pregnancy [week 29]

I started my 29th week of pregnancy with my first baby shower!  While I will share more info. and photos from the day in a separate post, I will say for now that I had a lot of fun and Simon was spoiled with a lot of loot!  Here I am pictured above at my shower with Emma, oldest daughter of my friend, Chelsea.  Although Emma is almost 2, she is quite light and I had no problem carrying her around and getting in some mommy-practice.  The sweater I wore for the occasion was purchased the day before from Target along with another really cute sweater dress - my first 2 winter maternity tops! I finally had to bite the bullet and go shopping since my pre-pregnancy attire is fitting less and less like it used to.  I'm lucky I still have 2 coats that I'm able to button up!

Other than the baby shower fun, the week was pretty sucky.  I came down with my 2nd cold of my pregnancy and this one was horrible.  It all started with an awful sore throat, which I briefly thought might have been strep since I had been in recent contact with a friend who found out she had strep.  Once the rest of my symptoms hit (runny nose, cough, runny nose), I was sure it was just a really bad cold.  My throat was so sore that I almost lost my voice a few times and I sounded just awful when I spoke.  Because I'm saving all my sick time for when I go on maternity leave, I did not call in to work and instead went in miserable the whole week.  And to top off the misery, pregnancy and cold medicine are not allowed to mingle, so I've been braving this thing solo.  In a nutshell: being knocked up and sick totally blows.

Lucky for Simon, he's not feeling any of the suffering I've been dealing with.  At 29 weeks, he is happy and healthy and the size of an acorn squash!  He's about 15.2 to 16.7 inches long and weighs anywhere from 2.5 to 3.8 pounds.  The Bump says to expect baby to triple in weight before birth, which is fine with me as long as he's closer to the 2.5 lb. size than the 3.8 lb. one... ah!  If it's possible, it seems like Simon is even more active during the day now, but his movements don't feel as cute and adorable as they once did.  I joke and say it feels like he is trying to claw his way out of me, but sometimes that's honestly the best way to describe what he feels like!  My tummy has finally started feeling itchy, even though I moisturize with my cocoa butter regularly.  My bump remains to be the smoothest part of my body (even more so than my face) and I know my lotion isn't going to be able to relieve all the effects of my stretching skin.  But as massive as it looks and feels, I really do love my pregnant belly and it's safekeeping of my precious bundle of joy.  I just hope my property isn't too damaged once my little tenant moves out of his rental space!