31 weeks 5 days

I'm reaching the end of Week 31!! Whoo hoo!! This past week, Krewson enjoyed a wonderful Christmas riding around in my belly. So amazing that at Christmas next year he'll be nearly 10 months old!

Our baby classes start up next Wednesday, which I'm looking forward to. Supposedly we'll learn all about labor and caring for a newborn. The classes are every Wednesday night through February 3rd. Which sounded just fine until I thought about it a few seconds longer and realized that this is only 3 weeks prior to my due date. We didn't pick the dates of the classes...the hospital did...and man are they cutting it close! Hope he doesn't plan on coming too early!

Krewson's movements in my belly have gradually become bolder and stronger. No more flutters or little pokes. Nope, now my entire belly rolls and distorts and jumps. He apparently does not like it when I put any pressure at all on my abdomen. If I lean against my desk, wear pants with a tight band, or lay my arms or a book on my belly, it doesn't take long before he starts pushing and kicking back. You'll frequently see a book I'm reading bouncing up and down, and the other day I was leaning against my desk and he pushed back so hard that it pinched my skin! Crazy boy.

I tell Dave about my crazy abdomen movements and shapes all the time (and probably much more than he'd like), but it's really hard for anyone other than me to get really excited about it until they actually see them for themselves. Then last night Dave was talking to Krewson with his head near my belly, and suddenly my entire abdomen contorted and rolled and a huge lump shifted from the left to the right. Dave's eyes got wide and he was like, "Was that you or the baby?!?!" I told him it was the baby...he was pretty amazed. :)

Along those lines, I had a dream the other night that I gave birth to Krewson. Then after he was born, I still felt strong kicking inside, so the docs were like, "Oh, you must have another in there." So I gave birth to another son. Then I was freaking out about having two babies when I started feeling more kicking and the docs were like, "Well, there must be a third in there." At that point I really started flipping out. And then I woke up (thank goodness!). And now I'm thinking, it's pretty funny, but I bet Krew was tumbling and kicking me while I was sleeping, and that's why in my dreams I kept feeling kicking after the babies were born. His kicks have yet to fully wake me up, but apparently they're making their appearances in my dreams!

Lets see, what else. My first baby shower is in Charlotte in a little over a week, and I'm pretty excited. I'll definitely give an update on how it goes. Also, I made a simple bedskirt for under Krew's crib last night. That way I can use the underneath area for storage. I'll have to take pics and share. :)

Oh, this past week I thought I was getting my first stretch mark. This pink line all of a sudden appeared on my skin and refused to go away. I was certain it was going to get worse and become stretch mark numero uno. I even showed my friend Sasi at work, and she agreed, "Yep, that's how they start!" Then, after a couple days, it just completely disappeared. I have no idea what it was. I keep lifting up my belly to see if it's making a reappearance, but no sign of it yet. God apparently wants to bless me with a little more time of stretch-mark-free bliss.

I guess the other thing that's really standing out to me about pregnancy right now is the number of Braxton Hicks contractions I get. I seriously get them ALL the time. ALL day long. Sometimes they even make me catch my breath a little because my whole midsection squeezes up so tightly. My mom said she had a lot of these during her pregnancies, too, so it might just be a family thing. They really feel crazy though. Not very comfortable at all.

Alright here's a picture of me and a corresponding diagram so you can see what's going on in my belly right now. :)

Yes, that's right, that baby is huge!!  I just can't believe God expects me to carry this child in my abdomen for 2 more months while he gets BIGGER.  Clearly, God's ways are not my own. (See Isaiah 55:8-9.)

Here is the info from all the pregnancy updates I get.  Read and enjoy.

*He weighs 3 to 5 lbs (4 lbs seems to be average) and is 16 to 19 inches in length (head to foot).

*He's entering a growth spurt. For the next eight weeks, he'll gain weight faster than he increases in length, at the rate of about half a pound a week. His appearance is similar to that at birth, but he will fill out more.

*He is beginning to develop his own immunity to mild infections. If he were born now, he could survive outside the womb and resist some disease.

*Your baby's appearance changes rapidly this week. Most of the wrinkles disappear from his face, and there may be a lot of hair on his head. In fact as the lanugo hair on his body begins to fall off, the hair on his head grows even faster. By week 32 some babies already have a thick head of hair while others have only a few strands.

*Your baby sleeps approximately 90 to 95 percent of the day now. (I would have never guess this.)

*Your blood volume has increased by 40% to 50% during the past 32 weeks. This allows your body to accommodate both you and your baby. This increased volume is also important because it makes up for the amount of blood you will lose during delivery. (Um, ok, scary.)

*You've probably gained about 3 to 4 pounds this month. Don't be alarmed—gaining a pound a week is quite normal during the last trimester because your baby's demand for nourishment increases as the baby experiences the final growth spurt before birth.

*Are you waddling? This is because the ligaments in your pelvis have softened, allowing your hips to spread in preparation for birth.

*As the skin on your belly expands, you may notice numb spots or highly sensitive areas on your upper abdomen or rib cage. (Oh yes.) This is because as your skin stretches, the nerve fibers in it stretch too. This can create extremely sensitive or insensitive areas on the skin, but this sensation will cease once your baby arrives. (Thank goodness.)

That's all for this week!  Happy New Year everyone!