32 Weeks

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.

Only 8 weeks to go, if you can believe that. Hopefully you can tell from the pictures how HUGE I am, and how LOW the baby is already. I can tell his dropped. I still get SO many comments from strangers about how big I am "Are you due tomorrow?" "Are you having multiples?" I'm so used to it now that it doesn't even bother me or phase me anymore.

We took a lamaze refresher class yesterday. My priest asked why, since we already had one. I told him that when I went into labor the first time, sheer panic took over and I completely forgot everything I learned in lamaze. Not only that, but now that I know what to expect, I would like to go further into labor without an epidural - if not have one at all.

We only made it halfway through the class though. I've been having Braxton-Hicks contractions for quite a while now, though I know they don't mean I'll go into preterm labor. But starting Friday night, I was having 4 an hour, and by lunch on Saturday, they hadn't let up at all. They weren't yet painful, though they were very strong. I told the teacher and she suggested I go to labor and delivery just to get checked out and make sure I wasn't going into labor. After 5 hours in the L&D, the doctor said I wasn't going into preterm labor, and gave me a shot to relax my uterus and stop the contractions. She said this still isn't a sign that I'll have preterm labor, but until I hit 36 weeks, I should call L&D if the contractions are that close together again. After 36 weeks, I can wait till the contractions are on top of each other, and painful.

Needless to say, Greg and I were a little worried. We really don't want an early baby, just as much for the health of the baby as the fact that we just aren't prepared. We've realized we need to step it up and get things ready for the new baby boy!!!