Pregnancy: Weeks 30 & 31

My Stats:
Still holding strong to at 20 lbs gained!
Waist measures about 42 inches.

Little Monster's Stats:
He weights a little over 3.5 lbs and his total length is roughly 18 inches.
Even though his lungs are immature, they are beginning to function.  In fact, most of his organs are completely formed at this point.
All five of his senses are working.  I hope that doesn't mean he can smell Momma's "Dammit Baby's".  If so, sorry dude.

Pregnancy Fun Facts:
Have I talked about the "pregnancy glow" yet?  Basically your body begins to produce more oils in your face and it gives it a waxy sheen.  This translates into more pimples then a 13-year-old tuba player.  I carrying around little packs of tissues to wipe the oil off my face, but it doesn't seem to help.  Foundation?  Forget it.  Hell, at this point it's a victory if I have mascara on.

My feet and hands started swelling weeks ago, but with the insanely hot weather we have been having lately, they have gotten worse.   I can't make a fist with my hands, and pretty much all of my shoes don't fit me.  Hooray for flip flops!

Energy Level/ Sleep:
  All of last week was super hot (three days of 100+ temps) so I was really feeling it.  Our house does not have central air conditioning, so only three of our rooms were usable.   I was also on three straight weeks of day shift, so that is three weeks of waking up at 4 am.  This week, I have been able to sleep in until 7:30 so I think that (combined with the cooler temps) has really helped keep my energy up.

Sleep hasn't been horrible.  The little guy likes to move around a lot when I first lay down, but after a while he settles in.  Like I said last week, I've gotten really good at ignoring his movements and kicks.  I have noticed, however, that when I lay down I have a shortness of breath.  I've read that this is normal, due to the pressure of my expanding belly.

Cravings:
  Cake.  Which is weird because I'm not a cake-person.  Right now though, I cannot get enough of it.

Other Stuff:
I have "dropped" in the past week.  If you compare Week 30 to Week 31, it is pretty clear that this guy took a nosedive to new territory

This makes me nervous because I am SO NOT READY for this little dude to be born yet.  I am not sure what is the correlation between dropping and the time you actually give birth, but I hope it translates into another 8 weeks, at least.  

In similar news, my cousin Kerith was due with her first baby on September 29 (two days after me).  On July 26th, she gave birth to a 4 pound 5 oz baby girl, Alexi Ola at 30 weeks and 4 days.  As of right now, Mom is doing well, and Baby Alexi is fighting hard.  I am asking you to please keep my cousin and her daughter in your thoughts and prayers.

Always & Forever,

  ME