31 weeks

HOW YOUR BABY IS GROWING AT 31 WEEKS:
This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.

...it figured that around the third trimester I would finally start to feel the effects of being pregnant. (And I have loved this pregnancy, I'll definitely do it again, so don't take this the wrong way, it's just a general observation of the change that occurred so abruptly.) I felt so great during the first and second trimesters that I knew the third would hit like a ton of bricks. While I still feel pretty good, this little lady only seems to grow in growth spurts. Every few mornings or so I'll wake up and there is a definite shift in belly size. When she moves now it's getting easier to identify the body part trying to tear through my womb. At night when I sleep on my side she breaks out dancing, taking full advantage of the dance floor spread my uterus makes on the mattress. And she's got mad dance skills too, something she clearly did not inherit from Kevin or myself.

No matter how swollen my legs are after a day on my feet in the hospital or how uncomfortable it can be toward the end of the day when there is literally no.more.room in my abdomen, I love to feel her moving around or watch my belly undulate and bounce. It's really beautiful and it's going by so quickly. We're in the final few weeks of just her and I. Pretty soon there will be diapers, feeding, crying, reading and worst of all - I finally have to share her. :)

Oh, but I am excited. I'm thrilled and elated to finally see her face and hear her voice and hold her without the taut protection of skin between us. But it is just a little sad that this time of ours is coming to a close. I know that even when it seems interminable, every stage of her life will eventually just fly by, just like this one has. I just try to cling to every movement, every jab, hiccup, tickle, pressure, anything I can to remember what it felt like when it was just the two of us. So here's to us, Avelyn. May the next 8 or 9 weeks be just as sweet and memorable as the first 31! (Oh - and may you stay in there every single day until I pass my last final - this is a deal breaker on whether or not you get a car in about 16 years. Think on it.)