Belly Picture Friday - 28 weeks 1 day

Ticker Change Thursday - 28 Weeks

Joaquin is 28 weeks today and still about the size of a large eggplant. He's busy adding new skills such as blinking to an already impressive repertoire of tricks like coughing, sucking, hiccuping, and taking practice breaths. His sleep now includes the REM (rapid eye movement) phase — and that means he could be dreaming already. Though his lungs are nearly fully mature, he still has plenty of growing to do.

How far along? 28 weeks
Weight gain/loss: I might just stick with 27 pounds from here on out.
Sleep? I'd love a little more.
Best moment this week? Seeing our little guy this morning was amazing. I was so happy to see he is healthy and growing. The pictures are just too cute for words.
Movement: Now I know that what I keep feeling is Joaquin rotating his butt from side to side throughout the day. I could not tell if it was his head or butt before.
Food cravings: Mango.
Belly button in or out? Out.
What I miss? A margarita sounds amazing!
What I am looking forward to? Baby shower #2 on Saturday will be fun and relaxing!
Milestones: Joaquin is already head down - this is a great sign!
What I'm nervous about:Getting work done before we leave for Spain.

28 Week Ultrasound Results!! :-)

Jay and I just finished up with our growth ultrasound to check on baby Joaquin's progress. It was fabulous. Joaquin is measuring ahead in growth! He is 2 pounds 15 ounces and measuring at 29 weeks and 2 days! He is head down already too!

We hope you enjoy these awesome pictures of our little man. I have some black and whites that I will scan later too. We are so in love.

Baby Shower #1!

Our first baby shower was absolutely wonderful. Hosted by Joaquin's very generous and talented future grandmother, Dayle, and future aunties, Kate and Mia, it was held at The Cannery on Lido on August 15, 2010. Kate did so much work making every detail of the shower perfect and it really showed! It was gorgeous and everyone had a fabulous time.

Lots Going on This Week!

We have a jam-packed week of baby-related events coming up!

Tuesday Evening: We are going to our last Prepared Childbirth class at Hoag. I have been instructed not to sit in the front of the class this time as Jay does not want to be so close to the movie screen when they show diagrams of episiotomies. haha.

Thursday Morning: Our growth ultrasound!!!!! I've been waiting for this for what seems like forever. We haven't seen our little guy in about 8 weeks and I am starting to go through ultrasound withdrawals. We are going back to the high risk center and should hopefully get another great 3D shot of Joaquin to share with you all. Mostly importantly though, we are going to check to make sure his growth is on track.

Thursday Evening: We are meeting with a potential doula. Most of you probably just said to yourselves "What is a doula?" I didn't know about doulas until after I was pregnant, so don't feel bad. Essentially, a doula is a trained birth assistant. They are not doctors, but usually have attended hundreds of births (the one we are interviewing has attended over 300) and they are hired to come to your home when labor begins to help you labor as long as you need at home, then come with you to the hospital to assist once you are there. They generally help you find comfortable positions, help you remember to breath properly, give you massages, help advocate for you at the hospital, and also provide lactation assistance. Doulas also help dads a lot - they tell them what to do and make sure they don't feel clueless or helpless during the process. Jay also thinks I'm much less likely to yell at a doula when she tells me to do something during labor than I would be to yell at him. I think he has a fair point.

If you want to read a little more about doulas, click here for the Wikipedia entry (scientific, I know).

Friday: I have a dental appointment. Hopefully no pregnancy gingivitis for me!

Saturday: Baby shower #2!

Belly Picture Friday - 27w1d

Personal V-Day!

As I mentioned in my previous V-Day post 3 weeks ago, I consider 27 weeks my personal "V-Day" because if Joaquin were to be born anytime now he'd have greater than a 90% chance of survival (with lots of medical help, of course). We hope he stays cooking for at least another 10 weeks, but it is a relief that we have gotten this far without any major issues or pre-term labor scares. Here's hoping the good luck continues!