Good-Byes and Hellos: Weeks 26 & 27

We recently had to say good-bye to some very good friends. Valerie and Krzysztof are friends of ours from church that we've become very close to over the last few years. Valerie and I both shared our struggles with our earlier infertility and then shared our joy as we both found out we were pregnant within two weeks of each other. The four of us have swapped pregnancy stories and advice, laughed over odd cravings and "popped" belly-buttons, attended Bradley childbirth classes together, and even took our "baby-moon" vacation together to the Outer Banks. Krzysztof's job was recently relocated to Kansas City and we were forced to say our last good-byes. They were tough farewells, but I'm thankful for the fact that technology is shrinking our world, allowing Valerie and I to continue our friendship. Who knows? Perhaps we'll re-connect someday and Baby Molly and Baby Brandon can meet outside the womb for the first time.

To off-set our sad good-byes, we had a fantastically joyful "hello" this week as we welcomed our new nephew, Isaiah Wayne Brandon to the world on May 3rd. Born to my oldest sister, Jessica, and her husband, Lewis, he is their second son and Baby Brother to 3-year old, Corbin. Isaiah is perfect in every way, from his teeny tiny toes to his little heart-shaped lips. I think Molly enjoyed meeting her new cousin too. As I was holding Isaiah in my arms and resting him on my belly, Molly kept kicking him right in his little tushie. I guess that was her way of saying, "Hello!" It was so fun to practice "mommying" him while Jessica rested and recovered, although it has made the waiting for our own little baby even harder. Sometimes I feel like the next three months can't pass quickly enough. I just can't wait to meet Molly and welcome her into our family.

I think the "mommying practice" converged with my crazy pregnancy hormones and a huge growth spurt in Molly to create a lethal emotional trifecta this week. I have to admit, I've been a bit skeptical throughout my pregnancy of these rumored mood swings, crying bouts, and emotional outbursts. I chalked it all up to Hollywood hype that made for good screenplay, but wasn't really true. Well, I'll be the first to admit, I was wrong!!!

I dragged myself through this week, exhausted from head to toe. It felt like the first trimester all over again, except that instead of feeling nauseous, I was ravenously hungry...all the time, no matter how much I ate. I wished that I could take my food intravenously so I could catch up on my sleep while I ate :-) On top of that, I was a sobbing wreck. Everything made me cry: songs on the radio, my mom's voice on the phone, stress at work, even trying to decide what to eat for dinner. This wouldn't be so weird except that I NEVER cry, over ANYTHING! I don't think Eric knew what to do with himself because he'd never really seen me cry before. And of course, spending time with Baby Isaiah just made me want Molly to be here even more, the icing on the cake of this crazy week. So, in case you didn't believe it, I'm here as your witness: pregnancy hormones are for real!!!

I think my body has finally re-adjusted to Molly's new growth rate and things have settled back to normal, or as normal as they can be heading into the third trimester. At least now, Eric doesn't have to walk into a room and wonder if I'm going to bite his head off or cry on his shoulder :-) The new normal for Molly is "speedy growth." She is weighing in this week at just over two pounds and will more than triple that weight over the next 3 months. She is also over 14 inches long from head to toe and will add another 5-10 inches to her height before she's born. She is now able to open and close her tiny eyelids and can detect bright sunlight shining on my belly. She has regular periods of sleeping and wakefulness, although her constant belly-dancing has me convinced there's much more of the latter than the former. She's also busy "practicing" her breathing in her immature lungs by inhaling amniotic fluid and blowing it back out. All that practice can give her a bout of the baby hiccups, an occurrence I'm pretty sure we felt the other night as we were laying in bed. With our hands on my belly, Eric and I both felt a "bump-bump-bump" that was much too strong and slow to be a heart-beat and much too rhythmic to be just kicking. Practice makes perfect, Molly, so keep on "breathing"!