Baby Journal: Week 32

August 10, 2010

How far along am I today?

32 weeks

What is the favorite thing you ate today?

It will be the beef chimichangas I am making for dinner, I just know it.

How’s the food stuff coming along? Cravings? Aversions?

I still get a craving for vanilla soft serve cones on a regular basis. And strawberry smoothies. Other than that, I can’t think of anything significant from this past week.

Any new symptoms this past week?

Ever since our Doctor’s appointment last Wednesday, I have felt gynormous. I have moments where I feel shocked that I am carrying such a big baby…and moments where I feel a little freaked out when I try to consider HOW she will be delivered into this world! I know in reality I’m not “huge” but I can’t help but see “huge” when I see my reflection or image in photos. Besides that….my fingers and feet swelled a bit when Ben and I took a 5 hour car ride to the Drakensberg Mountains for a mini vacay (I will give details on that later!) this past weekend. I’m not a fan of the swelling, but there’s not much I can do about that! Also, with Baby Girl being the size she is, she often makes it tough on me to breathe. I’ve learned I can sometimes get her to move her little footsies out of my lungs to draw a good breath, but then of course she sticks them out elsewhere. So funny!

What about the exercise routine?

We continue my daily work-out routine; however, Ben and I were in the mountains over the weekend. And we ended up doing a 3 hour hike…haha…more on that later J

Sleep…is it good/bad/mediocre?

Dear Sleep, I miss you so very much. When will you return to me? I’m sorry I didn’t invest in our relationship as much as I should have before Baby Girl came along to tear us apart. I just didn’t know….I hope you can forgive me. And I hope you someday return…Love, Amanda.

How big is the baby…and/or what does he/she resemble?

As we learned last week, our Girl completely bypassed the “squash state.” Those website “average size babies” simply do not apply to our Baby Girl. No sir. Last week at our Doc appointment, she was closer to the size of a Honeydew Melon…(weeks 33-36). So, although our Girl is supposed to still be in the “squash” range, she is not. Baby Girl is the size of a larger Honeydew Melon…closing in on the max of 5.8 lbs and a length of 17.2-18.7 inches. There’s only one fruit left after honeydew and that’s “watermelon.” Goodness, Baby Girl, I want to cry when I think of carrying around a watermelon size baby in my belly for the next 7-8 weeks!

And special milestones for baby?

Baby Girl’s brain and nervous systems continue to develop extensively with each day. Her five senses are also all fully functional and in tune to what’s going on around her. I feel bad for smacking her with the trunk of the car today….

How about the baby’s activity?

Baby Girl’s movements aren’t as fast anymore, they are slower because she is bigger. Just like her Mom, movements seem to take a little more time and effort these days. But she is as STRONG as ever. During our car trip, I think she was using her head to brace herself upon my bladder while she wriggled her body around to get comfortable. It was great. At least she was fairly peaceful during the car ride…

Did anything special (besides the baby growing!) happen to me this week?

Ben and I went to the Drakensberg Mountains this past weekend to celebrate our anniversary. I know you’re dying to know more about our adventures there, but you will have to wait for the blog to find out. I intend to post it within the next day, so your wait won’t be long, I promise. I will say, it was pretty special for Baby Girl, Ben and I to do a three hour hike up and down the mountain! Hahaha, yeah, I know, I know….be careful, right? Good thing I’m still in shape….in spite of my protruding belly!

What was the most random thing that happened this week?

I think the most random thing happened today when I went to the grocery store. First of all, I did get a cart this time instead of a basket (which I usually prefer). The problem with this: Every time I wanted something off of a shelf, I had to walk around the cart to get the item. I couldn’t just lean over the cart and grab it, no sir. At the register, I pushed my cart up to the counter as the checker looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to load my grocery selections onto her counter. I said, “sorry, this will just take a minute,” then I seriously had to squeeze myself between the other checker’s chair (the register behind me) and the cart in order to get around to the cart to unload my groceries. As I unloaded the groceries, I found I had to reach lower and lower into the cart…this required some fancy foot (more likely, “BODY”) work. I had to turn to the side, squat down, grab the item and then deliver (ha! I should be careful using this word, shouldn’t I??) it to the lady. Finally, she had my groceries loaded; I hauled them into my cart and pushed it out to the car. At this point, the parking attendant came to my assistance. In my haste to open the trunk for him to load my bags I totally SLAMMED baby girl bump with the trunk. My goodness, that hurt! I said to the guy, “OUCH! Sorry, I’m not used to my stomach being this big!” He just kinda smiled….I’m not sure he understands me…he probably just thought I was crazy, haha! Anyway, that was my grocery trip experience. I called Ben to tell him about it….and he thinks it’s time I start waiting to get groceries until he can accompany us….and that means weekends. Ugh. Not my idea of a fun weekend outing!