Weeks 30 and 31

Time is flying - and I mean FLY-ing by now. I was still getting over the shock over having just reached week 30, when I got an update today from babycenter.com about this week, week 31.

For the week 30 visit to the medical center, Scott and I got to meet another mid-wife. (I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but we will be meeting with each of them individually during our next health check-ups over the coming weeks before the delivery).

We were VERY pleased with this last one that we met. She was very patient and listened carefully to all of our questions. Also, she did not seem surprised by our 2 ongoing questions/concerns about the Hep-lock and Routine pitocin for 3rd stage labor. Even in contrast to the last mid-wife, whom we also liked, this week's mid-wife did not try to convince us that we should just go along with the institution's policy. After stating the pros and cons, she simply indicated that this was a decision that was up to us.

The mid-wives at our medical center say that it is the baby who picks which mid-wife will deliver him. (Since there are 4 mid-wives who rotate at our hospital, we won't know which one will deliver the baby until the day VJ decides to come out). Based on our last visit, I'm hoping that VJ picks this mid-wife! (Scott was very pleased with her too).

Now that we are in week 31 already, I'll summarize the major developmental milestones for VJ this week. Apparently he is now 3.3 pounds, he is heading into a major growth spurt this week, and he can turn his head from right to left. Also, he is moving much more now - which I don't need to read to figure that out.

Last night at our baby birthing class, my instructor was so surprised when it came up that I have not felt my baby hiccup-ping in my stomach yet. She seemed incredulous. I was surprised that she was so surprised. I didn't know that that was so common by this stage of development. I'm determined not to worry about that for now though. When VJ is ready to hiccup, I'm sure he'll let it rip~! : )

Post-script: I just had a look at some on-line postings/pregnancy e-forums, and found out that some women/babies don't get the hiccups at all... while other women have babies that get the hiccups several times a day! I was also surprised to read that fetuses can start getting the hiccups as early as 9 weeks after conception. Most of the mom's that wrote about their babies having the hiccups said that they didn't start feeling this activity until at least weeks 30-32....