Baby!

Jen's Baby Updates - Week 31

Sunday, February 16th, 2003

Midwife Visit

I just got back from my 31 week prenatal appointment with my midwives. I saw Cat today. She told me that my gestational diabetes test came out normal, no problem at all. That's nice. My body seems to be handling this whole pregnancy thing quite well.

As usual, we chatted for a long time. I think that they must schedule at least an hour for every appointment. They never make me feel rushed... I feel that I could talk to them for the entire afternoon and they would never kick me out. That's one of the reasons that I like them so much.

I made arrangements to meet the third midwife, who is really just on call on weekends and if one of the other two goes away. My due date is on a weekend, so I'd like to make sure that I've at least met with her, in case she's the one that is available to help me through labor. I scheduled all the rest of my prenatal appointments. Now that they are only two weeks or one week apart, it just made sense to do it all at once. I feel so organized! It also makes it feel like this will be over very soon.

Movement

The baby is moving all the time now! As I write this, he is just rolling around in there, having a grand time! It is a little disconcerting and distracting, but it is always interesting. I still love to show him off.. I just wish he were more obedient (I'm sure that I'll be thinking that a lot)! He always gets shy when someone new tries to feel him move.

Travis has been feeling him move a lot at night while I'm sleeping. He says that is his chance to spend some time alone with the baby.

He often kicks me so hard in my side that I exclaim out loud, startling my officemate. It isn't precisely painful, but it is often surprising.

Exercise

I went to a ballet class on Tuesday night with some friends from work. It was just a drop-in class, and because there were three of us and only two experienced students, it was a pretty basic class. That was good, because going to ballet reminded me of why I switched back to martial arts. Martial arts is much more natural to me.

Anyway, we did a lot of barre work and some center work. I discovered that I am evidently incapable of doing anything that involves pointing my feet right now! Every time I tried to releve (stand on my toes (but not pointe)), my calves cramped up. You may remember that I mentioned a long time ago that pregnancy tends to lead to more muscle cramps, but I haven't experienced them much until last night. It was very frustrating (and painful).

It was nice to get back into ballet, though... it is fun to try to move gracefully instead of forcefully. My body has forgotten a lot, though. I don't know how much I'll go, but it is pretty convenient to work, so I may go every week.

I'm still working out on the treadmill nearly every night. I'm looking forward to being able to run again. I'm tired of my body being unlimber and unwieldy. And not fitting into my clothes! I'm bored of the maternity clothes that I own, but it doesn't make sense to get any more at this point.

Other People's Babies

My parents had other plans on Saturday night, and Travis and I had made plans to see Mark and Kat and Kira. It is so convenient that they live less than a mile from my parents house! Now, if we could just talk them into moving to Dayton...

Kira is 7 weeks old now, and she is a little bit bigger, but still small. I can definitely see that they change very fast! She can hold her own head up nearly all the time now, which made me more comfortable... I think it is scary when their heads are all wobbly!

It was amazing to see Travis with Kira. He was so good with her! He knew just how to hold her and rock her and talk to her. I fell in love with him even more, and I can't wait to see him being a father to our child!

On the other hand, I screwed up my courage and held Kira this time, and found it very awkward! I didn't know how to hold her or how to comfort her or anything. I know that it won't take me long to get the hang of it once I have my own, but I'm certainly not a natural with babies! I seem to have a pretty good rapport with older kids, but I just haven't figured out what to do with babies yet. Oh well! That's why this is an adventure!

It was great to see Mark and Kat again, as always. Kat gave me a lot of pointers about the first seven weeks... it is so nice to have someone going through this so shortly before I do, so I can get all the details from someone who has just gone through it!

Again, Travis and I both found it tiring to be around a baby... and Kira was extremely good! She barely cried at all, and was basically just there being cute. We'll get used to it, I'm sure. In fact, we're even looking forward to it!

Miscellaneous

Clothes

Maternity clothes are not made for tall people. Actually, they probably aren't made for short people either. There are no lengths, and often the pants just come in small, medium, and large. My pants were on the verge of being too short when I bought them, and they just got shorter as I washed them. So, my solution was to sew fabric onto the bottom of the pants to make them longer. It is a funky look... not exactly in, but I like it, and I'm not wearing high-waters anymore!

Traveling - Happy Birthday Mom!

Travis and I went up to Michigan this weekend to surprise my mom for her birthday. It was a perfect weekend! We got there on Saturday and played cards with my parents for a while (Travis and my dad beat my mom and I at euchre).

On Sunday we went and saw Phantom of the Opera in Lansing with the whole family, which was excellent. The baby was kicking a lot during the performance. I think he likes music! I wore my velvet stretch dress, which is just so much fun because it really makes me look pregnant. I bought some stocking, rather than full nylons, because I just can't get them over my belly anymore. The stockings worked great, though.

Before I left on Monday, we stopped by my mom's office so she could show me off to her friends. I love how excited she is about my pregnancy! I love to show off my belly, anyway, so it was fun!

It was a great weekend, because I got to see my parents, my sister, and my aunt Becky. I just don't get to spend enough time with them, and I know it will get even harder once I have a child around. They will all want to pay attention to him instead of me. :-} Oh well, that's the way it goes

OK, I'm caught up on the baby updates and the photos on the web site. Check out how huge my body is now! He must have had a growth spurt lately, because I'm suddenly much larger!