10 weeks to go!

30 weeks down, 10 weeks to go until our lives are again changed forever.  To get some of you up to speed,  I am due March 12th, we are having a boy, and we have named him Christopher Brandon.  We will be calling him Christopher and not Chris, so please follow accordingly. 
Christopher is definitely growing, and has been making me very hungry in the last few weeks.  With Noah, I felt hungry through out the entire pregnancy.  With Christopher, I have only noticed feeling famished in the last few weeks.  I am praying that this little dude will be a little but smaller than his brother, since Noah was 9 lbs. 6 oz. at birth and 22 & 1/8 inches long.  I know that most people have their smallest baby the first time around, but I don't know how we get bigger from here.  I know people who have had ten pound babies, I just don't want to be one of those people. 
I have been relatively consistent with exercising.  I have been doing prenatal yoga about twice a week, and using a recumbent bike 2 times a week plus doing light arm strengthening exercises after I ride my bike.  I would like to do more on the bike, but for about the past 6 weeks, when I ride my bike I get Braxton Hicks contractions, which makes it very difficult to continue.  They stop as soon as I stop riding the bike, which is a bit annoying, but I take it as a good sign for this pregnancy because I literally did not have a single false contraction with Noah.  I went from feeling absolutely nothing to having contractions 1 minute a part when he was 9 days late.  You can imagine the shock this sent both my body and Noah's body into.  With Noah, I had intentions of not having an epidural.  Once I got the hospital, however, the doctor asked (before everything went crazy with Noah), "Epidural?"  I looked at Brandon, whispered, "sorry," and then responded to the merciful doctor, "Yes, please." 


Noah eating the horse's plastic carrot

 I have done very well with my weight gain this pregnancy, as I have only gained 12 pounds thus far.  I was overweight to start this pregnancy, so I hope to at the most gain 24 pounds (normal weight people should gain 25-35 pounds).  If I gain a pound a week from this point on, then I am right on track to meet my goals.
 As many of you know, I have discontinued my calorie counting once I knew I was pregnant because it is not advisable to feel famished during pregnancy.  However, I have been attempting (minus the holidays, and my walking trips to the mall with my friend Jenny) to make sure that everything I put in my mouth is of a nutritious nature.  I have been consuming a lot of unsalted nuts, eggs, fruits, veggies, and lean meats, and drinking lots and lots of filtered water.  Noah and I like to eat an apple a day (Noah eats it with the skin on, can you believe it?) together.  Thank goodness for Aldi or else I would be spending $20 a week on apples. 
As I come closer and closer to the end of this pregnancy, I ask that you would keep Christopher and I in your prayers.  I am attempting to have a VBAC this pregnancy, so like with all pregnancies there is some risk to this choice.  We desire to have a VBAC as opposed to another c-section for two main reasons: We would like to have a large family and for my health. 
So, please pray that the Lord would keep the baby and I safe through out the rest of this pregnancy and especially during delivery.  Please pray that I would not have gestational diabetes (will find out in about a week- I didn't with Noah), please pray that Christopher would be a child of God and would always know Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and please pray that Brandon and I would raise both Christopher and Noah in the fear and admonition of the Lord.       
Oh, and here are some pics of Noah for your viewing pleasure:

Noah loves peanut butter!

Oops!  I ate it all.