Developmental Goings-on: Weeks 29-31

Getting you up to speed on both of us --

Week 29:
Me: Potential for varicose veins (thankfully none thus far)
Her: Weighs almost three pounds and measures around 17 inches, head to toe. She is pretty close to her birth length but, according to What to Expect, has to “chub out a bit.” Haha, chub. Apparently, over the next 11 weeks she will more than double or even come close to tripling her weight. They’re also right about feeling fewer big kicks (it’s getting more crowded in there), but more of other kinds of movement and actual body parts. I usually can’t tell what part it is specifically, but the movements she has been making have been intensely…human. Does that make any sense? They aren’t just sudden jolts or swift kicks – you can actually feel some body part moving across or shifting or rolling or pushing…that's usually when it really feels real. It’s also to the point now where you can watch my belly move. If I’m sitting still, you can actually see it morph and shift when she’s active. Wild!! That probably started around 28/29 weeks, and has continued.

Week 30:
Me: Heartburn. Check. Double check. It’s pretty bad, actually, so according to the old wives’ tale, she’s going to have lots of hair. Oh I hope so! Our friends’ daughter came out looking like she had a full-on toupee. It was awesome! At any rate, here is their explanation for this (which is really interesting, I think): “The same pregnancy hormones that cause your body's pelvic muscles to relax so you can deliver your baby also relax the ring of muscle that separates the esophagus from the stomach. The upshot? Food and digestive juices can head upstream from your tummy into your chest and throat — hence, the infernal inferno. Your expanding uterus, now exerting pressure on your stomach, only fuels the fire.” Sweet.
Her: Her brain is growing and developing daily, and is starting to get all those “grooves and wrinkles” that make it look all brain-y. She’s also able to regulate her own body temp now, so she starts shedding the lanugo (I think I told you about this one – it’s a layer of soft body hair that has been keeping her warm. Sounds scary, right? A baby with lots of hair I’m good with, but a furry baby – I don’t know. But the good news is they lose it before birth if they go full term.). Mom actually told me all about this earlier today…she’s so on the ball!

Week 31: (This week!)
Me: Cramped diaphragm. Check. Apparently, my uterus is pushing up against it (How big IS my uterus and will it ever go back to its original size?!?), and is crowding my lungs and keeping them from fully expanding, or at least making it more difficult. The result is that I’ll be “spare on air” until she drops, which makes me feel a whole lot better about being as winded as I was this morning going up a couple of flights of stairs!
Her: She’s fine on air – all needed oxygen is given through the placenta. She’s 3+ pounds and about 18 inches long. She can put on another 3 to 5 pounds before she’s born (or, if she’s like Coleman, another 7!!). She’s also working on her synapses/brain connections – eventually developing trillions of them. Yowza. According to What to Expect she’s now “processing information, tracking light, and perceiving signals from all five senses.” What an advanced little thing she already is! Did anyone have any doubt?? She is also sleeping for longer periods of time, and can I just say, Yeah!!! Keep that up, little one! That’s a developmental habit I can get behind!

Just thought you'd want to know what we were up to...