32 Weeks!

Babycenter:

How your baby's growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

How your life's changing:

To accommodate you and your baby's growing needs, your blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since you got pregnant. With your uterus pushing up near your diaphragm and crowding your stomach, the consequences may be shortness of breath and heartburn. To help relieve your discomfort, try sleeping propped up with pillows and eating smaller meals more often.

You may have lower-back pain as your pregnancy advances. If you do, let your caregiver know right away, particularly if you haven't had back pain before, since it can be a sign of preterm labor.

Assuming it's not preterm labor that's ailing you, you can probably blame your growing uterus and hormonal changes for your aching back. Your expanding uterus shifts your center of gravity and stretches out and weakens your abdominal muscles, changing your posture and putting a strain on your back. Hormonal changes in pregnancy loosen your joints and the ligaments that attach your pelvic bones to your spine. This can make you feel less stable and cause pain when you walk, stand, sit for long periods, roll over in bed, get out of a low chair or the tub, bend, or lift things.

Alphamom:

Your Baby:

• Is about three pounds, 11 ounces and 16 inches long.
• Is starting to get pretty crowded in there, so you may feel more subtle, rolling-type movements instead of sharp pointy kicks.

You:

• May notice a slight change in your belly shape over the next few weeks — kind of…downward sloping. Not so much of a nice shelf for your bowl of ice cream as you’ve had in the past.
• This change also might signal the retirement of some of your maternity clothes and you’ll need longer shirts instead of just roomy shirts. I can pretty much guarantee that the shirts that no longer fit will be the cutest ones, dammit.
• STAY HYDRATED. KEEP YOUR FEET ELEVATED WHENEVER POSSIBLE. DON’T MAKE ME STOP THIS BLOG AND COME BACK THERE.

************************************************************************************************

Me: As I sit here typing this (32 weeks, 6 days- Ha! Yes slacker am I), there is a painful tightening of my lower abdomen that kinda comes and goes. Yesterday there were sharp pains to what I can only ascertain to be the inside of my cervix. What does all this mean? Braxton-Hicks? Baby Boy is kicking me and laying hard against a certain area? You got me. I'm new and I don't know what to do...

The cold that didn't want to go away, finally did go away after about a week and a half. And one and three-quarters of bottles of cold medicine. And then I managed to burn the CRAP out of my thumb last night, when I was sauteing up some squash. But Dear Hubs rigged me up a aloe vera ice cream cone for my thumb and I was SO MUCH BETTA.

After about 15 coats of paint each, we have the armoire(s) in the house! The distressing is nearly complete, and may need some touch-up on the insides. The crib is ready to go, the changer-dresser only needs the rails attached, the glider is here and the rug should arrive today! Only 15 more things to accomplish on my To-Do List! Included is interviewing daycares, which I admittedly am kind of stalling (LA LA LA Can't hear you), but since we have Friday off, some of that time will have to be spent checking out future partial caregivers for our child. Sigh. On the bright side of things, I do have my next appointment the same day, as well as a scheduled 80 MINUTE prenatal massage. Courtesy of Dear Sweet Hubs and our one-year anniversary. Has it really been a year? I already had a 55 minute one last week and it was HEAVEN.