Dear Alex,
The countdown is officially on– at over 30 weeks along now, we have less than ten weeks to go until your due date! I have to admit that I’m starting to get a little impatient… it has been so long since we last saw your face on the ultrasounds & we cannot wait to meet you in the flesh. Luckily the holidays are coming up, so that should help the time go by more quickly. Thanksgiving is in just a few days & I’m looking forward to a relaxing day of chowing down with our family. 🙂 Hopefully Dad & I are feeling better by then– we have both caught a bit of a cold. He had it over the weekend & I’ve started to come down with it over the last day or so. Being sick while pregnant is no fun at all, which is why I look like death warmed over in this week’s bump photo:
But you, little guy, are looking awesome! It’s especially startling to see how big you’ve gotten since my last official bump photo 2 weeks ago. My sources say your “produce size” this week is a cucumber, but I have to assume that they’re just talking about length since you are estimated to be around 3 lbs. at this point! I am so big that even strangers feel comfortable saying things now (although sometimes I want to act like I’m not pregnant & freak them out, I never do)… for example, a few days ago I was in Chipotle ordering chicken tacos, and the lady at the checkout was like “This is it?! You need to order more, you’re eating for two!” I told her that ironically I order the tacos so that I can just have one or two and save the rest for later, which totally blew her mind. LOL
Although I am in a general state of discomfort most of the time & have even started to waddle more than walk (a random person in my office building called me out on it today actually), I still love feeling you kick and squirm around in there. Watching my belly randomly twitch around is pretty entertaining too, for both me & Dad. I actually have a pretty funny story to share about that.. Sunday Dad & I spent a day in bed trying to rest up to get over this cold bug we’ve got. At one point Dad had his head down by the side of my belly & was talking to you, rubbing the belly, etc… and all of a sudden you kicked him right on the cheek! He kept talking to you & was poking back, and after another minute or so you did it again! It was so cute & so funny; we were both cracking up. Dad said that maybe you were trying to say that you didn’t want him messing with you, but I think you were just trying to say hello & show some love. 🙂
I feel like I’ve written so much already, & I haven’t even told you about some of the bigger things that went on– we had a pretty busy week! On Thursday I had my now bi-weekly checkup with the OB-GYN… for the most part all was well, you are measuring right on schedule, both my weight & blood pressure are right where they should be, and I officially do not have gestational diabetes (phew!)… but, apparently, I do have pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. :-\ I’ve noticed over the last few weeks that my knuckles have started hurting first thing in the morning and/or when I wake up in the middle of the night, and it’s been getting worse as time goes on. Although it’s good to know the official cause, and the doctor said it should go away 6-8 weeks after I give birth, there isn’t really much to be done about it. She suggested wearing carpal tunnel braces on my hands at night, and that seems to help a little bit. What a weird pregnancy symptom though!
We also did a “meet and greet” with the pediatric practice we plan to take you to– it seems like a pretty nice place & I feel much better about our choice now. It was nice to meet some other expecting couples that are due around the same time as well. We met even more expecting couples at the infant care/CPR class on Saturday. Poor Dad was in the worst of his cold at that point (and stayed well away from the other people in the class of course), but I was extremely impressed with how well he did– he was attentive, took notes, asked questions, and passed all the practice exercises like a pro. He actually was a lot better than me at swaddling! The practice exercises– feeding, changing clothes & diapers, swaddling, CPR and anti-choking techniques– were all done on these plastic practice babies, and mine looked EXACTLY like Yoda (but without the ears), I kid you not. Hahaha, it was a little creepy!
Anyway, I am looking forward to our lamaze birth class in a couple of weeks. Now that it’s getting down to the wire I am (quite naturally) starting to feel a little nervous about the birth. It’s more of a fear of the unknown honestly, rather than a fear that something might go wrong. I know that my body was made to do this & am confident that we’ll get through it just fine! The hospital we’re planning to give birth at is a very nice facility– we haven’t done the official maternity tour yet, but have been there before for other things. This makes me feel better to know that if anything unusual were to happen, we’d both be well taken care of.
Other than that, these next several weeks we’ll be busy acquiring the rest of the things we need for you, getting everything put away & organized in the nursery (hoping to finish the nursery by Christmas, and will post pictures when we do!), read the last of my breastfeeding & infant care books, and sleep as much as possible (which, still, is hard to do these days). I have less than a month left until I start teleworking full time, and I can’t wait– sitting in an office chair all day is extremely uncomfortable, especially in work clothes! I much prefer my PJ’s & our big squishy recliner. 😉 Well Alex, I suppose that’s about it for now (and it was indeed quite a lot, haha)… until next week, keep growing my little tough guy!
All my love,
Mom
This week we kicked off the holiday season with two yummy Thanksgiving feasts: one at Papa & Grandma’s and one at Nana & Grump’s. We spent the rest of the weekend just relaxing and spending time with the family. One of my favorite things during this visit was seeing how excited all your cousins are that you’ll be here soon… they all enjoyed hugging the belly and talking to you. It was so cute! We came back home late Saturday night to avoid the end-of-weekend traffic, and spent Sunday putting up our Christmas decorations. This year we have an extra stocking over our hearth: 
Nana made it for you! She’s made all of our stockings & always does a great job. You might have also noticed that in my belly picture for this week I am holding an ornament… Dad & I started a tradition after we got married: each holiday season we buy a new ornament to hang on the tree. The one we got this year celebrates your impending arrival: 
And I suppose next year the new one we buy will be your “baby’s first Christmas” ornament. 😉 How exciting! Other than that, we haven’t had much going on this week. My next bi-weekly appointment is coming up in a few days, and after all the eating I’ve been doing I’m not really looking forward to weighing in– haha. My colleagues are throwing a baby shower for us at my office in a couple days, which should be a lot of fun! I am looking forward to it.
Dear Baby Pacheco, 