31 weeks after a big weekend!

Sorry its been a week since a post. We are at 31 weeks and the counter says 62 days. Crazy!!!!!

So let's update you on what has been happening this weekend. Robb and I have had a long weekend celebrating the Lee/Jackson and Martin Luther King holidays. Friday on Lee/Jackson day we toured the daycare facility that we are planning on using for the baby. The Grace Hill Early Learning Center is located at the end of our road which makes it very convenient. We met the director and she showed us around the facility. We spent quite a bit of time in the infant room talking and seeing how things run. The infant and infant 2 rooms each hold 8 children. We also looked at the 2 and 2+ room which can each hold 10 children. The place looks very nice and everyone was extremely nice to us. A big plus is that they are willing to use our cloth diapers. I was thinking any daycare that we used was going to demand disposable diapers but the director of the learning center is a big proponent of cloth diapering and is trying to encourage people to do it. So that was a nice surprise! The one down side to this place we only have a guaranteed spot the middle of August. However, with our summer plans and other things we will be needing daycare starting July 12th. The director said they may be able to work us in that early but she will have to see. All in all it was a good tour!

Friday night we attended the first part of our Preparing for Childbirth Lamaze class. The class was taught by the wife of the pastor from the Lynchburg CoB and was at the Virginia Baptist Hospital where we will be having the baby. Our class was very large but still had good participation. The first night was really just an overview of what happens to a woman's body as she is preparing to give birth. We returned on Saturday for a full day of practice and more info. We learned 3 breathing techniques that are to help with contractions. The main thing we worked on was focusing and getting through contractions and working as a team. Before the lunch break the whole class pretended to be in labor having contractions every 3 minutes. Robb and I tried many different positions to make the contractions and labor easier. He is a great coach and I know that we will be a great team during the actual labor. The after lunch info was about drugs, epidurals, and c-sections. It was amazing to hear all the questions about epidurals. It seemed like the majority of the class was only there to find out about when they could get an epidural, what it would feel like, and what other interventions would happen to them once they got it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised about the interest in epidurals, Peggy did say that about 60% women get them now a days. The Shipps are not planning on an epidural or pain meds of any kind. We are going at this all natural. Here's hoping everything works out well!

So back to 31 weeks! The baby should be 3 1/2lbs and heading into a growth spurt. It only has 9 more weeks to gain at least 4 pounds. I think back to the beginning of this adventure way back in the summer. At 9 weeks none of you even knew about this baby. This little miracle was still Robb and I's little secret. Oh how the time has gone. I am becoming more comfortable with my large body. For the last few weeks I had been having pains sitting and sleeping and getting around. Now I think I am doing better. However if baby Shipp get much bigger I'm sure my body will be back to the pains.

Robb and I are so excited to meet this little baby!