Week 31-32 Bumpdate

Can you believe it’s been another 2 weeks already? Today I’m sharing about weeks 31 and 32 of this pregnancy.

Week 31-32 Bumpdate:

How far along: 31 and 32 weeks (I am 33 weeks along today!) – only 7 weeks left!

Sometimes “7 weeks left” sounds super short and other times, it seems like forever!!

Size of the baby: Florida pomelo at 32 weeks (whatever that is!) — baby weighs between 4-6 pounds, according to my app.

** I still highly recommend the Ovia app. It’s the only pregnancy app I use, after trying different apps in the past.

According to my app, baby’s weight is going to be harder to estimate at this point because it can vary so much. But my doctor was kind of guessing that baby won’t be that huge – perhaps more in the 6 pounds range, so I’d assume she’s closer to the 4 pounds weight right now.

Her bones are developed but are now hardening, and she’s still working hard on putting on fat. My app also says she’s about 17-19 inches long – that’s hard for me to believe, but I know she’s curled up in there pretty tight! 🙂

BB had a very strong, healthy heartbeat at our 32 weeks appointment. I also get my stomach measured (vertically with a tape measure) each appointment to see how much we’re growing every two weeks. Between my 30 week and 32 week appointments, my stomach grew by 3 and a half centimeters! Isn’t it amazing how much we can grow over just 14 days?!

Weight gain: I think it’s around 20 pounds. Woo hoo! 😉 I’m still celebrating the weight gain, because I am still in the healthy range for my pregnancy, and I know that baby girl is trying to put on fat these last few weeks! We want to give her as much of a head start as possible.

Boy, can I tell I weigh a lot more when I am going up any stairs!! It’s kind of hilarious how slowly I walk now days. Oh well. In all honesty, there are still days when I feel up to walking quickly up and down the stairs (I did it multiple times the other day to get in a little more exercise), but there are other days where I feel like a sloth! 😉

Gender: GIRL!!! We do have the first name chosen, and we’ve pretty much solidified the middle name… but for now, we’re not announcing it. Instead, we’re calling her BB. 🙂

^^ I’ve been working on bows and headbands lately — it is so much fun to try them on Ginger the Bear, haha, and imagine them on our baby girl! ^^

Symptoms:

Still no stretch marks – yay! I put Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Massage Lotion For Stretch Marks (aff. link) on daily. The only ligament pain has been if I sneeze super hard, haha. Then, it hurts!

You know what’s funny? I don’t know if this is a pregnancy symptom, but my fingernails have been growing extra quickly this past month or so. It’s different because I usually like to keep my nails short!

I’m worried about varicose veins…I really don’t want them, but sometimes they just come with the territory. The doctor says I don’t have any as of yet. I read that walking and staying hydrated can help, and not sitting on your feet. That’s my biggest problem. I love sitting on my feet or sitting cross-legged – yikes!

Still very few leg cramps in general, and I’d attribute that to the fact that I’m eating 1-2 bananas a day in my morning smoothies. But on our vacation last week, I had a couple leg cramps and I really think that’s because I wasn’t eating my bananas! My back aches on and off during the day, so I just try to sit with a pillow behind it.

I have started to get some heartburn lately. I’m still having weird moments of nausea. I’m not sure why that is, but it probably just has to do with all of the hormones going on!! I’ve also been strangely dizzy and short of breath about once or twice a day. Usually, that means I just need to walk around, breathe deep, and drink more water. I tend to get really tired when I’m walking up a hill or a lot of stairs. My body knows when it needs a break, and when I get some more intense Braxton Hicks, then I slow down. It’s strange because I’m naturally such a power-walker! I don’t like to slow down!

I basically start mornings feeling “normal” and have more energy then… But by afternoon or evening, my energy usually has evaporated, and by bedtime, I kind of feel like my stomach is made of lead! Haha.

Missing: Not really missing any particular food right now.

Wearing: Sweatpants and bigger T-shirts around the house… and a dress or jeans with a “better” shirt if I’m going somewhere public, haha.

RELATED: My Favorite Basic Maxi Dress (+ a discount for you!) — Psst – it’s not a maternity dress but it works as one!

Craving: Annie’s brand mac ‘n’ cheese. The other day, these were on sale at the grocery store for $1 a box – I’ve made a good amount of this mac ‘n’ cheese this week, and I sure do love it! 🙂

And chocolate. It’s super weird because non-pregnant me is not a big fan of plain chocolate!

