Pregnancy Update 4

As of this post, Kate and I have roughly a week or so before Baby's arrival. That's assuming that Baby agrees to pay heed to the scheduled due date...which I'm fairly certain he/she will not. In fact, if Baby has his/her parents' knack for timeliness, Baby won't make an appearance until Christmas! :-)

Kate's doing very well. She hasn't had any discomfort that the pregnancy books say can be normal. She does get tired very quickly...and seems to need a sit-down rest after even 10-15 minutes of activity. The only ailment she's suffered from recently is a PUPPP rash, but a little cortisone and some benadryl and she was fine in a couple of days.

Here's a pic of her from this week:



Getting big, isn't she? :-)

It's been extremely cool to be able to feel Baby moving around in Kate's belly. I've been able to feel feet, legs, and even Baby's rump pressing up against Kate's skin. Baby still tends to keep quiet when Kate's moving...but gets active when she's sitting still. Baby also reacts to noise, particularly music...but a couple of times he/she gave a twitch at Daddy's voice. :-D I'm also able to 'play' with Baby by poking or tapping Kate's belly and getting a kick or twitch in response. Oddly enough, Kate doesn't always like this game. ;-)

Another amusing twist is that Kate hasn't hit any sort of 'nesting' phases. In fact, it's been yours truly that's been anxious about making sure everything is ready for Baby's arrival. I was starting to scheme up complex plans to re-arrange the entire living room and office...and I was panicking because I didn't know how I was going to get everything done! Fortunately, Kate was able to talk me down and remind me that we don't need a huge re-structuring of the house just for one tiny tot. With that in mind, I reined by in plans to something simpler and much more manageable, which we finished up last weekend.

We're pretty much ready with furniture and supplies, having stopped at Sam's Club to pick up diapers and Babies-R-Us for other tools of the parental trade. In addition, our friend Deb and Rick gave us a changing table (which the cats think is a new fort to play on) and a car seat for the kiddo. And (best of all) my folks made us a new rocking cradle for Baby! They also brought up a glider chair for Kate, although Chiral appears to have adopted it as her own chair.

Here's some pictures:







We've finished our childbirth and breastfeeding classes (although we'll have a few weeks of postpartum classes sometime in January). We've also got Baby's baptism all scheduled out - I believe Kate's folks will be out for that event.

At our last visit to the midwives at Womancare, we were told that Baby was doing well. His/her head is pointed downward, but his/her face is looking forward. But there are some easy exercises that Kate's been doing to help encourage Baby to turn around and face the proper way. Other than that, the midwives have pronounced Baby as perfectly healthy...and looking pretty comfortable despite the squashed living space inside of Mommy. :-)

So all is well right now! We're both very excited about Baby's upcoming arrival...but Kate admits that Baby is probably easier to manage where he/she is right now. :-)

Hopefully, the next post will be a birth announcement!

As always, thanks for reading...and I hope you're having a great day!