31 Weeks and Counting

During our centering class tonight out group was able to tour the family birth center at our hospital, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital.  The tour was both surreal and all too real.  It was one of those moments (along with hearing the heartbeat, seeing the ultrasound, feeling movements, etc) when you grin from ear-to-ear with excitement. The birthing suites are warm, comforting and seem to have enough space for me to pass out without worry of hitting my head on anything.  Our midwife, doula, and nurses are phenomenal.  We're blessed to be surrounded by medical professionals who are focused on the well-being of HJ and momma.  Bonus-the hospital is a 5 minute "normal" drive, but I'm guessing I could do it in 2 minutes if needed :)

Other happenings of the week:  HJ has been having hiccups, Liz finished her research proposal, HJ's Aunt Chantal had her golden birthday, and we have a baby shower this weekend hosted by Grandma and Grandpa Briggs in Colgate, WI.  We're excited to see friends and family!    We'll close with a picture of Momma and Poppie in a giant Leinie's Lounger from the 4th of July in Hayward, WI.

HJ in 6 years?!? Probably.

I've never been a fan of teaching kids to ride a bike with training wheels and have fallen in love with the new "run bikes."  They teach the child to balance on two wheels, but without worrying about pedaling.  Here's a cute video of a child using a run bike to get to school.  Enjoy. 

28 weeks belly shots

It is hard to believe that we have hit the 28 week mark! We have entered the 7th month of pregnancy. In some ways it feels like it has flown by, and in other ways it feels like it has been an eternity. As my belly begins to grow, Hj continues to make his presence known-there is definitely no hiding the fact that I am preggers!

We have also been learning so much about our little guy. I am usually asleep during the week around 8:30 pm so I can wake up at 5 am for clinicals, but I often stay up a little longer on the weekends. Within the past couple of weeks, Nathaniel and I have noticed that on these nights, Hj likes to wake up and play around 10:30 pm...we are beginning to think that he has his poppie's night owl genes. However, Hj also seems to be up and at 'em at 6 in the am...so, he also seems to have momma's early to rise genes!  Either way, we both know that in 12(!) short weeks, there will be a lot of not sleeping going on in the Hedke household. We better get the sleep in now while we can :)

My new form of exercise

Ever since Nathaniel and I started dating almost 8 years ago, one of our favorite things to do is go on walks together at night. We have been pretty religious about our walks, making it our nightly tradition. In the past couple weeks, these walks have become my main form of exercise, as my schedule has been super busy with the extra hours I am working to make up for maternity leave, Tuesday night prenatal yoga, and our weekly birthing class. My growing belly has also made other forms of exercise a little less enjoyable (I tried jogging about 2 weeks ago, and I thought my belly was going to drop off. I quickly stopped doing that!).

However, with the heat, and the previously discussed lack of left dankle, yesterday I knew we had to modify even our evening walk. Yes friends, last night Nathaniel and I entered the world of "30 minutes of uninterrupted walking...in the Mall." Some of you may know this as Mall walking, but I don't know if I am ready to classify myself as a Mall walker. As Nathaniel said yesterday while we were trying to walk through every nook and crany of the Mall at a speedy pace, he did not see this coming for another 40 years or so. Looks like we are both learning that important parenting secret of how to prepare for the unexpected in ways we did not quite expect!