Week 30

Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

More discrimination fun

We had a really hard day on Friday. The baby is fine...not to worry, it is moving all over the place and bouncing itself off my internal organs...we have had several more people insist that it is a girl from how I am carrying.

The depressing situation was this: currently, I am doubly insured through my work and through Taylor's work (although we are taxed on this through Taylor's work as there is no federal tax code for our relationship). We are lucky that the State of Oregon allows me to be insured as a domestic partner as many employers do not have this as an option. We thought we were being proactive and have been putting the maximum we could for the pregnancy and childbirth into a flexible spending account (FSA) (for those not in the know this takes money out of Taylor's paycheck pre-tax and we can submit claims on it to use towards health related expenses). The maximum amount you can have in a FSA is $5,000. We have submitted two rounds of claims for reimbursement. We got a denial letter on Friday that stated that our most recent claim is denied because this money cannot be used for me at all...apparently we didn't read the fine print (yes, we feel stupid) and as the flexible spending program follows federal regulations. Because we are not recognized as family by the federal government we basically lose most of that money, unless Taylor somehow manages to spend $5,000 on out-of-pocket medical expenses. To make matters even worse, I pointed out that they had covered me in a previous claim, hence my confusion and they said this was a mistake on their part and they would be needing that money back.

I spoke to a whole bunch of people at flexible spending and with the state and we will be writing a letter asking the state to make these circumstances more clear for those in our type of situation. I had a mini crying breakdown at work and I think my boss and my co-workers were happy to see me go home a little early. The whole thing is just reinforcing the importance that our families are recognized legally. Unfortunately, neither of the current presidential candidates support same sex marriage but we can hope for the future! FYI this is not to say that we are not voting for Obama because of course we are but we are certainly not happy with his stance on this issue.

29 weeks

Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

Comparison picture - 7 months

Here is a picture I took of Megan tonight. It's kind of blurry, but shows the belly well. It has gotten to the point where we can see the baby move from the outside. It is both a very cool and very creepy thing to see. We have made some significant progress in our unpacking mission, but it has been interrupted at times in order to put together some important Ikea purchases. Our hypnobirthing class is very interesting and we have been trying to practice the breathing exercises. Megan tends to fall asleep every time we practice so with any luck she'll continue the habit during labor if necessary. I might take another picture next month, but I can't make any promises.
-Taylor

Belated Thank you and Congratulations!

I forgot to thank Uncle Leonard, Ingrid, Dennis, Hillary, Ian, and Jude for helping us move!! And congratulations to Jill and Sarah on their pregnancies. :)

We're Back!

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

Things we have been up to:

1. Not unpacking. The house is a disaster zone but we love having a house! Maybe someday we can get rid of all the boxes.

2. We hired a doula (labor support person) after doing a couple interviews. We really felt that this was important even though we have a great midwifery team. Specifically, we wanted someone that could help Taylor support me and we feel like we picked a great person. Her name is Stacey and we will also be taking a childbirth prep class with her. http://www.mothertreebirth.com/doulas-sb.html

3. I had a fabulous gestational diabetes test, instead of having to drink some nasty drink I had a finger poke and was instructed to go eat waffles and syrup and protein and walk for a half hour and then get poked again...to see how I metabolize real food. Apparently, I do just fine as the test was a success...and the cornmeal Belgian waffle was so so good.

4. I am officially in my third trimester, I will feel better after this week is over since I had that whole "higher risk of miscarriage" in the second trimester due to the bleeding in early pregnancy. The baby is moving all about and Taylor plans to take a picture of the belly this weekend so you can all see the growth, and there is a lot. Basically, I don't fit into anything anymore. The pregnancy stores tell you to buy your pre-pregnancy size which is a bunch of crap considering my breasts are three times their pre-pregnancy size!!! Clothes are not easy to find and I have resorted to shoe looking slippers for comfort and to support my poofy feet.

5. We started a hypnobirthing class last week and it is really interesting. Taylor managed to keep the horror on her face to a minimum when watching the birthing videos and I think it will be a good class. It is odd to be the only same sex couple and even though the instructor is sensitive it feels a little exclusionary at times. I just did a guest lecture for culturally competent care for LGBT clients for the midwifery school so maybe I am just hypersensitive. :)

Back to prepping for the class we are teaching!

Megan