I didn’t take any photos this week, sorry! I was in Daytona for work half the week and then running around town shopping the other half. Just imagine me at 34 weeks but a little bigger. Nothing really major to report. Just the same stuff: hunger, heartburn, fat feet, and being kicked in the crotch from the inside. 🙂

From BabyCenter.com:

Your baby doesn’t have much room to maneuver now that he’s over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it’s so snug in your womb, he isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

I’m huge!

At my doc appointment on Monday, everything’s fine. I’m negative for the Group B Strep so I won’t need antibiotics when I’m in the hospital, which is good because I really want to have the baby with as little medical intervention as possible. My next appointment is in two weeks and then my last sonogram to estimate the baby’s weight, how he’s positioned, etc. Lately he’s been nudging my ribs so it’s been uncomfortable to sit straight up or lean forward. I get it now why women are so eager to get this over with! Everyone’s telling me that it looks likely I’m all of a sudden pregnant, like “Where’d the huge bump come from?!”

At Target earlier this week, I think I experienced a Braxton-Hicks contraction, which was a little unnerving. If that was any indication at all of how Blake is going to react to me going into labor, I’m one lucky gal because he was really calm and sweet. Ah hell, I’m lucky anyway because he’s been so great throughout this whole pregnancy, although I do maintain he’s had it a little easy because I haven’t really been too moody, no late night food cravings, or anything demanding like that. 🙂

From BabyCenter.com {she changed to he}:

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers — which will help regulate his body temperature once he’s born — are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing and his lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you’ve been nervous about preterm labor, you’ll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

How I’m feeling at 33 weeks:

Pretty much the same stuff — heartburn, fat feet, ninja-like movement, beautiful hair… The weather has taken a wonderful turn for the better and I’m loving the lower temperatures. As I mentioned I’ve watching my sodium intake, as well as my calories, to try to figure out how someone can gain 6 pounds in one week. Eating less salty stuff and drinking more water has helped me shed nearly the whole 6 pounds which is crazy that it really is just retaining water.

Update from BabyCenter.com:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He’s rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren’t fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don’t entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

{Note that even BabyCenter.com thinks Cleetus the Fetus resembles an alien so boo-yah!}

Countdown: 41 days!

You can see the outline of the opening of my shoe along the top on my foot where it began to swell.

Jenna found it funny my foot was swelling out of my shoe so she took a photo. That’s been an unpleasant yet really not major pregnancy issue, the foot and ankle swelling. I’ve been trying to watch my salt but as it turns out everything I like has too much salt in it andsalt makes everything taste better. Oh well. Fat feet it is. If that’s the worst thing I have going on considering how bad some women have it, I’m very fortunate.

From babycenter.com (she changed to he):

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, he’ll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

How I’m doing:

I had a baby doctor appointment this morning. The baby’s doing good. My blood pressure, glucose, and all that is good. Gained more weight than I should have, which I’m blaming on water retention/fat feet and constipation – by no means was it caused my constant hunger and gorging. 🙂 We’re getting closer and closer. Sitting in the waiting room, I was reading a magazine with it resting on my belly. Ben starting kicking/punching/exercising so much that he actually knocked the magazine from my hands. My little ninja.

Due in 7 weeks!

From babycenter.com:

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He’s probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby’s kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

Me & Blake in front of "Mt. Rushmore" at the Presidents Museum in Clermont, 31 weeks.

How I’m feeling:

• Hot
• Hungry
• Huge
• Tired
• Achy everywhere
• My hair has gotten crazy long
• Heartburn sucks
• Otherwise ok

Really, this is just me whining. I’m fine. All my symptoms are mild in comparison to a lot of pregnant women.

How I’m feeling at 30 weeks:

• Like I’m harboring a professional boxer (Ben’s kicking like a madman)
• Tired (having trouble sleeping, getting up a lot, tossing and turning, back hurts, neck hurts, waking up in the middle of the night starving)
• Like my stomach acid is is eating my throat (heart burn – love Tums!)
• Otherwise, not bad 🙂

Update from BabyCenter (she changed to he):

Your baby’s about 15.7 inches long now, and he weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds him, but that volume will decrease as he gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus.

His eyesight continues to develop, though it’s not very keen; even after he’s born, he’ll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When he does open them, he’ll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means he can only make out objects a few inches from his face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

So far, I haven’t really had any weird cravings. For a month or so I wanted spicy foods. Got over that. Lately I’ve just wanted food and I’ve been drinking a lot of pomegranate-cranberry juice.

However, on Wednesday, I walked into a bathroom at the public library and smelled something that made me salivate… in the bathroom!

Go into the poddy, do my business, and I go to wash my hands. I smell the scent again. It’s soap! And I start to salivate again. WTF?!

Smells like lunch!

Update from BabyCenter.com:

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you’ll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby’s hardening skeleton each day.

One night this past week, baby was kicking so furiously that I thought I was gonna vomit up a baby. I cleverly coined the phrase “Ben-digestion.” Get it? A play on “indigestion”? Yeah, I’m hilarious.