Hey Cupcake!

You sure have decided to put on the lbs in the past few weeks! Your big growth spurt just so happened to coincide with the delivery of Girl Scout cookies… we wonder if you like the Samoas as much as your mom does. Mom’s tummy has really started sticking out and we are watching you have all sorts of dance parties in her belly. We get so much reassurance that you are happy and healthy when you kick around all the time so keep it up!

Ollie has been skidding around on the new hardwood floors making sure that they are nice and worn in for you when you get here. Mom and Dad finally picked out new carpet and they have someone coming this week to start the installation process. Once that is done, furniture will be put together and your room will be nearly ready! All that will be missing is you… Now, that is not an invitation to have a birthday anytime in the next few weeks – you really need to stay in there until at least mid-May, okay?

Mom’s Side Note: Your dad has been working SO hard at getting the house fixed up and perfect for you. You may not know it now, and you may not know it until you’re in college, but you couldn’t be any luckier to have him as your dad. He is the most amazing man your mom has ever met and she feels so lucky to be married to him. He will be a wonderful father… in fact, the  BEST father in the world.

9 March 2011 – You and Mom went to San Francisco for a few days. Mom was attending a conference and you got to listen to all sorts of interesting lectures regarding contraception and sexually transmitted infections. It’s something you’ll be hearing a lot about when you get older, so you just got a head start! Dad flew down on Friday after work and the three of you got to spend the rest of the weekend together.

15 March 2011 – Midwife Appointment #6. This was your last visit to the midwives your mom has been seeing from the start. Due to some insurance issues, you guys will be transferring care to another practice. Mom and Dad have loved their visits and are sad to transfer, but know they will have an awesome experience with their new midwives too! Mom decided that if she wasn’t going to deliver with the Neighborcare midwives, the most obvious choice was to have one of her partners catch you! So, starting next week, your mom will be a patient in the practice where she works. She has no doubt that the women who trained her to be a midwife and the nurses with whom she works will take the best care of you guys.

Everything at the appointment was looking great. Your mom had gained another pound since her last visit and your heartbeat was sounding perfect. You seem to be a little squished up in Mom’s belly, because her FH (remember that abbreviation from earlier?) hadn’t changed a whole lot since her last visit. Your mom felt certain that you were growing perfectly in there (if you could see her belly from the outside, you’d agree!) and that you were getting stronger and stronger, but her midwife just wanted to double check your size and amniotic fluid volume (AFI in charts) with an ultrasound.

Gestational Age – 29 weeks and 6 days
Fundal Height – 25 cm

16 March 2011 – You and Mom popped to the office next door to her office to visit your mom’s favorite perinatologist and he took a look at your size. Just as Mom thought, you are growing right on target and your fluid levels are normal. Mom and Dad still think you’re the most perfect thing they’ve ever seen.

Now – we’ve known for quite some time now that you’re in the Frank Breech position. This means that your cute little booty is down near Mom’s pelvis and your head and feet are up near her ribs (and Dad doesn’t understand how you can possibly be comfortable with your feet up by your head). This is nothing to worry about at this time, but your mom is kindly asking you to turn around (or “invert” as Dad tells you every morning).

20 March 2011 – You, your mom, and Auntie Jen ran the Mercer Island 10K together. So far, you’ve completed a ½ Marathon, a full Marathon and a 10K – all by the time you’re 31 weeks! Your mom and Auntie Jen had a great time enjoying the beautiful Spring weather and talking during the 70 minutes it took them to complete the race.

With you getting bigger and bigger, your mom is having a much harder time running (don’t you worry, though, you just keep growing!). She’s having a little pain in her low back and pelvis that makes running much more uncomfortable. So, as much as your mom loooooooves to run, she’s been cutting way back on the miles. Your mom has started swimming again, and she’s hoping you like the pool too! She figures that there will be plenty of time for the two of you to run together when you’re on the outside.

Mom and Dad start their childbirth education classes this week. Wow – we can’t believe how fast time is going! Mom has another midwife appointment next week to check your growth and listen to your heartbeat. You keep dancing and growing in there, little one.

We never thought it would be possible to love something that we’ve never met so much.