In the past week or so, Becky and I have both been able to feel the baby kicking. Becky had been feeling it a bit somewhat earlier than that, but it wasn’t until recently that I could feel it myself. It’s an incredibly exciting sensation, feeling those quick but solid taps from her belly that mean there is an active, growing baby inside. The baby tends to be the most active when Becky is less active – when Becky is moving around, it tends to lull the baby into relaxation and/or sleep. So just after we wake up, or just before we go to sleep, it’s pretty easily to feel some little kicks coming from inside. We’ve also been playing some musical selections for the baby – mostly classical, but also some more laid-back popular music. And I’ve been having semi-regular chats with the baby, since it gets to hear Becky’s voice all day, but only gets to hear me when I’m at home.
There are just about three months left until the baby’s due date. In one month, we’ll be starting childbirth classes! It should be fun to go and see Beverly Hospital’s facilities, as well as learn more about the childbirth methods that Beverly Hospital practices, and meet some other people who are going through pregnancies. All reports we’ve heard indicate that Beverly Hospital has one of the best programs in the Boston area, so that’s good to know.
We haven’t got a nursery set up or anything, but we have been preparing in other ways – organizing our finances, cleaning and reorganizing the apartment, getting rid of stuff we don’t use any more that’s just taking up space, making lists of things we’ll need to acquire before the baby arrives, and researching baby gear. We hit [Babies R Us](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/540744/) a couple weekends ago, just to get a feel for our options and see some of the baby gear up close. I’ve also been reading over the [Consumer Reports Best Baby Products](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0890439869/), partially to read reviews and compare available products, but also partially to learn what the heck all of this stuff is. 🙂 Becky has a lot more of a clue about it than I do, so this is very helpful for me.
It seems fairly likely that we’ll still be living in our apartment when the baby is born, so we’ll probably convert our second bedroom from an office into a nursery – or at least make enough room in it for the baby essentials. Since our apartment building doesn’t allow many modifications, we won’t be doing it over in a new color scheme – and even if we could, we still probably wouldn’t since we don’t know whether we’re having a boy or a girl.
Other than that, there is not a whole lot of news about the baby. As Becky reported in [an earlier post](http://prwdot.org/2006/01/17/this-pregnancy-is/), last month’s prenatal appointment was just great. She’s been feeling pretty good recently. Overall, we certainly have a lot to be thankful for!