So today I’m pretty much through my cold – feeling a lot better today! Baby has been VERY active all afternoon, must be exhausted now, he/she is off to sleepy-land for a snooze. No new complaints this week, heartburn is still present, but it’s really not all that bad – it’s at it’s worst if I wake up in the night to turn over. YEY for Rennies though – how would one survive without them

So let’s see how lil JellyBaby is doing this week:

In the latest womb reports, your amazing baby has now developed sensitivity to temperature! This means you’ll probably get a swift kick if you put a hot pad on your ginormous belly. For the Elton John lovers out there– yes, baby’s got blue eyes. At this point, all babies do, although depending on their chromosomal disposition, this could easily change after birth (or even between now and labor), but for the time being, blue it is. Thanks to their recently matured lungs and a remarkably strong immune system, over 90% of babies born in their 32nd week, survive premature births. So it’s pretty much a done deal. Even if your little monkey’s planning on heading out early, their survival odds are in everyone’s favor. Time to celebrate (no, no, wait until after the birth to crack open the champagne!) We’re talking baby-showers and alcohol-free punch!

And how about the size for 8 months?!

YEY big healthy baby!!!

Yup, 31 weeks! Still doing fabby! Getting heartburn as usual, but it’s nothing too horrid really. Considering what I could be going through compared to other women’s pregnancies. Baby is moving lots and lots, and appear to love lying in such a position whereby their head or butt is under my right hand side rib cage, and the opposite end of their body or limbs perhaps, are at my left hip. I constantly feel a little rubbing inside just above my left hip. It’s quite comforting, like he/she is letting me know they are ok and loving growing inside me Although the body part under my ribs makes me feel very achy in that area, it’s comforting to know I’m growing a precius little soul.

7 more weeks to work! I’m looking forward to finishing work. I’m beginning to get the physical tiredness – it’s odd, it’s not a sleepy tired but a tiredness where my body is telling me I need to stop and rest. I’m still sleeping well, have stated using a small cushion to rest my knee on – I’m a left side sleeper, so I’m finding now i need something to rest my knee on so my leg doesn’t put weight on my bumpy.

How about JellyBaby!!

Your not-so-little-one is just a bit closer to their birth weight and height at around 4 pounds and 17 inches. With each added layer of baby fat, your baby’s skin starts to look more and more like it will when they finally get to see the light of day. The heavy news: you can expect your miracle-gro muffin to gain about a half a pound of weight per week from now until about two weeks before birth. Great. That’s just what you needed. Even more weight to carry around!

Your baby’s still-developing immune system has gained substantial strength over the past few weeks getting them in full gear to face our disease-ridden world o’ wonders. Obviously, a large majority of your child’s immune strength will be derived from exposure to breast milk as well as the outside elements. Their cute little noggin’ (which could already be covered with luscious locks or just purty peach fuzz), is still soft because the skull bones have not yet fused together. As much as that sounds a little too vulnerable, their “skull softness” allows for a much smoother passage through the birth canal during labor—something both you and your little swimmer will appreciate when it’s finally time to “go!” Also, some babies will have that “soft spot” on their head for up to one year after birth.

So, who said they had their IBS under control via diet?? Oh wait, that was me… nuh uh!! We’re not having such a great time of it this week. I’ve been eating bran flakes and activia yogurt as mentioned before, but it appears to have stopped working. Is it possible the body gets used to these things and then reverts?!

Today I have made Banana & Apricot Bread which contains lots of bran fibre as well, so… a cake of sorts AND healthy! What a fabulous thing!! Only thing is, I couldn’t find something called “high fibre bran” so have used Kelloggs All Bran cereal… gawd knows what it will turn out like! I guess I’ll find out once it has cooked. It currently has 30 minutes of cooking time left. Very easy to make though.

Heartburn was terrible on Tuesday, I had a cheese and tomato sandwich at lunch and have made the link between tomatoes and terrible heartburn!! So those will be avoided from now until this little one is born!

I’m feeling a whole lot of movement now, baby is very very busy! I could make out a “hard” part on the left side of my lower tum last night – I’m guessing it was a butt (see position of baby below). I’ve been trying to see if I can feel/identify limbs but it’s impossible lol I guess either, it’s too eary, or you have to know what you’re looking for!!

So… JellyBean time…

Your little grower’s physical proportions are evening out at this point and most of their remaining development will largely be weight gain and lots and lots of nervous system development. The good news is: if your child is born premature now they’ll be more likely to survive without too much trauma as their lungs began to produce “surfactant” last week, which means their tiny respiratory system is getting stronger with each passing day. Yes, now’s a good time for a minor sigh of relief and a quick pat on the back. All that hard work and conscientious living is really getting your child prepared for a healthy delivery. Keep up the fabulous work mama! This week they’ll be scootching slowly out of the old breech position and start rotating (already!) into a better position for exit during their birth. Their head and feet are slowly rotating so that the head is pointed down towards the birth canal. Time is short (or really long, depending on who you ask)—just (still!) 14 weeks left before you can go back to being a single-resident human.

3 weeks to go until the 3rd trimester… how scary!