Life With A Six Month Old....Fetus

Well, we just got home from the last vacation we will take together and by ourselves for a while. We had a blast on the cruise and were very happy to see Steve and Kristen married and on their way to a blissful life. I just hope that we are as happy as they look, and I hope we stay as happy as some of the other couples on the ship seemed to be. Of course you are probably gonna be happy when you have had 32 Rum Punches, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, we are very happy and for some very exciting reasons.

It has been a while since I have done something truly baby centric here in the blog. The last few weeks have watched Emilee grow, sometimes overnight, but have been relatively quiet. I mean we already had the heart and brain in the works and only she got to feel the baby kick. Everything was moving along well. So well in fact that it became sort of normal. Well as normal as it can be when your wife has to pee every 22 minutes. But now I have news to report!

This past Thursday, while cramming some kind of cruise food down our gullets, Anna Grace turned 6 months old. At least she has been gestating for 6 months anyway. She is about to hit another milestone for survivability and we are entering the final stretch. By the way, I am not talking about E's belly here. But we both swear that she just "magically" grows while asleep; similar to Jack's beanstalk, but I digress. The point here is that we are in the "you better get ready" part of the pregnancy.

For a better glimpse at 6 months I turn to smartmomma.com

Over a foot long, your baby weighs in at almost two pounds now. He is already practicing walking by pedaling his feet and kicking you, sometimes right in the cervix. Ouch! Your baby has developed a strong grip and he can open and close his eyes in reaction to light. His vocal cords are fully functional, although he won’t be truly practicing until he sees his first glimpse of daylight. Hiccups are common for him as your little one practices swallowing, and you may feel these throughout the day. A baby born now can survive with intensive care.

Emilee has already felt the hiccuping, and feels her move around much more frequently. I even get to get into the act now. For the past 2-3 weeks Emilee would put my hand onto her belly and ask if I could feel the baby moving. Then she would get mad at me when I would tell her I could not. I did not have the stones to tell her that she just needed to produce a baby that could kick hard enough for me to feel it, so I just waited. Now I can feel it! It is one of the most amazing things I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

There have been many things throughout the pre-pregnancy & pregnancy that I have been excited by; finding out, the first ultrasound, watching the baby develop normally (in spite of massive doses of radio waves), and seeing the joy in Emilee's face every time we talk about the baby, etc. But this is the coolest yet! I have actually been TOUCHED by my daughter and it is the most amazing thing. I can't imagine what I will feel when I get to hold her and look at her without the aid of a 7,500 watt radio tower!

I also wanted to tell you guys that the name game is over. I let it slip earlier, but her name is Anna Grace. I got shot down. Of course I was pulling for Shaqwanda Sue, but I lost out in the heated game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors." I did get to pick the nickname though, and it's...

The topic of another blog.


Stay Safe,

Rob