Week 26 Update

Yesterday started week 27 (and the first day of the 3rd trimester!).  The baby is graduating onto a new growth chart--he is no longer measured from crown to rump, but now from head to toe.  The full length at this point is about 15 inches, and the baby now weighs over 2 pounds.  The little guy actually has more taste buds right now than he will ever have.  That means that he not only is able to taste differences in the amniotic fluid when I eat different foods, but he might even react to it!  (For example, some babies respond to spicy foods by hiccuping or kicking.)

Not a whole lot is new on this end.  Sleep is still pretty hard to come by.  Between early long work days, and waking up every hour or so to go to the bathroom or reposition to ease those aches and pains (mostly in the hips), I've been feeling pretty tuckered out lately!  Last weekend, I was treated by Mark to a pre-natal full body massage, which was wonderful!  (Mark got me a gift card to a spa for our anniversary, and I had been waiting until later in the pregnancy to use it.)

Yesterday Mark and I went to another baby appointment.  Again, the standard weight, urine, and blood pressure tests were taken.  Everything is still good.  I've gained about 4 pounds too much at this point, but over the past month, my rate of weight gain was much lower than the previous two (yay Thanksgiving and Christmas time! haha), so hopefully in the end, I'll be pretty much on target.  We also got to listen to the heart beat again, which is always cool.  Up until this point, we had appointments every 4 weeks, but now we'll start having them every two.

Last night Mark and I also started "Birthing Basics" classes at the hospital.  We'll have a total of four of these on Thursday nights in February.  The first thing all the couples had to do was introduce themselves, give the due date and the sex of the baby (if you know), and describe a characteristic your partner has that you'd like to see in the baby.  I went first and gave most of the details, so when Mark went, he felt like he needed to keep talking about something, so he said "Hi, I'm Mark... And I'm the father..." which I thought was pretty funny.  I guess I stole all the thunder!  haha  Anyway, I said I wanted the baby to have Mark's constant willingness to help others, and Mark said he wanted the baby to have my "brains." 

The first class pretty much just went over general anatomy, discomforts of pregnancy (and what's causing them), and some relaxation methods.  Mark and I agreed that we both already knew about most of what was discussed in the first class, but that it's nice either way to learn something new or be reassured that you do know what's going on.

That's it for now!

-Mandy :)