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2006-04-09 - 11.05pm��previous entry��next entry
31 weeks pregnant!
I'm still here. I hate that I've missed more than 2 weeks of updates, especially the big 30 week milestone!!! 30 weeks seems quite far away already now that I'm only a few days off 32 weeks! 32 weeks is just like.... LOADS pregnant, hehe!
Arthur has been iller than he has ever been in his life before, and it dragged on for ages. He still isn't better yet. Neil went away for a week - the same week Arthur was so ill, of course - to bury his father and spend time with his mum and siblings. I am currently starting to recover from Arthur's nasty lurgy which I came down with just before Neil came home a few days ago. I can't sit for long to type, but I had to type something so that I have an entry down before 32 weeks! Otherwise it's just crazy. I'll update about everything else when I can in my normal diary. Plus Arthur is 17 months old today :) And I'll write about him too, there is so much to tell in just a week or two, even with him being so poorly.
BUT, pregnancy stuff!
My 30 week belly pic is now in the gallery - that's the main reason I wanted to update, just so it's there before another one goes in this week for 32 weeks! Neil took it at 30 weeks and 2 days I think. I don't seem to look much different, but my belly HAD grown outwards just a touch compared with a fortnight before.
Matthew now weighs over 4lbs! I'm sure of that. He seems to be 2 weeks ahead, and that's what he should weigh (on average) 2 weeks from now, so yeah. Arthur was also 2 weeks ahead, and weighed 8lbs 1.5oz at birth, which amazingly tallies with Babycenter.com's chart for 2 weeks ahead at birth! So maybe Matthew will weigh about the same or a little more at birth, going by that chart? He is also about 16.5 inches long. Getting so near to birth proportions now, weight and length wise. He's only a few inches off a normal birth length, and a few lbs too. It's craaazy how close it's getting!
Matthew feels really heavy in there this last week or so. I can feel his head filling the area just above my pubic bone with my fingers. It's very hard and feels enormous!! Some of it isn't palpable above the pubic bone so I know he's good and ready in position for birth, but then he has been for ages now. He always remains in the same position with his back up against my tummy to my right slightly. Perfect :)
He gets very noticable hiccups at least 3 times a day now! They are very strong and jerky, and I am distracted by them no matter what I am doing. If I reveal my belly, we can see it blipping gently as he hiccups! Yesterday we saw a lovely sight that we had seen Arthur do a LOT in the last trimester, but hadn't seen Matthew do yet - breathing practise :) I remember with Arthur, we used to watch his little back under my bump rise and fall in fast little pants, maybe 10 or 12 in a row and then a long pause. Then it would start again. He usually did several bouts followed by hiccups :) Matthew was squirming and wriggling everywhere yesterday evening for a while so we were watching my bump move about, and suddenly he stopped and we saw the bulge of his back rise and fall with that super-fast panting that we recognised from when we saw Arthur do it! It took us ages to research and figure out that Arthur must actually be practising breathing when he was doing that, but this time we knew it the first time :) We both stroked my tummy and told him "Good boy!" :) He IS a good boy, practising so hard like that. He didn't get hiccups like Arthur though. He just continued on and off for a while until he seemed to get really tired and went still for a long time.
He seems to FILL my whole torso now! I'm sure he doesn't yet, but it certainly feels like he does! He doesn't seem to have any room in there any more, and his movements are sharp jabs or squirms. He often turns and twists his head which is SO painful grinding against my bladder and cervix! I don't remember it hurting like that with Arthur, but then his position meant that the hard back of his head was out against my hip and not grinding on tender organs like Matthew's must be! I can feel his movements so clearly, every turn of his head. His feet are starting to be more noticable pushing out of my tummy and sides now, and I love to be able to almost grasp his tiny little hard heels for a second before he pulls them back in again!
I can't think what else... I think I weighed myself again around 30 weeks and had only gained a lb since the previous weigh-in (can't remember when that was though - a couple of weeks maybe?), but then I noticed that at this stage last pregnancy, I seemed to hit a stage where I didn't gain anything for a few weeks. All my pregnancy weight gain does seem to happen in spurts though, and doesn't really have any bearing on what or how much I am eating at the time. I am kind of hoping to gain a fair bit more now though, as I have an online friend who is tandem nursing a newborn baby boy and her 19 month old son - just like I will be! - and she says she is losing weight like CRAZY breastfeeding two. I read that in my tandem nursing book as well. My friend has lost 24lbs in the first two weeks postpartum (AFTER the weight loss of birth itself) and she feels it's due to tandem nursing. She doesn't mind as she felt overweight to start with, but I definitely don't want to lose all that right away and be left with trying to maintain my weight while breastfeeding two hungry boys - well, one hungry boy and one who is partial to frequent mama-milky-snuggles :) Sooo I figure the more weight I gain during pregnancy, the better. Not that I WANT to gain an absolute ton in an unhealthy way, but I do need the fat stores.
I can't think of anything else, though I know there is sooooooo much to catch up on and write about. Tsk. My head is full of viral fluff so I think I'll just stop for now and try to write any other bits next time I am able to write an entry. Will definitely try to write one for 32 weeks though! I have my 32 week antenatal appt this week. I think it will be Wednesday, the day I turn 32 weeks. It's scheduled for tomorrow but I am not going to be well enough to get myself and Arthur there, so I'll have to reschedule, which is fine. It's with my lovely GP :) I have 2-weekly appointments now! Getting so close. Only 5 weeks (well, almost) to go until I reach full term - how crazy is that?!!! And we've passed the 7th of the month again, which means there are LESS THAN TWO MONTHS until my due date!!!! Yikes! Less than two months means there is no point talking in months any more. Eight and a bit weeks. 59 days. FIFTY NINE DAYS!!!! Oh my gosh. I can't wait to meet Matthew! :)
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