26 Weeks

Baby:
She is now approximately 14 inches long and weighs just under 2 pounds. She has developed all 5 senses and is starting to have distinct sleeping and waking cycles. Her lungs are developed enough to breath in practice breaths of amniotic fluid and her eyelids are now open and she can blink.

Mom:
Well, we're still growing... She is really a mover and is starting to get into positions that dictate how I lay in bed. I can only imagine what the next 3 months have in store for me! :) I realized last night after Heather asked if I could see my feet when standing straight up, that I couldn't! Putting on my shoes is more difficult as is shaving my legs... (Sorry Adam!) Bending over is no longer "easy" so my monkey toes are coming in very handy! (No pun intended, but funny...)

I'm still very fortunate that I feel good. No swelling, no headaches, only minor backaches and random "growing" pains. But I am noticing over the past two weeks that I am getting more tired again. I'm not sure if it is the frequent night-time bathroom trips or just my body saying "slow down".

I have to tell one short story about last week... I was having an emotional day. No reason! We were going through mail (not a minor task when it has been delayed for several weeks/months) and was getting frustrated. I was getting cranky and didn't want to go for my walk b/c there was too much to do. I needed the small garbage can b/c the large one wouldn't fit - duh! The different piles had to go specifically where I said - no, recycling goes over here. (Seriously!) Adam took this entire evening in stride, never once got angry at me, and even got me out for a walk before dark w/out making me feel fat. (You know, "why do I need to walk, am I getting fat?") Anyway, I wanted to publicly give him credit for calming me down, talking it out, and getting me to laugh at myself w/out taking it all personally. This newly acquired skill will come in handy when your little girl reaches teenage years, hon!

Dad:
Is it a boy or a girl? Sarah and I keep on having a feeling the baby is going to be a boy. In fact, we have both dreamt that we are going to have a boy. I’m about 95% sure we are going to have a girl, mostly due to the ultrasound at that stage being about 95% accurate. We will be overjoyed with either type of rug-rat, so I guess it really doesn’t matter.

We have narrowed down our girl names to about 2 or 3 and now have to do the same with boy names. It’s tough (and fun) to try and think of ways a name might get our kid picked-on. For instance, we don’t want to have our child’s name start with a “B” because the initials would be BO. One of the guys in my lab suggested the name Patrick Oliver…you know where that one’s going. I now leave it up to you, the viewing audience, to come up with other fun names that could lead to trouble and post them in the comments section.