34th Week Update

Development at 34 Weeks

Lately, I feel like I just want to always be pregnant. People have been out-of-their-way nice to me lately, and it feels really nice. Robbie joked that I should just stuff pillows up my shirt so people just always treat me like I'm pregnant. Besides the way people treat me though, I just feel happy and healthy, and I like feeling the baby wiggle around inside me, even though he does occasionally stretch up or kick my ribs.

I've been having a great week. Robbie and I have been working a lot on getting things put together and put away in the nursery. We have a handful of things we still need to get before the baby comes that we've slowly been purchasing. On Tuesday night, our friends Andrew and Lauren had us over for a delicious meal. They made us mung beans (my first time having them and I loved them), some delicious stir fried vegetables, homemade tortilla chips with ghee and Madhur Jaffrey's Baba Ghanouj (creamed eggplant) to tie everything together. It was so yummy (Lauren has her own food blog, and you can read more about this great meal there: the spiced plate). I feel inspired to try to make a similar dish in the future. We played a game afterwords, and their two cats were super cute and affectionate. Wednesday night Robbie and I went to a free car seat safety check in Portland. There were a bunch of tents set up for people to drive their cars under. Then we had someone come and look through our vehicle manual and car seat manual and show us how to properly install our car seat. They also showed us how to put a baby in the car seat and adjust the straps properly and had us practice with a doll. I'm really glad we went and did that, it was very informative, and I feel much more comfortable about bringing our baby home now.

Our dinner with the Norsters: check out Lauren's blog at http://spicedplate.blogspot.com/

Today I had another appointment with the midwives. Everything is still going great, yay! I've gained the recommended 2 more pounds, my blood pressure is 90/60, and the baby's heart rate is a healthy 134 bpm. She thinks he is about 4 pounds right now, which is the normals size for a baby at this stage. Today he is head down with his hip poking out toward the front/middle of my belly. I just had one question for her today: whether it was normal for me to be throwing up again (I have thrown up 4 times in the last two weeks). She said it is normal for some women, but it should feel different than morning sickness (which it does). My mom came with me today and has been worried about me being short of breath sometimes (many times in the morning I can't even get out a whole sentence without needing to catch my breath). But the midwife assured her that this is to be expected because I am petite and have no waist so the baby doesn't have very much room and taking up a lot of space inside me. Plus I am slightly anemic and very active which will also lead to shortness of breath. But I am fine, and it usually gets better once I get some fresh air and start walking the dogs.

Robbie and I have been keeping up with practicing HypnoBirthing stuff. The other night I came home to dinner all set out for me on the table with a candle lit and some great relaxation music Robbie found for me playing. It was very romantic! We have been trying to listen to the rainbow relaxation CD before going to bed, but we both find it so relaxing that we end up falling asleep before we get five minutes into it!  I also listen to my birth affirmations regularly in the car (telling me that I will birth a healthy baby and have a wonderful birth experience in lots of different ways on repeat), and practice different types of relaxation breathing while I do yoga throughout the day. We have a picture of a baby inside the womb in the correct birthing position posted on our door so that I can visualize my baby ending up in the correct position for the best possible birth experience. It might all sound kind of silly, but it's really helpful, and I feel really excited about childbirth right now.

Trying out one of the newborn bumGenius cloth diapers on a stuffed bunny