Thirty-One Weeks

Today I am thirty-one weeks pregnant. I cannot believe that very soon I will be meeting my precious baby girl. She has been kicking up a storm lately and I am starting to see BIG movements on the outside, it's very surreal. I try to guess which body part it may be or what she might be doing in there! I have also had my first Braxton Hicks contractions. Some people call this false labor but in the Bradley Birthing Method they call it practice labor because your body is practicing for the real deal. They don't hurt (at least not yet), but they do feel strange and sort of take my breath away. It's another reminder that very soon I will be delivering this baby!

Realizing that in two months or less we'll have a baby at home with us, my husband and I used the long holiday weekend to get organized. We cleaned out closets, moved items into storage and generally just got our home more ready for a baby. We did four loads of laundry...baby blankets, booties, socks, onsies, jammies, clothes, cloth baby wipes, you name it! It was fun sorting through each size and wondering how a certain outfit might look on her. Will the turquoise one look good with her skin tone? Will the teeny newborn onsie even fit?

I also took advantage of Black Friday sales at JoAnn's Fabrics and bought fabric to finally sew the little stuffed Spool birdies for her mobile (still need to find some cool twigs), make new liners for baskets we have in shelving in her room and have enough left over to possibly make her a quilt. I also got some 4.5 inch balsa wood letters to spell her nickname, LIBBY, and decoupaged them with scrapbook paper that coordinates with the soft aqua, apple green and pink room we're pulling together for her. As soon as it's all done, I'll be sure to post photos of the shabby-chic-meets-woodland-animal-themed room we're doing for her.

I also finally gave my maternity leave proposal to my management team (we are 5 executive directors that function as one) and I should know later this week what they think of it and if they'll approve it. Basically I am proposing to take 8 full weeks off and then transition back to full time over the next 9 weeks...starting with working from home 4 hours/day for 2 weeks and then doing 4 hours/day from home, 3 days a week and coming into the office twice a week for 6 hours each time for another 3 weeks. Then finally, the last 4 weeks coming into the office every day but only for 6 hours each time rather than a full 8. I have 502 hours of leave time saved up and I hope they'll let me budget accordingly. That way I can transition back to working full time and have as much time at home with the baby as possible. Wish me luck, we discuss it at our weekly meeting tomorrow morning!

Finally, I am continuing to try to cope with my Gestational Diabetes. The insulin shots seemto be working fairly well, although I've noticed that if I have a restless night (less than 6 hours of sleep and getting up more than once) that my fasting number in the morning is still elevated. I don't know how to remedy that. I sleep really well (at least 8 hours and only up once in the night for the bathroom) about once or twice a week! I see the GD Counselor on Thursday morning and will ask her about this. Otherwise, the food and exercise plan with the added doses of insulin are not impossible, although I do find that if I am super busy at work I have a hard time remembering to test exactly two hours after breakfast or lunch. I have started setting an alarm on my cellphone to remember!

So, I am in the home stretch. Three quarters of the way done with this pregnancy! Knowing that some babies come as early as 35 weeks and others wait until past 40 I have no idea how soon I'll be meeting my little one. I know it won't be much past 40 weeks since my doctor has said that with GD she will induce before letting me get to 41 weeks. I post on the Third Trimester Board on The Bump and it's scary reading all of the varied birth stories. The ones that go well are totally inspiring, especially those that chose to go natural all the way. But there are many more of inductions, pre-term labor, babies being delivered by emergency c-section and having to spend time in the NICU as well as a few stories that don't end so happily that it makes me really nervous about what these next 8-9 weeks may hold. For now, I am trying to stay positive and think happy thoughts and prepare mentally, physically and emotionally for whatever make come

That said, according to BabyCenter, here's what Miss Libby is up to this week:

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This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He'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.

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