A Real-Life Pregnancy: Week 31

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Photo Credit: Dean Lipoff

So I'll admit, I'm tired, sore, and not excited about moving about too much. During this whole pregnancy, I have been pretty lucky to not have had major morning or all-day sickness, as I now refer to it, massive heartburn, or even swollen ankles. From what everyone else has been telling me, I've had a really easy pregnancy and should consider myself lucky. Well, I do! I'm pregnant and if you remember, I worked hard for almost three years to get here and spent countless hours and lots of pointless money on trying to get pregnant. Now that it's almost over, I'm feeling a little sad, but mostly tired!

When you get to this point, your body has become something that you never ever thought in your wildest dreams it could be. For one, your waist is like a basketball—nice and big and round. You aren't able to touch your toes—even cutting your toenails is out. And the exertion of doing your hair might be starting to take its toll on your upper back and arms. Putting on underwear and socks can be difficult, and pants—I have given up on those. I'm back to going through three pairs of underwear a day (extra bit of discharge lately—which is totally normal) and rolling, rocking, or being helped out of bed is just not as fun as it used to be.

ME Time

I have turned to others in my time of need. Getting a regular haircut during this time isn't only a great idea, but just a really nice thing to do for yourself. I never had my hair cut as often as I have while I've been pregnant! It feels so nice to have someone wash your hair and spend lots of time making it look nice. Same goes for getting a pedicure. If you've never had one before, now is the time to do it. I know that many don't suggest it due to potential dangers (unclean conditions of salons), but find a place that your good friend suggests and go. Most of the time they don't cost very much ($9 to $20) and they last a couple of weeks. I usually do not like people touching my feet, but a pedicure, let me tell you, I make a big exception for that.

I've found some great maternity dresses that I can still wear (two at this point) and find ways to mix and match them with sweaters, different shoes, t-shirts, and scarves to help make them look different so it doesn't appear that I'm wearing the same thing every day—but, what can you do? I refuse to buy any more maternity wear at this point in my pregnancy!

My husband has been a big help giving an extra hand to get me out of bed and sometimes giving me a little backrub. He's even taken over washing the dishes. It's difficult to reach certain things at this point in a pregnancy, and washing dishes is one of those jobs that I can just do without. There are times that I think he doesn't really understand what's going on, or how my body has become such a challenge, but he has learned to keep the comments to himself and help. I make sure to thank him lots!

Take advantage of these last few months; I sure am. I want to have wonderful memories of the last moments of my pregnancy even if the skin on my stomach feels like it is being stretched and scratched with sandpaper. I'm looking forward to seeing photos of myself looking happy and healthy during the final trimester of my pregnancy even though I might've only had a few hours of sleep due to difficulty breathing and having to go to the bathroom four or five times during the night. And I definitely want to look like I'm glowing from head to toe even though I'm not really sure what my toes look like anyway. This has all been worth it. I can't wait for the baby to come!

Sarah's Stats

Waist measurement: 43 inches
Weekly weigh-in: 170 pounds
Pregnancy symptoms: I'm having a hard time breathing. I'm making sure to take iron supplements and eat lots of greens to help my iron levels. Because the baby is growing, it pushes against my lungs and makes me have a lower lung capacity—this is totally normal and nothing to worry about.
My pregnancy advice for the week: Don't forget to exercise! Lots of people keep telling me this, and I know I have even said this in my last weeks of writing, but I'm tired! The last thing I want to do is exercise! I bought some hand weights and I do arm curls while relaxing on the couch.
Pregnancy "first" of the week: Nothing really ... we've still been experimenting with names and it's been a bit challenging. Hopefully we will pick something out before the baby is born!
Doctor's visit: Not this week.

About the Photo: The above picture of the author was taken during her 31st week of pregnancy by Dean Lipoff.

Read the next installment: week 32