33 weeks

This weekend I learned that I absolutely CAN NOT wear my heels any longer under any circumstance. I am my mothers daughter and I am becoming more and more like her as the days pass. I now love all of the things i hated as a child...make up, old-heavy- hard-to-move antique furniture, and girly things like heels (all things that remind me of my mother.) If you ever need to feel sexy, or if your husband is over six feet tall and you're short, put on a pair of heels! But If you're 8 months pregnant with swollen hands and feet, your heels privileges have been revoked! Your feet may end up looking like this after wearing heels all night at a cocktail party...(Babycenter.com says our baby is the size of a pineapple, but I'm thinking he's closer to the size of a turkey!)

7 MORE WEEKS TO GO!!!!!

Now for much more important news:

Yesterday we had a VERY long visit with our doctor going over our birthing plan. Dustin went with me to my apt. He usually just goes to the ultrasounds so we both don't miss too much work, but he went with me this time. We got tons of questions, misconceptions and concerns answered and the doctor didn't rush us at all. I'm really glad we chose her to be our doctor because she said that her duty is to observe the birthing process, and to intervene when there is potential danger to the baby, not to make decisions for me. We recently watched a movie called The Business Of Being Born, and although it was very educational and had some great points, it made doctors seems so heartless, like a woman in labor is a burden to them and all they want to do is cut you open so they can get home for dinner etc. So to hear her tell me that there was no time limit on my delivery, and that I was able to use a birthing ball, stand if I wanted, or sit in a whirl pool to help things along made me feel so much more comfortable. She said that Pitocin or an epidural was not going to be pushed onto me, and in most cases, if the nurses think she should do a c-section, she will try all of the natural alternatives before she will consider going that route. Dustin and I liked that she said that the delivery is for the family to decide how it goes, and if we wanted to have tambourines and incense more power to us! She's just there to help my body do something that it already knows how to do.

But she did agree that some doctors DO opt to do Cesarean sections when it isn't necessary, but that isn't how she practices medicine...Which I appreciated! (But if the baby is in danger, or his shoulders get stuck, I'd rather just get a C-Section and get the baby here safely than let my pride or my plans get in the way.) We kept saying on the way home "Wow, that was awesome, she really cares about us, and we can't take to heart everything we watch or hear." It's just so hard when you know you're going to go through something you've never gone through before LIKE LABOR! I often tell Dustin that I feel like having this baby feels like the first day of Middle school again; scared, confused, and overwhelmed. I don't know what to expect, or how I'll be treated. So to know that she has my best interest comforts me.

She said Conrad is over 4 lbs. He's a good healthy weight, and he's already head down. So we're praying he stays that way. He's almost ready to make his debut!
She said the normal heart rate is 120-160 beats per minute and Conrad's heart is 146 beats per minute.