Week 31 Update:

The past few weeks have really begun to fly by, which is super exciting, and also very scary at the same time! A good kind of scary though. The fear that I have is natural fear that I would assume most mom's experience. Fear about the impending natural labor (if I am so blessed), fear about having everything accomplished by then, fear of being a good mom, fear of the impact that this will undoubtedly have on my marriage, and fear of having time off of work and the adjustments surrounding that. All normal things, but not any less scary because of it. I am sure I will get along just fine, and am blessed to have Craig's emotional and physical support through all of it. I really could not have asked for a more amazing husband.

This week in "shrimp world" there has been a lot of growth. From the outside, I can see the beginnings of lots of little stretch marks. They are tiny, and hopefully stay that way; although, I know better than to hope for none. My body has changed, and will continue to do so. Never to be the same again I am quite sure but, who wants their body to stay the same forever? I don't. It is miraculous what a woman's body does in a few short months! Craig is also experiencing his own outward pregnancy symptoms. A growing waistline (thank you ice cream cone diet) and he has taken to plucking out the occasional gray hairs (shhh - don't tell him I told you!) that have been sprouting on his head (heheh).

On the inside of "shrimp world," our little some weights somewhere around 3 and a half to four lbs. Still tiny, but large enough to cause some serious ruckus. I can now identify kicking and rolling body parts more readily. Due to the fact that the baby is still breech or transverse, many of those kicks and punches land in places that "most" women would not experience. "Most" woman would be complaining of baby feet under their ribs. I have been experiences kicks at my hip area (and lower), in the two major round ligaments that are attached to your uterus. Very painful, and often swift enough to make me gasp and send me crumpling. Unfortunately, my reaction tends to be very disconcerning to Craig, who has no idea what just happened! I am thankful that the shrimp moves allllll the time but, the painful kicks are not so charming. The best way to combat the problem would be to have the little one flip over to the right position...which will take some acrobatics and positioning on my part I have a feeling.

One of such acrobatic element that is supposed to have good success is headstands or handstands. Can you imagine a pregnant woman, who can hardly get in and out of cars, doing a handstand? No! Or at least I can't. The only way that this would be humanly possible for me to do would be to do it in a swimming pool. This idea, combined with the fact that I love water, has led Craig and I to start another home project. A backyard pool. Yeah, not the best timing (especially since we just had 7 new glass block windows put in the house last week and are having a new roof put on the house next week) but, it seems that sometimes you just have to do everything at once whether you like it on not! The pool should be lots of fun, provided we can install it as easily as we are hoping. I don't think it will be too difficult though, since it is only 12' in diameter. I just hope that having daily access to a pool will help the shrimp to decide to flip. If I can avoid a c-section that way, it was alllll worth it....and I am sure my swelling feet and aching back will appreciate it too! :-) I may have my head underwater and my feet in the air quite a bit but, you are welcome to join me!


Onwards to week 32!