Week by Week: 31 Weeks

Our Baby (a.k.a. Lil' Feisty): 

• Weighs anywhere from 3.5 to 4 pounds, and is over 15 inches long now. 
• Now has irises that react to light!
• Continues to go through major brain and nerve development every day. 
• Has officially developed all five senses, now. 
• Needs to gain around 3 more pounds in the next two months. If our family history holds true, Feisty will likely gain closer to 5 more pounds. Yay?
• Has started kicking and rolling so hard against ribs and major organs that I occasionally worry about internal damage.....

I (traditionally):

• Can pretty much tell people I have two months left. We're officially counting down the weeks in single digits now, people!
• Need to increase the hand washing, due to the increased toll on my immune system at this point. Now is no time to catch a cold!
• Also need to be ready to admit when it's all just TOO MUCH. Just because I've always been able to scrub the bathroom from ceiling to floor in an hour doesn't mean I should push myself to do it right now.
• Will start noticing actual body parts sticking out of me now!
• Continue with......heartburn, backaches, hip pain, swelling limbs, constipation, frequent urination, and general discomfort. 
• Might notice the appearance of colostrum? 
• Will most likely notice Braxton Hicks contractions now if I haven't already. 
• Continue to notice "pregnancy brain." 

I (actually):

• Am washing my hands like crazy now. Some of it has to do with bodily changes making me feel like I need to wash more often, and some of it has to do with an increased awareness that my own health isn't just for me anymore. 
• Have a hard time admitting when I've pushed myself too far. The other day was kitchen deep-clean day, and even though I was tired I agreed to help Levi prepare dinner afterward. When I started to feel light-headed it was finally time to throw in the towel.  
• Haven't had the pleasure of knowing whether it was an elbow or a bulging out of my belly, but I can't wait!
• Continue with........occasional hip pain while sleeping, swelling feet and fingers, frequent urination, and.....
• Heartburn for the first time! I didn't even ingest anything either. I just rolled over one morning and BAM! It was on me. Phew. Unpleasant. Thankfully it's not an everyday occurrence. My heart goes out to those ladies who deal with this. Yikes!
• No colostrum. If you don't know what it is, just be careful if you google it.....
• Have had a few Braxton Hicks this week. They disappeared for awhile, but they're back again. They really don't hurt, but it's quite strange when my entire midsection seizes up and becomes as hard as rock. 
• Have pregnancy brain. It's almost exclusively in the form of me mixing up my words. At least once a day I switch first letters of words or the order of my words. It's like my brain just can't keep up with my mouth anymore!

So this last weekend was our childbirth class. Being the crazy planner and researcher that I am, I will admit I went into the class expecting more of a review of what I already know rather than a day full of new instruction. I was partly correct, but it was still a good experience. The best part of the experience, honestly, was having Levi with me during the class. Like so many other men, reading is unappealing to him--even more so when it's a book about pregnancy and childbirth. He's had a lot of information relayed by me, but the chance to see him absorb the information from a nurse was wonderful. I was pretty proud of him, too. He never got squeamish or grossed out by anything, although he admitted to me later that the episiotomy diagram and explanation was starting to make his toes tingle. Aw, bless him. 

Our instructor was  great at making everyone feel comfortable when it was time to practice the various massages or breathing techniques for labor. It's so easy to feel self-conscious during those portions! One thing that was pretty cool was her mention of HypnoBirthing. She said she'd seen some women labor and give birth when practicing those methods, and she was amazed at how calm and relaxed they were. She said she'd even seen some women who were so relaxed she thought they were napping, and then they just slowly raised their heads, said they needed to push, and then the baby was there! As Levi put it later, it was like the HypnoBirthing women were the Jedi of giving birth. He gets me. 

In other news, the heat of summer has broken up here. We're going to get down into the 40s this week! I am so excited! It feels so good to bundle up again, but I'm still leaving half of my body uncovered every night--even with the windows wide open. This fall is going to feel amazing! 

Freak-Out Moments:

Levi and I are working through some big question marks hanging over our future right now, and it's hard on both of us. These things will resolve themselves in the coming weeks, but it's difficult while we feel like our lives are sort of up in the air right now. For my part, I'm mostly trying to not to freak out with the uncertainty of what our future holds. It's a bit daunting not to know what your life will look like in two months when you're supposed to be HAVING A BABY at that moment. Yikes!

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Sorry I can't tell y'all more than that right now. Hopefully soon I'll be able to rest easy and we'll all know what our future holds. 

Keep it real, y'all!