Week 34

Two big milestones this week -- Airlines will no longer allow me to fly on their planes and most importantly, if our little girl comes early, I won't need steroid shots to speed up development of her lungs. Her lungs should be developed enough to handle it if she comes early. Relieving news!

Today Emile and I attended a Infant/Child CPR class. We've both taken CPR before for adults but there were definite different things to do for a child and definitely an infant. I'm glad we went. Hopefully, we'll not have to use it though.

On Tuesday, we attended our final birth class with Elissa Brody at Carolina Childbirth Classes. Up to this point, we had been watching birthing DVDs that Elissa provided to us. The 2-hour class with her on Tuesday was very helpful. She reviewed the items discussed in the birth videos and then had me practice some of the breathing techniques (I prefer the slow breathing typical in the Bradley Method than the short breathes of Lamaze (they only teach one form of the Lamaze breathing nowadays versus the 5 different types from years ago)) while Emile practiced some pain soothing methods on me. I think it will help both Emile and I feel more comfortable with what to do come delivery.

Yesterday, I officially noticed that I have lost my ankles and seem to have developed "cankles". This makes me incredibly sad! I don't like feeling this large. I was really hoping to avoid the cankle look by working out occasionally, drinking lots of water, and eating pretty well -- but that didn't seem to work. I no longer wear my wedding rings, I get itchy skin rashes, I snore, and I now have cankles. All it all, it could be worse so my pregnancy is still going well.

According to the books, our baby is probably around 5.5 lbs now. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I'm hoping to find out if he has a better estimate based on my actual size. Given how large my belly feels, I wonder if she's actually on the higher end of the scale. I sure hope not! I can't believe I'm already at 34 weeks. In as little as 3 weeks or probably at most 7 weeks, our little girl will be here. Very exciting but slightly scary at the same time!