"The Cat's In The Cradle..."

It's been quite a busy week as Mom and Dad ramp up the preparations for my arrival!

Last weekend, Gram and Pops came up for a visit and brought me a cradle! Our cat, Zoli, is pretty convinced that it's his, though. Since they set it up, he's been in it constantly! It gives new meaning to "robbing the cradle". I'm good at sharing, though, and am happy to let him sleep in it...until I show up, that is.


On Tuesday, we had another Ultrasound to see how big I am and to see if any of my fingers or toes had fallen off. Here's me (well, my face at least) at 33 weeks of pregnancy.


Aren't I cute?!? It sure looks like I've got my Mom's nose! So far, I'm 4 pounds, 15 ounces and my head is 8.8 cm. I'm expected to grow about a half an ounce a day from here on out and Mom can definitely feel that - she's hungry all the time and getting bigger and bigger and bigger!!


On Wednesday, Mom and Dad took a breastfeeding class, which is good because I'm going to be even hungrier when I come out! Dad and I went in with a lot of questions as to how this was going to work out. How long will it take for Dad's milk to come in? Do they make breast pumps for dudes? Is it more comfortable for the baby if Dad shaves his chest? But then, things made a lot more sense once I realized that only Mom does the breastfeeding! Of course, I still don't know whether it's best for Mom to shave her chest or not. Just kidding!


On Friday, we took a tour of The Snuggery which is the wing in the hospital where I'll be born (if Dad gets Mom to the hospital on time). The place looks great, and I'm excited to be taking my first breaths there. One big problem, though...no wifi. That means I won't be able to blog in the hospital!!! Don't worry, though. I'll take good notes on my Blackberry, take tons of pictures with the digital camera, and then upload everything as soon as I get home.

Tonight Mom and Dad have an Infant CPR class so they'll know what to do if I decide to play the "Let's See How Long I Can Hold My Breath" game.

Only 6 more weeks to go and lots of preparations left! I'm going to work on growing; Mom and Dad, you should work on getting all of that cat hair out of the cradle.

Mom Needs A Vacation

Mom's blood pressure has been a bit high lately which has gotten the doctors concerned. Uh, hello...you can't put a woman on a scale, tell her that she's "successfully" gained 25 pounds since the beginning of the pregnancy, and then take her blood pressure and expect it to be normal! Just to be safe, though, they've run a bunch of lab tests in the past few weeks to make sure that everything is ok with me and with her. Thankfully, it looks like the problem is just isolated to high blood pressure (with no other signs of preeclampsia!) and everything should return to normal after the delivery. So, basically she just needs to take a chill pill and everything will be ok.

That shirt's working hard!

Here are some pictures of Mom and me at 32 weeks.

Mom passed the glucose test! To test for gestational diabetes, the doctors had her drink this sugary lemon-lime drink that tasted like Sprite and then monitored her blood sugar to see if she could handle it. She did great! She had to get under 130 and she scored 106! Man, I told her that she could get away with eating ice cream for breakfast that day, but she just didn't believe me.

Unfortunately, though, it looks like Mom has developed gestational carpal tunnel syndrome. The pregnancy hormones have been causing her hands to swell and retain fluids, causing pain in her fingers. The good news is that the doctor says that it should all go away once I'm born. In the meantime, she's been wearing wrist braces at night to increase the circulation to ease the tissues and nerves. I think they're pretty cool and make her look like a stealthy ninja.

So, maybe I need to get this onesie, too:

This past weekend, Mom and Dad took an 8-hour childbirth class to learn all about labor and delivery. And good news...they passed!

Thank goodness! If they had failed the course, I'd be trapped in here forever. Don't get me wrong - I'm doing just fine in here. But, it's getting a little cramped, and apparently it's unreasonable to ask for a womb with a view. Plus, my nursery is all set up in the new house and is just waiting for me. I can't wait to get in that swing, chill with Dad on the rocking chair, and sleep in my cute and spacious crib!

Just 8 more weeks until the due date (October 6th)! Although, I just learned in my childbirth class that for first-time pregnancies, the average gestational period is 41 weeks, not 40 weeks, so mid-October is probably a better guess for when I'll be making my grand appearance. And you thought I wasn't paying attention in that class...

And finally, some fun facts about Mom's pregnancy thus far...

• A lot of people have asked Mom, "Do you have any strange food cravings or aversions?" Sadly, the answer is pretty much no. Other than the fact that she doesn't really like the taste of red onions anymore (she picks them off of sandwiches and salads now because they're "too strong"), Mom's tastebuds have been the same as they've always been. She's talked to other people and read stories about women who kept boxes of MoonPies at their desk at work because they had to have them or craved raisins even though before they were pregnant (and after they delivered) they couldn't stand the taste of them. Minnie Driver couldn't even say the word "egg" during her pregnancy without gagging because her aversion to them was so strong. But so far, not with Mom. No late night runs to Taco Bell or anything yet...so sad. Maybe something will kick in over the next few weeks.
• In a lot of pregnancies, the mother's belly button "pops out" at around 20 weeks. So far, at 32 weeks, Mom still has an innie! I think it works like one of those pop-up indicators on holiday turkeys - it will pop out when I'm done and ready to come out of the oven!