32 Weeks

We went to the doctor last Tuesday, and everything still looks good! She measured my belly and it measured about 32 - 32 1/2, which is exactly in line with my due date! The baby seems to be head down, with his feet up near my ribs, so as long as he doesn't decide to turn around, he should be good to go! We'll start going back more frequently now, so I have another appointment 2 weeks from tomorrow.

We took our childbirth class this weekend, which we enjoyed. There were other scared dads in the class, so Patrick felt a little better, I think. We learned about all the different stages of labor, relaxation techniques, pain managment, C-sections, etc., and we got to see all of the equipment that they will use during the delivery. And of course we got to see a video of a live birth. How do they talk women into allowing them to videotape this, even if its for educational purposes?!

We did a role playing activity, where the wives had to read specific lines and then the husbands had to say how they would respond. My line was something like, "I've been in labor for 10 hours and I'm only 5cm dilated. I'm done with this. I'm going home!" (You know, I can actually imagine myself saying something like that.) To which Patrick responded very supportively in front of the class, "You're doing great, honey. You're halfway there. You can do it". I told the class that I actually thought he might take more of a tough love approach and say something more like, "Oh, yeah?! You're going to drive yourself? Because I'm staying here." We got a good laugh out of that.

Anyway, the baby should weigh about 3.75 lbs and is probably about 16.7 inches long. I should be gaining about a pound a week now (no problems with that), and most of this will go to the baby. He will gain about 1/3 to 1/2 of his birth weight between now and when he is born. He should also have fingernails and toenails now and maybe even a little hair on his head. However, I haven't had any heartburn at all, so perhaps he's bald?!