31 weeks

Your baby is continuing to grow each week that you remain pregnant. Your baby's crown-to-rump length is nearly 11.2 inches and total length is approximately 18 inches. Your baby weighs approximately 3.5 pounds at this point. Your uterus is about 4.4 inches above your bellybutton and continues to get larger.

This week marks an incredible milestone in your baby's lung development. Before now, the air sacs and branches in your baby's lungs were present but not functional. The lungs were not able to inflate properly. However, now there is surfactant being produced in your baby's lungs. Surfactant prevents your baby's lungs from collapsing outside of the uterus and the baby is able to take in air and breathe properly. The fetal ear is almost completely developed both inside and out. Your baby can hear your voice and other familiar sounds that she will recognize after birth. Your baby is putting on white fat under the skin and the skin's color is pink instead of red at this point. Your baby's fingernails have grown to the end of her fingers and she may scratch herself while she is in the womb.

31 weeks and I made a special trip to Labor and Delivery at Providence on Friday. I never thought I would go there until she was ready to come. My body decided differently. It all started Thursday. I couln't catch my breath & my heart rate would not settle no matter what I did to rest. I call the doc they said that heart palpatations are normal and to monitor them. I woke up Friday with this terrible back pain and lower stomach cramps. I also had a rash starting on my stomach. But I went about my day because I chalked it up to being "normal" for pregnancy. Then through out the day my heart rate would play tricks on me and would rise and fall even if I was sitting down. I also couldn't catch my breath & had a slight chest pain and by at 4pm I started to get a fever. I also hadn't felt Audrey move all day. Nothing, not even a little tap from her. That and the fever was the trigger point. So I call the on call doc (who luckly was my doc that I talk to the prior day) and she said to head on in to Triage to get checked out. Soooo, scared out of my mind (and I find out later, Joey was too) we headed on in.

By about 4:45 I was all hooked up to the monitors. The baby's heart rate looked great and about 10 minutes later she started kicking. Go figure. I also was not contracting (thank god) so it was on to get some testing done. They did a pap exam (not exactly sure what they were looking for there) and a TON of bloodwork. All but two tests came back about an hr and half later negative. And I can't really list what all they were looking for but the doc said they tested for EVERYTHING. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I get sent home. My heart rate was down, still had a slight fever, still had a rash, and still had slight cramps. But felt a lot better. I think it was hearing that Audrey's heartbeat was good and I wasn't contracting calmed me down. I was ordered to bed rest & to basically drown myself with water & some OJ until Monday when I can go in for a follow up and get the rest of my test results. I did nothing but sit on the couch, watch movies, and read a book. I haven't relt that rested in a while. My fever was gone, my heart rate stayed down, I was able to catch my breathe easier if I got up to do something, and I only had slight lower belly cramps BUT my rash was getting worse and starting to itch.

On Monday I go into the doc and the other two tests had come back from the hospital negative. The doctor stated I was probably just fighting off some sort of bug and the bed rest while hydrating was the key to fighting it off before it got worse. BUT now that my rash is worse and very itcy AND ALL OVER MY BODY we did more blood work to see if I have Cholestasis . I am hoping and praying that I don't have this. I will definatly have to be monitored more and go to the hospital twice a week for baby stress tests and this condition can cause pre-term labor. SOOO pray for me that I don't have it. If this test comes back negative then I probalby just have PUPPPs which is a very common and non harmful pregnancy rash that will last the rest of the pregnancy (SAAAAWEEEEET). I would rather deal with that than Cholestasis. Either way I will do everything in my power to make sure that baby Audrey contintues to cook for as long as she needs to and that we both stay as healthy as possible.

And some good notes, we finally decided on a glider for Audrey's room. We just need to order it and that will be done this weekend. My dad said he would purchase the travel system for us as our baby gift so we got that ordered. We just need a few small things to purchase and we will be ready if she decides to come early. I am not saying we want her to come early but I guess its good to always be prepared.