Heads and Nails

Week 34 is a big week in your development. It kind of seems like a bunch of grand openings were just announced. Check out all that you're able to do right now, according to the bump and some other sources:

• When light peeks in through your Mom's belly (whose thin is stretched thin), your tiny eyelids and irises can blink and dilate. So maybe I won't shine the flashlight in your eyes!
• You are now smart enough to recognize and react to simple songs… That means you may already recognize your lullabye that I've been singing!
• Your finger and toe nails are growing fast and long...and they're sharp too. Good thing we got the baby finger nail clippers we'd been eyeballin'!

For all this development, though, it still seems like you're miles away from coming out to meet us. Although we only have 38 official days to go, it seems like an eternity. Not that we're anxious, but time is definitely dragging, especially when I read about how much of a working, functioning little person you are in there.

But, you do need more time in the oven until you're ready to come out.

For now, you stay in that oven and we'll just have to wait, and appreciate you from the outside. Yesterday you gave us a great opportunity to do so. While your Mom was sprawled out on the couch she grabbed my hand and placed it to her belly.

"What is that?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said.

"It's too big to be a hand or a foot. Is it a head?"

"Maybe..." she smiled in awe.

(Don't ask me how she can smile in awe, she just can).

But, there I was, with my hand palming something the size of a large orange. It could have been your butt, but I prefer to think it was your head. And that means you must have been sleeping the way I sometimes do on planes: head first.

It was almost as if you were trying to peak your head into our conversation. But, as you can tell from above, the conversation wasn't too intelligent anyway.

But, it was full of awe.

Do Fetuses Dream of Embryonic Sheep?

There you are, a big, bountiful baby bump on week 28 of this journey. I know it seems like I've reported almost every movement, every kick, every turn, every hiccup you make. That's because when you move, it's very exciting for everyone here in the outside world.

But, as you are now almost fully developed some cool things are happening in your off time too. When you stop kicking or rolling we normally say, "I guess he went to sleep," and either wait for you to wake up again or jostle you to wake you up for more playing (rude, huh?)

Scientists know that you- and others in your predicament - can actually sleep in two different ways: inactive AND active sleep. On the outside here, we sleep inactively first, and then actively. On the inside, though, you do the opposite- active first, then inactive.

Active sleeping is synonymous with REM (no, not the band, silly; Rapid Eye Movement). And, REM sleep is when we on the outside of your Mom's belly tend to have dreams.

There's no real way to tell, but because you engage in REM sleep, scientists actually think that you might be able to dream too!

In a rare role reversal, I found that absolutely fascinating and amazing, while your Mom took a pragmatic approach.

"But dreams are just your brain trying to make sense of random synapses firing off in your brain- brining in random images of things you've seen or witnessed," she said.

And that's true, as far as I know.

But I still think you have plenty to dream about:

• Certain flavors of food or smells
• Your Mom's heartbeat
• My singing
• The dogs barking
• Your Mom's internal organs
• Being jostled (like in a car ride)
• Kicking
• Music
• The Paul McCartney & Ben Folds Concerts
• Guitar Music
• The feeling of being on a walk

You probably also have a few things to even have nightmares about:

My singing

• That time we put the flashlight up to the belly
• My singing
• Spicy Food
• My singing

So, even if you're not dreaming or just don't have too much to dream about, I can still dream that you are dreaming, right?

And, I know that your Mom and I both are having tons of dreams about you.

While you continue to get bigger and bigger, we'll continue to dream about you coming out to meet us - and, maybe, you'll be dreaming about meeting the people connected to all the voices you've been hearing and internal organs you've been cozying up to for the past 7 months.

Or maybe, you'll just keep dreaming of embryonic sheep.