31 Weeks!

I can't believe we're down to a single-digit week countdown now...9 weeks left!

I had a rough couple weeks last week and the week before, mostly due to exhaustion. My iron and blood counts were low, so I was so tired and had a few meltdowns. But I started taking some chlorophyll and iron liquid supplements, at the suggestion of Wendy, and am feeling a difference. I'm still tired, but I somehow manage to have the energy to get through each busy day. My stomach is getting larger and larger, and it seems to have really popped in the last few weeks cause I've had a lot of people now that ask me when I'm due and stuff. It's getting harder to breathe, and I get winded pretty easily. I get out of breath and my heart starts racing just from trying to adjust my position in bed sometimes. I've been bumping my stomach on things more, by accident. Clothes are getting more uncomfortable, and I finally bought a stretchy band so that I can keep wearing my regular jeans. I also broke down and bought some comfy baggy maternity shirts from Target. They were only $5 and I needed something that I could wear with leggings when I want to lounge around the house. A lot of my regular shirts still fit, but are getting tighter and tighter. I weighed myself this morning and was 142...so officially 10 pounds more than I was at the beginning of my pregnancy.
I still feel lucky that I have no major complaints so far. Of course, the bigger I get, the more uncomfortable I get, but that's normal. I haven't had any issues with constipation, swelling, nausea, stretch marks, varicose veins, or anything like that. I've been getting a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions now. They feel weird, but aren't painful or anything. I had a ton of them the other day while I was at clinical, and that night too, but I know it was because I hadn't had enough to drink during the day. I have to be careful about that. I've also been drinking Red Raspberry leaf tea because it supposedly helps to strengthen your uterus and make labor quicker and less painful. It can't hurt to try, right?
I don't know if I mentioned this in my last post, but I can finally hear the baby's heartbeat with my stethoscope. It's so exciting! He is kicking harder and harder every day. He can now reach my ribs, and will sometimes kick them. It's not my favorite feeling. He mostly still just kicks my sides. Sometimes it feels like he's having a seizure in there because of how quickly and jerkily he moves. Last night I was lying on my side, and he was like moving his leg/knee up and down my side. Sometimes it felt like he was going to push his foot through my skin, that's how far he was pushing out. It was the coolest feeling. He gets hiccups several times a day, and usually around the same time of night each day. I feel like he must be head down, kind of facing my right side, because I always feel hiccups down toward my left side. However, the other day, it felt like he had rolled over because I felt hiccups on my right side. I have no idea, though. I wish I could see exactly where his little body is positioned. I go to see my midwife today, so maybe she will be able to tell where he is.
According to the websites I visit, Evan is about 4 pounds now and something like 18 inches long! It makes me feel really relieved that he's at the point where if he was born early, he'd most likely be just fine. 4 pounds is still really little, but it's not THAT little when you think of how small some babies are that are born early and survive. The websites say that he is almost fully developed, except for his lungs. Luckily, these days they have steroid shots that they can give babies to speed up their lung development if they are born early. I'm not worried though, I think he's going to be in there for a while longer. He seems pretty comfy. I can't believe how excited I am for him to be born though! Things have been so busy, and will only get busier soon, with finals, and moving, and all that. The last 9 weeks will fly by so quickly, and before we know it, we'll be holding our little boy. It is going to be the most surreal thing ever. I can't even imagine how amazing it will be, to look at him and know that we made him and that he is OURS! I feel him move all the time inside me, and love him so much and feel so connected to him, but it still doesn't feel real sometimes that he will be born and be a real little human being that we get to take care of. It's the craziest thing to think about...in a good way :)