Pregnancy: 31 Weeks

Check out my post from Week 31 with my first pregnancy (Hannah).

In 6 weeks this pregnancy will be considered full-term!  In 9 weeks I will have reached my due date!  And in 9 weeks, 1 day if this baby hasn't made her appearance I will have to evict her! :-)

This week we had new carpet installed in three of the four upstairs bedrooms (Hannah's room was done before she was born).  It was a very chaotic day on Saturday with the installers here for about 6 hours, making a ton of noise!  Hannah didn't get a nap, which made for a very fussy afternoon and the carpet was not exactly what we had expected.  After a few days it has grown on us, but we still aren't 100% satisfied, but it will have to do.  I am glad to be done with it though and look forward to having Emma's furniture delivered (next weekend) and set up!

At the end of this week, Brian and I headed to Raleigh, NC for a friend's wedding.  We left Hannah at home with Brian's parents (THANK YOU!) and were able to have a fairly relaxing weekend.  It was great to be able to sleep in and the six hour drive was very pleasant without a toddler in the backseat. ;-)  But man we missed her!!

Here's what's happening this week...

What's going on with the baby right now?

• She is about 16" long and weighs about 3.5-4 pounds.
• She is the size of a large head of lettuce
• She is about to start a huge growth spurt phase, which makes me a little nervous.  I already feel huge and uncomfortable, so I don't know how there is even any more room for her to grow!
• Her eyesight is improving and the iris can dilate & constrict.
• Survival rate = 96%. Of those surviving, 20% will have serious complications 
• 9 weeks to go...Single digits! 

What's going on with me?

• I had a doctor's appointment this week and everything was great.  My blood pressure was perfect, weight was great (+12 pounds from prepregnancy weight), Emma's heartbeat was beautiful, and I found out that she is head down (great news!).  The only "bad" news I got was that my midwife (the one that delivered Hannah) is pregnant and due at the end of July.  Yeah for her, but boo for me because she may not make it to Emma's delivery.  While she is due a full month after me, she delivered her first at 37 weeks, so who knows when this one will come.  While I would love for her to be the one to deliver Emma, I guess I will have to get used to the idea that it may not be her.
• Still dealing with hip pain at night and find myself tossing and turning all night to ease the pain.  I think it's time to invest in an air mattress like my friend suggested!
• Braxton Hicks contractions (practice contractions) are happening fairly regularly now, mostly in the evening or when I am sitting down during the day.
• TMI alert!!!  I am dealing with some major hemorrhoids right now.  It has been very painful.  If things don't improve soon I will have to talk to my obgyn about some relief measures I can take.  OUCH!
• Emma is hiccuping all the time now.  I feel them at least once per day, just like with Hannah.
• Emotionally I would say that I am doing really well.  With Hannah's pregnancy I was starting to get very nervous around this time and had no idea what to expect.  But this time around I feel like I know what I am getting into (it's gonna be NUTS!) so I have a better grasp on things.  However, that also makes me a little more nervous this time around as well.  My biggest fears are the actual labor (for those that don't know, I went 100% natural with Hannah and am still undecided what I will do with this one), how I will juggle two little ones at one time, how Hannah will handle having to share me and her daddy with Emma, and simply what our day to day life will look like.
• Emma is still kicking a bunch, but thankfully they haven't been very painful kicks so far.  She's taking it easy on me! :-)  I have noticed that something (foot or knee, not sure) is often pushing under the right side of my rib cage which is not very comfortable.
• On Sunday of this past week I felt pretty nauseous and was exhausted.  I'm not sure what that was about, but I am chalking it up to another growth spurt.
• Heartburn was awful this week!  I've been popping tums and rolaids non-stop in the night, even having to take them in the middle of the night when I am awoken by the burning.  Not fun!
• I didn't weigh myself this week since we were out of town, so last I knew I was up 12 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.  We will see how much that jumps up next week.
• Next appointment: Monday, April 30th

I found this tip for when baby arrives that I wanted to be sure to remember.  They suggest that when the older sibling comes into the hospital room to meet the new baby that someone else should hold the baby so you can give all of your attention to the oldest.  Then introduce the baby to the older sibling after lots of hugs and kisses from mommy and daddy.  Hopefully I will remember this tip as I really think it will be good to use with Hannah to make her feel special!  My plan is to have a nurse hold Emma until we are done smothering Hannah with hugs and kisses and then have her bring Emma over for the big introduction.

Another good idea I read about was having Hannah help pick out Emma's going home outfit.  That way she will feel included.  Since we haven't even started thinking about that yet, I think that will be a great idea.  I'm sure what we will end up doing is having a few different choices and letting her chose from them because the idea of letting her go wild in the store is a bit overwhelming.