Baby Update, A Few Pictures, and Thoughts on Being in the 3rd Trimester (wow!)

Today we saw the high-risk doctor, the perinatologist. They did another ultrasound and checked Baby's growth. Baby's heart rate was great, and the cord blood flow looked great as well. Also, we were able to see the baby "practice breathing" which is something they do in the womb. The only thing to take into the lungs now is amniotic fluid, but it gets them ready to breathe air later. The tech said that was a great thing to see because it's usually hard to catch that on an ultrasound. We could actually see the baby's chest cavity moving up and down, so cool! As far as Baby's size, we're still in the 9th percentile which indicates a steady weight gain, but still on the small size according to averages. At this point the doctor will check the baby weekly just to be on the safe side. He thinks, along with the nurse-midwife at my OB's office, that Baby is small because of genetics. I have a lot of small people in both sides of my family, so it makes sense. It is going to be a little inconvenient to have so many doctor's appointments, but it's better to be safe.


I never posted any Christmas pictures of Rudy, so here's one of him sound asleep wearing his new present - a hiking backpack. I guess all the Christmas fun wore him out. Now when we go camping/hiking he can carry his own stuff (like plastic bags for...well, you can figure it out).



This is a picture taken from Pike Place Market in Seattle from our recent trip. So much for weather forecasts...look at the blue sky! (The stadiums in the distance are Safeco Field where the Mariners play, and the Seahawks stadium - I think.)
This is the baby t-shirt we purchased. Since the baby has actually been to Seattle now, we wanted to have a souvenir of the trip!

This is actually a belly picture from the week before last, since I forgot to take one this past weekend. But since I haven't posted a picture of myself in a while, I figured I'd put it on here anyway. This past Monday when I got my belly measured, it was right on.

Davey and I are both amazed to be 2/3rds of the way finished already. It's hard to believe that we only have about 12 weeks to go. I feel really great and haven't gotten uncomfortable yet. I'm still as hungry as ever, but I have to eat more slowly and in smaller amounts more often because I don't think my stomach has enough room to expand like it did before. I'm still sleeping well at night, which is nice. I'm going to enjoy the sleep while I can. I have noticed a few subtle changes about moving around, however. For example, it's not quite as easy to reach for things now, especially if I have to bend over. And standing up from a squatting position is getting harder too. A fun new thing is being able to push and feel different parts of the baby. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's either the baby's head or butt that likes to hang out to the right of my belly button because it feels really hard right there. Davey loves that he can actually feel the baby now. Sometimes Baby pokes back at him too! I first felt baby hiccups a couple of weeks ago, and I feel them about once a day now. None of Baby's kicks have hurt at all, but his/her feet really tickle my right side sometimes! It makes me laugh.

This evening we visited our friends and their 10-day-old baby girl. I got more excited thinking about how that's going to be us before we know it. Davey looked so cute holding her. I can't wait to see him with our own child and see him fall in love all over again.