28 Week Update

I have nothing but good things to share... Elora moves around and kicks a lot, especially when I lay down to go to bed. It doesn't bother me in the least, though; she hasn't been keeping me up at night and I rather enjoy feeling her move around. Sometimes, I will just prop myself up with pillows and watch my belly move. She has also gotten large enough that I can often feel her when she is pressed against the outer wall of my stomach. It's something of a game for us to try to guess which bit of her we're feeling. Usually, it's only a general guess ("well, that's pretty sharp, it must be a knee or elbow" or, "hmm, that feels round. I guess it's her head...or her butt.") but it's still fun. I am up to 145 lbs, my waistline is just shy of 40", and the doctor tells me that everything is good. It's frustrating, though, that a lot of the maternity clothes that I acquired early on are now getting too small. But I do have others that fit me now, so it's ok. I'm just setting the smaller stuff aside for the next go-round.

Because she's getting bigger and running out of room in her current accommodations, it's getting harder for Brandon and I to tell what we're looking at during the sonograms. Some things are still clear. We saw her foot in such detail that I could count her little toes, and I can tell you with relative certainty that she has Brandon's nose. But for most of the things that the doctor pointed out to us, I at least had to take the good doctor's word for it. According to Elora's measurements (taken from the sonogram), we are still looking at a due date in the first week of April. And, notably, she's already got herself turned around so that her head is toward the floor, and the doctor tells us that it is unlikely that she will shift back around. (So, we don't need to worry about her trying to emerge bum-first.) We also did one of those stress test things today, which measures the baby's heart beat and my breathing over a span of about 15 min, and that was perfectly normal. It was cool, because not only did I get to lay there and listen to her heart beat for a good 15 minutes, but every time she moved it got picked up by the machine and made a sound like someone tapping a microphone. The closer the movement to the sensor, the louder the sound. I think that the sensor was cramping her space where it pressed into my belly, because she kept kicking right at it. I thought it was kind of funny, because she could have shifted away from it, but instead she kept trying to push the thing away. It was cute. :) Anyway, I'm not sure, but I think that they'll be doing that regularly now that I'm into my third trimester. Also, from here on out, I'll be going every 2 weeks for check ups, instead of every 4. You know what that means, right? More pictures!! ^_^

Speaking of which...In the picture that we got this time around, you can see yet another profile of her face. It isn't a very good one though...the way it's focused, it makes her look like a little Cyrano de Bergerac. But like I said, we can pretty much tell that she has Bran's nose. :) Anyway, her forehead is on the right and her chin is on the left.

In other news, Brandon will be headed back to the States at the beginning of February for a few weeks of training. He'll be gone for the whole month, which has us a bit bummed. It'll be the longest we've been apart since he left the ship, and he'll be missing Valentine's Day and my birthday. But, on the other hand, those events can be celebrated anytime, and I am grateful that he's going in February instead of in March or April. And Brandon is excited to be going, because he's been wanting to be sent for this training for years. Actually, I think the timing is pretty good...If it had fallen in March or April, I don't think his command would have made him go, and I would have insisted that he not volunteer. (If they make him miss something important, like the birth of our child, that's one thing, but if he has a choice, it's quite another thing entirely.) And, before her birth is better than after...this way, he won't have to miss out on spending time with her while she's tiny. So yes, I will miss him terribly, but I think it's worked out well all around.