31 Weeks!

Alright! 31 weeks!

Each week is a milestone and I'm sooooo ready for this baby to come. I'm sure this is a common complaint in all pregnant women at 31 weeks....tick tock....tick tock...

I know that millions of women have babies every year and millions of women have been on bed rest... but no one ever complains about it. I have to say, I am NOT one of those women. Bed rest is not fun, nor is it easy. I finally had to take a few steps back (mentally) and say, if being on bed rest for 6 weeks or so will help this little baby to be healthy and eliminate long-term health problems, so be it! I can handle 6 weeks of bed rest. Some women go their whole pregnancies on bed rest, and to you ladies, I salute you. Especially my mom and my sister. I have new found appreciation and respect for both of you.

Braxton Hicks contractions are a daily occurrence at this point... they usually happen while getting up from a chair or after lying in bed for a while. They aren't too frequent - I have about 10-12 a day, and they don't last too long, usually under 1 minute each.

I saw my OBGYN today and she checked my cervix and it hasn't changed, which is good, I'm still at .5 cm and about 70-80% effaced. I am still dilated to 1.5, so that is good that I haven't dilated any further! I told her about my daily schedule, how I've been working in the morning and coming home in the afternoon when my body tells me to. She said to keep doing what I'm doing because it's working. That was wonderful news! She also let me know that there are new research studies out there that show that too much bed rest can actually do more harm than good. I have read similar studies and feel I've found a happy medium. My Dr. also told me that the next 3 weeks are crucial to the fetus, he will put on a few more lbs (he weighs a little over 3.5 lbs now), and when I get to 34 weeks I can rest easy. Wonderful news!

My first week on bed rest I watched seasons 1 & 2 of Scandal. I love it! I can't wait to watch season 3, but it doesn't come out until this fall...which is when I'll have a new born and probably won't have time to watch it anyway!
Since Scandal is over, I moved on to LOST. I have heard about the ending so many times, but I didn't care, so I forgot...so I am watching it for the first time and I'm really enjoying it!

The hardest thing about being horizontal most of the day (besides the obvious) is that I kind of want to stuff my face. I don't know if it's normal to want to stuff my face at 31 weeks, but now all of the sudden I want all of the bad stuff that I never wanted earlier in my pregnancy. And I can't eat it (more like I Shouldn't eat it...) because I have no way to burn it off. I can't go to the gym anymore and I can't take walks... it's really starting to stress me out a little bit. Taylor has been saving me by buying strawberries and mangoes and healthy stuff, so I can satisfy my cravings.

This week was a big week for growth of the baby, and I can see it in the scale as well. I would like to thank the baby, and also my bed rest for contributing to the growing number on the scale. I'm still right on track for how much weight I should have gained by this point, but I know if I keep going at this rate, I will reach my goal and surpass it before delivery. Not a good thing.

Weight Gain: 24 lbs.

Cravings: Orange juice, Junk food and veggie trays...what? I should also add "random candy bars" because yesterday I picked up a whatchamacallit for no reason. It wasn't even that good.

Belly Button: Still an "innie" but it's almost flat now and ready to "pop" out any day now....

Cool things: I wore my size 4 pants twice in the last week. Of course I had a rubber band holding the button together when I'd wear them while sitting down, but I can button them up. I also love maternity shirts.

Things I miss: Massages - real massages, not the prenatal ones - sweating really hard at the gym, feeling included, and sleeping on my stomach.