WEEK 23

HOW FAR ALONG?    

Today, I am 24 weeks, 1 day exactly! Only 111 days to go! YIKES! I never would have guessed how fast pregnancy would fly by.

This post will be a recap looking back on week 23.

DEVELOPMENTS

A couple days ago the coolest thing happened!  I not only felt the baby moving, but I SAW it!  Talk about nuts! Ever since that first day of seeing it move, it happens multiple times every day.   

In the next four weeks, the baby's weight should DOUBLE (and therefore I’m expecting a big hike on the scale as well.).  At this point, the skin is really saggy because it grows faster than fat develops. After these next four weeks, it will be a lil more plump. 

At this point, he/she is almost a foot long (about that of an ear of corn) with hearing that is getting stronger and stronger (I am still brainwashing on a daily basis introducing him/her to some of the greats: Janis, Otis, Skynyrd, Zeppelin, Wayne, etc. to name a few!)

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

Wrapped up the baby registry for one. Geez ems. Talk about a nightmare. Thank goodness for the tips I got from everyone as well as for Michael being so helpful with this kind of stuff.

We also attended our first birth/parenting preparation class offered by the hospital.  The classes came highly recommended (some even attended these classes to prep for baby #2, that’s how good they are!).  This week’s class selection was “Special Delivery, Part 1.”  It was VERY beneficial.

Learned all sorts of things:
- knowing the signs of labor and when exactly to go to the hospital
- what a contraction feels like
- Hospital policies…step by step what is going to happen from the time we pull into the driveway, how many people can be in the room and when, food/water allowances, drug administration, the dad’s role (which basically was “this is when you go park the car, this is when you give mom a backrub, this is when you go get the car”).
- Lots of details about the progression of labor (from the science side, to the emotional side, to the “this is when the room is going to get really chaotic” side)
-Terms we'll probably overhear in the labor and delivery rooms and what they mean
- We even got to hold a 3-D chart showing the progression of the uterus. Michael wanted nothing to do with this one!  Hah!
- All the way to the…dundundunnn…a video of a vaginal birth.  WooHoo.  We were on the edges of our seats let me tell ya (to bring back an 80’s term..N O T!!!)

We both definitely learned some stuff we never knew before, so it was worth our time and are looking forward to Part II of the class.

As if I’m a 3 year old, my reward was a kids cheeseburger (mmmm Dempsey’s) and a hot fudge sundae afterward.  LOL!

OPERATION DECO:

Rain rain go away!  We have been trying to get the concrete poured for our new patio for a month now.  We had a nice dry run for about 2 weeks, but the guy was so backed up on other rain delayed jobs, he couldn’t fit us in.  We are on deck, waiting for at least a 5 day run of no rain. So far, it ain’t looking good.  It seriously rains every single day. It hasn’t even been dry enough to mow the grass.

We did get a couple pictures back on the wall (took down for the paint job, and hung them in a different location), the antique mirror mounted (chose to go the professional route to do this for us…this thing is a beast), and finally was able to hang the panels up in the living room (after having them hemmed).  Things are really moving along!

LOOKING FORWARD TO?
Me – A beach trip this Thursday-Sunday with a group of some of my favorite people in honor of Courtney getting hitched.  I am SO excited!!!!!!

Michael – probably enjoying a relaxing weekend without me posting weekend to-do list for us on the fridge ;). IF I had to guess, he’s going to play 1000 hours of tennis (because that is what he considers “relaxing”).

Speaking of, have you ever noticed the resemblance between Michael and Djokovic?!?  It’s uncanny. Especially their demeanor on the court.

Teehee.