32 weeks: ready for this

mark and I had our childbirth education and lamaze class this weekend and it was quite good and reassuring. i've been reading several books over the course of this pregnancy (mayo clinic guide to a healthy pregnancy and the baby bump guide are my faves) so a lot of the information was review but I still got a lot out of it. obviously breathing techniques, what to look for when you think you may be labor, when to call the doc are very good to know and training dad to help with that when labor comes. :) mark also has been reading be prepared and really likes it—it's written perfectly for a guy! having this class definitely helped prepare both mark and I for what's to come even though at times I felt overwhelmed and anxious. as long as mark is there coaching me on I know I'll do just fine!

overall, we both just want her here. and from the videos we viewed we'd like her here healthy and hope with no emergency situations. so say a prayer for us as we reach month 8 :)

now although we are very ready for her to be here we've went back to square one on naming her. we want the perfect name and I don't think mark was 100% sold on the last one—so we've been going through and making a list again... I told him she needs to have a name (or two) by week 35. I don't want to get in the situation where I'm in labor and then we have to decide because by then I'm sure I'll name her pickle or rocky road and we'll just have to live with it! haha kidddddding. and if she comes out and we need to decide then that's ok too, but I need the list to be a lot more narrow and my husband to not over think it too much :)

had the ultrasound test done friday to my abdomen but don't have any news yet. the tech at the hospital was new so she did everything from my gall bladder to my liver to my kidneys. she had to have the other tech look everything over and they said these would be sent to the doctor to look over. I don't know for sure whether it is my gall bladder but the new tech may have slipped and said she didn't see anything there—while the other tech said technically she's not supposed to say anything until the doc reviews. so still waiting to hear about that. for the most part I didn't feel anything painful all week—a bit on monday when I was walking but I got relief the rest of the week. now saturday it slowly was coming back and sunday it hurt a lot of the day. so overall, it's a bizarre unexplainable pain right now.

tomorrow I have another OB checkup with dr. ghandi (dr. perlis is on vacay this week) and mark and I will be looking into pediatricans to interview this week. other than that looking forward to a fun weekend that includes our first baby shower with the prathers :)

cravings: i love chocolate... too bad my husband regulates me. :)
aversions: tuna casserole served at good shepherd.

what's baby up to?
by now, our baby weighs 3.75 pounds (like a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in my uterus. i'm gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to our baby. she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. she now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.