Thirty-Four Weeks

I guess that I should skip ahead since my doctor has officially moved my due date up by two weeks...which would make me thirty-six weeks. But you know what? I'm feeling pretty crappy today and VERY lazy and since doing that would involve me going to babycenter.com and logging in and then changing my due date in order to receive updated and correctly positioned weekly updates...I'm not gonna do that.

Maybe tomorrow.

And since moving my due date up then puts me a week ahead of where he is...it's just too confusing. I mean, these days, I'm lucky to remember my own phone number, much less what week I'm on, he's on and babycenter.com says...so we'll stick with what's working for us right now, ok? k - thanks!

So with all that being said, according to babycenter.com my baby now weighs right around 4.75 pounds (about the size of your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. His fat layers, which he'll need to regulate his body temp once he's born, are filling him out, making him rounder. His skin is also smoother than ever. His central nervous system is maturing as well and his lungs are continuing to mature too.

source

Babycenter.com also tells me that if I've been nervous about preterm labor (umm...yeah!) then I'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health conditions generally do fine. Whew. Thanks, babycenter.com - big relief! There might be a short stay at the hospital involved, in the neonatal unit, and possibly some short-term health issues, but they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Well...that relieves SOME of my worries! :)

So you know my whole update...there's not a lot more to say. I'm still having contractions each day, but the half day of bedrest seems to be helping that out a bit as I don't seem to be having as many of them as I was last week when I was still working most all day long. The flip side to the bed rest? I ache. Like all over. That's not true. It's not all over...it's specific to my back. And even more specific than that, it's specific to my pelvis.

If I could accurately describe it...which I don't pretend to be able to do...it feels like someone who's really large and strong has one hand on each side of my pelvis and is trying to rip it into two pieces like you would a sheet of paper. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up...not fun! I did do a quick search on that symptom last night...which I know that I shouldn't have done (Brandi!) and I didn't really like what I read. It's one of three things...just normal pain for a baby that's turned sunny-side-up and is slightly large for a person's small sized frame, it's preliminary signs of pelvis seperation (OUCH!), or it could be the first signs of labor.

Yeah, I didn't like any of those choices either...but at least I didn't find out that I had been stung by a South Austrailian insect who carries some rare disease that can only be cured by a blood transfusion from a monkey...

See? Things can ALWAYS be worse! I'm trying to lighten the heavy mood, in case you can't tell. Mentioning humor, let's take a look at those belly shots...I was a day or two behind in taking these, but here you go!

Yeah. It's getting larger. Nothing more really needs to be said. Except that I feel like I'm about at my max stretching point...I can't compare it to how big I got with Jenna. That was 8 years ago and like I said, there are days that I'm having trouble remembering my own age, much less how big around I got during my last pregnancy! LOL!

And no, that's not a stretch mark right below my belly button, that's where my pants were digging into my belly after eating pizza rolls last night!

Ok - gotta go. Not that I really have anything to do...you'll probably be so sick of seeing me now that I have my internet problem fixed...but what's a girl to do all afternoon long? :)