31 weeks and belly pics!

The belly at 31 weeks

View of my belly looking down while sitting at dinner with friends. Thought this angle was funny...2 days shy of 31 weeks in this pic

I can't believe that I am only 1 week shy of being 8 months prego! This past weekend, we went out to dinner with some friends at Market Common. It was really nice to have a night out with everyone, since those might be few and far between pretty soon!

Monday - I had my 31 week checkup. My blood pressure was a little high (135/75) but I expected that. It has been a stressful few weeks at work. The attorney that I am the paralegal for has been out for about 3 weeks with health problems, and just last week had to have a brain tumor removed. Unfortunately, we have found out that she will be battling cancer for the 3rd time. She has had 2 bouts with breast cancer, and has been cancer free for almost 2 years. Her pathology showed that the breast cancer has metastasized to her brain. Thankfully the surgeons were able to remove all except for a small sliver too close to her spinal cord. She will undergo 10 radiation treatments over a 2 week period and will then have monthly scans to check for cancer popping up anywhere else. We have been very busy so it was shock to suddenly not have her here, plus now it looks like she will be out of work until I start my maternity leave. So....lots of pressure at work!

Colten's heartbeat was great, and then came the news that my uterus was measuring 4 weeks ahead! At my 28 week checkup, my uterus measured 29 cm. At this checkup (31 wks) it measured 35 cm! She felt my belly and said she thought Colten was heads down with his butt up on one side, and his feet on the other side (at least he isn't kicking me in the ribs!). She said he could just be in a position that is pushing my uterus up higher than normal, or he could be having a growth spurt and will even out. Either way, she scheduled me to come back in 2 weeks for a growth ultrasound to have him measured. If he is measuring larger than average, she said they will start checkin my cervix sooner for signs of thinning/dilation. If he measures normal, they will start checking my cervix at 36 weeks. Either way - they definitely won't let me go past 40 weeks, but may not want me to go past 38 or 39 if he is large.

Apparently my father in law was a 10 lb baby (thanks Teresa for never telling me this til now! haha) and Corey was almost 8lbs, but being born in Colorado with the altitude difference apparently may have been closer to 9 lbs had he been born here. The men in my family are of a large stature, not overweight just big boned and built like professional baseball and football players. So...we may have a big boy on our hands! I am just hoping that if I need to go earlier because of his size that my body is ready to go into labor on its own or be induced so that I can still deliver naturally and not have to have a c-section. Our plan is to try and get through as much of the early/mid labor as possible without pain medication (or possibly only Stadol) so that I can walk around and use the birthing ball to let gravity help him move down. If I can get through it completely great, but if not I would just like to labor as much as possible before getting the epidural. But - I have never been through anything like this, so if I go in and get the epidural at 2 cm I will feel no shame! :)

I go back August 2nd for my 33 week check up and the growth ultrasound.