Baby Update: 32 Weeks

Officially less than two months till this little one is due...which is practically incomprehensible.

Weight Gain: 14.5 lbs. Baby is estimated to be 4 lbs.

Symptoms: Not much. Just that I have a lot less energy than I normally expect of myself. The few times I've started to feel bad/dizzy/overheated, I've realized, have most likely been caused by me getting too distracted with something that's going on and gone without eating or drinking for too long. I sleep great, never had a bit of heartburn (does this mean, that against all odds, we'll have a baldy little baby?). I suspected I had a couple random contractions one night when I couldn't sleep well due to random sudden-onset lower back pain that left as suddenly as it came on. Weird. And yes, I'm a clueless first-timer and I like it that way--no need to delve into researching horror stories of how bad third trimester can get. Just grateful for each new day! The shortness of breath and kicks in the ribs that I hear about from other moms at this stage has not at all been a part of this experience for me...probably because this baby is nowhere near my ribs. But mostly I feel great, just a slower-moving, less high-energy version of great.

Wearing: I haven't bought any maternity clothes, and at this point, I think I've given up on that. I did not set out to never buy maternity clothes, but I've only found two little maternity boutiques here and I hated everything the minute I walked in...so that's how well clothes shopping went. Then, when I attempted to order online from an international retailer...I couldn't get any method of payment to work with the website. Over the course of this pregnancy, I have bought 4 normal tunic dresses that are straight-cut rather than fitted at the waist, and those are serving me well, along with other loose dresses, my trusty leggings, one pair of capris and one pair of jeans that are stretchier than most, and elastic waist skirts and longer shirts. I'm definitely only wearing a fraction of my actual wardrobe, but so far, it really is plenty. It's a great thing to be pregnant in the age of leggings and stretchy materials. I actually favor woven cotton fabrics and dresses that are fitted at the waist, but those are NOT convenient preferences to have during pregnancy and all of those dresses have been relegated to the back of the wardrobe for months.

Memory: I've heard of pregnancy brain, but I've joked with Angel that my version of pregnancy brain is that my photographic memory has gotten better than usual. The other day, we were doing some paperwork related to our college and I rattled off my college student ID number to Angel without even having to stop and search for it in the recesses of my memory (I graduated in '12). Later the same day, Angel was looking for a receipt he'd gotten the day before because he needed to go to the URL listed at the bottom of the receipt. I'd looked at the receipt the day before, so I spelled the URL out to him so that he didn't have to find the receipt, because I could still remember exactly what it was, even though it was a weird one, containing a dash in the middle and a .net instead of .com.

Eating: Angel and my family will tell you my most consistent request is a glass of cold water. Cold water all the time, I can't go to sleep without a glass by my bedside. Still loving grapefruit as part of breakfast every morning. I'm able to eat chicken more consistently these days. I ate plenty of Christmas cookies over Christmas break but even that didn't help the weight come on any faster, which has led to Googling, "How to gain weight while pregnant" since I know I'm on the low side, but I haven't figured out any magic tricks other than constant snacking and not trying to burn too many calories...which is what I've been doing this whole time.

Favorite Things: Angel loves listening to the baby's heartbeat at least once a day, either just with his ear or with his stethoscope. He also talks to the baby and tells him all sorts of plans, and the baby almost always starts hiccoughing when Angel starts talking to him, which cracks me up. We saw a quick glimpse of the baby's face in our most recent ultrasound and afterwards both Angel and I were like, "Um, did you notice how...grumpy...our baby looks?" Really looked like an angry little baby in there. This made me laugh and also made me suspect that we may have a mini-Angel on our hands. I look happy nearly all the time, but if Angel isn't smiling, his natural expression is quite fierce-looking, enough that people have been known to ask, "Hey, is everything all right?" when everything is perfectly fine, that's just the way Angel looks. ha!

Emotions: So happy and so thankful for each new week and each new milestone we pass! The doctor was concerned about him wanting to come too soon at our 30 week appointment, but I felt completely calm and not anxious about that, for which I'm grateful. She prescribed some medication that I'm supposed to take till week 34 as a preventative, but we learned another lesson about vigilance at the hospital pharmacy, where the pharmacist gave us a totally different medication than what had been prescribed. The medication we were given is one that does the opposite of the medication that we were supposed to receive. Very thankful for Angel and his awareness and medical knowledge to make sure we were given the right stuff! It would be all too easy to just trust what the hospital pharmacist gives you, but this experience reaffirms to us that our routine of questioning everything is a wise one. Doctor called baby "skinny" because his head and legs measure at a higher percentile than his belly, which has led to my new concern over weight gain. It's easy to get scared, and a daily choice to cling to peace over fear that something will hurt my precious boy.

Preparations: I told you we bought the crib, right? And I painted some watercolors for his room, and sewed a curtain. That's about it. My baby shower is on Saturday, after that I think I'll settle down and see what else might need to be prepared in advance. Apparently you're supposed to pack for the hospital in advance, but we only live half an hour from the hospital--less if the traffic weren't bad, so I'm not worried about rushing. I doubt we'll install the carseat early because we're often needing to give rides to others in our little 5-seater, so no sense taking up an extra seat until it actually needs to be used.

 In the days before 2018 began, we especially celebrated the fact that Angel's only resolution for 2017 was: "Get a baby." We're getting really close to our baby, now!