31 weeks!

How big is baby?

According to the ultrasound today, he already weighs 4 pounds and is growing perfectly at the 50th percentile for his gestational age. He is about 17-18 inches long. No concern about my blood pressure affecting his growth. So happy to hear.

What is baby up to?

At the ultrasound, when the tech was trying to get a picture for us, he was opening and closing his mouth. Or maybe he was trying to talk to us. We even got to see his open eyes looking around. He was probably trying to figure out what was pushing on my belly. He may or may not have figured it out, but he did enjoy kicking the wand while it was there.

Movement

See above. It was fun to see exactly what body parts were trying to push the ultrasound wand away. 

Blood pressure

Still hovering around the 130s/upper 80s. Diastolic (bottom number) peaked at 94 yesterday. I'm hoping it doesn't get much higher.

Update

I had an OB appointment on Tuesday. That went really well. She was so excited that we made it to 31 weeks and said 32 will be even better. She sounded much more optimistic that we'll make it to 34 weeks, which was great to hear.

I had an appointment at the maternal fetal medicine clinic today. We had an ultrasound and met with the doctor that would deliver if we ended up going before 35 weeks. My hospital isn't equipped to handle babies that young, so we'd end up going to St. Joseph in Tacoma.

Here's the picture of our handsome little boy:

He looks good on the ultrasound. His kidneys are well developed and he has fluid in his bladder, meaning he is doing a good job drinking amniotic fluid. His head, arms, and legs, are the right size. Heart rate was 133. Amniotic fluid level is normal, which is good because that can be affected by my blood pressure. He is positioned with his head down already. 

The specialist said that most people in my scenario won't go past 37 weeks, so we'll most likely be parents by the end of March. Jared installed the car seat today, so we're at least ready for that!

The cats were sitting on the couch watching crows and squirrels outside. Ha!