29 Weeks

Wow, we're getting so close! 75 days to go until the Bun's due date. Before that we have a major milestone. Nicole's shower is on June 5 and, if I am not mistaken, that will be the day that we announce to the world if the Bun is a boy or a girl. I am especially looking forward to that day so that I can stop this ridiculous s/he, him or her, blah blah blah nonsense. It's such a pain. Oh well.

We are all moved in and mostly settled in our new home. We are loving it. It's been great to have that space and to really have a place that feels like it will be home for a while—a place where we can raise the bun. I'm still working on getting up some more pictures for you all but it's a slow process. I'm sorry.

We had another great development last week: we started our Bradley method classes! For those of you who don't know, the Bradley method classes are like a Lamaze class. We have twelve weeks of learning about everything from pain management techniques to breast feeding. We really enjoy our instructor as well as the other couples in our class. I think we were both pleasantly surprised after our fist class at how much we enjoyed it. Feel free to ask about what we're learning, it'll be a good refresher for us.

You may also notice that the location for Nicole's pictures has changed. No more fireplace. Unfortunately, our new digs don't have a fireplace so we'll likely be taking the rest of these pictures in front of a blank wall. We'll see. Maybe we can take them on the front porch.

As far as the Bun goes, his/her head is growing bigger to accommodate the (enormous, I'm sure) brain, which is busy developing billions of neurons. The eyes can move in their sockets. The Bun may be able to follow a blinking light right now (I'm sure s/he can). As well as our baby's increasing sensitivity to changes in light, s/he may also be able to taste. In fact, our baby may already have preferences or dislikes for particular tastes at this stage. The Bun is also moving from side to side, but probably still is head up. In the next few weeks, s/he will move to the head down birthing position. At times Nicole may feel as if the Bun is performing somersaults for an olympic gold medal. The Bun may be performing fewer movements now because living conditions in the womb are becoming more cramped. The Bun is still, however, doing a lot of kicking and stretching. Some of our baby's kicks and punches could potentially take Nicole's breath away. The Bun hears things better from the vibrations all around, and can now distinguish real sounds and voices. We can now "teach" our baby in the womb by exposing him/her to music, literature, and simply talking to him/her. At this stage baby eyes are almost always blue and can distinguish bright sunlight or artificial light through the uterine wall. At week twenty nine, our baby measures about 11 inches from crown to rump, or a total length of about 15 inches from head to heel, and weighs about 2.5 pounds.