Great Landings

Hello and welcome to another edition of Baby Watch. We are currently at week #34 and that works out to be around six short weeks left! Amazing isn’t it, Mothers Day camping is just six short weeks away! Oh, and the baby is due about then as well. But seriously you do have your camping plans in order right?

Anyway, things around here are about the same as they have been. Erin is huge and getting bigger everyday. We are at the stage now where she doesn’t even realize how big her belly is getting. Several times the past week at dinner she has managed to bump her belly into the table while sitting down hard enough to spill our glasses of milk. I have also seen her hit her belly with the car door not realizing just how big it is. Otherwise I know it has also been said but we might as well keep saying it, she is also extremely uncomfortable. Swelling, stuffed up, aches and pains, and the lack of a good nights sleep have taken their toll. We are beyond the stage where she was “glowing” and would look at her belly with a cute little grin all while whispering sweet nothings to herself. Instead we are now at the “get this thing out of me” stage where sweet nothings are moans of pain as she tries to roll off the couch, and that “glow” she had has been replaced by a film of sweat from walking the 15 feet from the living room to the bathroom and back. But like I said the light is at the end of the tunnel and she knows it, so there isn’t a lot of complaining.

Nothing new to report from last weeks doctor appointment. They did the usual exam and said that it was likely we would have one more ultrasound down the road but they haven’t scheduled anything yet. We go back next week and from there on out they will change to once a week appointments. They also mentioned they will be poking around a little more and checking out some new stuff. So that ought to be interesting.

The bigger news this week is the Baby Showers. Last weekend Erin had her first shower with her friends. From what she told me it was a really fun time. She brought home a whole pile of cool baby stuff. Some of which I had no idea what to do with. Her family shower is this coming weekend and I am sure that will be great as well. It will also be the first time since Christmas that my Mom and Grandma will get to see Erin, so that should be cool too.

Here is what the baby site has to say for week #34 ~

Baby’s Growth and Development When You’re 34 Weeks Pregnant

Between the 34th week of pregnancy and the 37th week of pregnancy, your baby continues to refine his systems and put on significant weight.

• He probably weighs about 5 1/2 pounds and is about 12 1/2 inches, about as long as a loaf of bread, from head to rump (plus an additional 5 inches or more in legs!).
• The white, waxy coating protecting your baby’s skin (vernix) thickens this week.
• The soft downy hair (lanugo) that insulated your baby’s skin so effectively for months is now almost gone.
• Your baby’s fingernails have reached the tip of his fingers.
• Your baby might gain about a half a pound this week as his weight continues to build quickly.

Erin attest to the fact that the baby is getting very long. It is to the point now that you can easily feel it at the top of her belly as a hard spot. Erin says the other end is sitting “way down low” and I am just going to take her word on that. Either way, that baby is getting big!!

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I am so glad I don’t live with these guys!

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Welcome to Baby Watch for week #33! We are getting closer and closer each and every week and I for one am so excited! Erin and baby are doing great. Although I think any hope of Erin being comfortable these next several weeks is all but gone. I have never seen swelling like the swelling in her calf’s, ankles, and feet. It truly looks like her leg could break open at any second and the whole house would flood! Combine that with the constant stuffed up nose, the inability to even pass near a bathroom with out feeling the need to go in, or the fact that she only sleeps a few hours a night, and I am amazed she hasn’t freaked out yet. Instead she continues to head off to work each and every day, she does all the dumb stuff I want to do during our free time, and she does it without hardly a single peep. I say hardly because just tonight I had to head up to McDonald’s and get her a McFlurry ice cream treat to have during American Idol. It’s a small price to pay for all she has had to do, and all that is about to happen to her!

Our doctors appointment isn’t till later this week so there is no real news to report there. But by next week we should know if we are going to get to have another ultrasound. My guess is yes, but we have to wait and see what the doctor has to say first.

One exciting thing coming up though are the baby showers. The first is the friend shower this weekend, followed by her family shower the following Saturday. It will be cool to see what kind of neat baby stuff Erin gets. We have both been trying to hold off on buying anything till after the showers so it will be good to finally see where we are and what we are still going to need to get. Plus we haven’t been able to do anything else in the babies room so hopefully after this weekend that will change.

