Week 32

*How far along?: Week 32


*Total weight gain: 10.9 kilos which is about 24 pounds


*How big is baby?: Sparky is (still) the the size of a squash (Last week of month 7!)

While the baby is growing like crazy, the movements may seem less rowdy than previously. That is partly due to the fact that there is less room to negotiate in there now. The baby's movements may seem more bumping and squirming than kicking and flipping.
Baby's hair continues to grow and toenails have completely formed.

*Maternity clothes?: Yes of course!

*Sleep?: Restless lately, but I'm not sleeping TOO badly...... knock on wood

*Best moment this week? Our birthing class at the hostpial - it was SO interesting & the tour of the maternity ward was great!

*Movement?: Yes, a lot - but like the update says, more shifting & bumping rather than any kicking. My stomach is REALLY starting to pop out now with his movements from time to time!

*Food cravings?: I have been loving oranges & yogurt this week - not that I didn't like those things before, but I now like to have them every day.....

*Labor signs?: Too soon for that!

*Belly button in or out?: flattie

*What I miss: Hmmm nothing really - all is well :)

*What I'm looking forward to: Moving into 'month 8' next week. Also I'm looking forward to our 'parenting course' at the hospital next Saturday - apparently we are going to be given dolls to practice on - ha!

*Milestone: At my appointment this week my ob said he was sure Sparky is head down (last time I was in 2 weeks ago he thought he was, but this time he was sure cause he could feel the head). So that's great news as he says it's a 95% chance Sparky will stay that way now til the end!! Excellent

*Feelings this week:

** This week I have stocked up on raspberry leaf tea, which apparently helps your body prepare for labor (it's advised to start drinking it from week 32). It doesn't taste wonderful though, so I add a tiny bit of honey to each cup. I'm starting to quite like it and I try to have at least a few cups a day.

**One night this week Murray was trying to get to sleep and kept hearing a fast loud heartbeat. He felt his own & realised it wasn't his, put his head bafck to the matress & realised it was coming from Sparky!!! Since I sleep on my side, the bump was right up next to the mattress - pretty cool:)

**Murray has started referring to the bump as Sparky's 'home,’ which I think is hilarious. Like when I gently push on the bump to dislodge Sparky’s feet from my ribs Murray tells me to be careful with Sparky’s home – that he’s all nice & warm & comfortable

**Thursday night we moved out our spare bed and the same evening Murray put together the cot (crib)!!! Once we figured out that the extra holes in the frame are so you can raise or lower the mattress (duh – it was just one of those IKEA moments – why do we have so many screws???) then it went together smoothly. So we have the mattress set up nice & high and the drop side down – all secure enough to keep a baby that can’t sit up in – but high enough to not kill our backs. It looks SO nice – but I won’t post any pics until we finish off the room with a dresser & bedding & all that :)

**We had our first class the hospital on Saturday – all day from 9:30-4:30. It was a long day, but it was really really interesting. It was taught by a midwife who works on the maternity ward at the hospital who was very knowledgeable. We watched a few videos (stages of labor, natural birth, c-section, and one about pain relief – which was really just a woman sucking on the gas ha ha!). We had a very average lunch…. I really hope that’s not indicative of the food on the ward – although the ‘tea breaks’ food was lovely (fresh fruit, cheese & crackers, etc). One funny thing was when the lady brought out a doll to demonstrate a few things Murray said to me ‘that doll looks really big, surely a newborn is smaller than that.' Then, a guy near us asked the instructor just that – she replied ‘sorry girls, but this doll is actually about the size of a 35 weeker. A full term newborn would be longer & have a bigger head – eeeeeeeeeek! We also got a tour of the maternity ward at the end of the class which was excellent. She took us into one of the vacant maternity suites and showed us all of the things available to us and how to use them. Really informative – and wow what a huge nice private restroom – nice big tub, huge shower – gosh it’s a nice hospital! We also saw the type of rooms we will be in after the birth and they are also very nice. One other funny thing is she let one of the husbands (who was 7 feet tall!!) try out the gas – he got a bit loopy and walked back to his wife saying ‘you’re driving home.’ Ha! Overall it was really really good, we took a lot of notes & came home with a few things to think about and a few things to add to the to buy/pack list:)