The past few days

Monday we had our midwife appointment, which was nice.  I know we (Chris and I) were both looking forward to it.  During this appointment we had an ultrasound done to see how things were going…and to see if we could find out the gender of the baby.  Got some great pictures of it in the womb..some even showing it sucking it’s thumb already.  However, it was too active and kept moving so much that we couldn’t tell the gender for sure.  We all thought we saw something that looked like a boy though…but the midwife wants to double check next time too (and measure it’s femurs…since it also wouldn’t sit still for that either).  It was still nice to see it squirm around in there and to know that over all things look very well.

I am almost at 19 weeks along, and first felt the baby at 16 1/2 weeks.  The kicks are getting stronger, but still are far too faint for Chris to feel from the out side as of yet (which is a major disappointment right now for him)…but I think by the end of this month he might get his chance

The other interesting thing I learned today through my extensive readings, is that my singing training will likely actually help me with birth.  Who would have thought?!  Although I’m not super surprised simply because I have learned through my voice lessons how muscle groups are connected in funny ways.  Like my face muscles are connected to the throat muscles…so if my face it tense…so is my throat.  And also the power of distraction by focusing on another muscle (like moving my left hand) while singing causes my other muscles in my throat to relax and work properly.  Well apparently the muscles of the jaw, mouth, and throat are also inter connected with those required for birth.  If they are open and relaxed, so should the lower ones be too!  This isn’t to say that you can’t relax one or the other too, but that by focusing on these ones have a good effect on other ones and can make it a little easier!  So I thought that was interesting.

Beyond that, Chris and I took a trip with his mom, sister, and youngest brother to Jackson, WY (and to Yellowstone park).  Over all we had a good time.  I had never been to Yellowstone before, and so enjoyed seeing some of the natural wonders to see there.  I am not much of a shopper though, and Jackson is mostly aimed at that…which was fine.  I ended up getting a little sick while we were there…but not much.  Just more of an annoyance.  It was nice to have some vacation time in such a nice locations