8 month belly (32 weeks)

How your baby's growing:

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus.

You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

Now that I'm at the 8 month mark I'm beginning to really feel the weight. I walk much more slowly, I get up from sitting and laying down positions very slowly, and my breathing room is restricted. I do eat the same as always however I still don't have any cravings (bummer, i never got cravings- I always wanted to know what that would be like!)

Today in my 8 month checkup we learned that bambina is measuring on the long side. I am at week 32 so typically I should be at between 32-32 cms in length (from pelvic to to of uterus). While this is just a non-scientific or mathematical calculation, when the Dr measured me at 35 cm it triggered a slight concern to check again for length next time. If i continue to measure on the long side it may mean that bambina will be big, meaning I will need to prepare for my birthing options. While I did measure at 35 cms, I only gained one pound since 2 weeks ago, even though in the 2 weeks prior I gained a whopping 4 pounds. What was I eating??

I've been mentally planning for a natural birth- not a C- section or aid with epidural, so this does throw us a curveball. My doula recommended that at my 9 month mark I stop taking omega 3's (which are known to grow the head/brain) so that the size of the head isn't too large to push out. Maybe I need to move that to a sooner date! Will keep an eye out for her growth.

I resume my regular meetings with my doula tomorrow, and we'll continue talking about my Birth Plan. I'll share with her my CPMC Hospital Tour (I learned that 7 of the 18 delivery rooms have a jacuzzi) and review my creative writing exercises. Birthing classes begin in a couple weeks but I'm still doing Prenatal yoga at home (thanks to my DVD) and I'm looking into doing some online Hypno-birthing classes.

10.02.2010 Update:

I measured my uterus (distance from pelvic crease to the top of the fundus) and it came out to 32.5 cm- so I am right on target. I must have been having a braxton hicks contraction when the OB was taking the measurement.