Co-sleeping

21 weeks. Baby is 10.5 inches long, and her eyelids and eyebrows have formed. I'm drinking 8 glasses of water daily at least, it just took some practice getting there. My 32 ounce bottle from Dick's Sporting Goods made all the difference in helping me keep track, and keeping it available to me all day. I've been telling my clients at work about the pregnancy. Although 99% of people have been commenting that I don't look 5 months pregnant or even pregnant at all. It's not been until this week, actually starting yesterday, that a few people suspected based on what I was wearing. It did get to me sometimes, and I have been pigging out a lot more, but I don't know if it is because I've wanted to look bigger or my appetite has actually increased, or both. I've been pretty textbook case, the websites say I should have gained about 10 pounds by now, and that is true for me.

In the past week or two I've also had the normal fears (as in, moments of panic) that every prospective parent will have: will I be a good parent? how is this all going to work? can we afford a baby? will we have everything ready when the baby comes?! ..... I've been most preoccupied with that last question. And I have realized that newborn babies really don't need too much, and she won't even notice or care anyway. And if the baby sleeps in our room for awhile, then the nursery won't even need to be ready for her! What a relief that was!! I've started researching co-sleeping, meaning letting her room-in with us (not necessarily in the same bed) instead of putting her in her own bedroom, and I am already convinced this is what we need to do!! After all, by the time she is born, she and I will have been co-sleeping for 9 months. So now I wonder, should we set-up the crib next to our bed or have her sleep in a pack n' play with bassinet?

Here's another good website on co-sleeping. Just some of the reasons to co-sleep: it can potentially reduce the incidence of SIDS, the baby's and mother's sleep cycles synchronize, the baby will not need to scream or cry when awakening in order to call the parent, as it will learn that the mother will respond to soft whimpering, more sleeping actually occurs for baby and mom, more breastfeeding occurs, even interesting things such as the baby inhaling mother's carbon dioxide will cause baby to take a deeper breath/she is cueing the baby to breathe, as newborns apparently are still practicing this...

I had a dental cleaning this week. In pregnancy gums are a little more sensitive and bleedy, so you have to definitely make sure you floss regularly. I realized that I have seen my dentist's office for cleanings every 6 months, for the last 8 years. And every 6 months they get a mini-snapshot of my life: new into town; fresh out of grad school; single in the city; dating someone serious; engaged; married; trying to get pregnant; and now pregnant... The next time they see me, I will have a newborn baby! That's the first time I've scheduled something beyond The Due Date, it is wild to think about! I had to take into consideration child care and our schedules, but I can just bring the baby with me!