Here we are, in the single-digit countdown of weeks remaining...wow! I had a 30-week checkup yesterday, and all is fine! Baby's heart rate was about 155, Mom's blood pressure was normal, and my uterus measures 30 centimeters (I'm still astounded by that coincidence). I gained 4 pounds in the past 4 weeks - still well within the "suggested" weight gain.
Your baby's a bit more than 15 1/2 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds. A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and fills out your uterus. Your baby is now able to distinguish between light and dark, and she can even follow a light source back and forth. Once 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 won't be able to see more than a few inches in front of her face. You'll want to hold her close as much as possible so she can get a good look at you.
In other news:
Dan's been riding his bike to work! Not only do I feel better about our carbon footprint :-) but he's really reaping the benefits. He hopped on the scale today and decided it must be broken, because the number was too LOW. How often does that happen to any of us? Good for him.
The nursery is getting the base coat of paint tomorrow! Mom & George will help me turn our pistachio-ice-cream guest room into a magical-lavendar nursery. Then, Mom and I will do some stenciling around the molding for a cute border - butterfiles and dragonflies. Once I have all of the furniture in place I'll post pictures!
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Dan and Lindsay are experiencing life with their first baby!
2 comments:
Okay, it's been too long since I read your blog - so I'm going way back in my comments. First, let me say this: Kit, I'm highly impressed with your vocabulary. Excellent.
Then, I want to comment on the pain discussion. I really like Kit's color-texture perception thing (obviously you've got me well beat on vocab). I like it because I can completely understand it, being very visual myself, and I think if I tried it might work for me too. I can definitely imagine my pain LOOKING like something.
Critter's Mom - I have to tell you, while I can see how "being one with your pain" would work for you (you have that ability to dive deep and train your brain), I really don't want to be ONE WITH MY PAIN, I'd rather forget about it.
What I've always done, since I was a little girl, is tell myself that pain is just another feeling, like any other, and I just FEEL it, acknowledge it and move on. I remember telling myself this when both of my babies were being born. I remember thinking, concentrating on the fact that the intense pain was just like being tickled (which I hate - but isn't pain exactly), or like a massage - just another use of the sense of touch or feeling. I don't use this technique unless it's really an intense pain, and seems as though it will be long lasting. It works VERY well for cramps. I can almost ENJOY cramps with this method. But, if I have a "stupid" pain, like stubbing my toe, running into a door, etc - then I just swear my head off and I find that works very well too. I did that during childbirth too - when the stupid nurse couldn't get the intervenus thing in my arm after 5 or 6 tries.
I am thinking my technique is much like the Buddhist one that Critter's Mom described. I'm really just minimalizing it's importance and telling myself that it's just like every other feeling I experience. I like it. I can remember the first time I thought of it - I was probably about 7 years old. I was getting the mail and I banged my knee on the cement step. I didn't feel like crying, or feel angry, but it really hurt. I just told myself (in my own tomboy-ish way) to "buck up" and deal with it, it's just pain, no different than any other feeling. Bing!Like a lightbulb. And I've used it ever since.
I have even told my kids to try it sometimes. They really always expect pain to go away quickly. When they have a hurt that is long lasting, like a burn, they complain that it still stings the next day and they're always surprised. I tell them that some pain just lasts a long time, and that if they just think of it as any other feeling, they won't notice it so much.
Lastly, let me comment on Dan riding his bike to work. Just yesterday morning I was moaning to my husband that I had intended to get up early and go walking with my son, but that I was too tired so I'd just gone back to bed - and how lazy am I? and how frustrated I was with myself for being so tired. He said, "You should ride your bike to work." Note that almost everyone else here at work has been riding their bike to work for the past couple of weeks. There are 3-4 bikes piled up against the building every day - all cool, fast looking ten speeds. I thought about this suggestion for a few minutes. It would be nice to get the exercise. It's the perfect distance for it, and my wardrobe could support the exercise/work combination. Then, I thought about my bike as a member of the bike pile at the side of the building. No. No. No. That was it. It would not work. My bike is way too matronly to be a part of that pack. I would be too embarassed. So, Dan, you go for it man. I'll keep driving. Though I am considering a scooter to better my "carbon footprint".
Yay bike! I would like to bike around town, if I could figure out a good storage arrangement for a bike. I have friends who are either so serious about biking or so serious about earth-friendliness that bike storage is a criterion in their choice of housing. But when I moved here, I wasn't thinking about bicycles, and now that I'm settled in this apartment (which in almost every other respect is ideal for me) it doesn't seem worth the hassle to move and most likely absorb a big hike in rent just so that I can have a bike. One of my serious-bicyclist friends has suggested clearing out my coat closet by the door and storing a bike in there, but then where do the coats go? And I've thought about putting a bike on the balcony, but then I"d have to roll it around the maze of living room furniture and over the white wall-to-wall carpet and it just seems inevitable that dirt and chain grease will be a problem.
But anyway . . .
I would also like to say, Yay dragonflies!
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