33 Weeks; 7 more to go!

I cannot believe how quickly this baby is growing! In about 7 weeks or one and a half months, Shawn and I are going to be parents. So weird! My life is too amazing for all the blessings we have. I met the man of my dreams (and married him), we own an amazing home with the most amazing land on it, we have traveled the world, we have successful jobs and work with wonderful people, we have super families and soon we'll have the most beautiful, creative, intelligent little girl! How did all of this happen before I was 30? God is pretty amazing is all I have to say.

During the last week of school at Spring Arbor, the music school (Diane Kintigh) had a surprise shower for us! Everything was pink and they had baby questions and Jennifer Hine and Nikki Blackburn made pastel chocolates for everyone there. Phil Popam wrote 20th Century Lullabies in the style of Steve Reich, Schoenberg and Terry Riley. It was so funny! (There was clapping and sprechstimme!) Also, Audie wrote words to Brahms' Lullaby just for Abigail as she played a baby saxophone. As if that wasn't enough, the students and faculty got Abigail so many gifts! What an amazing family we have at SAU!

This week, Shawn and I went to the Toy House which is this wonderful toy store in Jackson. It is so full of fun and intellectual (and not commercial) toys and books. There we bought a mattress for Abigail's crib which is now complete. I cannot post pictures until everything is in the room. We also went to Target to buy some bathing essentials for miss Abigail and it was quite fun. 7 weeks seems so far away and so close at the same time. While we were at the Toy House, the cashier asked when I was due and seemed very shocked that I have two months to go. I suppose that means I have a big belly.

With that said, I went to the birthing center and Abigail measured perfectly as always and is so healthy. I can't decide if she is shy (a trait taken from her mum) or if she is ornery (a trait taken from her dad). Every time I want anyone, including Shawn, to feel her moving about, she suddenly stops. At the checkup, she completely stopped when Shellie went anywhere near my belly. She's a silly girl.


At this point, Abigail is about 4 pounds and 17 inches long and about the size of a pineapple. Holy cow! It is definitely getting more difficult to stand up, bend over, shave my legs et al. I have killer heartburn every time I eat and at 2:00 am every day, but like my mom said, papaya enzymes do the trick! Other than that, these last few weeks have been great!

We have been to two birthing classes and here are some things we learned:

1.) If you want to learn to relax through tension, practice holding an ice cube for one minute and relax while doing so.

2.) Squatting (gravity) may help the baby come out.

3.) Shawn learned some ways to massage my back while contractions are bad.

4.) Breathing and relaxed muscles are most important.

So, pregnant or not, try these few things when you're feeling tense.

A side note: I've been having some crazy dreams like Abigail's feet are popping out of my stomach and I have had a few dreams where I'm having a baby and it ends up being a cat. . .


Have a great day!