Rumbling and Growing Belly: Week 26

Do you officially have a belly when you can rest your arms across it? Or is when you wake up in the middle of the night on your side, feel your belly and startle yourself because there is a deformed pumpkin hanging off your front side? I felt "very pregnant" last night when the second mention happened to me around 3am. I went to the bathroom then thought I would fall back asleep. BUT I was ravenous. I've woken up hungry in the past but it was easy enough to fall back asleep. Not last night. Foo Foo had other things in mind. Like Life cereal and cold milk at 3:30am. I fed the babe and she was happy enough to let Mumma go back to bed. I've found myself having a harder time falling back asleep lately. Too many thoughts running through my head about the pregnancy, labor, breastfeeding, dirty diapers, day care, going back to work, you name it.

Some of these thoughts were quelled a few weeks back after Tony and I spent 3hrs of a rainy Saturday (thank God it was rainy!) at a Caring for Your Newborn class. We walked into the class area to find a baby doll on our chair that we have to hold throughout the class. We learned how to bath, diaper and dress the baby. Granted this doll probably weighed 13lbs and was much larger and sturdy than a newborn but I still thought it was good practice. Tony remained unimpressed. It takes a lot to impress Tony. Anyways, the instructor talked a lot about SIDS, Shaken Baby Syndrome and other topics. I thought it was interesting when she talked about how it was ok to not let everyone and their cousin hold the baby in the beginning. It seems like a nice idea at the time but in reality, the baby may become "overstimulated" and have a very hard time sleeping that evening. Point taken. Another thing she mentioned was how important it is for parents to always remain calm. Babies pick up anxiety so if you're upset that he/she won't stop crying, it won't help. There were some other tips the instructor discussed that we had already heard or read about like not having anything in the crib but the baby and a crib sheet. That means no "bumpers" like we used to have, no blankets, no toys, etc. The baby also has to sleep on his/her back. Not long ago it seems like it was acceptable to have babies fall asleep on their tummies. How things have changed!

Another thing that I apparently have to remember now is to lay off the bread! haha Two doctor's appointments ago, my midwife told me I needed to eat more. I happily obliged. Next appointment she was like, "Ummm yeah, you can chill on the food intake now!" or something like that. Apparently I gained the weight I needed to gain and then some! Oh well, sometimes Foo Foo needs Life cereal at 3:30 in the morning!