Brandon, Barb & Maya too!

Well, the mommy-to-be is out of the hospital, thankfully. After being admitted on Thursday morning and having a Thanksgiving dinner that consisted of beef broth soup (nothing solid), three helpings of lemon jello and a special high-protein, high-calorie apple juice, Barb was kept on bed rest in her hospital suite (and it really was -- it has to have been close to 700 sq.ft.!).

When you spend a week in the hospital, you quickly realize just how unhealthy a hospital is. Barb's choice for breakfast in the morning consisted of whether she wanted a plate full of bacon or a plate full of sausage to go with her eggs (real eggs, not even low-cholesterol eggs!). For lunch -- how about a cheeseburger or deep fried chicken fingers? And dinner -- let's go with pizza or...pizza. But there was ALWAYS jello (and a brownie, and poundcake, and anything else deemed unhealthy). It blew our minds that a place you are supposed to "get well" at could harm you so much with such a menu. And all they offered the baby was steroids (two doses, in fact)!

Anyway -- the hospital was kind enough to give us its largest room so that I could stay each evening with Barb, which was comforting to both of us (significantly more comforting than the concrete beds we had to sleep on).

Barb had been scheduled to have an amniocentesis on Monday. If the steroids had expedited the baby's lung development to the point they were full operational, they would proceed with inducing labor. Right now, that plan is thankfully off of the table as both Barb and I would much prefer to wait until at least 36-weeks (December 22nd).

The most important thing is that Baby is healthy. At our last ultrasound, the baby weighed in at 4 pounds and 11 ounces, with the technician saying that she always underestimates. The ultrasounds can be off by one-full pound, meaning that chances are Baby is about 5 pounds right now which is a very good size. The baby is VERY active and really gets riled up when I play with its feet when they are pressed against Barb's stomach. It starts kicking, doing somersaults and everything in between. Chances are I will regret this as I am creating on irritable child before it even experiences the world...but hell, it is damn fun to do!

We got to see the baby one more time on an ultrasound, although it was tough to tell the features. My best guess from the static-ridden pictures is that the baby has Barb's nose (a bit more compact, smaller than mine), my lips (the baby's lips looked very full, while Barb has very thin lips) and my head...why? Well, I have a huge, huge head. Like, Barry Bonds size. I wear a 7-3/4" fitted hat. The Baby's head was a full two weeks larger than the rest of its body!

...So, Barb will thoroughly hate me while pushing the baby through. I can picture it now...

@#!$ you and your @#$^@$% massive skull! I hate you @$$^&%#!

Ah yes, the joy of birth! I guess as long as it doesn't receive from me what Barb refers to as my "Horse Teeth," she'll be okay with it (yes, my wife is very affectionate and loving...No, really...)

Well, we're 34-weeks come Monday and we'll just keep going along day by day. Wish us luck!