Florida

I am writing this from Florida, where the snow-birds are complaining that it is SIXTY-FIVE degrees out and it's impossible to go golfing when it's friggin' SIXTY-FIVE degrees out, for crying out loud! God forbid! Even though we've had this "HORRIBLE, COLD" weather here, John, Chris (my nephew), my father-in-law and I even went swimming and we were able to limit our wearing something other than shorts to last night, when we went out to dinner and it was colder in the restaurant than outside!

We've had a great time so far - my in-laws have a crazy social schedule and we've got to meet many of their FLA friends. They held a HH - Meet and Greet - on Saturday, Chris, my nephew, spent Easter with us, we went shopping and out to dinner with 2 of the neighbors on Monday and we are spending today, our last day here, with my in-laws - no major activities, just hanging out.

This trip over has been really tough on me (back) and I haven't really slept well at all, but my baby has been moving in a way that she had never moved before and I've grown so attached to her and to my belly that, even though I have a feeling that she is getting ready to meet us, I am having a bit of anxiety over not having her inside of me anymore.......... I can't believe I am saying this, but I have grown attached to my belly!

We'll be leaving soon to go shopping around the area and then, as all good thing come to an end, we'll leave my in-laws area, to go to Tampa so that we can spend the night closer to the airport, as we leave at 6AM tomorrow morning, to the cold, cold state of CT....

And by cold, I mean, 20 - 30 degree weather, windy and grey skies. Ugh.

Johnsick and literally, sick...

I hate throwing-up and I feel extremely lucky that I have not had any nausea during this pregnancy, but I spent the entire night last night into today vomiting and dry-heaving, which has been a bit problematic for a couple of reasons:

1. I absolutely hate the feeling of vomiting; and

2. My husband is in NYC awaiting a plane to go to Munich.

Today has not been a good day. I really want this week to fly by - John will be home on Thursday and then we leave for FLA to visit John's parents. Hanging with my husband for 5 full days and enjoying the warm weather and some great company... it just doesn't get any better than that.

Birthing Classes

After I had already accepted an invite to go to Happy Hour this past Friday with the "Latin Girls", which I was very much looking forward to going, by the way, it downed on me that John and I had a commitment, not only for Friday but for the weekend - as three months ago I had signed us up to take Birthing Classes.

Even though these Birthing Classes are a must for 1st time parents, both my husband and I went to it with a crappy attitude: we were positive that the class was a waste of our time. And, thankfully, we were wrong. We hadn't appreciated, until now, how uninformed about pregnancy and giving birth we really are. Not having our families around doesn't help, but it amazing how these days, if you want any meaningful and deep information about any topic, you have to pay money for it. It doesn't matter that I've been seeing my OBG-YN, at first every month and now every 15 days and that my insurance is paying a small fortune for that service - I have c0me to the conclusion that those visits are not informative in regard to preparing me for giving birth at all.

To me, the highlights of the class were:

1. Finding out, with my husband, the perfect position for him to massage me;
2. Learning that the initial phase of labor is the longest and pretty easy to get thru;
3. Being able to ask my stupid questions, like, how many clothes for the baby should I bring to the hospital, whether I am responsible for bringing diapers or the hospital will actually supply them, if I can keep my baby with me overnight.
4. Being around other couples who are going thru a similar experience than us and spending all those hours with my husband learning about the most incredible and life changing experience that we will go thru together.

I still don't feel fully prepared to go thru this incredible experience but at least now I have an idea of how not to be "less" prepared for it. And as the days go by, I, more and more can honestly say that: I can not wait for it.

Life

My life's been a blur since I went back to work. Things are crazy again. My workload comes in waves and right now I am going thru an incredibly busy time (It's almost 9PM and I decided to take a break from doing work to write this post, as my complacency and lack of entries has been bothering even yours truly here). On top of that, I've been interviewing a temp to cover for me while I'm on maternity leave. Even though it feels like this pregnancy will never be over, I have less than 2 months to go and it is time to get cracking on finding me a temporary replacement.

My husband is super frustrated at work. He is working too much. He wants to be home with me and enjoy our pregnancy - this is such a special time for us and he is coming home late all the time, he hasn't been able to workout, he's been traveling way too often. Plus, we do get along and enjoy each others' company after all. We feel like our lives have been consumed with work and preparing our home and ourselves for baby.

I've been really umconfortable. I'm so heavy and as a result, I have backaches, I developed numbness on my fingers due to water retention, I can't walk or sit for more than 30' at a time, and on a more superficial level, I feel really ugly. Fat and ugly.

Ugh. A part of me wants to enjoy this time that I still have as a chidless woman, enjoy these 2 months when I can still go out to dinner, to the movies, and to the gym with John and not worry about having to come home because we left the baby with the babysitter, when I can sleep at night without having to wake up to feed a baby and I can still do all these things that after her birth I'll have to modify my approach to doing them... But our baby is so present and such already such a constant in my life that I am not sure that I feel chidless anymore.

I can't wait until she's here.

31 weeks

Your Baby this Week:

As far as growth goes, your baby's still on a roll, measuring an impressive 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds. You can still expect your baby to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before you two meet. Your baby's brain is working overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and your baby can now perceive information from all five senses. Sure, your baby can't smell anything right now, but that's only because he or she is still submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. Lucky for you — and your baby — yours will be one of the very first scents your baby breathes in, a scent that will quickly become his or her very favorite.
So what's your little dove doing all day while you're busy feathering your nest for his or her arrival? Making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with little hands and feet along your uterine wall, and even sucking his or her thumb. In fact, some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb (what a little sucker!).

Seu bebê

A cabecinha dele está crescendo – resultado das muitas transformações que têm acontecido nessa parte de seu diminuto corpo. O cérebro, por exemplo, aumentou de tamanho nos últimos dias, e as conexões entre as células nervosas se multiplicaram. Além disso, seu bebê já é capaz de discernir melhor a luminosidade e, em pouco tempo, conseguirá diferenciar o claro do escuro. Sua visão está quase perfeita, mas só será aprimorada após o nascimento. Isso porque, nas primeiras semanas, os olhos do recém-nascido focalizam apenas objetos próximos. Depois de se acostumar ao colorido do mundo, no entanto, ele também vai enxergar bem o que está distante.

Sua gravidez

Vá com calma. O conselho da semana não poderia ser mais oportuno. Afinal, está difícil se locomover como antes, né? Não é à toa. Você carrega um bebê rechonchudo de 1,35 kg. Também sente o peso do útero que cresceu, da placenta e do líquido amniótico. O resultado são 12 kg a mais – isso, claro, se você estava com o peso saudável antes de engravidar. Com toda essa carga extra, é bom caminhar com cuidado para evitar quedas. Fique atenta aos pisos escorregadios e muita atenção ao sair do carro. Por falar nisso, aproveite para checar se a cadeirinha apropriada para o transporte do bebê está no banco de trás do veículo. Já é tempo de providenciar esse e outros acessórios importantes.