Week 34 – Streeettttccchhhing

Well, it happened. The Nino officially grew into and out of the stretch marks Jimmy left behind. He should be happy knowing he left his own permanent mark on his mamma. The stretching happened sometime last week and man does my belly itch! Not itching like I need a steroid pack and two containers of Sarna lotion because I have a horrible itchy rash that won’t go away until approximately two weeks after he’s born– just dry, skin stretched to the max…and BEYOND!

I think its kind of neat that I got to change weeks on my birthday. I turned 32 yesterday and 34 weeks. It would have been even crazier if I had turned 32 weeks on my 32nd birthday. But I’m really glad I didn’t turn 34 years on week 34…I can happily wait 2 more years for that….not that I’ll be pregnant again at 34…its just that I can wait to turn 34…forget it.

Here’s an update on the Name Game. We’ve moved from 95% certainty of a name to about 99% certainty. First I have to ask what you think of Pepe? Catchy, right?

I have an appointment tomorrow for a quick blood pressure check. I’ve been feeling pretty good this week so I’m hoping the results reflect that. We found out Saturday at our birth center “class” that I can deliver there as early as 36 weeks. That’s two weeks away and while I’d prefer to let him bake a little longer its good to know that if my blood pressure does get out of hand that we could induce and still have him at the birth center. My new goal is to keep my blood pressure steady for 2 more weeks. Once we get there I’ll shoot for 2 more weeks. With the rate I’ve been going with this blood pressure thing I think its totally doable to make it to 36 weeks and I’d love to make it to as close to 38 weeks as I can. So you can follow along with the calendar in my head the earliest I want to have this baby is May 22nd and I’m shooting for June 5th. My gut feeling says it will be somewhere in between.

I don’t know how much The Nino actually weighs now but considering he was measuring at 5 lbs 2 weeks ago I think its safe to say he’s at least approaching 6 lbs now. The baby websites are still way off base with him since they’re predicting that he weighs 4 ¾ right now. Huh! Maybe 5 ¾. Anyway though here is their idea of what he “looks” like statistically speaking.

The Nino at Week 34 (+ a pound probably)

And wonder of wonders here is what I look like this week…not statistically speaking….more literally.

Mamma @ Week 34

Here’s an extra one just so you can see how differently it looks from the other side – also, this side is where most of the new stretchy marks are.

Stretchy Marks