Week 34

Baby's development: Baby is now about 17 1/2 inches and weighs between 5 and 5 1/2 lbs. The baby's lungs are almost at full maturity and his immune system is developing to fight mild infections. The end of his fingers now have sharp fingernails. Most babies born now have a very good chance at survival.

I'm feeling very stretched these days. I eat a little and my stomach is so full and I get very uncomfortable. The baby is taking up a lot of space! He also doesn't have much space to move around now, so when he wiggles, I can see my stomach stretch in strange ways. It's becoming very real that there is a thing growing inside of me!

My PUPPP rash has gotten a lot better this past week. I'm not sure what is helping exactly, but in the past couple of days, I've noticed that my stomach is no longer as red, and the patches that were red have turned darker in color and started to peel. It's almost like a bruise that is healing. I've been using the Grandpa pine tar soap and Cetaphil lotion, and taking Claritin during the day, Benedryl during the night, and also two doses of dandelion root. I'm hoping this combination helps! I'm still itchy at night, but I can see the rash disappearing. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to go away because if this rash comes back, I might just lose it. I need a good night's rest!

Ryan and I just recently decided that we are going to have a doula for the birth. Becky, who is our birthing instructor is also a doula and we have asked her to be ours. We were both feeling pretty confident about labor until the most recent birthing class. We watched a birthing video and afterwards felt really "scared." I think that if I'm going to do this drug free, it will be great to have another calm and confident person there during labor. Labor is going to be long, painful and tiring. Having an experienced doula there will be great for both of us. I also just found out that we can pay for the doula and our birthing classes through our health savings account. Yay!

Some good news: On Friday I received an email from the University of Sydney requesting an interview. This is first of eight faculty positions that I have applied for that I have gotten an interview. Unfortunately, they want me to give a seminar on June 8, which is way too late for me to fly. I'm going to ask them if I can go earlier and if so, Ryan is going to try to come with me. If they are not flexible, I will try to give my seminar talk over the internet. It won't be the same, but oh well. I knew this was going to happen -- I was finally going to get an interview right before the baby was due!