Things my oversized baby-belly is good for:

1. A place to prop my cereal bowl in the morning.
2. A place for Zinny to take a nap.
3. Bumping into students in the hallway.
4. Making it nearly impossible to find a good position for sleeping.
5. Holding up pregnancy pants.
6. Catching crumbs as I eat.
7. Making sliding in and out of the student desks at school very difficult.
8. Showing the world I am pregnant, and not just really fat.
9. Making my bellybutton go from an inny to an outy (well the top half is an outy the bottom half is just flat)
10. Oh yeah, growing a baby.

Breastfeeding

I am obviously not breastfeeding yet since the baby isn't even here yet, but I've been doing a lot of reading, thinking, and discussing about breastfeeding recently.  In our Bradley classes we speak often about breastfeeding, and it seems to me like it is a pretty popular trend right now.  Although I wonder if more women are actually doing it these days, since it seems like you see fewer women than ever before breastfeeding in public.  I do have a theory about that, I think maybe you don't see as many women breastfeeding because there are more places to do it now.  For instance many big department stores, or malls will have family restrooms, or even breastfeeding rooms.
Anyway the main thing I have been thinking about and anticipating when it comes to breastfeeding is how difficult it sounds.  It seems like many women have lots of trouble with the whole breastfeeding thing for a number of reasons.  Of course it also sounds like once you get the hang of it, it shouldn't be too much trouble, but in the beginning it can be, and often is difficult.
At our very first Bradley class our instructor explained to us that when it comes to natural childbirth one reason that it used to be easier for women to do 200 years ago is because by the time most women became mothers they had already seen several births.  A young girl might see a younger sibling be born, or go along to help out when an aunt or cousin was having a baby.  After seeing all these examples when it came time for that girl to have a baby of her own she would mimic what she had seen, and all of her past experiences would make it easier for her to give birth.
I bring this up, because it made a lot of sense to me, and it makes me feel even more puzzled about why breastfeeding is such a challenge.  I mean I get the struggles; latching, supply and demand, waiting for the milk to come in, lack of sleep, confused babies, engorgement, sore breasts, etc.  But it just seems like a lot of women, even women who are successful breastfeeders (is that a word?)  acknowledge what a struggle and challenge breastfeeding is.  If it is so difficult, than how did people manage to survive?  I guess back in the day women didn't have a choice, either you breastfed or your baby died, or if you could afford it you had a wet nurse.  My point is that it makes sense to me that in some ways natural childbirth was easier 200 years ago, but no one seems to have any reason why breastfeeding might be more difficult now. Which leads me to believe that it was always difficult which I find to be confounding.  Why is something as natural as breastfeeding so difficult?

I will be 34 weeks tomorrow.

Home early from work since I had a doctor's appt., why not start a blog?

I've been meaning to do this for months now, because I like reading other peoples pregnancy blogs, and I think it is a good way to let friends and family keep up with the pregnancy and what is going on.  Things have been so busy with Mark and I, I feel bad that we haven't kept in better touch with people we care about, and allowed them more access to this whole pregnancy process.  So, this is my way of trying to include more people in what's going on with us, and this way I can include a bunch of you all at once.  Of course we will see how I do at keeping up with this thing and actually posting in a timely manner.  I am 32 weeks pregnant so I only have around 8 weeks left to do this thing anyway.  I'm hoping to keep it up after the baby is born too, but we will see what happens. 

I went to the doctor today, and she said everything looks good.  She asked if I was taking a birthing class, and recommended we do a breastfeeding and infant CPR class too.  We're doing Bradley classes, and I've heard from several people that between Bradley classes and meeting with the lactation consultant at the hospital that will cover me on the breastfeeding class.  We do need to sign up for infant CPR class, both Mark and I have lapsed CPR certification, and that certification was for adults not infants.  Not sure when we are going to fit it in, but once we sign up for it we'll make it work somehow.

The strangest part of pregnancy to me right now is the fact the baby now "kicks" in two places at once. Especially when I am laying on my side it feels like it is jumping up and down on a trampoline because I feel it on both ends of my stomach at the same time.  This morning I felt a foot for the first time.  I was feeling my stomach and I realized there was foot pressed up against me, I could feel which part was the heel, and the toes.  It was pretty cool.  Actually right now it is moving a bunch, I have my stomach out so I can see it.  I love watching it move.

Here is a current pregnancy pic I had Mark take today.