Week 35 - Done Cookin'

Week 35 - are you kidding me? Is this seriously going to happen? Man, we are getting CLOSE now!

I know what you're thinking - "what did you expect Andrew? Of course he'll be born soon." Yeah doofus I know that. Its just crazy to think that the final countdown is on, and I don't mean that crappy 80s song that daddy is walking around and singing right now. All of baby brother's internals are formed and functional. At this point he could be born without any major problems. He'd be a teeny bit smaller than if he was full grown but that's it.

Right now he is continuing to "chunk up". He's up to a little bit over 5.5lbs. There's no real height increase this week - he's still around 18" tall - but we don't really need him getting any taller. If he were to get any taller, where would we put him? He'd be like a potted plant that's totally outgrowing its pot! (I don't mean to compare him to foliage or anything, but it seemed like an appropriate analogy) Don't expect him to get much taller from here on out, but the little guy will keep packing on the pounds from here on out. The main reasons? Insulation and energy. Remember, he's going to need lots of energy for the Great Escape!

Baby Brother is prepping for his arrival in another big way too. After lots of practice in my old room, he's finally developed his eating/sucking reflex to the point that it will get him through those tough times after he's born. Without his fun-and-funky feeding tube, he has to know how to do this. Lucky for him, I left a how-to manual in there for him. As long as he understands basic English and can decipher my clever illustrations, he should be good to go. The good part is that he gets to eat as much as he wants, so get ready for a Baby-sized Buffet, little brother!

And when he's done eating and duty calls, he's got that covered too! His kidneys are now fully formed, so he can produce and filter his own baby tinkle now. I'm sure you can picture him already, chilling inside mommy and writing his name in the….whatever that stuff is inside. Pretty impressive aim for a kid that's minus-one months old isn't it?

Breathing is another fun activity that he's got under control too. His lungs are also fully formed and ready to breathe something besides amniotic fluid. I know I did that when I was his age, but breathing liquid just seems to be a little creepy. I can't figure out just how that's "normal" at any point in a person's life. Once he's born, we'd call that "drowning", so how is it cool to let him start that habit now? I'll just voice my opinion right now and say that I fundamentally disagree with this. Another thing I don't understand - how come lungs develop faster in a girl than in a boy? Yep, I read it someplace OTHER than on the internet, so I know its true. I asked daddy why this is, and he said because they always have to get the first word in. 

That's about it for this week. As I said before, there aren't many developments from here on out! He's basically done building all of the pieces, and now he just needs to beef up a bit more. I promise I'm not trying to slack off on my writing, there's just nothing left to write about! Maybe if the little guy would help out and send me a note now and then, I could give you some more details. As it stands right now, I'm sitting here acting as his biographer. Ah well, a Big Brother's gotta do what a Big Brother's gotta do!

And right now, Big Brother's gotta go potty. I'll spare you the details beyond that. Don't forget to vote on the baby names of the week, AND give us your best guess as to when you think baby brother will arrive!

Andrew Joiner, Big Brother