Other Happenings This Week

Last Friday we had a snow day! (whohoo!). I was excited but ask me how I feel come May when I am still pregnant and still at school. Oh well! Friday also marked the 18 week mark. I started the 'beat belt' as we call it (aka: Baby Plus - www.babyplus.com) because the baby's ears are now fully developed and can hear!! Loud noises can even startle it!

I feel very lucky to have such great friends that let me borrow baby stuff! (Thanks Amy!). My friend Annie is the one that started using the beat belt and swears by it! From there several of our other teacher friends have used it and Amy was nice enough to let me borrow it. Here is a little blurb from their site. (Long story short, it it supposed to help baby be more alert, sleep longer faster and adjust to change easier, and reach milestones quicker).

"The BabyPlus curriculum is a series of 16 naturally derived sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat. The rhythm of the sounds increases incrementally as the pregnancy progresses. The BabyPlus sonic pattern introduces your child to a sequential learning process, built upon the natural rhythms of their own environment.This "auditory exercise" strengthens learning ability during the developmental period when the advantages will be most significant and enduring for a child."

You wear the belt twice a day for an hour each time and at approx. the same time of day. Unfortunately for me the 18th week started over break when I can actually sleep in because I want to wear it before school typically so I have been setting my alarm for 5:45 am and putting it on. Luckily, though, so far I can still sleep through anything so I just go back to sleep. :) From what I've read online, some are skeptical about the beat belt, but I figure it can't hurt!

We also had another dr. appt. today to hear the heartbeat. Everything sounded great! There was a lot of noise on the monitor, which my dr. said was the baby moving around, though I haven't really felt it yet (or I just don't know what I'm feeling...). The heart rate was in the 150's this time (140's last time). According the to the old wives tale, anything above 140 is typically a girl (the Chinese Astrology thing also said girl). I don't believe all of that stuff though!! It's just fun to play around until we find out. I also read that the higher the heart rate, means the higher the brain activity (?) so the higher the better.

15 days until our 20 week ultrasound to find out the sex!!!!!! (Jan. 6).