32 weeks- 8 months!

i am now 8 months pregnant! 

holy cow.

how did this even happen?? time is going by so fast. i feel like some days drag, but then i look at the countdown on my phone that says my little boy will be here in 47 days and my heart explodes a little. 

at 32 weeks...

my baby bump has gotten so big. it's nuts. just last night, tay and i were going through some of the pictures on my phone that had been taken of my belly. i haven't been as good as i've wanted to by taking a picture every week (which i'm sure i'll regret maybe) but i have got a few that show some pretty crazy progress. he told me to find the first picture that i had taken of the "bump". looking at it now, it blows my mind! there's hardly anything there. but to taylor and i, it seemed like such huge progress. i was so excited to watch my tummy grow and know that my body would be able to support and house our child for the next nine (ten) months. it's crazy how your perception of what "huge" is changes...ha. 

this was the first picture i took at 13 weeks. 

i have now started going into the OB office twice a week. yep, a week. it's a little insane. scheduling that around my current work schedule was a little tedious, but i got it all worked out nicely. so from now until baby J comes, i will be going in every tuesday afternoon and friday morning for non-stress tests and fluid level monitoring. the non-stress test is pretty boring (so i was told), but i actually kind of enjoy it. they put two monitors on my tummy- one up higher and one down lower. the top one measures contractions and the bottom keeps track of his heart rate. over the course of twenty minutes, they are looking for his heart rate to spike about 15 beats above his average rate and hold it there for about 15 seconds. usually, when a baby moves, their heart rate will spike. so we try to get him moving. apparently babies at the current week i am at aren't very cooperative with movement, but our little boy is quite the active one and has completed the tests pretty fast both times. the other monitor will show on a graph if i have a contraction. a couple times i had a "braxton hicks" contraction and i could see the little graph spike and go back down. it's kinda cool to watch what's happening inside my body.

i had an ultrasound in the office for them to check my amniotic fluid level because they were worried it might be too high. (a normal range is anywhere from about 8 cm- 20 cm) mine was measuring at about 15.5 cm which is great! it felt good to know i don't have to worry about that right now. about a week ago, i had another visit at the hospital and got a more extensive ultrasound to see the baby. right now, he is measuring a few weeks big. he is supposed to be around 3 and a half pounds right now...and our little man is about 4 pounds and 11 ounces! it had me a little worried, but i asked the doctor about it and he said that still only puts him in the 75th percentile, so as long as his growth is consistent, i won't be giving birth to a 10 pound baby. thank goodness. :) he will definitely be a big boy, but i somewhat expected that, with the circumstances and also just genes. a healthy baby is the most important thing. 

at this point, after a conversation with a couple of my doctors, we can pretty much guarantee that he will be here on July 16th or the day after. to be induced to deliver "naturally" (not a c-section) i have to be at least 39 weeks if i don't have any signs of labor already. so July 16th will be that day! if i happen to go in the week before and i'm already dilated to 3cm, then they will let me be induced then! i want him to be healthy, but i'm sorta praying that he'll decide to come to the world a little sooner than later :)

as for me, i am currently...

super uncomfortable almost 24/7. having stinky back pain. waddling like a penguin. sporting cute swollen ankles. waking up literally every hour each night to pee. having numerous braxton hicks contractions. feeling baby boy move around like crazy: rolls, jabs in the hips and ribs (simultaneously), and powerful kicks. 

i am so excited to meet our little boy. i think about him all day long and dream about what he will look like and be like. i think about how much our lives will change with the addition of him into our family. i worry if i'll be a good enough mother for him. i worry if he is healthy and happy in the little home i am providing him with. i miss it when he doesn't power punch me for a while. i think about how i am never alone and how my sweet baby has become my constant companion and little buddy. i stare in awe at my growing belly and wonder how something so incredibly important and magnificent is happening in there. i am amazed every day at what my body is capable of doing and how this awesome journey that has been the hardest thing i've ever done will end with a baby being placed in my arms. 

i can't wait.

the best is yet to come.