Week 31 is here! Declan is the size of a coconut at approximately 3.2 lbs and should start gaining weight rapidly as we head towards the final weeks.
I started the week at work thinking it would be another normal week. We have weekly department meetings on Monday mornings and I was busily preparing my notes for the meeting and didn't realize the rest of the team left their desks beforehand. I scrambled thinking I was running late to my own meeting at 8:15 only to find that they had thrown me a surprise diaper party and breakfast in our conference room. They had the conference room decorated with blue and while streamers and balloons and everyone wore blue to celebrate my little boy! I, of course, wore a pink and white day and was completely taken by surprise. The entire team pitched in a bought different size diapers and all contributed to breakfast which consisted of french toast bake, an egg bake, a fruit tray and an assortment of fruit juices. It felt extremely nice to be honored and have my little boy celebrated by my work team.
Later on in the day, the HR department sent out an email to the entire office and we celebrated with cake for everyone else also. We got the cutest little stuff animal toy book and gift card along with the cake.
Wednesday night after work we had our last childbirth class and we can proudly say we graduated from childbirth class! I'm not sure if that makes me completely ready for labor, delivery and a newborn but I do feel more comfortable. After class, we brought home all of our handouts and booklets and Kinny started studying up so she's ready for her brother's arrival too.
Friday afternoon I had my 31 week doctor's appointment. I'm still measuring on track and Declan's heart rate was 133 bpm. He's still super active and having fun with the kick counts Mommy is tracking. It's so amazing feeling him moving around and I'm still in disbelief that I've been able to grow a human life inside of me. I head back in 2 weeks for another appointment where we'll talk about my options for delivery and put together a preliminary birth plan. For me, the birth plan is important but I want my doctor to do whatever she feels is necessary for me to have a healthy baby given my age and going through IVF, so my birth plan is going to be very flexible.
On my way back to work, I had the unfortunate luck of driving through the flipped truckload of rotten hot dogs on the highway. Of course all 3 lanes of the highway were covered with this mess so I couldn't avoid it. At first, I thought it was manure but it was slippery and extremely smelly and was really hard to drive through. I didn't find out until I got home that evening that it was actually rotten hot dogs and now we can't get the smell out from underneath my car. I'm hoping it will eventually just wear off but being pregnant and it being super hot outside, the smell is disgusting.
Yesterday I had a hair appointment downtown and D was super nice to drive me down there. Afterwards we had a date lunch at Hi-Pointe Drive In. We're huge fans of Sugarfire Smokehouse and Hi-Pointe didn't disappoint us! It was also perfect since my biggest craving through this pregnancy has been a burger. I didn't get a picture of D and I but here's D enjoying his bacon cheeseburger.
After our lunch we went grocery shopping and while we were checking out at Trader Joe's the cashier noticed all of the cookie butter in our cart. Cookie butter is a favorite of D's so we stock up when we shop there. She asked if that was my craving seeing I was pregnant. I told her no but it was D's favorite and that my little guy craves meat. She then says, "whoa, you look like you're going to pop! When are you due?" I told her not until October 11th and she comments, "are you sure it's not twins?" I assured her it wasn't but WOW!....way to make a pregnant lady feel better! I've only gained 20 lbs so far this pregnancy, with nothing gained in the last 2 weeks and really all of my weight seems to be in my belly. I guess that's why I look like I'm going to pop even if we still have a few months left. Thankfully I'm still very healthy and everything is going as planned!
