35 Weeks

5 Weeks to Go!

Mei Mei is 5.5 pounds this week and just over 18 inches long. It doesn't feel like my belly can possibly stretch out anymore, but I know it's going to. I thought I was getting away without any stretch marks, but no such luck. Kelly found a couple a few days ago. They're just on the bottom of my belly where I can't see.

Her hearing has completely finished developing and she's packing fat onto her arms and legs this week. She's learned to blink and is still trying to fine tune sleeping with her eyes closed and keeping them open when she's awake. Babies born now are unlikely to have any long term complications, but will need to stay in an incubator for a week or two. Stay put for a few more weeks, baby! (despite that fact that I'd love to be done now...)

My once a week appointments are going to be starting now. I don't think I have to do an internal exam this week, but next week there's no escaping it. I've heard that it hurts and I'm not looking forward to that. These are the appointments that I wanted a woman doctor for, but I'm stuck now.

My varying baby books and calendars are telling me to get a bag packed and are talking nonstop about labor and delivery. I can't bring myself to even bother to pack a bag yet because it's still so far away and pretty unlikely that our daughter is going anywhere yet. Kelly packed a bag about a week ago and keeps it in his truck. We'll probably put the base for the car seat in the car soon, but keep the actual car seat inside so the sun doesn't fade it. When I do pack a bag, I'm just going to put it with the car seat, cuz we're not going anywhere without that.

34 Weeks

6 Weeks to go!

Our baby is about 5 pounds and should be measuring up at 17.75 inches long. All major organs are functional, although her lungs still need a little more time to develop.

I've been in a ridiculous amount of pain for the past several days. Best as I can figure, it's just round ligament pain. I've called my doctor and he says it sounds like normal pregnant misery. Problem is, this normal misery is making me miss work because I can't stand up straight, walk, or even sit without hurting to the point of tears. I tried taking Tylenol, but it barely even touches the pain. The baby is fine, she's still moving around like normal and kicking where it hurts the most. I just don't know what to do. Lowe's is going to work with me and put me inside at a computer for the rest of the time till the baby comes, but if I can't get there or function when I do, they can't help.

8.5 Month OB Visit

Everything is going well. She's still head down, the amniotic fluid level is fine, and my blood pressure is still good. I dropped a few pounds from the last visit because I've been throwing up so much. Again. Dr. Hartman prescribed Nexium or Prilosec for me. He thinks the nausea is from heartburn. I'm more inclined to think that it's from my sinuses being congested for the past month, and it's just post nasal drip.

I asked if he thought it would be okay if I had the baby induced during the first week of August (my due date) and he said it should be fine, barring any complications or unexpected issues.

So, Ryan and Meg, you should get to see my baby and Mom, Aunt Belinda doesn't have to go to DC. Most likely.

33 Weeks

7 Weeks to go!

Our daughter is just over 17 inches long and weighs around 4.5 pounds. There's not much left for her to do, just grow fat and brain cells.

She's getting stronger every day, and starting to run out of room to move around like she used to. I can tell she's packing on the pounds by how tired she makes me. My center of gravity is really off and I'm getting a bit clumsy. The scatterbrained pregnancy thing is starting too. I can hardly keep a thought in my head some days. Not that it's much different from normal, I just have an excuse now.

32 Weeks

8 Weeks to Go!

Our little girl is just over 4 pounds and is around 16.5 inches long. Her growth is slowing down in the height department and is going into overdrive on weight gain. She's getting a lot harder to carry around all day, so my back just aches constantly. Breathing is becoming a bit more challenging as well, as my diaphragm is slowly being mushed by my uterus and intestines. It's really odd to me that all my internal organs are currently squished up into my rib cage. Really uncomfortable too.

My skin is doing really well, no stretch marks so far. My belly button is getting really flat and isn't far from poking out entirely. Kelly loves to point that out. That and how big my belly is. He says he just loves it and doesn't seem to mind that I look like I swallowed a volleyball.

The baby can sense changes in temperature now. Don't tell Kelly or I'll wake up with an ice cube on my belly so he can watch her kick and squirm. Also, 90% of the babies born after the 32nd week survive without major complications, so she's getting pretty close to done.

I think it's really amazing how quickly my belly is growing. Here's a once a month snapshot of the past 8 months.

5 weeks

9 weeks

13 weeks

17 weeks

21 weeks

25 weeks

29 weeks

32 weeks

8 Month OB Visit

As usual, yesterday's visit was very quick and easy. The baby is right on track. She's still head down, thankfully. The amniotic fluid content is right on and the size of my uterus is right for 32 weeks.

I asked him why I've started throwing up again, and he says it's just from my sinuses being congested from hay fever and from the baby. I've only got a few more of the two week visits and then we get to the once a week checkups. I'm not looking forward to those ones.

31 Weeks

9 weeks to go!

Our baby is somewhere between 3.75 and 4 pounds of cute baby fat and is just over 16 inches long. She's going to start gaining a little less than a half a pound every week from now until the end of July. This is the last week of my 7th month.

She's got enough muscle control to turn her head from side to side now. Her taste buds have developed completely too. I'm still not sure exactly how much there is to taste in there though.

There's not a whole lot of development going on now. She's just packing on pounds and growing brain cells. It's starting to feel real for me and it scares me to death. I'm so glad I have Kelly, he's so supportive, usually. Our families are both so helpful, we are really lucky to have so much love and support coming in from everyone. Love you all!