32 Weeks

By now, Michaiah weighs almost 4 pounds (try picking up a large jicama) and is taking up a lot of space in my uterus. Of the pound a week that I'm gaining, roughly half of that goes right to my little girl. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.


Amazingly, to accommodate her growing needs, my blood volume has increased 40 to 50 percent since I got pregnant. My expanding uterus is shifting my center of gravity and stretching out my abdominal muscles while my joints and ligaments are stretching out as well. I guess that's what's happening when I wake up in the middle of the night to some serious hip pain!