the baby belly

Erik and I are planning towards a natural childbirth and we've chosen the Bradley method. I'm SO excited about it. I have realized that while at first I wanted a natural childbirth because of the advantages for the baby, an equally big reason is the advantages for me. I feel excited and ready for the birth, rather than nervous and uncertain. Erik and I have done a lot of reading and preparation. There are classes that you can take with the Bradley method, but we don't have any instructors locally, so we are doing the best with what's available to us. With this method, Erik has a very big job. I am so grateful that he is so involved and supportive. I have to do a lot of stretches and exercises with this method, and Erik (as the coach) is wonderful at helping me remember to do them. Helping me remember things is no small task, believe me. I even made a spreadsheet of all the things I need to do each day with little boxes to check when I've done them, but then the paper gets buried under books or mail and he recovers it for me. Today he placed it prominently on the kitchen counter to remind me to do my baby exercises. I'm so glad I've got someone in my corner who really understands me. I fall in love with him all over again every time I see him reading baby books. I am excited to see how everything turns out. I've read about 10 books cover to cover so far...everything about pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, child development, you name it. Good thing Erik and I are "go with the flow" kind of people, because even with all this preparation, I imagine that we're in for quite a few surprises.

After many attempts for a decent picture, here is the baby belly! We are in week 29, so we're 3/4 of the way there! This is me on our way out the door for church, and it's the 4th attempt at taking a decent picture. For a week or so we'd been trying to take a picture to send out, but every time Erik would take one I'd make him delete it because I looked not so "radiant." Aren't you supposed to be radiant when you're pregnant? I thought that was the deal. Maybe that's earlier on, when you're not so gargantuan. But then I felt gross, and now that I'm feeling really well, I'm gargantuan. Oh well. Ten-ish more weeks and we'll have a little buddy to play with. All the women in the ward (and at the commissary, it's fun when they comment) comment on how I'm tiny for my 7th month. It sure makes me feel good, but I don't know how the figure. I spend a good 10 minutes every morning lotioning up, so I haven't spotted any stretch marks yet (Hallelujah!), but my belly button is getting awfully close to the surface. That makes me nervous. I don't know why it would be a big deal, but I don't want my belly button to pop, it seems gross.