46 Days and counting!

Happy Thursday! Kevin and I have both been really busy at work this week so I'm glad it's going quickly. Last night we had our birth class at the hospital and we took a tour of the labor and delivery ward, the NICU, and the maternity ward. The labor and delivery ward was remodeled about 3 years ago and is a beautiful, tranquil place with 11 huge rooms that have big windows with sweeping views of downtown Burlington and Lake Champlain. Each room has a huge bathroom with a shower, and most have birthing tubs as well. There is also a "labor lounge" with rocking chairs and floor to ceiling windows. Seeing all of this made everything seem so real and it hit me that in a few weeks I'll actually be there giving birth!

After you give birth, you are taken with your baby to the Maternity ward which is a stark contrast from the spa-like feel of the birthing center. I have never visited a psyche ward in a hospital, but I swear it probably looks like the Maternity Ward at Fletcher Allen Hospital. The rooms are tiny, sterile and colorless, there are 2 beds in each room and if it gets busy you have to share. GASP!!! Oh no no no. There are a few private rooms, and I know Kevin will work hard to get us one. I am trying not to think about it right now because it is stressing me out.

We also got to visit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit which was a little bit heartbreaking to see the tiny babies in there, but also comforting to know that if anything does go wrong, this hospital has a great NICU facility and our baby will be in good hands.

I wish I had taken the camera to snap some shots, but I'll be there soon enough and we'll be getting plenty I'm sure. The tour was exhausting and we got home shortly after 9 and I collapsed into bed. Tonight we have our Infant CPR class which I hope we never have to use the knowledge we learn tonight, but I'm glad we are doing it and preparing ourselves with all the tools we can. The class is long, from 6-9, so I'm gearing up for another exhausting evening and am very much looking forward to ending the week tomorrow!

I'll leave you with this 33 week update, enjoy!

How your baby's growing:
This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a cone head). These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.