Week 32

First things first! Merry Christmas Eve! I hope you and yours are having a great day traveling, visiting, watching football on TV, eating, or trying to guess what Santa is going to bring you tonight! :)

By the way, if you are interested in tracking Santa, click here.

Today makes 32 weeks along for us! I know I say I cannot believe it every single week, but I really can’t!!!! But while my mind is having difficulty believing it, my body is feeling every bit of it! ;) It is no secret that pregnancy is quite taxing on a body, but it is a lot of fun too! For example, the other night, when I was taking a bath, I was playing with our little one. I poked, and he poked back. I talked to him and poked again. He responded by poking back a few times. I talked to him some more and poked again. It got to where he would do more than poke. He was kicking and punching around in there! :)

Since before we got pregnant, I always wondered what our baby would look like. Then, when we found out we were definitely pregnant, I thought about it even more. Needless to say, after 32 weeks of pregnancy (with not that many more to go), I am really curious! I want to see the little guy Ray and I have been daydreaming of, celebrating, planning for, playing with, etc! Even though we haven’t met him yet, we know he is handsome and spunky! :)

Unfortunately, there really isn’t a wealth of information out there for Week 32 of pregnancy. Below is the most interesting info I received. My comments are in italics.

Your blood volume has increased by 40% to 50% during the past 32 weeks. This allows your body to accommodate both you and your baby. This increased volume is also important because it makes up for the amount of blood you will lose during delivery.
My doctor has told me several times about all the extra blood in my body. That probably explains why I haven’t complained of being miserably cold this winter! And how about that comment regarding blood loss during delivery? Sounds pleasant, doesn’t it?

Your baby is anywhere from 15 to 17 inches long and weighs between 4 and 4 ½ pounds.
Gosh, that is some length! I assume he will be at least 19 inches long when he is born. He really isn’t far from that now! That’s amazing! I’m thinking he’ll be at least an 8 pounder. If that is the case, he still has to double his weight. But 4 – 4 ½ pounds is definitely a baby – not the little embryo he was when we first saw him!

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It seems that most resources (everything from the internet to books) talk about delivery a good bit at this point. They all stress the importance of NOT getting wrapped up in your due date. According to what I’ve read, only 5% of babies actually arrive ON their due date. I also read that while a pregnancy is known to be 40 weeks, a more accurate range is 37 – 42 weeks. I am good with delivering at 37 weeks, I think. At that point, I’ll be physically ready. But on the other hand, it will be earlier than I expected. That means I will not have time to be nervous about it. Don’t you love the way I think?! ;) But if our guy has plans to make us wait until Week 42, I will be disappointed. I would be miserable physically and probably be in a tizzy mentally! I still have my gut feeling that he’ll be early (earlier than 40 weeks anyway). Besides, if he was measuring 2 weeks larger than his gestational age a few months ago, he just can’t make his entrance late! It doesn’t make sense – or sound possible!

Again, Merry Christmas Eve! :)

~T.T.