Jaci's Belly Buldge at 35 Weeks (March 5th) & Additional Tidbits

First off, lets start with what the audience really wants (less words out of me and more pictures of Jaci's beautiful belly). There it is at 35 weeks!


Now, today was a very interesting doctor's appointment (not because we had to wait for nearly 1 hour in a tiny room), but because of what happened during the 5 minute meeting. When the technician came in to check on Ahnika's heart beat (which had decreased to 135 from 142 - that is a good thing), she found the heart beat up near Jaci's ribs. Lately, Jaci had noticed that she often times has pain near her ribs on the right side from Ahnika. We were suspecting that maybe Ahnika was already a bit of a trouble maker and not in the proper position to be "pooped out" (I don't care what anyone says, after hearing nurses in Child Birth class say that you use the muscles for pooping to push the baby out - the baby will be forever pooped out to me). So when the doctor came in, we told her that we were concerned about Ahnika not being positioned right. To see what was going on, the doctor had the technician do an ultrasound that showed that Ahnika was in the proper position (she just must have some strong, long legs). What was really exciting, in addition to the technician saying everything looked great with Ahnika - heart, kidneys, etc - was that we got to see her face on the ultrasound again. What was even more exciting, so much so that the technician had to take a picture of it for us, was that Ahnika has a ton of hair on her head. This is great confirmation that the baby is definitely taking after me since she is hairy, however I don't think I would look very cute as a female so I am a little worried now...... Hopefully she will have blond hair to help hide it and more Jaci features than Tim features......

WARNING - THE CONTENT BELOW THIS POINT IS PG-13, INSTEAD OF THE USUAL G RATED CONTENT THAT JACI PREFERS

Now, your probably wondering what the picture below is for? The picture below is of our "messy" master bedroom which shows the Pack N Play to be positioned adjacent to the bed. That is where Ahnika will be sleeping for the 1st couple of weeks after she comes home. What is also important to point out is that where Zeus is laying right now, is where he might be sleeping, because I will be on the other side of the house. Follow along.....

Jaci and I have been taking Child Birth and Parenting classes through the local hospital. After 2 months of classes, I thought that Jaci and I had been told about everything about being new parents and thought about skipping our last class, but I am glad that I went. During the last class, our instructor asked the women where the baby will be sleeping and where the husband will be sleeping. She then made a desperate plea to the women to let us men get some sleep and sleep in another room for the 1st couple of weeks. It is bad enough for the wife to be a stressed out, insomniac, it doesn't do the husband any good to be this way as well. So she told the women to suck it up and let us sleep. In case I didn't already want to get up and hug the instructor, she then said something even more memorable.

For an exercise during class, she had the men list their top 5 things that were going to change in their life once baby comes home. After telling her our number 1 and discussing it, she jumped in that our number 2 biggest, most important change was probably not getting sex from our wives. It actually wasn't, but pretty funny that she offered that as our 2nd and discussed it with the class. Then the famous words came "Fake it to make it". She told the women that the husbands job is to be the rock and take everything our wives throw at us for the 1st couple of months (including post-partum depression which was described as PMS times 100 - I'm really hoping that is an exaggeration) because they will need us to be strong for them. She then discussed how important it is for us not to have sex for at least 4 to 6 weeks while our wives our healing. However, after that, the instructor told the women that at that point, the last thing they will feel like is sexy and wanting to have sex, however the husbands need it, and then the famous phrase. If our wives want us to continue to be their rocks and take there abuse, they need to give us sex. "Fake it to make it", until you actually feel like and then want to have sex with your husband.

Jaci is not very happy with me right now for typing this. However, since those were the honest words of our instructor (not exaggerated at all), I feel that I am doing my duty to society by passing along the teachers words of wisdom about what is important for new parents to know and practice =-).

Fun facts about Ahnika this week:

• Now over 18 inches long
• Tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds
• Kidneys are fully developed
• Liver can now process some waste
• Most of her physical development is complete (will just spend the remainder of weeks putting on weight)