32 Weeks

Maternity clothes? Yes and soon I will just switch to muu muus to make life easier. (just kidding but it's more appealing that I ever imagined it could be)

Sleep: OMG I am sleeping so well and so comfortably. Of course, I do get up to go to the bathroom a lot, but I have been falling back asleep very easily. I really credit my hypnobabies practice for this blessing, and I absolutely recommend hypnosis techniques for insomnia during pregnancy or otherwise.

Best moment this week: We spent the weekend with our friends, the Rineharts, who have three beautiful, hilarious daughters. On Saturday, we went to the park, had a picnic, picked flowers, and got a glimpse of life with a daughter. SO FUN!

Movement: Still feeling like kicks and rolls are getting stronger and her periods of wake and sleep are more clearly defined. Also, she gets the hiccups at least three times a day, and they are always right after I eat or drink something. It's reassuring that she is still head down since they are very low in my pelvis.

Gender: Team PINK!

Birthing Signs: Well, I finally have something interesting for this section. On Saturday night, when we were settling down for the night, my stomach was uncomfortable and I thought that I had gas or indigestion so I ignored it and drifted off to sleep. Maybe thirty minutes later I woke up and my stomach was more uncomfortable and felt tight. Definitely a pre-birthing wave.

Interesting, I thought.

Five minutes later, another. Five minutes later, another. Five minutes later, another.

Hmm, I thought. Should I wake up my husband? No, not yet.

Five minutes later, another. Five minutes later, another.

By this point, I'm trying to figure out what is going on. I am barely 32 weeks pregnant, 3 hours away from home, having a definite pattern of pre-birthing waves. I know that the body can start warming up for birthing a long time before the big event, but, in the moment, I couldn't help but wonder what was going on.

That pattern continued for about an hour, but it didn't seem to be getting more intense, so I decided to just continue my hypnobabies practice (I had been relaxing during each wave and working on my fear clearing) and try to go back to sleep. I figured if something was really going on that I would wake up again.

Well, I woke up the next morning feeling great and so proud of myself. Historically, I have had a tendency towards drama for anything relating to my body, and I felt so calm and rational about the whole situation.

In the first moments that I realized that I was having a REAL cycle of birthing waves, I will admit that my mind started spinning. --- We are in another state, the baby will need to stay in the NICU if she is born now, OMG, Mike will have to go back to work in two weeks, (almost) all of our friends and family live hours away --- but as I practiced my fear clearing, I realized that we were in a big city with a fabulous NICU, staying with wonderful friends that would be willing and able to help us through the situation, the baby is likely big enough now that she wouldn't have any MAJOR, long term issues from coming so early, and, most importantly, it was possible that my body was simply warming up for birthing her in several weeks.

As an alarmist at heart, I'm so grateful that I was able to trust in my body and simply relax. I hope that this is a good sign of what is to come during the upcoming weeks as we anticipate our little one's arrival. And for the real birthing time, for that matter.

Stretch Marks? Still none on the belly.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Cravings/Aversions: I have been craving orange juice like crazy. I'm getting ready to go to Costco and stock up. :)

What I am looking forward to: Visiting with friends and family at my baby shower on Sunday!

What I miss: My mom. I always miss her, every single day and hour of my life, but there are moments these days that her absence stings more than usual. After all, the egg that created our daughter was in me, in her. It just feels wrong that she's missing all of this.

Weekly Wisdom: Focus on inner peace.

Milestones: My body is officially warming up for Lydia's birthday!