is not that bad, however, when it DOES start really itching, I just want to scratch my skin off!!

30 Weeks: Our baby Hunter


Your Baby This Coming Week

Your baby now weighs about 3.5 lbs (1600g) (although baby Hunter was weighing 3.3 lbs. two weeks ago, so lucky guess, I'm thinking he's bigger than 3.5 lbs. THIS week!) and measures about 18 inches (40cm) in total and about 11.2 inches (28cm) from crown to rump.

Your baby's increasing size means that she has less room to move around in your uterus.
Your baby could already be moving into the head-down position.

Your baby's lungs are maturing and their lining, which prevents air sacs from collapsing, is growing. This lung development means that your baby would have a much greater chance of survival if he were born prematurely.

About 16 fluid ounces of blood are flowing through the wall of your uterus to the site of the placenta, though your blood never mixes with your baby's blood. It is separated by the placental barrier which is a very thin wall. Water, nutrients and waste are exchanged across this barrier at a rate of 0.3 fluid ounces per second.

Your baby swallows amniotic fluid and urinates.
Your baby's ears are sufficiently developed to hear and recognize your voice, the voices of other family members as well as familiar musical tunes. (Hunter definitely recognizes his Daddy's voice! Anytime Daryl starts talking--especially when close to my belly--I feel an answering kick or punch!)