25 Weeks, Going on 26

Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the warm weather. I'm thinking that I may melt into a pile of goo before the baby even gets here. :) The appointment last Friday went well. As expected it was just a normal check up. I was weighed (let's not even go there)and measured. We got to hear Bear's heartbeat again. Supposedly it's strong enough to hear with just a stethoscope or by putting your ear to my stomach- only Chris is allowed to do that. Unfortunately there won't be any more sonograms. Those are so much fun! We were also able to ask Dr. Love about where we should deliver since we're pretty sure we'll be in this area. He recommended that we deliver at St. David's Medical Center in Austin. His office is right there and he said the drive shouldn't be a problem since the likely-hood of me having a short delivery is very slim (awesome). We're excited that he will be delivering Bear. He's an excellent doctor and we've been going to him for, gosh, 3 years now.

We signed up for some Childbirth Preparation classes at St. David's, which also include a breastfeeding class and a tour. We're really looking forward to them! Last week we made some birth announcement cards (my mom has lots of craft stuff and I needed a project) so those are all ready to go if Bear decides to come early. All the cards are different but here's a sample:


I have obviously warmed up to the whole "Bear" thing that Chris came up with and although we won't be naming the baby "Bear", as Chris had originally hoped for, it has made it a whole lot easier to postpone coming up with a name for Baby Bear.

Discerning a name for your baby is a whole lot harder than I imagined. I knew it would be hard, but oh my gosh, the pressure!! It's all in my head, though. None of our family and friends have done the pressuring. Just me to myself. I think the meaning of a person's name is special and important (we ruled out Ignatius when I found out it meant "firey one". That and the possibility of red hair from either of us is just asking for trouble), and I really want the name to be pleasing to God, one that He wants for our baby. And then we both have such big families that it's hard to pick a name that isn't already being used by an uncle or cousin. So anyway, I could go on about this forever, but my main point is that we have narrowed down the name choices considerably but we won't be "officially" naming him until he's born. I want to make sure the name fits him. Kind of like that episode of Friends (shout out to Dana) where Rachel has her baby and neither one of the names she picked out fit, so they had to pick a third name. Names are important and there's no need to rush.

Since I'm pretty sure you didn't come to the blog to hear me ramble about names, we are 25 weeks along, almost 6 months!! Almost done with the second trimester!! Here's what Bear has been up to this past week:

"Baby's growing by leaps and bounds (and inches and ounces), this week reaching 9 inches in length and more than 1 1/2 pounds in weight. And there are exciting developments on the horizon, too. Capillaries are forming under the skin and filling with blood. By week's end, air sacs lined with capillaries will also develop in your baby's lungs, getting them ready for that first breath of fresh air. Mind you, those lungs aren't ready for prime-time breathing yet- and they have a lot of maturing left to do before they will be. Though they're already beginning to develop surfactant, a substance that will help them expand after birth, your baby's lungs are still too underdeveloped to sufficiently send oxygen to the bloodstream and release carbon dioxide from the blood (aka breathe). And talking about breathing, your baby's nostrils, which have been plugged up until now, are starting to open up this week. This enables your baby to begin taking practice "breaths". Your baby's vocal cords are functioning now, leading to occasional hiccups (which you'll certainly be feeling)." -What to Expect

Thanks so much for tuning in. See you next Thursday!