Samuel is continuing to grow and move and move and move.

Here are the things that really make him move:

• Medical professionals listening for the heartbeat. It took several minutes to get a solid measurement a few weeks ago because he was kicking and moving so much – from one side to the other.
• Music. He’s been active during worship music for several months now, but I think he notices a difference when I’m singing or when we are at home and Joe is playing bass. Joe continues to have hope that he will love bass-centric music.
• When I’m trying to focus hard on work. It feels like he instinctively knows that it will be distracting specifically at that time. It’s probably just preparation for after he’s born, when I’m trying to work from home.

The only thing that seems to calm him down is when Joe touches my stomach. It wasn’t until this past weekend when he held his hand there for 15 minutes that Joe was first able to feel him move. I was so excited that he felt the movement because it is so frequent for me. Overall his movements are a really great sign though, since it means that he is healthy. He also isn’t kicking as hard as he did in the early months, just more frequently, so that is nice.

Joe has been a really great support, especially with going to baby birth classes. We’ve been to two so far and they both ended with him feeling sick to his stomach. He is such a wonderful husband and a huge blessing during this time, especially as I’m getting more emotional (which I didn’t think possible) and in more pain. I can’t imagine going through this without him.

Joe also wanted me to put up a baby countdown on the journal, so if you look on the right side at the top, there is a countdown there. It looks like this:

Other than that I am eagerly anticipating the baby showers that are coming up next month. One will be on the Central Coast and thrown by my wonderful friends Sandra and Robin for my friends, and the other one will be at my parents’ place in Northern California thrown by my aunts for family and family friends. It will just be fun to see everyone and probably make it even more real that we are actually having a baby.