The Craziness Continues: Weeks 24 and 25

As the third trimester rapidly approaches, I sometimes find myself wondering how we're ever going to pull off this whole parenting thing, especially with the crazy busy-ness we've been experiencing the last few weeks. Between traveling home for Easter, school and work obligations, social engagements, church functions, childbirth classes, and appointments at the Birth Center, I feel as though the only thing our mortgage payment has gone to for the last month is a place for us to sleep at night. As I'm running to and fro, several times I've stopped and thought to myself, "How are we going to do this when we have Molly?" I guess we just won't do as many things as we used to. Truthfully, I'm kind of looking forward to it. It'll be nice to have an excuse to slow down, relax, and just hang out as a family for a while. I can't wait for August when Eric and I will both have the entire month off to just bond with Molly and not worry about anything else.

Our Easter week in upstate NY was a chilly one, but the time with family was long overdue. It was a wonderful time of laughter, fellowship, and good food with my sisters, parents, nieces, nephew, and old friends. We climbed to the top of the Grafton firetower, which overlooks the mountains and farmland of NY, Massachusetts, and Vermont. It was chilly at the top, but the view was gorgeous.

My mom and my sister, Jennene, hosted our first baby shower while we were home, an open house event attended by most of my extended family and several childhood and high school friends. It was so good to catch up with everyone, especially because we live so far away. We received lots of gift cards for Target and Babies-R-Us. I can't wait to go on a shopping spree and stock up Molly's nursery because, currently we have nothing but a few onesies, a bib or two, and a few pairs of shoes. It doesn't feel like a baby will be living here in 3 months!

On the way back to lovely, warm North Carolina, we got to practice many of the relaxation techniques we've been learning in our Bradley childbirth classes. We experienced a total of 1 flight cancellation, 2 delays, and probably about 6 hours in airport terminals. But Eric was a hero the whole time. He saw I was getting tired, tense and travel-sore so he whipped out our Bradley workbook and reminded me how to get into my relaxation poses. I have a feeling he's going to be a superstar during labor. I don't know how anyone goes through this whole process without a strong, close companion to love and and take care of them. Over the last 5 months, I've felt closer to Eric than ever before. Between doctor's visits, childbirth classes, and those special moments when we both feel our baby belly dancing just for us, I've realized there's no one in the world I'd rather share this time with. I'm truly blessed.

During all of our travel and busy days, Molly has been transforming from a skinny, wrinkly creature into the chubby, cuddly baby we've been seeing in our imaginations. She's been adding 6-8 ounces each week for a total of about 1.75 lbs and a length of about 13 inches. She's been adding layers of fatty tissue under her skin to give her that plump, less-wrinkly look. Over the last two weeks, tiny air sacs lined with capillaries have been developing in her lungs. They're beginning to produce surfactant, a substance that will help the lungs expand in the first moments after birth, allowing her to take her first breaths. Molly's tiny eyelashes, eyebrows, and perhaps a sprinking of hair on her head have fully developed and pigment has started to turn this hair a specific color, although this color could change before or after birth, or at any time during childhood. Everyone's been predicting a tiny girl with lots of dark curls...but I wouldn't be surprised if God used his sense of humor on this one and gave us a tall blonde with stick-straight locks. The genes are there...it could happen. We'll just have to wait and see.