32 Weeks

About the baby:

You're in your 32nd week! The final touches are being placed on your baby masterpiece. Eyelashes, eyebrows, and the hair on your baby's head are evident. The lanugo hair that has covered your baby since the beginning of the second trimester is falling off, although some may remain.

At about 4 pounds and 18-19 inches long, your baby would have an excellent chance of survival outside the womb if you delivered now.

The biggest thing on your little one's agenda right now is practice, practice, practice. They'll be practicing the skills needed for survival like swallowing, breathing, sucking.

Another change is that their skin should no longer have any translucence to it, as more and more fat accumulates under the skin

Another crazy week - nonetheless, of course. I'm having some Braxton Hicks now too. Surprisingly, I can tell the difference between the two as of now. The Braxton Hicks are much more annoying than uncomfortable - to me. 

My little Lovebug has been more active the last few days, so that's nice. 

We had an ultrasound and doctor's appointment last week. Nolan is measuring about 6 days small right now and is in the 32 percentile. But really, him measuring small just lines up better with his real due date based on when he was conceived (sorry if that's tmi).

But, amniotic fluid, heartbeat, etc were all good. He's also head down and in the occiput anterior position, which is apparently good and ideal for birth. It means he's facing my spine instead of my stomach.

I'm still on weekly visits. This Friday I have another non-stress test and appointment with the doc.

I have gained 1 pound per week the last two weeks. My weight gain is up to 12 pounds. With 8 more weeks to go it looks like I'll meet my goal weight gain after all. The doc is much more happy with this than I am. Of course, I want my little man to be healthy, but I so don't want to gain a bunch of weight either. 

Saddest day ever: the dreadful discovery of my first pregnancy battle scar. Okay, not really, but super depressing. The freaky parts of this to me are:

1.) It wasn't even in an area that feels tight (it's below my belly button and towards my side - but my skin feels the tightest to me on my sides and above my belly button)

2.) It just, without any warning or gradualness, popped right up. I put my lotion on that morning, when I went to put it on that afternoon is when I noticed it

3.) I do the right things! Geez. I've gained my weight gradually, I workout, I drink a traceable amount of water of 70 ounces (plus whatever I consume at meals and throughout workouts), I stretch, I put creams on 3 times a day…

UGH

Doc said there's no point in stressing and that most of the time everything is just a myth. He seemed to side with the theories of it relying much more on genetic factors than anything.

There are tons of mixed stories out there about creams helping diminish them, or them becoming basically unnoticeable after your skin tightens back down, blah, blah, blah. 

I was smacked in the face with the reality there's nothing I can do about it. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, of course. But, I realize now it just probably doesn't matter. If they bother me that much after, I'll consider the medical options of having them removed for real. 

Very, very sad. 

It's very faint as of right now, but my hopes are no longer up in this area :(

We'll see what my skin type does with it after I've lost the weight and toned back up. 

The nursery artwork arrived last week! Unfortunately, we just started hanging the pieces this evening. I know, we're slackers sometimes.

We only have a few more things left on our wanted items for the baby. I'm glad to finally be there. We've had all the essentials for weeks now, but I'm happily blessed with getting so many of our wants too :)

One new random thing is that my boobs are totally leaking stuff. Colostrum, of course. It's been happening for weeks now, but it's recently gotten to the point of needing breast pads. Super fun times. Better get use to that, eh? 

My gums have gotten extremely sensitive. Again, this has been going on for a few weeks, but recently has gotten worse. After I brush my teeth they'll hurt for a while and flossing almost always makes them bleed :/

My leg cramps at night are getting more frequent and worse, it seems. This morning it was hard to get up and walking around because my calves were hurting so bad. 

I did my workout this evening and noticed my hips are getting tighter. I'm glad my little workout is a prenatal one and designed to target those areas, because I can only imagine how much tighter they'll get. Maybe I can minimize that though.

I'm surprised by how suddenly it became difficult to just bend down. It was like one day I was still perfectly able to get something off of the floor and the next it was like bending down was still cool, but getting back up was a real challenge. Even putting on socks and shoes is suddenly an uncomfortable event.

My new food craving is breakfast foods. Seriously. We've had brinner like 3 days in a row now.

I've started getting my paperwork in order for my maternity leave from work. Geez! I seriously can't believe I'm just 8 weeks away from my due date. OMG, I just cannot wait to hold him! Cory and I are currently fighting over who gets to give him his first kiss. I mean, after all I'll go through to get him here… I totally get dibs, right? ;)  

Oh, and random daddy cuteness! We were talking about a friend who'd said her hubby offered to watch their kids after 8:00pm so she could get some studying done, but their kids go to bed at like 7:00pm - lol. Immediately, with dramatized concern Cory says, "Oh no, but Nolan will go to bed at like 7:00 too. I'll only get like an hour with him a day during the week." :(