Week 31

How far along are you? 

31 weeks. 

How big is the baby? 

Baby Girl is the size of a pineapple. She weighs about 2.5 - 3.8 pounds and is roughly 15.2 - 16.7 inches long. 

How I’m feeling: 

Tired but good!

Healthy eating? 

It’s gone okay. I have enjoyed some American treats but I also made an effort to fit in some fruit and veg when possible. 

Food cravings: 

Light meals consisting of fresh fruit and/or veggies. And doughnuts!  And waffles! Ha!

Food aversions:

Heavy meals. And, as delicious as they can be, I’m also ready to take a break from pizza and tacos. 

Exercise: 

I slowed down a lot while in Kansas. When I got back to London I managed to attend Yoga for Birth and taught Pregnancy Yoga and Hatha Yoga.

Total weight gain/loss: 

Moment of truth... 28 pounds. 

Sleep: 

After Dave left Kansas I let the pillow nest dominate the bed. There were nights I had four pillows to prop me up and two on each side. So, eight pillows in total. I wish I had snapped a photo! Getting to sleep continued to be a challenge because of the acid reflux but I was able to get some fairly decent rest once I settled down. 

Maternity clothes?

I noticed a couple of my non-maternity items are starting to look a bit stretched out. It’s probably time to retire them and stick to maternity clothes now. 

Stretch marks?

Not so far...

Best moment(s) this week: 

Again, I just enjoyed being around family. Here were some highlights: 

• Hearing that Hudson has designated the spare car seat in Lauren’s vehicle for Baby Eagle
• Comparing belly buttons with Hudson and Arlo
• Eating poor boy tacos at Claire’s house with everyone
• Hanging out with the family at Lauren’s house. We played there, went to the park with the treehouse, had dinner at her house, and gave the cousins a bath. Then Arlo came back to the new house to stay overnight. 
• A trip to the Farmers’ Market and the Toy Store with Lauren, Claire, Hudson, and Arlo. Hudson was so focused while playing with the trainset. Arlo loved all the vehicles and kept saying “how open it?” about all the toys he wanted to play with. Then, mom joined us for lunch at Einstein Bagels. 
• Seeing Dave again

Movement: 

I haven’t written about this yet but since 27 weeks (and maybe a few weeks before that?) there has been a noticeable hard bit inside my belly. Sometimes it’s on the left hand side but mostly it is on the right. It must be her back or bum. I have also felt her hiccups very clearly for a couple of weeks now. 

Her movements are expanding up, down and out. She’s getting big!

Belly button in or out? 

Still an innie! I thought it’s be completely flat by now... 

Symptoms: 

Anemia. 

My old friend, acid reflux. 

Occasional tailbone discomfort after sitting for a long time. 

Mild discomfort around the pubic bones during and after sleeping. 

Getting up and down, rolling over, etc are challenging.

Gender:  

Girl. 

Labor signs: 

No, thankfully. 

What I miss: 

Enjoying a big meal and falling straight to sleep without heartburn.

What I'm looking forward to:

Friday my friends at Syracuse University London are throwing me a baby shower. Those ladies know how to party so it should be great fun! 

Ria and I are celebrating our birthdays on Saturday by going to a spa for a treatment and lunch afterwards. Yay!

Now that we’re home it’s time to get all the remaining baby items and finish checking things off our to do list. Let’s get it done!

Weekly wisdom: 

At one point we were thinking of flying to the States when I was 32 - 36 weeks pregnant. I can’t even begin to imagine doing that now. I’m really glad we booked our trip for the start of the third trimester. Any later than that and I think I’d be really uncomfortable. 

Milestones:

We went to our first NCT (National Childbirth Trust) antenatal class on Monday. We’ll meet with the same group five more times before the baby is due and once after all the babies have been born. There were six couples there in total. Here in the UK there’s a lot of talk about how your NCT group becomes your support network after your babies are all born. So, we went in hoping that we’d hit it off with everyone. They were all friendly and two other couples live within walking distance - one of which lives only three doors down from us! The class started with introductions. Then we were split into two groups as either pregnant ladies and partners to brainstorm any questions we had about labour, birth, and newborn care. Dave and I were given kudos for working as a team because we came up with the exact same question (if we don’t have a car, how can we take the baby home?) Go us! The teacher answered some of our questions and said the rest will be covered later. We had a tea break (this is England after all!) and we broke up into small groups again to do a task where we had to draw our perfect romantic night in. Dave drew two hands that were supposed to be giving a massage. However they were green and each had six fingers! Ha! No thank you... Anyway, the point of the activity was that the elements of a perfect romantic night are also ideal for labour. We wrapped up and then our new neighbor friends gave us a lift home. 

Dave's take: 

When I asked Dave what the most interesting thing about the NCT class was he said he liked learning about cord blood banking.