The expectant couple

Photos by my sister, Noelle.

Showered by the people I love, with love

I am feeling so pleasantly overwhelmed by the love, kindness, thoughtfulness and generosity that has recently been bestowed upon me by my friends, family, and co-workers. My sister coordinated a Baby Shower for me, and my co-workers surprised me this week with another shower. A little bit about each:

My co-workers lured me to a "company fun day" last week, which turned out to be a surprise Baby Shower. I usually schedule and organize such events, so it's pretty amazing that I didn't suspect anything! We had some delicious food, including bruschetta, black bean quesadillas, chicken with a thai peanut sauce, cajun shrimp, and an amazing cake. This cake was three thin layers of chocolate cake, with raspberry preserves in between, frosted with a buttercream/raspberry puree frosting. It was a beautful, rich, and delicious cake! I donned a pre-pregnancy 2-piece tankini-style suit and stayed cool & weightless in the water.
We all sat outside by the pool in the sun, enjoying strawberry daiquiries (mine was virgin), food, and each other's company. How lucky am I that the entire company is so excited for me and Dan, so anxious to meet our baby, and so supportive?

My sister headed up a team of women to plan a fancy, yet perfectly simple shower for me two weeks ago. She recruited my friends Deborah, Kate, and Bonnie to manage decorations (a garland of photos of Dan & me as children, tea-party aprons for all to wear, amazing bouquets of flowers) and favors (individually packaged strawberry plants). She worked with our sister-in-law, Chefanie Stephanie to develop a menu (fruit kabobs with lemon curd, mini-cheesecakes, quiche, salad. My mother made truffles and chocolate-dipped strawberries. My mother-in-law hosted the shower in her big, sunny living room, with china and linens. My sister-in-law Jamie created a cake that looked like a bassinet.



And, my friends from All Over showed up for this event. From Virginia and Vermont, DC, Cape Cod, Rhode Island...truly, from All Over. I realized how many truly wonderful, amazing, funny, smart and caring women I have in my life, and I feel so blessed! I know the baby shower tradition in the US puts a lot of focus on gifts and games, but I really think the most important aspect for me was creating a true feeling of connectedness with other women. That feeling has struck me since the beginning of this pregnancy - that I'm sharing in something women have been "doing" for years, decades, centuries...since the beginning of humanity. And, what a powerful feeling that is. To have the opportunity to bring that down to a personal level, and know how connected I am to the women in my life, in my world, in my experience is something that will (I imagine) help me through the rest of this pregnancy and through labor.

35 Weeks!

We had another ultrasound yesterday, and all looks well with Baby. She's hiding her face in my pelvis, so it's pretty hard to get a good picture of her these days! We did get a nice shot of her foot, though. I'll try to remember to post that soon, for those of you who love baby feet.

This week was just a bio-wellness scan, to be sure her heart is pumping, the placenta is healthy, etc. No measurements this week!

Here is the update from Babycenter.com:
Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 pounds plus. Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

34 Weeks update

We had our weekly ultrasound on Monday. As usual, it was really cool to see the baby moving and having baby body parts and all that.

The technician switched transducers at one point, and suddenly we saw this:


A 3D image of Baby!

Dan said to the technician, "This will all be on our DVD, right?" She didn't really reply, as we all realized that I had not even given her the DVD to place in the recorder. (Amazingly, that was not my biggest DUH! moment of the day.) We quickly corrected the situation, and she spent a few extra minutes with us so we could have a decent amount of "footage."

It looks really, really, really cool on the DVD. Really.

Dan said he felt like we were cheating a little bit.

I felt complete awe. I've gotten used to looking at the ultrasound images and having to make out each 2D Skeletor part. Looking at these images...was like looking at a photo of our daughter. Surreal doesn't begin to describe it.

Baby weighs about 5 pounds, 10 ounces, according to their estimates. Do you know how they estimate that? A grandparent was inquiring the other day. They measure Baby's head, belly, and a leg. They measure the amniotic fluid. They estimate the size of the uterus based on the number of weeks of gestation - remember? I'm 34 weeks, so from pubic bone to the top of my uterus measures 34 centimeters. Then the computer puts it all together and calculates the approximate weight. She's in the 56th percentile this week. I think that means that about 56% of babies are smaller at this stage, and 44% are larger, but my understanding of percentiles began fading quickly after completing my obligatory Stats & Probability courses for my B.S.

In other news...the small amount of time remaining before the birth of our daughter is starting to dawn on us. We're starting to put together a schedule to finish the nursery and everything else on our To Do list. We're trying to go on more dates - last night we walked across the street to the auditorium to see Patty Griffin perform, and she was amazing as always. We hired a doula this week to attend the birth, and tonight we have a "postpartum" class at the birthing center. Lots to do, enough time to do it, but...the count-down has begun!

Here is the update from BabyCenter.com:
How your baby's growing: Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds 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. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

33 Weeks...starting to feel big, hot, and not so comfy...

Hi! Weekly ultrasounds began yesterday. Every 2 weeks they will look at growth, and every week will be a non-stress test of sorts, where they check the amount of amniotic fluid, the position of the baby and placenta, the functionality of the umbilical cord, and look to see the heart beat. Baby also has to move a little each week, so they know she's okay. She was sound asleep in there yesterday, so I switched positions and jiggled and poked and talked to her...but to no avail. The technician busted out a little 'noise-maker,' which makes a horrible (but not too loud) alarm-clock buzzing sound. She pressed it up against my abdomen, where Baby's head is, and woke her right up! She kept covering her face with her hand (probably saying, "STOP LOOKING AT ME, ALREADY!!"), so I don't have a beautiful picture to share this week. Maybe next week she'll be feeling more like a starlet and pose for us.

Here's the update:

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches. Thanks to her recent weight gain, she's losing that wrinkled alien look. Most of your baby's bones are hardening now, but her skull is still quite pliable. It's actually in separate pieces with spaces in between. This flexible structure allows your baby's head to compress so it can fit through your relatively narrow birth canal. The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance. This is totally harmless, normal, and temporary. Her skull plates won't completely fuse until early adulthood.

Head is down!

We had an ultrasound yesterday, and it was very cool as usual. They did not give us any still photos, so I have nothing visual for you today! I'll be sure to get one next week, as the weekly checkups have begun!
Baby weighs about 4 pounds, 1 ounce (which is the 45th percentile). She's still practice breathing, and doing all of the right stuff. Her head is down, which is a good thing...she's planning her exit strategy like a good girl. Of course, that means her most solid part is pressing on my bladder. We saw her yawn and stretch, we saw her little feet (which are, as we suspected, under my ribs) and her little hands. She has ribs and femurs and vertebrae, and she has fuzzy hair on her head. We think she's awfully cute.

Here's the technical update:
By now, your baby probably weighs almost 4 pounds and is almost 17 inches long. Her fingernails have grown in completely. Some babies have a head of hair already, while others have only peach fuzz. Your baby is taking up a lot of space in your uterus, but those tight quarters shouldn't reduce her activity level.