Gettin' big

I ran into a friend today at the grocery store that I have not seen in at least a month, maybe 6 weeks. She looked a bit surprised at how big I've gotten. And as we chatted, I got to thinking- I am big! The baby, and my uterus (fundal height, for those of you that want to know), both measure 3 weeks bigger than average. This means that while I'm in my 31st week, I look and feel about 34 weeks pregnant. Do the math- that takes me to 8 1/2 calendar months! Babies take 9 full calendar months (10 lunar months, which I know is confusing but think of all the months that take over 28 days to complete and you'll get it).

No wonder I've lost the ability to quickly or comfortably put my socks on. No wonder people get a funny look on their faces when I tell them I'm due in mid-March. And then I sometimes I get, "Oh wow. I wish I had looked like that at 31 weeks. I was as big as a HOUSE." Uh, thanks!

Keep in mind that Matt and his siblings were all born about 3 weeks early and quite big, so that suggests that perhaps this baby is just being a good Rad-baby and developing right on schedule. Baby is half from that gene pool, so I can easily see how that might be the case.

Then again, maybe the baby will want to cook until the last "full term" second- that would be, technically speaking, 42 weeks from June 5th- which is March 25th. That assumes that the baby doesn't stress or otherwise show signs of being unhappy, but I'm trying hard to think about it like this- anytime between February 20th and March 25th is fine. Before that = less fine. After that = induction (yuck).

Interestingly, I have several friends that were themselves born very post-term. We are talking 44 weeks, about 11 lbs. So this happens, and while it is sometimes very bad for the baby, it also is sometimes no problem at all. I think that is pretty amazing (and the poor moms!). These days no doctor will let a pregnant woman carry that long, but it is interesting to hear about.