At the 29th Week.....

According to Birth.com, our little Ernie will be looking something like the following at the moment. I've found it hard lately to find any photos and although this isn't brilliant, I thought it was better than nothing at all.

So what according to Pregnancy.org has Ernie been up to lately -

• Ernie's head is in proportion with her body now and she appears more like a newborn each and every day.
• Fat continues to accumulate under her skin, only now preparing for entering the real world.
• Ernie's brain can control primitive breathing and body temperatures.
• Her eyes can move in their sockets. Soon she will be able to follow a blinking light.
• Our baby is increasingly sensitive to changes in light, sound, taste, and smell, with various studies showing that she may indicate preferences or dislike for particular tastes or odors at this stage.
• She is also moving from side to side, but probably still is head up. In the next few weeks, Ernie will move to the head down birthing position. At times I may feel as if she is performing somersaults for a circus act or in her case practicing many of her now famous sporting moves and new games.
  
• Ernie's length is now approximately 38.6cm from head to toe and she weighs about 1153gm.
• If born now Ernie would have about a 90% chance of survival with medical assistance. Those odds are getting better every day.
  

As for me, after my antenatal class which started to answer some of my questions I started work on my birth plan. Not that you can really completely plan something that is so out of your control, but at least I've started to think about what I would like to have happen in an ideal world. Unfortunately I think it is a bit long and no one will want to actually read it to see what I would like and not like, but basically it goes something like this -

• quiet, relaxed and darkish environment.
  
• try for no painkillers and use non-medical forms of pain relief as a first course of action.
• free movement during labour.
  
• if painkillers are required try anything that will not effect Ernie first.
  
• avoid epidurals, general anesthetics, episiotomies and caesarian sections if possible.
  
• skin to skin contact after birth.
• breastfeeding with no supplementation.
• and so much more.......
  

Now all of you reading this who have already had children are probably thinking, hah... wait till she experiences the pain then she will be begging for painkillers, but I really want to see if I can manage without a lot of medical intervention. It is something that is very important to me but if it doesn't turn out that way, at least I would have tried. This is not just for me but for Ernie as well.