Baby!

Jen's Baby Updates - Week 29

Sunday, February 2nd, 2003

Well, we've entered the panic stage. At least I have. Our life is going to change completely in under three months! I'm starting to feel trapped, because in my mind, we won't be able to travel after the baby gets here. Add to that the fact that we really shouldn't travel very far now because it is not impossible that I could go into premature labor, and I'm pretty much trapped.

I just keep reminding myself that we don't like to travel, anyway. It is odd how knowing that you can't makes you want to. Kind of like being curled up in a little ball is nice and cozy, as long as you aren't also contained in a little box. Then claustrophobia strikes.

I've gotten a bunch of books from the library and I've been doing research on both labor itself and the actual baby-having. It is alternatively making me feel better and worse.

I'm looking forward to childbirth. I think that it will be very interesting. It is certainly something that you only get to experience a limited number of times in your life, so I don't want to miss it! I realize that it will probably be unbelievably painful and scary, but I want it all!

Movement

The baby had the hiccups a few nights ago! It was really cool... just little tiny movements of my stomach. I think he must have been sleeping, because he wasn't moving in any other way. Travis thought it was my pulse at first, it was so fast and rhythmic. Very cute!

Symptoms

As I mentioned last week, I am having some pain on the right side of my rib cage. I believe that it might be due to the underwire of my bra pushing against my rib cage all the time, but that could be wrong, because it hurts when I'm wearing sports bras, too. It is also possible that the baby has his little foot jammed up there and is kicking me there a lot, leaving me bruised. Sometimes he does kick there, but it doesn't _feel_ very hard. I can't tell if the pain is inside or outside.

My leg hair isn't growing at all. Isn't that strange? I heard all this stuff about how thick your hair gets while you are pregnant, and I figured that it was due to the hormones and vitamins. I can't tell much with my head hair, because even though I dye it, the roots aren't distinct enough to watch. Anyway, my leg hair is very fine and light anyway, so it isn't very obvious when I don't shave, anyway, but lately it doesn't seem to grow at all. I can wait about a month before I have even an eighth of an inch, and it is so fine that it is barely there.

Gifts

It sounds like three baby showers are being thrown for us by different groups of people, which is just amazing! We are so touched that so many people want to help us celebrate our new family member! I didn't think that people would be interested in having showers for us so soon after we got married... it seems like we just got through with all of this! Of course, we need different stuff now... I don't think that the baby will be interested in crystal vases... at least I hope not.

At first, when the possibility of showers came up, I didn't think that we needed to have them. We're planning on breastfeeding, so we don't need many bottles and such, and it just didn't seem like infants really need much more than a car seat and someplace to sleep.

However, I went and registered today, and I realized that I don't know anything about what babies need. Luckily, I went with my friend Kristie from work, who has already had a baby, so she knows what they need. We went to Babies R Us and she explained everything to me, as well as which brands are better, and which specific products she had used. Her help was invaluable!

I was very overwhelmed. After about 30 minutes I was exhausted, but we did stay for three hours. It really helped that Delia went, because she and I could marvel together at how little we knew about this stuff. Not to mention that I never get to see her anymore because we have both been so busy... it was nice to just have a chance to talk on the drive over there and back.

Miscellaneous

I still don't mind people touching my belly, though I still haven't had any strangers walk up and touch it. I encourage people to feel him move, and to touch my belly when I'm having a Braxton-Hicks contraction. It is so neat, and I know that I never ever got to touch a pregnant belly before nor to feel a baby move inside someone. I want everyone to have the chance if they want it!