28 & 29 Weeks

It's amazing how quickly time is flying. I feel like I just wrote my last post, and yet somehow, here I am once again having to post about two weeks at once. I can't imagine how quickly the next 10 weeks will go by! (Though my doctors and expeirenced parents assure me that they'll begin dragging soon as I get bigger and bigger, and thus more and more uncomfortable.) The time doesn't seem to be going as quicky for Mike. Literally every day, he says, "When's the baby going to be here?" He's just so eager to meet his son and start this new chapter of his life. It's very fun to watch his growing excitement!

Last Sunday, we were once again showered with gifts and well wishes. This time, the festivities were hosted by the principal at my school. Interestingly enough, we have three pregnant women at work at the moment, so it was a beautiful joint shower, which made Mike much happier because the attention was not all on him. We had a fantastic homemade brunch full of all sorts of tasty dishes and were even given a onesie featuring a traditional Portuguese dish, which Mike is very excited to show off to his family.

This week, I also took my first yoga class ever. The hospital offers prenatal yoga, and I decided that this was as good a time as any to try out an activity designed to help you get in touch with your body and breathing. I'm taking the classes once a week with Lisa, one of my pregnant co-workers. (She's expecting twins, and her due date is the day before mine, though she won't likely make it to that point with the twins.) Since I had never taken yoga before, I was not at all sure what to expect and was a bit nervous about my ability to do all the exercises, but I'm pleased to say that I was able to do everything without any problems! I should clarify -- I was able to do all of the physical exercises without problem. I'm not as good at the more mental, meditative exercises. The class started out with the teacher playing calming music and having us sit down and close our eyes while she narrated a visualization sequence. We were supposed to focus on the color orange. To help us do that, at one point, she directed us to imagine a spot on the very top of our head opening up and to then imagine someone pouring a beautiful pitcher full of orange juice into our heads, with the orange juice dripping down our spines. I could barely contain my laughter. I mean - orange juice dripping down my spine?!? That's something I'd expect in a yoga parody - not a real yoga class! I'm not sure what effect that whole sequence was supposed to have on me, but I don't think I experienced whatever was intended. In any case, the class did leave me feeling great, and I actually slept entirely through the night and felt rejuvinated in the morning, something that rarely happens these days.

I've had a cold for the past several days, so I've been spending a lot of time resting on the couch, but other than that I'm feeling great. Mike continues to be amazed by how large my belly is getting. Pretty much daily he says, "Man, you're getting big!" We are, after all, entering the period of rapid growth for the baby. At this point, he's gaining about half a point per week. He's just about reached his full length, but still has far to go to reach his full weight. Most of the energy at this point goes into packing on baby fat. Indeed, last week he was the size of a head of Chinese cabbage, and this week, he's the size of a butternut squash - or about 2 1/2 pounds. His skeleton is hardening at this point, so I'm making sure to eat lots of calcium. We go through over a gallon of milk per week now, as well as lots of cheese and yogurt, so he should have good, solid bones!

This Wednesday, we have another ultrasound appointment, so be sure to check back for some new baby pictures!