This past weekend we attended Jay’s stepdad’s niece’s Bat Mitzvah — it was so fun! The food was great, the people were nice and everything looked absolutely beautiful. We also got to see Jay’s sister and his niece who we haven’t seen in almost 2 years. She’s grown so much and looked adorable in her dress!

Today I’m relaxing at home — I think the weekend was a little too much for me. But now we I can get some little things done around the house like cleaning and laundry. And hopefully we’ll be able to visit the caterer to check some things out (like how much space the food will need so we can plan accordingly).

Last Wednesday I received my hypnobabies stuff in the mail. I’m really hoping to have a drug-free childbirth. I don’t want the water birth or a home birth; I just want to be able to deliver our baby without the intervention of drugs. It’s been done for millions of years by humans and animals alike so I’m sure it’s possible. Plus, my mother and my grandmother had relatively quick deliveries — I’m hoping for the same. Part of hypnobabies is ‘de-programming’ your mind from all the negative perceptions we have of childbirth but that is so much more difficult than I thought. Scary images of birth are all over the place, not to mention all the ‘helpful’ women that approach me with their birth stories that usually feature 36 hours of labor followed by a c-section.

From babycenter.com:

How your baby’s growing: This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and measures 17.2 inches from the top of his head to his heels. His skin is becoming less red and wrinkled, and while most of his bones are hardening, his skull is quite pliable and not completely joined. This will help him ease out of your relatively narrow birth canal.

How your life’s changing: You may be feeling some aches and even numbness in your fingers, wrists, and hands. Like many other tissues in your body, those in your wrist can swell, which can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, a bony canal in your wrist. Nerves that run through this “tunnel” end up pinched, creating numbness, tingling, shooting or burning pain, or a dull ache. Try wearing a brace or propping your arm up with a pillow when you sleep. If your work requires repetitive hand movements (at a keyboard or assembly line, for example), remember to stretch your hands when you take breaks.

If you’re having trouble sleeping at night, try wedging a pillow between your legs and behind your back. If that doesn’t help, try sleeping in a semi-upright position, with several pillows behind your head (or sleep in a recliner!). If frequent trips to the bathroom are robbing you of your zz’s, cut back on fluids by late afternoon or evening.