Thirty Weeks

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)



This week has seemed to fly by. I have another doc apt tomorrow with Suzanne, the NP in the office. I’m sure all is well – I feel the baby a lot. He gets the hic-ups all the time and yesterday he must have been facing head up cause every time he hic-upped my tummy moved in the same spot!

We’re also taking Ozzie into see his specialist tomorrow, he is not putting any pressure on his “lucky” foot. Even when he sits down he pathetically holds it up so it doesn’t even touch the ground. Something must be bothering him, so we’re off to see Dr. Fry at Garden State Veterinary Specialists on Friday. Ozzie actually really likes Dr. Fry and I think the feeling is mutual. She’s really great and hopefully she’ll help him get back to his normal, jumping, running self again.

We have a busy weekend. After the doc appointments tomorrow we go to our first Lamaze/Child Birth Prep class. We’re taking an accelerated two day course. We go tomorrow night and then all day on Saturday. It worked out with Frank’s schedule so he didn’t have to take any time off work and we’re taking it at our local hospital, JFK. It’s not where I’ll be delivering, but I figure, the information will be just as useful without the 45 minute drive each way.

I’m so curious what we’re going to learn and what the class will be like. I remember seeing Lamaze classes in movies and on TV with the couple on the floor with pillows doing all sorts of breathing. Wonder if it’s like that? Don’t get me wrong, I fully believe in pain management and plan to get my epidural as soon as they will give it to me. I thought I was good at handling pain with as many broken bones as I’ve had, but having gallstones brought me to a whole different level of pain. I’d like to learn some positive ways to work through the pain rather than resorting to my usual, “*&#$%@! #*$&#@” I have a mouth like a sailor if I’m in serious pain. God help Frank and our nurses for that matter!

We’re taking this class just to be a bit more prepared for the actual process. My dear husband has more experience with child birth than I do! He’s delivered three babies! He is a police officer in a small town and there is a woman there that would rather deliver her babies at home than go to the hospital. And when things become too much for the husband, she calls the police. Frank has dutifully delivered a set of twins and then a few years later another healthy baby. With this particular woman, Frank said the babies just “fell out” and I keep telling him there’s usually a lot more that goes into actually delivering the baby. I’m interested in seeing how much information he offers in the class or if he plays dumb like most husbands. Maybe we’ll both learn something we can take with us to the delivery.

We’re in the 10 week count down! We’ve got lots to do and we’re kicking it into high gear to get it done. My goal is to have everything ready by 34 weeks – that’s in one month. I have a feeling this little guy is going to come early, but I could totally eat my words and he’ll be two weeks late! Imagine that! Oh boy…