Week 31 -- 8 Months

I have now completed my 7th month of pregnancy and am starting my 8th month! Wow! The biggest change for me this week was on Thursday night I noticed my feet and hands are starting to swell up. This was a little disconcerting for me. More than likely, it's due to all the time I've been spending lately sitting between my hours in front of the computer for work and the hours I've been spending driving for work and on airplanes recently. This isn't helping my circulation or the fact that my tailbone and butt hurt all the time now from sitting. Luckily, I think my last flight before the baby is born was earlier this week when I went to Ohio for work. Now that we're going to be spending more time at home with more relaxed weekends, I'm hoping to get in more walks and pilates workouts in hopes of helping my circulation. In addition, I'm trying to drink even more water and put my feet up more at night.

From how my friends have described it, I'm pretty sure I've also been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions the last week or two -- my whole front part of my stomach will periodically become super hard and tight. This lasts for about 30 seconds to a minute and then goes away. It's definitely not her body pushing out as that feels very different.

Our baby probably measures about 18 inches long from head to toe and weighs about 3.5 pounds right now. Rather than hearing vibrations, her nerve endings in her ears are connected now so that she can hear distinct sounds, like familiar voices and music. This week, a layer of fat will form underneath the thin, wrinkly skin. She'll also start practicing opening her eyes and breathing.

My parents drove into town for this Easter weekend. They are our first house guest! It was great to finally get to show our house to part of our family. It was great having them here. My dad was also kind enough to help Emile paint the nursery yesterday and today. The first lavender color I picked for the top half of the walls turned out to be much more purple than it appeared on the sample card. So they repainted it today with a light shade of lavender that looks so much better -- exactly what I was hoping for. We're going to have the guy who put up the chair rail in the rest of the house put up chair rail in the nursery on Friday. Then I can finish decorating!! I can't wait -- I'll post photos of the finished room soon. Here are some photos of their painting adventure.

While Emile and my dad painted, my mom and I started organizing all the baby items we received from family and friends plus those that Emile and I have purchased recently. We then put together a list of remaining items I will need to get in the next few weeks before our little girl arrives. I'm looking forward to getting everything put into the nursery and for her to start using the great gifts we've received from everyone.

My mom and I also set up in our bedroom the Pack-N-Play we received from Emile's aunt and cousin. We'll be using the PNP as our daughter's bed for the first few months after our her birth instead of the crib in the nursery so that she's close to us.