32 weeks/8 months [praying for Judah]

 

Development Prayers:
By now, Judah weighs about 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long. I read that I'm supposed to be gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to Judah. In fact, he'll gain a third to half of his birth weight during the next 7 weeks as he fattens up for survival outside the womb. He now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair. His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.  In addition to praying for his final weeks of development, I would love your prayers as labor and delivery approaches.  It's become very real that in about 8 weeks, I'll be experiencing something totally out of my control even more so than being pregnant.

Symptoms:

• I feel Judah continuously throughout the day.  You can tell that he is definitely running out of room in there and doing his best to stretch and move around.  Sometimes I feel quick sharp movements, but most of the time its just waves of movement.  I love it so much.
• He has been responding to Joel's voice!  It's too crazy!  Joel will come sit by me, rub my stomach or just put his hand there, and talk to Judah, and he always kicks in response after Joel stops talking.
• I feel asleep on the couch last night lying next to Joel with his arm around me, and when I woke up he said that Judah was a kicking machine.  It just made me so happy to know that Joel had some time with Judah because it's something that I get to experience everyday.  
• Walking and moving around is becoming more difficult. I am definitely feeling the extra weight and my muscles are especially.  So I am trying to walk more, sit less, and stretch during random moments throughout the day.  Sometimes I stand up at my desk and just rock my hips--it feels good and the doula at our birthing class said this will help prepare my pelvis for labor. 
• I've gained 21 pounds so far.  I realized that I haven't really talked about that yet.  I'm happy to gain weight as long as it's in the healthy range, but I just never think about it to share it. These last few weeks have been a steady increase.  I plateaued at 15 pounds gained for a while, but now the scale is moving for sure.  I'm also about 10 pounds away from the number that had me change my life and eating habits completely--so I'm hoping that same motivation will come in once it's all said and done. :)
• I haven't really had back pain until now, but I'll get a small pain in my lower back unless I shift positions frequently.