Colors and Themes

Let me begin by saying that the one thing that makes me a little more confident in this whole baby raising endeavor is the fact that we have very supportive family and friends behind us. That's why this blog is a little awkward to write. I hope that no one takes offense because Luke and I will be completely grateful and thrilled with anything that anyone wants to provide for Baby Hailey.

With that said, a few people have asked me for some direction on purchasing things for Hailey and the nursery. In terms of clothes, I'm guessing that we don't need a ton of newborn clothes because it's going to be extremely hot when Hailey arrives so she's probably going to be either naked or swaddled, depending on the temperature of the a/c and how fussy she is. We didn't really register for any clothes because they are all so adorable that part of the fun is going to pick them out!

We've decided on a Winnie the Pooh theme for the nursery. Luke's probably going to paint some characters on the walls for us. We are going to try to keep thinks lavendar and green because neither of us are big pink-lovers. I'll try to take a picture of the nursery as it looks right now so that we can get a before and after comparison.

Big Hailey Development News

According to our favorite book, Hailey's lungs are now capable of breathing air for the first time. I don't think that means that she's would be viable outside of the womb, but it means she's getting close. She also has eyelashes and eyebrows now.

I can't believe that I'm at 27 weeks already. The last 4-5 weeks have just flown by. We have our 28 week checkup on May 1st, and then our 30 week ultrasound coming up after that. It seems like the first 20 weeks were so slow and now time is just flying by!

The New Bed

At long last, we finally have a real bed and a new mattress!!!! It arrived yesterday so last night was our first night in it. As you can see from the picture, the bed is huge! However, we made a slight miscalculation in the height of the mattress. I think that we are going to have to exchange the box springs for low profile ones that should bring the mattress height down about 6 inches. I just think that it looks kind of goofy the way it is. Plus, I have to practically jump to get up there! Other than that very minor issue, the bed is fabulous. I had no back pain last night or in the morning. It's kind of difficult to see just how gigantic the bed is from the picture, but let's just say it's big, big, big. We've finally found something to fit our huge bedroom! Yeah!!!!

Childbirth Class: Episode 1

Last night was the first meeting of our childbirth education class, but don't worry there weren't any birth videos yet. I guess that we start watching the videos next week and every week after that until we are completely desensitized to the whole thing. Sounds like lots of fun.

Anyway, there are about 5-6 couples in the class. We began by going around the room and talking about our ideal births and our fears. The first few people talked about being afraid of the pain and worrying that their baby would be healthy. I have all of those fears too, but I didn't want to just repeat what everyone else was saying so I said that I was afraid that I was going to get hungry during labor and the nurses wouldn't let me eat. Everyone thought that was soooo funny, but I wasn't trying to be funny. This is a real concern!!!! If I'm in labor for 18 hours, I'm going to want a granola bar or something!!!! At least several of the other women in the class said that they completely agreed, after they stopped laughing.

After introductions, we learned about the history of giving birth in an upright posture versus the medical model of lying down. I'm no doctor, but I don't think that it takes an advanced degree to realize that you might as well use gravity to your advantage on this one. I'm sure that we'll be learning all of the fun ways to give birth upright in future classes. We spent the rest of the time this week just learning a breathing technique to help with relaxation during contractions. I'm really interested to see how well I can relax during a contraction. Seems like that will be really really difficult. Oh, well. I just keep telling myself that women have been doing this with midwives and no drugs for thousands and thousands of years. It's the one reassuring thought that I have!

Visit with the Midwife

Tuesday was my 24 week checkup with the midwife. She says that Hailey is doing fine and has a good heartbeat. Unfortunately, Mommy (that'd be me) has put on 9lbs since my last visit 4 weeks ago!! I was so surprised when she said this that I didn't know how to respond. I check my weight at least 3 times a week at home, and I've only put on 5 lbs at the most since I hit the 20 week mark (I'm only supposed to gain 1 lb a week). I really have not been going too crazy with the food...except for the ice cream that I eat almost every night. Why am I putting on so much weight????

Well, I kind of think that a few of the lbs can be explained by the fact that I was wearing a jacket and knee high boots when they weighed me this time. Still, I'm going to turn over a new leaf and try to eat a little healthier. What's crazy is that I'm not eating any worse than I did before I was pregnant. I am, however, eating red meat which I've never done before. I'm going to blame the cows for this because I'm sure that it can't be the ice cream (and even if it were, that would be their fault too)!