34 Weeks

Wow, only 6 weeks to go! Kyle and I had a full day of childbirth class at the hospital this past Sunday. He was a trooper - getting him there was the hardest part. During the class they took us on a tour of the birth center where I will deliver. While we were standing outside of the nursery, they wheeled one of the new babies in. Suffice it to say, I was choking back the tears as were some of the other mom's in our class and the daddies were blinking awfully hard too. It's hard to believe in just 6 short weeks we are going to have one of our very own. We better get busy on the rest of the to do list!

Here is what Baby Girl is up to this week...

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well.

Pregnancy Cravings + Kroger Sale

My beverage of choice this pregnancy (seeing as how you have to give up caffeine & alcohol) has been Fruit Punch Gatorade. I go through it like water. So imagine my delight when the $1.00 bottles were on sale for $.58 this week at Kroger. I bought 30. Yes, you read that right, 30... I'm still not convinced that I shouldn't go back and buy 10 more. I think that will last me the next 7 weeks. After that I'll probably never want to drink Fruit Punch Gatorade ever again.

Tip: When spilling Fruit Punch Gatorade on beige carpet during a clumsy pregnant moment, don't panic. Google red gatorade stains, frantically grab the bottle of club soda you should always keep in your pantry, and watch the magic. I should know -I learned this lesson this morning. Club soda is my hero!

33 Weeks

One more week closer to our Baby Girl's arrival and each day is full of small preparations including trying to finalize childcare, figuring out health insurance, shopping for a camcorder, assembling her swing, and Kyle's favorite... Breastfeeding Class. Yes, I dragged him begrudgingly to Breastfeeding Class (it said partners were strongly encouraged to attend) and now he can talk such technical terms as "the football hold" with the best of them. There were several other dads there so I don't think he felt any more awkward then we all did from watching an 80's breastfeeding movie complete with permed hair, 80's dresses, and of course lots of women's nipples. He's uber excited about this Saturday's 8 hour childbirth class. The nice thing about the BF class was there were lots of other moms due around the same time as me including 2 others due the exact same day so it was nice to be able to size up other women in the same stage of pregnancy and realize that I'm not as huge as I feel some days.

Here is what Baby Girl is up to this week...

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. She's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and her skeleton is hardening. The bones in her skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for her to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as her brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

8 Months!

Last Thursday we had our first baby shower thrown by Kyle's co-workers. We had a great time and it was really nice for me to finally see after 6 years where Kyle spends his days. He got to give me a tour of his lab and I met many of his co-workers that I had not met before. Baby Girl got lots of goodies and I spent the weekend putting everything away and washing crib sheets, blankets, and some clothes to get ready.

I'm still feeling pretty good for the most part. I've been sleeping better then I was - the trick is to cut off the liquids after dinner. Although I wouldn't say I'm ready to have her by any means, I do look forward to being a normal size again and having full mobility back and be able to sleep on my stomach again. Here is what Baby Girl is up to this week...

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

31 Weeks

We are down to the single digits, only 9 weeks to go! I feel like Baby Girl has had a growth spurt. This past week I feel like I've been carrying differently and her movements are much more frequent and powerful. Kyle and I sat on the couch one night and watched my belly lurch from side to side and laughed. Most of the time it's a larger mass which I assume to be her butt but last night was the first time I could tell it was a little hand or foot. She's also discovered my bladder these last few days and apparently she's very fond of it. Unfortunately I'm not very fond of going to the bathroom once an hour during the night. I'm also starting to think she's going to have quite a head of hair seeing as the reflux has escalated to a whole new level this week. All in all everything is still going well. With the countdown comes a to-do list, classes, showers, and lots of other things to keep us busy until her arrival. Here is what Baby Girl is up to this week...

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. She weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. She can turn her head from side to side, and her arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath her skin. She's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up.

Come out and follow me...

A good friend and fellow blogger shared a website with me that will actually track the number of unique visitors you have to your blog each day. This month alone I've had 361 unique visitors which averages out to about 14 unique visitors a day. However, I only have 6 followers.

Come out of hiding, fellow blog stalkers. Take the plunge and click the follow button on right hand side of the page. Friend Connect lets you log in using an existing account from Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID. Or you can sign up for a free account with Google if you do not have one of the existing accounts listed above.

I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully with some new followers) for the 31 week post - we are down to the single digits!

30 Weeks

Baby Girl is growing. Her movements are starting to become much different! No longer the concentrated little kicks but now big shifts. I'm also starting to feel her hanging out in my ribs or in my hip bones from time to time. That's the biggest update for this week. Not much else has changed.

We had a wonderful long weekend in Williamsburg. Here is a belly shot from our trip ...

And here is what Baby Girl is up to this week... Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)