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| Development at 38 Weeks |
Exercise: On Monday and Wednesday I had prenatal water aerobics. I especially enjoy this class now that it is so hot outside because it feels amazing to spend time in the pool. Plus I can still cruise around in the water 'like it ain't no thang' which makes happy. Thursday I had prenatal yoga which was great. I have been incorporating a lot of yoga into my days as well as it helps me be able to breath and to have less back pain. This boy is getting bigger and heavier everyday and I definitely giving my back muscles a workout trying to hold him up all the time! On days that I didn't have class, I made sure to go on at least an hour walk each day because it just helps me feel good.
Midwife Appointment: Friday morning I had my regular midwife appointment accompanied by my mom. Everything is great. My blood pressure was a happy, healthy 92/68, and although I only gained a half pound, I had a bit of a growth spurt and my fundus height was 38.5 inches. I have been having nausea more frequently in the morning these days, but luckily I have been keeping my food down. The midwife said as long as long as I am not vomiting a lot, than the nausea is perfectly fine. I am taking it as a sign that my body is preparing for a new transition...childbirth. The baby is doing really well. His heart rate was perfect this week between 135-140 bpm. He is also in a great position with his head way down low facing towards the right, his back curved towards the left, his knees up to the right, and his busy kicking feet up in my right ribs. I asked her how big she thinks he's going to be and she said he is not going to be huge (which I am very relieved about), but probably somewhere between 7-8 pounds. This sounds ideal to me! I am very happy that we are both strong and healthy and hope this indicates we will have a smooth and gentle birth experience.
Other Fun Stuff: On Monday evening Robbie and I hung out with our friend Andrew at Bard's coffee shop. Robbie and Andrew played their usual game of Go while I read a book and chatted with them.
On Tuesday Mom came over and we walked around Mackworth Island together. It was a beautiful day, but very hot so it was great walking under the shade of the trees and dipping our feet in the ocean water. That night Robbie and I hung out with our friend Lindsay and played a fun game, "Shear Panic".
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| Shear Panic (click for a link to info about the game) |
On Wednesday I went with Robbie to his dentist appointment in Waterboro. He had to have a lot of stuff done on his teeth and we weren't sure how much pain he was going to be in on the way back. Fortunately he felt fine afterward. I got to visit my parents while I was in town which was nice. That night we watched Harry Potter 7.1 in preparation for the opening of the last movie which was coming out later in the week.
Thursday I had the pleasure of finally meeting up with one of my yoga buddies, Kasia, after she had her baby premature. She was due today, but had her baby a week after Mother's Day. Thankfully both her and the baby are doing splendidly, and he was able to go home for the first time a couple weeks ago. So I was really excited to see Kasia and meet her little Henry. He is adorable, and it was wonderful to be able to hold him and interact with him. He makes the cutest little sheep/goat noises! We took a nice long walk on the east end beach trail (Henry took a nice nap in his Ergo Baby pouch close to his mommy's heart) and I really enjoyed chatting with Kasia. I am so glad I have gotten to know some great people with babies that Meo and I will be able to hang out with!
On Friday Mom and I went to see the final Harry Potter movie. I wanted to see it early that day just in case I went into labor (it was a full moon that night, and even though there is no scientific evidence that full moons trigger labor, there does tend to be fuller maternity wings on those nights). I have been excited about this movie for months, and I thought it was good. It was action packed and eventful just like the second half of the book. Friday was also our friend Gib's birthday, and to celebrate a bunch of us had dinner together at the Great Lost Bear then went to Lindsay's house to play a couple games. Lindsay picked Robbie, Rob and I up to carpool over to the restaurant, and while attempting to find a parking spot Lindsay accidentally drove the wrong way on a one-way street. Unfortunately a cop was on the ball and pulled her over before she had a chance to turn around. Luckily she just got a warning, but the police officer poked his head in the car and said "Next time be more careful, especially with fatty over there in the car"! I couldn't believe it! In all these 38 weeks of pregnancy, no one has called me fatty before! I just burst out laughing, as did everyone else in the car. What a thing for a police officer to say!
Saturday was a great day. Robbie and I took a nice walk by Bug Light (a lighthouse in South Portland) and watched the middle aged men fly their impressive kites, the cool sailboats in the bay and observed a cormorant diving for shiny silver fish. Then we went to Silly's to get milkshakes (they have the BEST milkshakes, and Robbie had never had one before) and enjoyed slurping those down on a shaded bench on the eastern prom overlooking the bay. In the evening we went to see Harry Potter (again for me, but the first time for everyone else) with Gib and Tatyana. It was fun, and I thought worth seeing two days in a row.
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| Silly's (http://www.sillys.com/) |
Finally, today Robbie and I went to visit my Pepere Gosselin who is living in Kennebunk. He hadn't really seen me since I was pregnant, so it was a lot of fun for him to see how big I was. We had lunch together and ice cream sundaes for dessert (yum!). He shared an article he had found in the paper with us about the benefits of teaching children to be bilingual. Apparently it has been Dr. Ellen Bialystok's (a researcher at the University of Toronto) life work to study the benefits of bilingualism, and she found that children who are bilingual have an easier time solving complex problems and multitasking. She found that bilingual children process languages more easily as well. She also found that as people age, they are less likely to develop Alzheimer disease if they are bilingual, and those who are bilingual who do get Alzheimer tend to have the disease progress more slowly (Click here for a link to the article in the New York Times). I was really glad Pepere shared this article with us because it gives us further encouragement to teach Mattimeo French as he grows up in addition to English. The rest of our visit was wonderful as well and I am glad we were able to spend some time with him today.
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| Pepere Gosselin and I (38 weeks, 6 days pregnant) |
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