30 Weeks!

Baby:
She is now about 17 inches long and weighs 3 pounds! Her lungs are continuing to develop as she practices her breathing inside the womb. Her vital organs are also continuing to develop including her nervous system, brain, and eyes. She is still sleeping about 95% of the time (I think she kicks more than 5% of the time!) and some studies have shown brain activity at 30 weeks indicating she may be dreaming. I wonder what an unborn baby dreams about…

Mom:
It is hard to believe we are in the last ¼ of the pregnancy! Every week that passes brings my excitement level up a notch. For starters, the due date is fast approaching – just over 2 months, aka 10 weeks, aka 70 days! Secondly, I feel more confident that she is developing (proof in my tummy size) and could be healthy even if she comes early.

It has been another full week. I was able to see my two roommates from college this past Monday. Dawn and Skippy came into town and we had dinner to celebrate Dawn’s birthday. It was AWESOME to see them and be together again. It has been at least 2 years if not more since we were all in the same place at the same time… Time flies!

We’re slowly gathering and “nesting”. This Friday our glider/ottoman will arrive as well as the rocker/recliners we purchased. We decided both were long-term investments and worth the money if they helped comfort our little girl and us! Now watch, she will end up being the one and only baby who doesn’t like rocking! Becca also send me a very nice care package w/ things she used with Ila. Included in it was a Snoogle body pillow. This thing rocks! I’ve been using a regular body pillow which certainly works, but the Snoogle fits so nicely under the belly plus adds support for between my legs and my head. Thanks! (I recommend this to any expecting mother, as does Adam who now has more room in our full-size bed! Apparently 1 Snoogle is smaller than 3 pillows!?)

Dad:
First off, congrats to my buddy Dave who just had a little girl yesterday. Madison Nichole weighed in at 7lb-12oz and was 19-1/2” long. I guess they had some complications during/after the delivery with both baby and mom, but everything turned out OK. It’s strange, after all of the crazy stories I’ve heard about what can go wrong during the delivery, I’m actually still pretty calm. I just believe everything is going to be OK. I guess I could stress out about everything that could happen, trying to come up with a contingency plan for each scenario, but that would be a futile effort. And with my luck, if anything went wrong, it would be something I didn’t think of, so what’s the point.

Overall, things are normal on the homefront. We are starting to build up a nice collection of baby stuff and got a big boost tonight. We recently discovered Freecycle in the Iowa City area. It’s a program where people give away things that they no longer have use for, but don’t want to throw away. Essentially, it’s like a free garage sale. People list everything from coupons to lawn mowers, air conditioners to pet birds, and sofa sleepers to 350 clean 6 oz. plastic yogurt containers. It will be great for when Sarah and I have to move and get rid of the junk we’ve accumulated. But back onto the topic - Just tonight we picked up a bag of about 25 outfits for 6-12 month olds, all for free. We thought we might get some ratty clothes that the kid could puke all over and wear around the house, but a lot of them had the original store tags still attached. We are getting ready a little bit at a time as the big day approaches. (Random thought: I wonder if they ever give away free beer.)