We’re now into our 31^st week of this pregnancy journey, and the apps and websites tell us that our son is now the size of a head of cabbage. Given the presence of pregnancy wind in our household, I don’t feel the need to argue with their analogy either! The clock is really ticking down now and it feels like there isn’t a chance that we’ll be ready by the time he arrives – but I don’t suppose we’ll ever be ready. Not fully.

(The size of our baby & another creator of wind!)

The baby has grown almost to his full length for birthing now, and just needs to fatten up. This means that he is taking up a lot of room and thus his kicks are less powerful. There is still plenty of movement from the little rascal I am told, but the movements are very different to what they were a few weeks back. For me, the male partner in the relationship, this has been very frustrating. I was enjoying my weeks of bonding – always getting a kick as his half of our interaction. Now it’s much more difficult to feel him moving and at times I’ve felt a little useless.

As far as my wife is concerned, we’ve basically revisited the dreaded first trimester but with much more force. Any negative symptoms that pregnancy can throw at you are likely to come in this home stretch, and plenty of them have already made an appearance. For me? I’m still suffering from couvades syndrome I’m sure. Anxiety, increased appetite and crazy dreams. I dreamt this week that my wife gave birth a month early. I know from my own research that a baby coming a month early isn’t all that uncommon or unsafe and that he would have been pretty much fully formed. Not in my dream though; for our son entered the world as a smiley faced caterpillar!

(Pretty much what our son looked like in my dream)

The weight and self esteem issues are still there for myself, but that’s something I’m working on. I’m already 6lbs lighter than when I started the new regime; weighing in at 174lbs this morning. I’ve been using an iPhone app called MyFitnessPal that had helped me track my calories. I’ve become obsessed with logging every item of food or drink that I consume and it is really helping. I’m using this blog, right now, to recommend it to anybody that wants to at the very least assess their diet!

You can find the app and/or its website here... www.myfitnesspal.com

Our first born child isn't due to grace us with his presence until a predicted date of May 25th as regular readers will know. However, until we all get the chance to meet him and watch his personality blossom, here is your chance to get to know him as he is now.

Name:

Wouldn’t you like to know? So would I come to think of it! I hope they don’t call me little rascal forever.

Age: 30 weeks and 1 day inside this cosy womb.

Sex: Male.

Likes:

Tomatoes, cold drinks and salty snacks. Bedtime stories from my Daddy. All over body massages. The sound of Mummy’s wind rattling through the body and making me jiggle around.

Dislikes:

People shining light on the walls of my house – my eyes work pretty good now and I see it. Being left without food or kept still for too long.

Favourite Activities:

Spinning around and hiding in Mummy’s ribs to let her know I’m feeling good.

Favourite Moment:

I knew Mummy and Daddy wanted to find out if I was a boy or a girl, so I put my hands down and covered my bits when the nice lady tried to find out at one of my scans. That was a funny joke I had planned all along.

Favourite Toy:

Its good fun to pull on the cord that keeps me and Mummy connected.

What do you look forward to?

I look forward to leaving my cosy home behind when I get too big and seeing the same world that Mummy and Daddy see. I can’t wait to meet new people and be surrounded by love. I hear Mummy and Daddy talking about it all the time.