31 Weeks

31 Weeks:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. She's making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.

Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. In fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb.

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I can't believe I totally skipped taking a picture and writing a post at 30 weeks. With Christmas/New Years and traveling, I got totally thrown off. 30 weeks was definitely a milestone mentally and baby wise for me. Getting into the 30s makes me feel so far, and so close to meeting our child. I can't believe we are potentially less then 2 short months away from bringing a daughter into the world - not just a baby, but a new life.

The last few weeks have been full of new movements, sensations, and a feeling of being huge and carrying the baby much higher. She has the hiccups sometimes 4x a day... it's so cool now that I recognize it. I am having trouble sleeping now-a-days because the movements are sometimes so strong in the middle of the night that I can't ignore them the way I was a month or so ago. I am knocking my belly into things and having trouble getting up, bending over, and moving quickly or for long periods of time. The pain in my upper abdomen persists, going on over 2 months now. It is worse if anything, and is probably a near-constant part of my day. It happens if I sit too long, lay wrong, or walk around and am on my feet too long. Soooo basically all the time. I feel frustrated like I can't do much anymore. That, in combination with increased groin pain (ligaments loosening) and the baby's movements being much stronger and more forceful now - less bouncy and more like actual limbs, bones, and muscle hitting me in the organs and pushing on my ribs and lungs and side and bladder can be quite uncomfortable all at once. Sometimes I feel full body rolls. Sometimes I'm sure I can feel her little butt or back high up near my ribs, sometimes I'm not sure if it's her head or feet.

If it sounds painful, I will say that for me it is. I don't think all women experience everything the same way, but I can tell the next 8-10 weeks are going to be pretty rough on me. I am praying for God's strength to bear it patiently and with anticipation and not too much frustration or complaining. I do plan on talking to the midwife on Wednesday about all my symptoms. It is so weird to be in pain and totally uncomfortable, and yet amazed and in awe and enjoying it all at the same time.

I can't pretend I am without worry. I do very well sometimes, and put my faith in God, and other times fears take hold of me and I literally feel physically panicked about things going wrong, or my delivery being impossible and unbearably painful. We started our childbirth class and I think understanding and education is going to be really valuable for me. I need to remember my body was made to do this and that I can!