Weeks 27-31

27 Weeks (Sunday, May 3)

Size of baby: A rutabaga, 13.6-14.8 inches, 1.5-2.5 pounds

28 Weeks (Sunday, May 10)

Size of baby: An eggplant, 13.6-14.8 inches, 1.5-2.5 pounds

29 Weeks (Sunday, May 17)

Size of baby: An acorn squash, 15.2-16.7 inches, 2.5-3.8 pounds

30 Weeks (Sunday, May 24)

Size of baby: A cucumber, 15.2-16.7 inches, 2.5-3.8 pounds

31 Weeks (Sunday, May 31)

Size of baby: A pineapple, 15.2-16.7 inches, 2.5-3.8 pounds

Milestones: She's showing brain activity.  She's getting fatter and less wrinkly.  She's strong enough to grasp a finger.  Her irises can react to light, she can blink, and all five senses work now.  Her sleep now includes the REM phase which means she can dream.  She can now regulate her own body temperature.  

Baby Mobile

Our first craft for baby V's nursery is complete!  After finding that most baby mobiles in stores were $40-60 I decided DIY would be a good option.  I was inspired by this baby mobile on Pinterest that was previously sold on Etsy:

It seems like most baby mobiles on Etsy cost $80+.  At first I thought this was absolutely ridiculous, but after spending $30 on supplies and spending about 12 hours making this thing, I can definitely understand why someone would charge $80.  Suffice it to say, this was one of those crafts that took 10x longer than I had expected, and turned out to be a labor of love.  It was mostly fun, and we weren't in a rush so it was still worth it.

Supplies needed:
Yarn (We used some leftover gray wavy yarn from a previous project.)
Felt (Bought a yard and had plenty)
Various colors of calico fabric (Bought a yard of three different colors and had plenty)
Hot glue gun
Circular ring

Let me just take a moment to say finding a circular ring on which to affix the poms was incredibly difficult.  It was one of those things where you feel like it'll be so easy to go to the store and buy a metal/wooden/plastic 12" ring, but after going to Hobby Lobby and Home Depot without any luck we settled on buying some rubber tubing, shaping it into a circle, securing it with Duct Tape, and wrapping it in the pretty yarn.

I used a tutorial by Little Miss Mama to make the pom poms.  Basically, you cut a circle with the felt (we used a biscuit cutter to trace the circles) and cut out a billion circles from the calico fabric.  Seriously.  This took forever.  Then you glue the fabric onto the felt.  Just go to the link and it'll explain how to go about doing this.  Once your circles are complete you'll glue two together to create a ball/flower.  We made three small poms and three large poms and affixed them to the hoop with more yarn.

Robert got excited and decided to make four animals on a center ring: elephant, penguin, hippo, and giraffe.  Isn't he cute?

Complete!

The Seventh Appointment

We had our seventh prenatal appointment on Friday (28w5d).  Things are still going well!  It was a boring appointment where they just did the standard vitals, measuring, and a quick chat with the doctor.  The nurse taught me how to press on my stomach to tell how baby V is positioned and to identify body parts (head, butt, hands, and feet).  At the appointment her head was over on my right, and her legs and arms were stretched out toward my left side.  Her heart rate was faster than last time at 150 bpm.  I always go to the doctor and say something like, "I know this is probably completely normal, but..."  This week's was, "I know this is probably completely normal, but I've started getting so unbelievably hot, and it's especially bad at night."  Yep, normal.  She said pretty much all you can do is drink some water, and that it'll be even worse while breastfeeding.  Yay!  It doesn't help that I'm already hot natured to begin with.  Our friends JJ and Rachel are letting us borrow a window unit to use in our bedroom.  We have central heating and cooling, but it stays about 5-6 degrees warmer upstairs, and I'd been waking up sweating with a headache and just not sleeping that well.  The window unit has helped so much!  Other than that, I've started waking up throughout the night to go to the bathroom once or twice.  I think part of that is because I've gotten thirstier and tend to drink a lot of water right before I go to bed which really doesn't help things.

Other than that, we talked about pain management options during labor and delivery.  I really want to try to do it without an epidural.  Honestly, it's been pretty frustrating how discouraging people are when I say that's my goal.  I'm not saying I'm ruling it out 100%, but I also feel like God created women for childbirth and my body can handle it.  That makes sense, right?  I guess I've just been hearing all of these horror stories like, "Yeah, I wanted to have a natural birth and after 48 hours of labor I had a c-section"  Or, "Good luck with that!"  I feel like I've also heard the other extremes.  You know, like delivering 15 minutes after getting to the hospital and not even having time for the option of an epidural.  Where are the stories of an 8 hour labor that was painful but survivable?

At this point I'm not scheduled to have any additional ultrasounds or tests other than the Group B Strep test during the last couple of weeks of pregnancy, so most of the appointments will be fairly routine.  We're excited to take a couple of pregnancy and newborn classes in June!  We're also excited to celebrate baby V with two baby showers this month.  We'll be taking a trip to Alabama in about a week to visit Robert's dad's side of the family and to have a family BBQ/shower, and the day after we get back from that we'll have a hometown shower with all of my lifelong friends and family friends.  I can't wait for baby to meet all of these friends and family members!