On our babymoon last week, I got a virgin piña colada, which I had been thinking about the whole trip – it really hit the spot!

I’m still starting off each day with a healthy smoothie, though, so that has been helping to make sure I’m still getting my fruits and even my greens! 🙂

^^ at the waterpark’s wave pool in the Wisconsin Dells! I’ll share more about our babymoon on the blog soon! ^^

Feeling: I have been crying for no good reason lately. It seems to happen once every other day now, haha. It’s remarkable because it’ll happen even when I’m not thinking about anything sad! And then once the tears start, I can’t really stop them. I started crying in church last Sunday (without a reason to) and I was struggling to wipe away all the embarrassing tears without people noticing! Oh well.

It feels weird knowing I’m not teaching this school year. I’m so grateful my parental leave was approved by the school board, because it is important to me to be with our daughter when she’s brand new like this. I’m also incredibly thankful that we’re able to make this work for our family. But with Bjorn starting teacher workshops and training days soon, I know it’ll feel so strange to not be going with him. We’re used to doing all these teaching things together!

Looking forward to: Childbirth classes, and a couple baby showers that we have coming up! I’m really feeling the need to pull things together and get ourselves prepared for our baby girl! I know we can never be 100% prepared, but I want to be a bit more ready than I am currently.

Bjorn is: looking forward to being a daddy to our little girl. He loves her so much already, and I can’t wait to see him as a daddy bear. 🙂 He is also SO attentive towards me – I thank God daily for the gift of this man as my husband and as BB’s daddy!!

Movement: Baby girl seems more active to me lately. Maybe it’s just because she’s bigger and stronger, and can’t do many movements undetected by me anymore. 🙂 She still totally loves dancing to the song “Ashokan Farewell,” which I love. There are some sharper jabs (elbows? knees?) now days, and even the sensation of her moving her whole hand or foot along my stomach – super weird! It’s also crazy because her kicks are in more random places – like up in my ribs?! She has really stretched out more over time.

To be perfectly honest, I know many moms love feeling their babies move in the womb, but it’s generally not comfortable movement for me so it’s harder for me to love it. And that’s okay. We aren’t all required to love every sensation of pregnancy. What I DO love is knowing that she’s awake, alert, or active in there – it is reassuring to feel her moving around. I’m just getting excited to see all those little kicks and stretches out here in the world! 🙂 And I do love when she gets the hiccups – those movements are sweet little reminders that there’s a person in there!

It has been super nice these past couple weeks, because baby girl usually slows down her movements (and jumping parties in there, haha) around bedtime, and stays fairly still until I awake in the morning. I am grateful for that because it has allowed me to sleep more solidly. I feel like I am already getting to know her sweet personality – she has times of energy and motion, and other times when she seems quite low-key!

Sleep: I’ve had some scary dreams lately, and a couple nights ago, I was wide awake (after a nightmare) for over an hour. Generally, though, I am sleeping pretty well through the night still. I don’t usually get up during the night to use the bathroom.

My Hiccapop Pregnancy Wedge Pillow (aff. link) has been great for supporting my stomach and I have another small pillow I put between my knees to help support my hips.

Best moments: Imagining what it’ll be like to hold her!! We spent time with friends in Wisconsin last week who have a 2-month-old, and holding their little one made my heart so excited to meet our girl, too! I don’t usually get to see infants much, so it really was fun. (As a teacher, I tend to see a lot more people who are between the ages of 5 and 11, haha.)

Another “best moment” was our babymoon in the Wisconsin Dells last week. It was so fun to relax and hang out together as just the two of us.

We love guessing things about BB’s personality, too. I’m convinced she loves music and will be musical — everyone on both sides of her family is musical, so I want to say that’s basically inescapable, haha!

She has had distinguishable hiccups about once a day for a month now, and I love it! Bjorn can usually feel her hiccuping, too, which is so precious. I’m wondering if she is a more low-key baby, because I heard that some babies get all frustrated when they get the hiccups – stretching and kicking when they’re hiccuping – and our little BB seems pretty calm when she’s hiccuping. She just sits there and allows the hiccups to come and go…and then she’ll be more active later. 🙂

We’ve got a couple baby showers coming up and I am so touched and grateful for the people in our lives who care for us and already love our daughter! Some gifts have arrived at our house and it blesses me so much. Cue the happy tears! 🙂