Our evening routine now circles around our child, foreshadowing how every day for the next 20 years is likely to be.

First, I do my pelvic rocks. Then, Ryan puts Vitamin E lotion on my belly and other stretchy areas (using more and more every week--but I'm stretch mark less so far, so rock on). Then, he knocks on the belly and says 'hi' to the baby, passing his hand over my belly from one side to the other, essentially rocking her, while he chats with her, and she (I kid you not) usually follows his hand from side to side, punching and kicking exactly where his hand is. He really seems to enjoy this time, I have so much personal time for chatting with her all day long, and this time is about him. He's starting palpating, too, and he's starting to figure out how she's positioned and identify her little lumps as feet or whatever.

With the Bradley birth classes, we've added a relaxation session after Ryan's time with baby. These are exercises assigned every week that are designed to focus on, well, relaxing. Bradley birth method is a lot about sleep imitation during contractions and relaxing through them, rather than tensing and adding to the tension you already have. The hardest part for me is to stay awake and consciously relaxing. But I have definitely been sleeping better, and I'm developing of arsenal of relaxation techniques. I can scan my body and release tension in a matter of seconds now.

After that, I'm usually half asleep and ready for bed, so I have to say, insomnia has not been an issue over the last few months. I've also adjusted my comfort techniques. Instead of a body pillow, I use a spare comforter. It's perfect--I can adjust it and contort it and use it as a blanket without having three extra pillows and stealing Ryan's covers. It's excellent.

Anyway, off to class! Things are good, we're getting so excited about this last trimester and meeting our girl. Last night in class we learned about emotional signposts during labor that can often be more telling about what's going on than physical signs. One of them was 'loss of modesty' which cracked us up, since being naked is my favorite. But we did talk some more about our expectations for labor and what we want to happen (for instance, Ryan and I together in the darkened guest room, with no people unless invited). We'll see what happens! It's going to be quite a ride.