Sunday, June 17, 2007

Cloth Diapering and other Good Stuff - 21 weeks!

Well, I feel much better than yesterday. I completely cleaned (not to say freaking sterilized) our bathroom, done 3 weeks worth of grocery shopping, thawed, cleaned and restocked our freezer, cleaned our fridge, and done half of our laundry today.

I felt really accomplished, and was in a good mood all day. Thanks also to Dad to Be for his very sweet and kind words. :) I hope your wife doesn't put you through half of the emotional roller coaster as I put my poor husband through, I don't know how you guys can stand your pregnant wives! ;)

Anyway, today we have reached a full 21 weeks. Baby Gaga tells me that our baby now features REM sleep. Does that mean it can already have dreams? And if so... what does it dream about, I wonder? The feeling of mine and its Daddy's hand on my belly? The sound of my heart? My voice? All the love it must undoubtedly feel coming from its parents? It's such a nice thing to fantasize about... and it's such a real person thing to do, REM sleep. :)

I realize I haven't even talked about Thursdays gyn appointment yet! Of course I had another ultrasound done... I don't much care for all the other stuff he's checking (blood pressure, weight, cervix), but I feel like a little kid underneath the Christmas Tree when I am laying on that bed and he is applying the ultrasound gel to my belly. It is so wonderful and reassuring to see my little one wiggle about on the screen, and I am very happy to report that everything is very much alright. Baby measures to the day on where it "mathematically" should be - except for the tummy: that one already measures into next week. Undoubtedly its father's child! *laughs*

I only got a frontal view this time, no profile shot. I prefer the profile shots, seeing as at this stage the frontal view is still a little creepy - I am curious how cooperative baby will be on Monday, when we go into the hospital for the organ screening.

I was certain that my doctor will know the sex of our baby with the last appointment, but seeing as he knows that I don't want to know, he didn't check for himself either. I thought it was going to be obvious even for the layman at this stage, when the ultrasound catches a view of the crotch area - but I got several good and long looks at the crotch, and didn't see a thing. And that after looking at so many ultrasound pictures of the crotch area on the internet, and considering myself somewhat of a "specialist" now! LOL! I'll just have to be careful that the doctors in the hospital won't spill their beans on Monday - the ultrasound that they use is of a much higher resolution and therefore clarity!

The newest ultrasound pic is, as usual, uploaded to my ringo, for those of you on my friends list! :)

So today we took care of a very crucial matter: we went to pick up the set of cloth diapers, which we ordered last week at the Baby Expo. I feel very good with this decision. Not only did we get a € 100 voucher for cloth diapers from the city to promote the system (- from the department of trash disposal, that is - neat, huh!), but if you've ever done any research on the issue you will know that a) a child produces one ton(!) of garbage in disposable diapers until it is potty trained, and b) the savings in the family budget if you cloth-diaper amount to up to € 1.000 per child for the entire time span that diapers are needed! Amazing factoid, isn't it? I know it'll be a bit more work and effort on my part to deal with cloth diapers, but I certainly do think it is worth it! It feels like we have taken a very responsible and educated decision, and that makes me very happy. :)



We also stopped by Geo's favorite arts and crafts store, where be bought everything necessary for our newest project: baby's name cut out of wood, and painted nicely, for the nursery wall.



Now Geo is sitting and cutting out letters like a maniac. And yes, we're cutting out both the girl's AND the boy's name. Can you guess what they will be, from the letters on the paper? ;)

It feels really good doing little projects like these already. It makes Baby a very active part of our life already, and that's a great feeling if there ever was one. :)

To end today's post, I'll leave you with this astounding-beyond-words image, and corresponding story, which I have found circulating on the internet quite a bit when searching for pictures of 21 week old fetuses.



"My name is Michael Clancy and I am the photojournalist that photographed Samuel Armas reaching from his mother's womb and reacting to the touch of his surgeon at twenty-one weeks in utero during a spina bifida corrective procedure in 1999."

"Out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, "What happened?" "The child reached out," I said. "Oh. They do that all the time," she responded."

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home