32 weeks!

HOW FAR ALONG?    
32 weeks, 3 days.  In month 8. Yikes!
53 days to go. Double Yikes!!! Here are some cool pictures of what the baby looks like (from the internet, not of actual Baby G...so don't get excited about the body parts in the top pic!):

DEVELOPMENTS

• Should weight nearly 4 pounds and measure crown-to-rump anywhere between 11-18’’ long
• Sleeps 90-95% of the day and there’s actual proof of fetuses dreaming.  Wonder what they have to dream about?!  I’m intrigued!
• Now has fingernails, toenails and hair
• Still developing more fat, filling in all that wrinkly skin AKA gettin’ cute!
• Gaining ½ pound/week from now until birth (about half to one third of its full term body weight)
• Beginning to store vital minerals, such as iron and calcium
• Bones are fully formed, but still soft
• According to one website, “your baby’s kicks and jabs are forceful.”  CHECK.  You are correct!

NOT SO GOOD NEWS…OR POTENTIALLY NOT GOOD
I had a doc appointment today and for the 4-5^th time in a row, I’ve “measured small” (in regards to Fundal Height AKA the size of my belly).  Sounds like that would be a good thing, but it very well may not be.  At this point in time, there is no need to throw the red flag and sound the alarms. We have moved my final ultrasound appointment up two weeks (to occur Oct 1) to check in on Baby G. 

You see, there is a normal range of Fundal Height with a plus or minus scale around that range.  I have consistently fallen at the very bottom of the minus part of that scale (so, not enough to sound the alarms, but just enough to need to check in on things earlier than expected).  In this upcoming ultrasound, the Doc is going to check the fluid levels and the size of the baby.  More often than not, the result is that all is good….the small fundal height is chalked up to body shape, position of the baby, conditioning of abdominal wall, etc.  But, sometimes it’s because the baby is not big enough due to a lower than normal level of amniotic fluid (this is the potentially not good part!). 

Depending on a lot of different variables, what is likely to happen will be an early induction! (Meaning, I’d have the baby early.  Triple Yikes!!!)  They do this because if there isn’t a proper amount of fluid, then the baby can’t get the nutrients it needs, and therefore the healthier alternative is for it to get out of the womb earlier than planned.  Let’s REALLY hope that is NOT the case!!!    

The only thing keeping me sane is to remind myself that all other signs are a-ok (heart rate, my BP, my weight gain, fetal movements, etc.).

I will update y’all just as soon as I’m back from my next appt Oct 1.

HOW AM I FEELING?

You mean…despite the emotions surrounding all the jazz I just recapped you on?...

I may not be ready for the baby to arrive yet (I’m freaked that I only have a few weeks left) but I sure as hell am ready to not be pregnant anymore.  This shit is for the birds! 

The middle back and back of the rib cage pain I’ve complained about for the past…forever…is progressively worse. It sucks. The way I’m carrying combo’d with my posture is saving my lower back from the ever so typical pregger woes, but wreaking havoc on my middle back!  The stretches and exercises I could do to alleviate the pain, I can't because of the big belly and uterus in my ribs thing.  It’s terrible. There is no other way to put it. 

Positive = I still have lots of energy, but it is just wasted because all I can do after a few short hours of activity is lay on the sofa with a heating pad on my back instead of being productive.  At work, I have been making myself at home in the offices of one of our advisors when he’s out and about (thank you for the big comfy sofa!).

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK?

LSU’s performance against Washington.  Hell yeah the boys are looking good! 

Also, lots and lots of progress being made on Operation Deco.  Not finished yet and still behind deadline, but things are moving.  I know I keep promising pictures, but things are coming together piece by piece with not one thing being fully complete yet (that’s what you get when you take on 7 rooms at a time!)

LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Visiting my PawPaw this Friday! I’m taking a vacation day from work to go spend the day with him and help him out with a few things.  Although I’m NOT looking forward to the 1.5 hour car ride (my max is about 15 min before my back hurts like hell), but am surely looking forward to seeing him….and hearing more of him talk about how he doesn’t care about the that “honey bear” anymore because Blue is the man!  (That’s what he calls Mathieu by the way - instead of honey badger. lol. He cracks me up!)

Until next time…

Geaux Tigers!

31 weeks (8 months!)

HOW FAR ALONG?    

31 weeks, 2 days

HELLO 8^th month!!!!

What does 8 months look like? 

Baby

Me

 

I mean, really!  How cute is that tank top!  Thanks again, Betty, for such a super cute gift!!! It was a hit.

It’s a shame Nicole and I didn’t run into each other on campus that day-she was wearing the SAME tank top as a way to announce she and Tony are expecting Baby Landry this Spring.  {To think in college, we were mistaken as either twins or sisters 99% of the time and that earned us many many many free shots!  Talk about a missed oppty to really look like twinkies!}  Congrats, Nurse Nicole! You are going to be the sweetest, cutest mommy and the world!!!  

DEVELOPMENTS

The baby should weight between 3.5-4 pounds and measure crown-to-rump anywhere between 11-12’’ long.

This week is a big one for the baby's lung development. Before now, the air sacs and branches in the lungs were present but not functional (the lungs were not able to inflate properly.)  However, there is now stuff being produced by the lungs that are going to make its amphibian-like transformation possible (to be able to go from breathing in amniotic fluid to air after birth).

The fingernails have grown to the end of her/his fingers and she/he may scratch her/himself while in the womb.

HOW AM I FEELING?

Still about the same. 

Positive = sustained energy throughout the day. Still able to do my workouts, stuff around the house, tailgate;), etc.

Negative = still coping with that horrendous middle back pain that hits me the worst after sitting up for a long time. (walking around doing whatever activity I want, it’s fine. The trouble comes from sitting...with the worst being my desk at work or riding in a car for more than about 30 minutes at a time.)

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK?

We went to our first tailgate and game of the season together. As Michael pointed out, our last season of it just being the two of us.  Gettin’ a little nostalgic up in here!

The baby, being it’s shy self, didn’t move a muscle all day. (It’s as if it knows when people are around wanting to feel it move or something.)  BUT let me tell ya, JUST as soon as we were in our seats in the stadium, it started moving and didn’t stop until I left the game.  Teehee. Of course it did!  It made my day. Little sucker!   I’m sure it was logistically just responding to my elevated adrenalin and heart rate, but I tend to think it was moving because it was pissed it couldn’t see the game from the womb. Worst seat in the house!   

 

This one is getting framed for the nursery! 
 

LOOKING FORWARD TO?

Yet another productive next couple weeks of house projects.  I’m ashamed to say that we are behind schedule.  Granted, most of the reasons are things out of our control, but behind schedule we remain.  Gurrrrr.  NOT a happy camper.  In the words of Forrest Gump, “that’s all I have to say about that!”