32 weeks

10/16/08
I am supposed to be gaining about a pound a week, and roughly half of that goes right to the baby. The baby will gain a third to half of the birth weight during the next 7 weeks, and she fattens up to survive outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and hair.

On Monday, we went back to our midwife, and everything was great. She said that the heartbeat was around 145, and sounded strong. Again, my uterus measured 2 weeks ahead of how many weeks I really am. I asked her why I feel so much pressure down low, and movements much lower than I ever did with Owen. She said that since I had my babies so close together, my muscles didn't have a chance to get back to normal. She gave me the analogy that my uterus used to be held up with muscles like a sling, and now that sling is more like a loose bungee cord. I guess I should have been working out those muscles a little more! My blood pressure, and urine still looked good, and I gained 2 pounds over the past 2 weeks. I guess I am right on target to gain 30 pounds.

We had another ultrasound today to look at those kidneys. Everything looked picture perfect. The baby is already head down (whoohooo), and so we couldn't get a face shot. We actually got no ultrasound pictures to take home. : ( The head is down on the right hand side of my pelvis, and then the butt is up off to the right side of my belly button, and then then legs are pulled into the chest. So, it turns out it has been hands punching me in the bladder and not feet like I thought. This baby already weighs 5lbs 1 oz, and is in the 67th percentile. (So, maybe it will be another boy after all. Who knows?) My amniotic fluid level was great, and all the other anatomy looked wonderful as well. The heart rate ranged from 143-149 during the scan. Based upon the measurements of this ultrasound, they gave me an estimated due date of November 30th. That is 11 days before my due date. The head, arm bone, leg bone, abdomen ranged from the 55th percentile to the 90th percentile. As one of my friends once told me, "that is what happens when a Chihuahua mates with a Great Dane. Sometimes you end up with a Great Dane!" The size of this baby is what is making me think it is another boy, but I guess you can't go by size. George's cousin had a 10lb 10oz healthy baby girl. I am sure she had to be in the upper percentiles!! She came out looking like a 4 month old. : )

Nesting has already kicked it, and I have been trying to get some things organized. I went through all of Owen's old clothes and sorted out the unisex items from the blue stuff. My goal for this week is to go through Owen's closet and put up all the summer clothes, and get the rest of the winter stuff hung up. We are also trying to work on our Christmas lists so we can get them out to our families. We have got to start on our Christmas shopping! I am down to less than 60 days before this baby will be here. I can't wait to meet him or her!!!!