My work organized a trip to Stinson Beach last Friday. You can see pictures if you click on the one below. It was actually really warm -- 73 degrees--and I probably could have gone swimming if I was so inclined.
The photo is from last week, but I'm already bigger. I don't look too happy because my back was hurting. I gave up biking to work because of it. Now I walk 1/2 mile to the bus stop or *gasp* drive to work.
This weekend Micah and I spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning the house and comparison shopping for the furniture we need--a glider chair for nursing, a new desk and desk chair for Micah, a new, possibly bigger bed for us, and a rug for the office/nursing room/studio.
I went to yoga class on Saturday and saw a woman from our hypnobirthing class--she's one week overdue and they want to induce her. She's trying all kinds of things to naturally induce labor--including eggplant parmesan and spicy pizza, walking, intimate relations with her husband. Another woman from our class gave birth 3 weeks early and it was less than three hours from her water breaking to delivery. First child, too.
My last day of work is Oct 17th, and I'm looking forward to having a week to relax and get the last things in order, and get some sleep before the little one comes along and changes everything.
Here I am at thirty weeks--this was taken around August 13th.
Baby is really kicking now--last night Micah and I sat around on the sofa and watched my belly move like in Aliens.
We're coming along with preparations..including:
This is from the second ultrasound we had--the first picture of baby looking like more than a little jellybean. It's a side view of him--youc an see his belly, ribs, then his little head, nose and mouth. The still photos don't do the ultrasound justice--it is amazing to see how much he moves--he's very active. When I feel him move these days, he bumps around regularly for about 10 minutes then calms down and sleeps. Once I felt him with hiccups.
My next ultrasound is scheduled for weeks 37/38 to see if he's in the proper birthing position- head down.
This photo is a few weeks old--taken on July 26th. I now weigh as much as Micah!
Fortunately, almost all my maternity clothes are borrowed or used. For new items, I've purchased a bathing suit, two pairs of pants, two tops and two bras new for about $300. In contrast, I have two drawers of borrowed clothes, and a (used) skirt, three tops, and a pair of pants for $70.
We're beginning to figure out how to organize/rearrange our house to accommodate baby. The idea right now is to block off one half of our house into an extended bedroom/private area with no kitty access using walk-through pet gates and have baby sleep with us in a cosleeper in our bedroom.
We finished hypnobirthing classes last week, but continue to practice.
Tomorrow we go to our first newborn care class--free through my health insurance! We're also signed up for classes to learn about "what to expect in the hospital" and breastfeeding.
We have a busy next three months!
Here's some more pics of the belly from our Trondheim, Norway trip two weeks ago.
Micah and I started taking HypnoBirthing classes last week. The idea behind this birthing technique is to learn methods of deep relaxation (essentially self-hypnosis) that you can use during labor to reduce or even eliminate the pain. Micah reads relaxation scripts to me and I practice relaxing & listening to affirmations (e.g. "your body and your baby are working together for a calm, peaceful birth"). I have faith that this will really help create a calm joyful birth.
In terms of medicine, I'll be totally willing to have some if I need it, but my first method will be relaxing and letting my body do what it does naturally. I'm pretty excited about the whole process, and very excited to meet the little bugger that is bumping around in my belly.