Here is what the baby site has to say for week #33~

Baby’s Growth and Development When You’re 33 Weeks Pregnant

The 33rd week of pregnancy and the four weeks that follow mark a time of astounding growth as your baby reaches her ultimate birth weight.

• She weighs about 4 1/2 pounds and might grow a full inch in length this week alone! She’s grown to about 12 1/2 inches from crown to rump, or about the length of an average pumpkin.
• Your baby continues to gain weight rapidly — about a half pound a week.
• The pupils of her eyes can now adjust to bright or dim light, just like yours.
• Her lungs continue to develop.
• Your amniotic fluid has reached its maximum level now — there’s simply no more room! With less fluid to cushion them, your baby’s kicks might feel a bit uncomfortable.

Crazy to think that the baby is going to gain a half pound a week from here on out. Seeing as we have seven weeks left that means another 3 1/2 to 4 pounds before this is all done. That is crazy! As you can see by the picture I am not sure where Erin is going to put it! I guess we are about to find out… See ya next week!

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I mentioned before I like to have a “filler” post between the baby updates. Since no one has done anything really awesome for me to post about I found this really awesome video instead. Enjoy!

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Welcome to week #32 of Baby Watch! We currently have two months (eight weeks) left before its baby time, at least that is the theory anyway. Erin is doing about the same as last week, sore and uncomfortable. She has turned to the massage place to try and make her feel better. Probably for the best since my idea of a message doesn’t seem to help. But to be honest why would it, I really just complain for 15 min and she gets up and leaves. So this really is better for everyone all around. Baby is also doing good, as far as I can tell anyway. Since all I can really do is just look at Erin’s belly my diagnosis is more based on a feeling and my magic powers then anything scientific.

This past Saturday we completed the second of our two Prenatal classes. The first was a two hour class on breastfeeding that was fairly educational. Although it does seem a bit limited since you are just looking at pictures and videos to try and figure it all out. But hopefully it will give us a head start when the real deal comes along. The second class was an all day education class. We had a general idea of what to expect and while I won’t say it was a complete waste of time, I don’t think either of us thought it was all that beneficial. The main problem was they were extremely basic with most of the information. As an example at one point the instructor nurse passed around several pacifiers for us to take a look at. My guess is they have to teach to the lowest common denominator and being in Kentucky passing around pacifiers fits about right. They did however show us one of the most disturbing video I have ever seen. I don’t think things have really changed all that much, but this video was wildly different then what they showed me in 9th grade health class! WOW!

They did have some good information however so I am glad we went. The highlight was being able to tour the area and room where Erin will have the baby. That part was very impressive and they have a really nice facility. We learned that we will stay in the same room with the baby all the way from when we first get there, throughout the delivery, and for the day or two we are there afterward. We also learned they will attach at computer chip to the baby as soon as it is born that will set off an alarm if someone tries to leave with the baby. Neat!

Here is what the baby site has to say for week #32~

Baby’s Growth and Development When You’re 32 Weeks Pregnant

Your baby is spending quite a bit of his time practicing the skills he’ll need after birth, such as sucking, swallowing, and breathing. Other changes during your 32nd week of pregnancy include:

• Your baby weighs about 4 pounds and is almost 11 1/2 inches long from crown to rump, or the length of a small watermelon.
• Lanugo, the soft, downy hair that insulates your baby, continues to fall off this week.
• You might notice a change in your baby’s movements this week, as he becomes more crowded in your uterus.
• Kicks and movements might seem less powerful.
• Be sure you monitor your baby’s movements from time to time, especially if you think you’ve noticed a decrease in activity. The 10-Kick Count can help.
• Your baby’s skin is no longer see-through. It looks more like yours.

