38 weeks

my belly feels like Ron's yellow balloon, from the story about 5 balloons.

to those of you who don't know the story (shame on you!), it's about 5 balloons that Ruthi's mom gives Ruthi and her friends. almost all the balloons end up popping in a big bang, each ending its puffed up life in a different way (one fell on a thorny bush, another was scratched by a cat, one was hugged too strongly...).
Ron asked his dad to blow his yellow balloon, so that it would be as big as his (dad's) head, as big as the sun. so the dad blew and blew and blew, and suddenly... BOOM, TRACH, the balloon popped.

so that's what my belly feels like, one second before the popping, but it sure seems like the lil' person who's doing all the puffing and blowing still has a way to go!


and speaking of balloons popping, this is a cool slow-motion movie of a balloon popping.


to all pictures

survey

so the books say that i'm supposed to start having "Braxton Hicks" contractions every once in a while (or not feel them at all, which would also be normal). and then when it's time, i should be feeling "real" contractions.

the question is, what are they supposed to feel like?

we're ready!

...well, not READY ready, but we sort of have everything we need, at least for the first few days.
we have whatever we need for carrying, bathing, changing, sleeping and nursing you little baby, so you can come whenever you feel like it :)

i'm sure ben will have to drive to target or walgreens to get some last minute things. but my mind is more at ease knowing that we have the essentials. all that's left to do is to install the car seat and put a couple things in the hospital bag.

37 weeks

i think my belly is entering the exponential stage. i swear i wasn't this big yesterday!

(to all pictures)

Passover plans

Passover dinner plan:

* Soup + matza balls

Appetizers:
* Chopped liver
* Charosset
* Hard-boiled eggs

Main course:
* Roast beef
* Potatoes
* salad

Dessert
chocolate mousse?

35 weeks

i think i almost look like i'm wearing a pregnant lady costume.
but let me assure you - i feel very very pregnant. and starting to feel pretty big too. the baby and i are still doing well, i'm still tireder than normal, but that's not surprising - she's supposed to gain at least another Kg or so (~2.4 pounds), going by average fetal growth.
and to show you all (and us...) that i AM gaining weight, we wrote down the measurements from the doctor's office - here's a plot. the error bars represent our uncertainty in the ability of the nurses to actually measure weight with the old-fashion nurse-office scale.
the solid red line is taken from this "Average fetal length and weight chart". i shifted it so that it coincides with my weight at the week 16 appointment.
you would notice that there's no "zeropoint", i.e., i don't have a pre-pregnancy weight measurement... sorry... i just have no idea what my weight was before.
but since it doesn't look like i changed much (besides the watermelon under my shirt), i can only assume that it's balanced by the cumulative weight of placenta, my larger boobs, larger uterus, amniotic fluid, and increased blood volume... well, it's hard ot be super scientific when you lack data-points!



by the way, look at the orchid in the picture! isn't it nice? it's been doing really well. all 4 flowers are open and blooming :)

more sweaters

just finished the green sweater last night. can't wait to have a model to put in these garments!!