I'm a little behind this week, but here's an update for this past week. Thursday marked the beginning of week 30. By now, our little boy is about 17 inches long and over 3 pounds. These days, the baby's brain is growing, getting bigger and picking up those characteristic grooves and indentations that we're all used to thinking of when we think of what the brain looks like. These wrinkles in the brain allow for future expansion of brain tissue that is crucial as he goes from a helpless newborn to a responsive infant to a verbal toddler, etc. His brain is also starting to take on tasks that were previously delegated to other parts of the body, like temperature regulation. Now that the brain is capable of turning up the heat (with the help of the growing supply of baby fat), the baby will start shedding "languo," the downy, soft body hair that has been keeping him warm up to this point. (Which means that by the time his is born, he probably won't be all fuzzy anymore!)
Not a whole lot is new this week. I'm starting to have a harder time getting comfortable sleeping, but Mark surprised me last weekend with a new body pillow (and CAKE! haha), which has helped a lot. But, between the pains I get in my hips, and having to pee all of the time, I'm usually lucky if I go more than an hour or so without waking up. I feel like I'm starting to get used to sleep like that though, which is good I guess since that's what it will be like for a while after the baby is born. The other problem I've had this past week is not being able to shut my brain off, which has kept me from falling asleep in the first place. I guess just the the combination of getting closer to having the baby and my current work load gives me plenty to think about!
This past Thursday Mark and I went to our third of four birthing basics classes. After a brief seminar on different delivery interventions (various drug and procedure options), we got to see videos of three births (which I don't think traumatized Mark that badly...haha). The first woman got an epidural, the second one got just a pain killer about half way through, and the third one didn't have any drugs at all. (I got very emotional when the baby was born in the first video, which I didn't expect from myself! haha) It was kind of nice to see the basic process a few times though to get a good idea of what to expect and what is normal.
After the videos, we practiced some breathing and relaxation stuff again, and then we went on to a tour of the hospital. That was really useful, since now we'll know exactly where we need to go and what to expect when the baby starts to come. I'm not a huge fan of hospitals, and they generally give off a very negative vibe to me. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the maternity area didn't feel this way at all. They have all single rooms with beds, sleeping chairs, rocking chairs, bathroom/shower, etc. which is really nice. It seems like there is one room for labor/delivery, and then a postpartum room where you stay the extra day to recover.
Well, I guess that's it for now!
-Mandy :)
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