We know the weight is more, but I like the idea of watermelon since that is one of my favorite foods. Next week we have another baby doctor appointment so we might get some good info there. See ya~

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Hello everyone and welcome to week #31 of Baby Watch! We have about nine weeks left in this wild ride and I for one am 100% ready to move on to the next phase. Well, maybe 100% ready is a bit of a stretch maybe more like 90%… or 82%… OK, maybe I am not as ready as I thought. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want it to hurry up and get here! Erin and baby are doing fine. As I said last week Erin is getting more and more uncomfortable every day and just when I think she has reached the limit, she somehow gets more uncomfortable. Aside from the crazy amount of swelling, and aches and pains that come with carrying a giant baby-saurus around she now is awake more at night then asleep. Between the 200 trips to the bathroom there is the constant heartburn, stuffed up nose, and tons of tossing and turning going on. The good thing is she is not completely alone, she likes to wake me up to tell me she is awake. Nothing is better then a nice 2AM heart to heart talk.

Speaking of being ready, we have come to realize that we should have about nine weeks left. But as it has been proven many times these things sometime happen sooner then expected. Little Jackson was 6+ weeks early, and a friend of a friend just had their little girl 10 weeks early. Not that this is something we are expecting, but in the interest of being prepared Erin and I have started getting things together just in case. This has included buying cute little outfits to bring the baby home in, cute little pajamas for Erin to wear at the hospital, and cute little diapers for when we get home. All of this is going in “the bag” that Erin is getting ready for when the time comes. I asked if I could put some stuff in “the bag” but was told no once I started getting my PSP, laptop, Lego men, etc together.

The last bit of news is our most recent ultrasound and doctors appointment was today. It is getting harder and harder for them to get the whole baby into the ultrasound picture. Plus it keeps moving around almost like it doesn’t want to have it’s picture taken. Apparently it has no idea what is in store for it once it comes out! We did get to see in one of the pictures the babies hair. Anyway, nothing ground breaking at the appointment. The baby is bigger then “normal“, measuring in the 80% and currently it is at about 4 lbs 9 oz. But they said we don’t have anything to worry about right now, but we should expect to have one more ultrasound to check on things down the road. I have added the pictures to the Ultrasound album if you want to see the rest of them.

Here is what the baby site has to say for Week #31~

Baby’s Growth and Development When You’re 31 Weeks Pregnant

During your 31st week of pregnancy, your baby’s body and brain continue to make the connections that enable her systems to work as a whole. Also when you’re 31 weeks pregnant:

• When you’re 31 weeks pregnant, your baby weighs more than 3 pounds and is 11 inches long from crown to rump, about the length of a bunch of bok choy.
• Your baby’s reproductive system continues to develop. In boys, testicles are moving from the kidneys through the groin to the scrotum. In girls, her clitoris is visible, but her labia are still growing to cover it.
• Your baby’s lungs are now more developed but are not completely mature.
• As trillions of brain connections develop, your baby is already using all five senses.
• You might notice that your baby has more defined periods of being awake (and active) or asleep.

Well if you are anything like me then this will be the first time you are happy to have a picture of the food they are referencing because I personally have no idea what a “bok choy” is. All I do know is that it must be pretty big! Roll on week 32…

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I spend a lot of time during the week looking for random stuff of interest to put on the website. Stuff like the recent “WWW by the Numbers” video or the cool pictures of Earth and stuff I posted a few weeks go. I do this for a couple of reasons, but mostly it is so there is something to separate the baby updates and make it easier to see that the site has been updated. Well this week I have something that actually involves me!

One of the websites I visit regularly is called Gizmodo. It is sort of a technology site that has articles on geeky stuff about gadgets, computer stuff, and other nerdy things most of y’all don’t care about. One thing they also do is hold a weekly “Photo Challenge“. They present some sort of photography challenge and let people email in their submissions. They then pick a winner and the cycle starts again the following week. I have been watching these challenges for a while and always thought it would be cool to submit something.

Well last weeks challenge was to take a photo using only candlelight. So on Saturday I enlisted the help of my whole photography team (Erin, Buddy, JD, and Molly) and we took a series of photos in search of the perfect shot! I then submitted my picture and waited for the results. Fast forward to today and while I didn’t win, I did get selected as a sort of runner up. Since this isn’t a contest and there are no prizes or anything the site just puts up a few that were in the running, and then makes their pick for the winner. So that is it, our “Lego Indy” photo made the short list out of 133 entries and I could not be happier to just see my little picture highlighted on a big name site. Pretty cool… By the way you can see a bigger version of the picture by just clicking on it, or check out the post on the Gizmodo site for yourself by clicking HERE.

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