Let's Go Schwimmin'

In just a few weeks, our 2-year-old has been transformed into a little piggy-tailed fish.  The transformation has been a dramatic one.  Since the beginning of June, we have been frequenting our church pool to beat the heat.  It feels great to swim while pregnant, and I've been having a blast watching Lailey enjoy herself.  Here's how it went:

Day l: Lailey held on tentatively to me and didn't really get the whole kicking and paddling thing.  She just sort of...floated.

Day 2: She borrowed her friend Landon's floaties and started kicking (very little) and then jumping off the side of the pool, but only if I held her hands.  She was insistent.  

Day 3: Now the proud wearer of her own floaties, she decided she didn't need to hold anyone's hands.  She just jumped in!  She'd come up out of the water, with a surprised look, wipe her face, grin, and say "do it again!"

Day 4: She could jump off the side of the pool (with floaties), come up, and swim to the steps, and repeat, all by herself.  

Since a couple months ago, one of Lailey's favorite songs to sing is "Goldfish" by Laurie Berkner.  Davey will randomly say [from the song] "Wait a minute!" and she'll follow with "We're fish!  We don't take showers!  Let's go schwimmin, let's go schwimmin' in the bottom of the ocean."  That seems so fitting now that she loves the water so much.  

Jumping to Daddy

Hanging with Uncle Nick at his pool party

The other day Lailey played at her cousin Sadie's house.  Could it get any more fun than two cousins, a kiddie pool, a slide, and popsicles?

Giggling girls

I grew up very close to my cousins and now it's so much fun having our own kids be so close and play.  Lailey and Sadie are only 9 months apart.

Sharing the hose

Eating popsicles

 We can barely wait to go to the beach next week for our vacation.  Lailey is really excited about the sand, the pool, the ocean, pretty much everything.  What a great age!

Prayer Answered

I went to my MW (midwife) appointment yesterday and baby had already turned heads down.  Hooray!  Thank the Lord that happened so quickly.  In most cases babies do get in the vertex position around this time, but my previous experience made me want to be very proactive about making sure that happened to avoid complications.  I had mentioned to Davey in the week prior that I had a feeling about it, but I didn't want to get my hopes up.  That sounds negative, but I guess it was more realistic since I'm basing everything off my experience with Lailey and I just figured it wouldn't work that way.  I had a chiropractor appointment in Atlanta after seeing the MW, so we debated whether or not it was worth it to keep the appointment since my initial reason for going (breech baby) was now remedied.  I decided to go anyway, and I'm so glad I did.  I felt so great after getting adjusted!  It's been years since going to a chiro, and I guess with all the changes in my pregnant body I didn't realize how much needed tweaking.  I wasn't having any significant pain, just tension and tightness that comes with being 33 wks pregnant.  Well, after my visit all that was gone, my back felt great, and I noticed all day today that despite being on my feet grocery shopping and walking around the house barefoot a lot, my feet haven't hurt all day!  I just thought tired feet were a normal result of carrying all this extra weight, but I can honestly say they don't hurt at all.  Nice.

So, I will continue to go for wellness a few more times before baby is born.  If chiropractic care is supposed to help with proper positioning of the baby for delivery and shorter labor, I'm all for it.  Who wouldn't want that?

Just for kicks (and for memory's sake) I will post a little update about what baby looks like this far along and what is developing.

This week (33 wks) your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Big Sister in Training

Since finding out about baby #2, we have talked to Lailey a lot about her new baby brother/sister and things that she'll get to do.  Now that her cousin Adalyn is here, we've had some good time to practice with a new baby, thanks to Nick and Julie sharing her with us.  So far Lailey has done really well and hasn't seemed jealous at all.  This could all change once we actually have a new baby in our house, as opposed to the occasional time spent with her cousin, but I still think she will do quite well.   

This picture doesn't show how big my tummy is at 33-ish weeks, but trust me, it's getting out there!

 The other night, Lailey asked to feed Addy her bottle, and it was so sweet.  She sat there so patiently and was so sweet and gentle, even kissing her on the forehead occasionally.  She looks so grown up.

We're getting very excited that our family will be expanding soon.  It's coming very quickly, and every time I look at the blog and see the countdown on the top left I have a moment of disbelief at how fast this pregnancy is flying by.  In one way I'm glad because the summer heat is definitely upon us.  I hesitate to say I'm feeling "sad" that the next several weeks are the last I will have with Lailey by herself, but I'm not sure of another way to put it.  It's funny the range of emotions you experience as a parent.  Nervousness, excitement, fear, joy, elation, all rolled into one.  We have so much to be thankful for.

In baby news, we do have a prayer request: pray for baby to flip since he/she was breech at my last midwife appointment.  I was pretty sure before they checked because I remember what it felt like with Lailey that way.  For those that don't know, Lailey was breech until 38 weeks.  You can read about it in this old post.  Most babies (95%, I believe) get in the vertex (i.e. heads down) position by delivery, but the longer baby stays breech the less chance there is for baby to turn.  Less room in there.  Well, after our experience with Lailey (almost had to have a c-section), I've done some research and after talking to my midwives we are looking into chiropractic care.  It is supposed to be highly effective in relieving any constraints that make it difficult for baby to get in the correct birthing position (head down, facing toward mom's back).  I'm guessing that the way I carry is probably a contributing factor to both my kids being breech this far along.  We're praying that the chiropractic adjustments will work and then we can go on to having a smooth delivery.  I'm not stressed or worried, but I think it's worth asking for prayer.  God knows what position is best for this baby.  Thanks!