32 Weeks Pregnant

We are in the home stretch, my friends! It's so great to be in the 30s. At least, I'm happy because I can see the end in sight! 

Good things have been happening. 

I haven't had a migraine in a long time. I don't even get headaches all that much anymore. It's a miracle! I pretty much only get headaches when I eat too much sugar, so it's also great knowing the reason for the headaches isn't my high blood pressure. 

Alternatively, I get faint more often. I can't sing in church because it makes me feel light headed. I often need to take breaks from whatever I'm doing (even if it's just sitting in church for an hour) to keep me feeling good. 

Another thing I realized is that I have had much less heartburn than I did with Chris. I had it every day with him, no matter what. This time around I only get it when I eat heartburn inducing foods like tomatoes or chocolate (yes, chocolate--it's sad). But it can be remedied by Tums, whereas last time I took medicine everyday to keep it under control, plus Tums when it was really bad. My conclusion: this baby may be coming out a baldy. 

Medically speaking, all is staying the same. My gestational diabetes test came back perfect, my preeclamptic blood work/urine test is at the same levels it was in May, and my blood pressure continues to reside around 135/80. I consider this awesome news! I'm also not getting any vision problems, since I don't have migraines, which is what put me on bed rest last time. So I am feeling extremely optimistic that I will not get preeclampsia. And hopefully no bedrest! 

Our little girl is growing nicely. From the ultrasounds I have had, she looks to be perfectly normal. Her only abnormality is that she is measuring over a week ahead. At my 30 weeks and 1 day ultrasound she was measuring at 31 weeks and 3 days, which is about 3 pounds 14 ounces. What's crazy to me is that Chris was born at 36.5 weeks and weighed only two pounds more than she does at 30 weeks! She is apparently in the 80th percentile. Big baby! And I feel it. 

Another difference between this baby and Chris is that this little girl seems to enjoy chillin on my bladder. I've never had so many close calls to letting a little pee escape as I do with her. She enjoys kicking me square on the bladder. I told Jed that it's often like she feels my bladder and thinks to herself, "What's this? What's this?" as she repeatedly pokes it. 

I also get some cramping every night. Braxton Hicks? Having these nightly practices of contractions makes me feel like my body is a lot more prepared to give birth to this child than it was for Chris. That makes me happy! 

In general, despite the sciatica, often sore back, and general tiredness, I feel a great happiness about this pregnancy. Things appear to be going great, and I can't help but be grateful through the pain!

And now for a picture update! A nice mirror selfie was the best I could do with Jed at work. But I think you get the gist!  

Also, here's a comparison with me at 33 weeks when I was pregnant with Chris. I'm a lot bigger this time around, but boy, was I swollen last time! This also gives me great hope that I won't get preeclampsia this time around, as swelling is one of the symptoms of preeclampsia. Clearly I am not nearly as swollen, and now Jed is home from work and has confirmed that indeed, I was much more swollen last time. Yay yay yay!