The baby calendar pretty much stops here, things got kind of busy and Joni came just 4 weeks after at 37 weeks. For her baby story, go here. Possibly we will come back and fill in the last month of pregnancy. But pretty much, it was hot, Sheila was in increasing pain especially in walking, and Joni's movements were amazing, Sheila's stomach would shift at Joni's whim. One interesting tidbit that's not in the birth story, Sheila stayed up and packed her hospital bags the night before she was admitted into the hospital. Excellent timing, eh?

Week 33
This week we went to our hospital's Newborn Care and Behavior class. It goes over the first 6 weeks of caring for a newborn. We watched videos, asked questions and broke up into groups to practice changing, bathing, feeding, and soothing the baby. Charles changed the baby and did an excellent job. Sheila fed the baby. And the couple we paired up with soothed and bathed the baby. But it was all an group effort, we had a good time. We did meet a young lady who was due in 3 weeks and looked half Sheila's size (according to Charles) so we understand why everyone thinks Sheila is due before late September. We are getting huge!!

We had a Dr's appt this week as well. The appts have moved to one every two weeks and then will go to once a week in September. Everything looks fine, we are gaining weight well and growing well.

Joni is stil an active one. She likes to kick Mommy at night in the same spot. But lately she's been busy moving low in Mommy's pelvic area a lot without kicking. It's a weird and disturbing sensation. It feel like her little hands are scraping across Mommy's lower tummy or she's tickling Sheila. But it kind of hurts. Oh well, grow, little one, grow.

Charles and Sheila also started to get help around the house since just the act of bending over is a sad sad joke now. Atleast now Sheila won't have to worry about some major chores that she can't physically until she gets her body back.

Charles has stepped up in helping as well. He has cooked delicious dinners twice this week and stained Joni's clothes dresser and toychest. They look great.

Week 32
This week was a tough one emotionally. She felt really stressed out trying to get back to normal after a week feeling not so normal, Charles went back to work, her mother left for Cincinnati, so she had to adjust to not having help as much. On top of that, there came news of a loss of a very wonderful person whose daughter is a close friend of Sheila's and bad news from another friend as well, so it was a hard week.

After the hospital incident, Charles and Sheila did decide to move up any prenatal classes they could because the thought of having Joni early and not knowing anything terrified Sheila. They got to move up the newborn care class and will be done with the childbirth class by August 23rd. Sheila also scheduled a visit with Joni's potential peditrician. The peditrician is part of a group of 3 Drs whose office is about 10 minutes away and their tour will include meeting with all 3 Drs at the office. We are very excited and are looking for a warm, informative and patient Dr.

There hasn't been a serious dent in the daycare choice yet though. Sheila and Charles visited 2 more places this week. One is a part of a factory of daycare centers, it's newer, bigger and has webcams, but didn't have the homey feel Sheila was looking for. The other was much smaller, not as new, no cameras, but the caregivers were very nice and seemed like the did it because they liked children and were good at it. Plus they were in their late 50's and it felt more like grandma would be watching Joni. So we're just going to have to pray about it.

Week 31
We were pretty much out for the count this week. Lots of Drs appt, lots of bedrest. Sheila's mom was in town for the week and made sure she drank plenty of water, took frequent breaks, took her vitamins and iron and calcium, and ate well all day. Charles stayed home most of the week as well. Eventually time and taking it easy made the bad go away.

At the end of the week, Sheila and Charles did get to briefly meet up with Charles colleagues who recently had children and talk about the hospitals here, adjustments and things they wish they had known. They also got A LOT of wonderful clothes, toys, and babycare things from a couple whose child had outgrown or never used them. Sheila, her mom and Charles mom went through them all excitedly, each probably picturing baby Joni swirming away in the outfits.