fatty (no not me!)

me at 35 1/2 weeks

Yesterday I had another sonagram. This one was not as visually exciting as the others because the baby is so big now that you only see parts at a time. But I did get a good view of the 4 valves of her heart which was really neat to see. The technician did a lot of measuring and declared that the baby is doing fine. Everything looks healthy. However, maybe Fay is a little TOO healthy. The technician also told me that she currently weighs 6 lbs, 3 oz. WHOA. When I was born I weighed 6lbs 5oz, so to me Fay seems like a big girl. If she gains the estimated 1/2 lb a week until the 40th week she will be pushing 9 lbs. And I will be pushing out a big baby.

Ryan and I also went for our hospital visit last Saturday. This I really enjoyed. It was super informative and confirmed that we are going to be delivering in a good hospital. They are liberal enough to have all types of birthing equipment ( they said you can use a birthing ball or birthing bar ) if one should want it. And the Labor & Delivery rooms looked great. A little comfortable looking, a little hospital looking. They described the security at the hospital for the newborn area and it is like a prison lock down. Babies are given a little ankle bracelet when they are born with a security device in it, so if anyone leaves the area an alarm goes off. The nurse said they go into "Code Pink" (which still makes me smile now). And she said that new Daddies are usually the culprits getting caught because they get so excited to show off the new baby to someone outside the ward. hah. Ryan will have to be careful.

Also, only Daddy or someone designated by Mommy can take the baby from the nursery. And they say if an unfamiliar nurse comes in and asks to take your baby from you, you can refuse. If I was paranoid, I'd say this hospital has had a lot of baby theft. Maybe the Upper East Side produces desirable babies....more ransom money to be had?

New Doc Visit

Today's doctor visit lasted all of 5 minutes. I guess I should be happy -- this is due to me having a relatively easy pregnancy. Dr. Rafalin asked if I had any questions, checked the heart beat and uterus length and sent me on my way. Oh and I was weighed at 154 lbs I think. I also asked him if I was too small. I keep thinking I'm going to get this gigantic belly that practically topples me over. But its still completely manageable and only slightly heavy. He said I'm fine. Hopefully that means I'll have a little 6lb baby! Either that or Fay is really good at using her space. Her new favorite thing to do is kick out one of her legs over to the side of my rib cage. So while the bump resides totally in front of my body, I get a stray foot every now and then poking out the side. Kinda funny. Of course nothing really looks like a foot. It'd be really facinating if I could make out a heal or something like that.

Tomorrow, Ryan and I plan to visit our hospital. They have general tours at noon on Saturdays of the maternity area. Not sure if this is a sales pitch (we're already sold! since that is where our doctor delivers) or just an informative visit. Hopefully the latter.

DVD class

Ryan and I watched the first segment of our DVD childbirth class this weekend. The DVD shows an instructor and about 5 couples in a class setting, learning about childbirth. I was really happily surprised at how good the video is. The instructor tells a few too many corny jokes at times and can go off on tangents or personal stories to make a point. But overall it was informative and I think even Ryan enjoyed it. The number one thing I learned in this segment that I had never heard of before was "station". This is the measurement of how far the baby's head has descended into the pelvic region. She also discussed 6 signs your body gives of getting ready for labor (in the weeks leading up to labor). One of them was weight stabilization. She said that about 2 weeks before your due date you can eat anything you want and not gain any weight. Hah! I'd never heard this before. V. interesting. Not something I'm necessarily going to push the limits of to find out. I want a nice small baby to deliver. :) I have another doctor appointment coming up this Friday. I wonder when he will start checking my delivery stats. I'm at 34 weeks. Its still pretty early I think. We will see.

Nesting?

They say that at this part of your pregnancy, you may have the nesting instinct. This entails trying to get everything organized, bought, cleaned etc. Well, last weekend I embarked on a major organization task, but alas I don't think Fay will really benefit. I ordered a closet from easycloset.com and installed it last weekend. I think I could definitely recommend this site. All I had to do was measure the closet (and measure again to be sure!) and choose the configuration on line. They delivered the pre-cut wood and supports in 2 days time. The only difficult part of installation was securing a metal bar to the back wall of the closet. Everything else just laid, screwed, or clicked into place.

Now I want to do this for Fay's closet as well. The thought was that I would do mine to see how we like it and then do Fay's. But of course I don't have the energy to do it right now again. So Fay may have to wait a while for hers. And as I get bigger, I will have less and less motivation to assemble closets!

I went to the doctor last Friday. I saw my alternate doctor again. This time I liked her better than the 1st impressions several months ago. So that is promising. She said the baby is head down already and she may just stay that way. This was interesting news because I just could not tell if they mystery bump on my stomach was a head or butt. Now we have a confirmed butt sighting. And boy does it seem big. Hmmm, wonder if that doesn't bode well for delivery.

Let the aches and pains begin

Well, I may have to change my tune soon. Every time someone asks me how my pregnancy is going or how am I feeling I've been able to respond "really well". But I'm starting to feel the effects of carrying around a small child in my belly. My feet are starting to hurt. Either I have to wear more supporting shoes (sneakers!) or I have to walk for less distance at a time. Being that I'm pretty used to walking A LOT in ny, I don't even notice that I may have overdone it until my feet begin to ache. Also, my hips ache at night. I'm so tired of sleeping on my side. Its just not comfortable. I thought I had figured out the perfect pillow positions last week. I put one behind my back and one under my tummy and between my legs. That worked really well all last week. But last night I was aching and waking up every couple hours. Strangely enough, these new pains coincided with the return of Ryan from his surfing vacation. Maybe I was unknowingly taking up the entire bed while he was away and blissfully sleeping through he night. :) Or maybe this is just the beginning of what is going to be a long couple of months. I have exactly 8 weeks left, or two months. That makes it seem close! And I can't wait.