A day that started and ended with baby

Yesterday I started my morning with another appointment with Amy. And with Christina, a med student. The quick and dirty:

my BP: 96/70

my weight: down 1 pound from two-and-a-half weeks ago

fundal height (the belly measurement): Christina got 29 cm., but Amy got 31 cm.

his FHB: probably between 130 and 140, but they couldn't get a good count because he kept moving

The one-pound weight loss was negligible and of no concern, especially since Amy thinks baby boy may be measuring up to two weeks ahead. The fundal height measurement is supposed to correspond with weeks of pregnancy -- i.e., at 29 weeks I should be right around 29 cm. -- and since I measured 28 cm. at 27 weeks and now up to 31 cm. at 29 weeks, Amy ordered a growth ultrasound for me, to happen towards the end of the month.

So we get to see the little bugger at least one more time before he joins the outside world!

Then we ended the day with our first childbirth class on the Med Center campus. Brian and I have mixed feelings so far, since the first class was largely a waste of three hours of our time. We did learn a few neat breathing and massage tricks to relieve back pain associated with labor and to manage contractions, but most of the time was spent covering the basics of pregnancy and labor and practicing relaxation exercises. A waste of time, since I thought most of the moms-to-be would have educated themselves by this point on the stages of labor, and there's no way relaxation exercises can possibly be effective when you're laying on a smelly mat in a room of 40 strangers. Oh, and when the Life Lion or a plane flies by every now and then, completely drowing out the Yoga music.

But oh well, we'll take the bad with the good and go back next week. And the class we're most looking forward to is the last one on May 21 -- the tour of Hershey's Labor & Delivery section.

I did get to sign up last night for another research study: this one involves eight 20 - 30 minute phone interviews over the course of three years, and they give us a $20 grocery store or Babies'R'Us gift card after each interview is completed. First interview will be shortly after my 34 week mark, next one will be one month after delivery, and then I'll do one interview every six months for the next three years.

The other bright spot of the childbirth class, for me at least, was seeing Brian's face when they passed around the plastic doo-hickie that illustrated the different stages of dilation. He never realized just how big 10 centimeters is. Giggle.