Weeks 34 and 35

Well the days actually seem to be going by quite fast lately! Last week my mom/coach and I attended our final childbirth education class. The class was actually really great, and I feel that I learned a great deal and came away with tools and resources that will hopefully help me when it comes time to labor. I'm actually kind of excited to see how I do :)

On Monday we also took a "Baby Care" class. In 2 hours we learned how to care for our newborns. Sound unlikely?? Well, it was certainly a whole lot of information crammed into a short period of time. I came away, honestly, scared to death. Though people have been saying it and warning me for months now of what life will be like once the baby is here, it suddenly hit me that truly, in a matter of weeks, I'm going to try to function on roughly 2 hour intervals of sleep. The cycle of feeding, burping, changing, sleeping, feeding, etc. is quite dizzying. I sat there wide eyed in the classroom as it sank in that this little thing inside of me, once out, is going to totally dictate my life. Scary. I know I'm going to just love him so much, and that something in me (and divine) will kick in to give me the strength to handle it, but I'm preparing myself for the reality of what life with a newborn, as a first time mom, is likely to be. Now I think I'm trying to enjoy my last few weeks of pregnancy as much as possible, and now the time seems to be flying.

I had an ultrasound the other day, and Joseph Taylor seems to be growing quite perfectly! He's predicted to be about 5 lbs. 3 oz. right now, and the radiologist said she could see fuzzy hair on his head! Joe thinks for sure he'll come out with blond hair, and I'm hoping he does. I'm already one centimeter dilated (is that TMI? I went back and forth but decided it's part of the wonderful narrative of birth!!) which I found quite encouraging! I'm going to keep walking and doing my exercises and hope that my body will in fact progress through as much of the pre-labor (and ultimately, labor) process as possible while it remains painless. I really am so curious to see how my whole birthing experience ends up playing out. I'm open to whatever happens, and I know God has it completely under control. I'm just curious to find out the details! And I'm sure as soon as it starts some of that curiosity will fade until it's gone altogether and all I want is for it to be over.

All right, enough birth talk for now. I'll be back with more excessive information as it becomes available :)