Today we had our 32 week prenatal appointment and growth assessment ultrasound. Sweet Baby James is even bigger than his mommy thought - a whopping 4 pounds 10 ounces! (But I win - Jay thought he'd be 4 pounds 2 ounces, I guessed "at least 4.5 pounds") Remember how I mentioned in the 30 week post that I'm suppose to gain one pound per week this trimester? Well, half of that weight goes straight to the baby, so that means he'll gain at least another 4 pounds by his due date, if we go full-term. That would make him an 8.5-9 pound baby, the same as his daddy was (and something I've recently learned - babies birthweights can reliably be guessed based on their daddy's birth weights). Maybe I won't have to deal with a 9-pounder though... If I haven't mentioned it before, preemies run in both our families, so we're predicting an early birth. But we'll see... as Jay's grandmother told me, "When the apple is ripe, it'll fall from the tree." Just to be safe, we packed our bags over the weekend:
In other appointment news, Baby James' heartrate was around 140 bpm, and he measured in the 53rd percentile with his head circumference and femur length, which is exactly where they want him to be (not too big, not too small), so the doctor called him perfect! Yes, he is, isn't he? Jay received praise from the technician because he was sweet enough to mop up all my "belly jelly" after the sonogram, something apparently most husbands don't do. Not my guy, he's all about helping out! Good thing too, because it's getting hard for me to see under my belly! Also, my blood pressure was excellent, so I got a pretty good score today too. We're quite the happy family tonight!! As far as my belly, there isn't much difference in size or shape from my 30 week photo, although I do have more stretch marks now. Regardless, you know I have to show it off, so here I am this morning (at 32 weeks 4 days) on my way to work:
In other baby news, we attended our first and second Childbirth Classes over the past two Thursdays. The first class was mostly an introduction. We met the other participants, watched "The Video" (and let me tell you, it's NOT like what you see on TLC - we had to watch the delivery of the placenta, and it wasn't pleasant), and learned about all the 3rd trimester body changes I'm currently (or will shortly be) going through. Then, the instructor loaded a backpack with 27 pounds worth of food products (flour, sugar, beans, rice - the making of any great southern meal!) and invited the husbands to give it a try, to simulate what they're wives are going through. Jay was the first to take on the challenge (see the photo below - he's such a good sport)! When the second guy got up to take his turn, he didn't leave the backpack on for very long and everyone gave him a bad time. His response? "You ladies have had 7+ months to get use to carrying this weight!"
Tonight was the second Childbirth Class. We had our first quiz... Jay and I did pretty well on most of the questions, but we failed the membrane/amniotic sac rupturing review. We won't forget again though: COAT (which stands for Color, Odor, Amount, and Time) - all important "water breaking" info to record and tell your doctor. We watched another childbirth video, all about natural (drug-free) childbirth (which only 2 out of the 20 moms in the class plan to attempt, myself not being one of them - modern medicine is there to assist me!) It was similar to the first video, but less graphic, and more about learning techniques for coping with labor pain. Then we did the typical childbirth class routine of practicing massaging (I'm so lucky Jay is already good at this) and breathing techniques. We learned the "deep cleansing breath", "feather breathing", the "hee hee hoo's", and the pushing breath holds - each to be used during a different phase of labor (the first 3 during the first stage, though mostly during the active and transitional labor - then the last for the delivery). Finally, the instructor broke the husbands into 4 groups and had them come up with lists of all the things they can do to be helpful throughout labor. It was a competition, and Jay's group won, so they all got Lifesavers for being "our lifesaver" (see the picture below). The best part? One of the helpful and encouraging things Jay thought of for his group was bringing flowers to your wife after the delivery. How sweet is he? And yes, I'll hold him to it (and he knows it)! I highly recommend these types of classes for my other pregnant friends and family members - even if you can read it all in a book, there's just something to be said for doing it together with your spouse, and in person with an instructor - it's a real bonding experience, it makes you feel more secure in your abilities, and it's enjoyable - we've had a great time so far, and I sure loved the massage "practice"!
In between the Childbirth Classes, we had the Carseat Safety Class, which actually encompassed much more than just carseat safety. It was taught by a local fire and rescue worker, and she included useful information on smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, poison control, home safety, etc. And she helped us install the carseat for the first time! That was fun, since we had left the instructions at home... Luckily, they were also printed on the stickers that we had yet to remove from the shiny new carseat. And luckily, it was easy. Hooray for us! We're definitely feeling more "ready" for Baby James with every passing week. In addition to all the reading we're doing and classes we're taking (we have 3 more to go, including another two sessions of the Childbirth Class and the Infant Safety and CPR Class), the generosity of our family, friends, and coworkers is certainly helping to get us ready! We'd like to thank my Aunt & Uncle, and my cousins & their husbands, for the awesome swing, bouncer, and toys they recently sent. We love the glider that my parents special-ordered for us. My brother and sister-in-law sent a ship's wheel that's perfect on the wall, and John & Betsy gave us the cutest Pirate's Cove growth chart when we were home for Christmas, so the nursery is looking more and more decorated. Also, we had a great surprise from Kelly & Adam a couple weeks ago - two really neat educational baby toys! So, now that we finally have everything put together and hung up, we thought we'd post some photos (below). Also, a quick shout-out to Jim & Kristy, and Elizabeth & Philip for the excellent array of hand-me-downs they've recently provided! Baby James is very lucky - he'll have clean clothes even if we skip laundry for a whole month!
In our room, we set up the cool play-yard that Jean bought us (it has a nightlight, music, and vibration feature, and a mobile and changing station, which we've left off for now, for ease in getting a newborn in and out of it!) We're planning to use it as a bassinet for the first few months, until Baby James out-grows it and moves into his crib. Until then, the cats have been taking turns testing it out (we'll have to get that crib tent soon, and hope that it fits the play-yard too)! Then, this piece of baby gear will be used as a portable crib for when we travel. Here it is, next to my nightstand and under one of the gorgeous new photos Jay gave me for Christmas (a close-up of a plumeria tree at the resort we stayed at on Maui last May):
Thanks for reading, and please keep Baby James in your prayers. Send him good thoughts to stay "cooking in the oven" for at least another 4 weeks or so - we don't want him to show up too soon! I'll end this post with one more photo of our little man, smiling big!
This is one of the 8 sea turtles currently under the care of the staff, with his entire medical history available for viewing:
After watching the sea turtles, we went over to the shops to look at Christmas ornaments and eat ice cream, where we ran into pretty much all the family that hadn't left the island for the day. Here are Wyatt and Jay (and yes, Wyatt climbed up there all by himself):
Next, we went to the driftwood beach to take some family photos and do some exploring:
From left to right, we have Marv, Jill, Julia, MacKenzie, Stephen, Wyatt, Jean, Denise, Jay, and Marvin up top, with Heather, Grandmother, and Aunt Sara below:
I bought Wyatt a set of night-vision hearing-enhancing glasses from National Geographic:
When the presents were finished, the annual wrapping paper war began. I managed to stay out of the fray most of the time (although Baby James did take a couple of hits - though you can't blame the kids for aiming at such a big target!), but Jay spent a good half hour wrestling with the kids (he loved it, of course):
To wrap up the evening, we all took turns working on a 1000-piece puzzle (another Waddell Family Christmas tradition). This year was a Thomas Kincade puzzle that was really difficult. I heard it was half-finished around 1:00am when everyone finally gave up. Here are Karen and Kate hard at work:
And the next morning was already time to go home... Here are those of us that didn't get on the road until well after check-out time, hanging out around the trucks (I've noticed this to be a common activity in the south):
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Waddells! We love you!!
