Auditory Stimulation

We're in Hawaii! On the island of Hawaii! We finally did it -- we finally took a vacation! A honeymoon. A babymoon. Whatever you call it, we're away for a whole week, and it doesn't involve family. (No offense, our beloved families. We love you and thoroughly enjoy visiting you, but it's not quite the same as a getaway vacation! In fact, we're packing it all into a month's time -- visiting both of you AND our vacation! See? Proof that we do love you.)

It seems like there's no better place to get into the sensory reflection on pregnancy I've been promising than Hawaii, which is full of sensory delights.

As we are sitting here on our lanai (porch) enjoying the view of our lush yard, feeling the sun on my skin and the breeze against my face, I am particularly noting the auditory delights of the birds in the area. It's too bad I didn't spend more time with my mom's brother Jim, the ornithologist, growing up, to be able to know more about their calls. But I can appreciate their beauty without knowledge of who they are. Last night, we went to sleep to the sounds of the coqui frogs, so there's always someone singing to us!

We've determined that Blueberry enjoys my singing. It's sad now that my season with the Berkeley Broadway Singers is over; I don't have a regular weekly singing engagement. However, I have been asked to be the featured singer at an open mic in January, so I have something to work toward!

We read that around Week 20, Blueberry was able to start hearing our voices. Mo read that all of the sounds within my body (heartbeat, blood rushing, intestines working etc. -- isn't it weird to think that there are sounds happening inside of you?!) are equivalent of the roar of a lawn mower. He therefore deduced that he should *scream* when talking with Blueberry. After about a week of him yelling directly into my belly, I finally convinced him that talking directly to the baby should suffice. Thank goodness today's Baby Center update (26 weeks) said that the baby's auditory capabilities have now  developed to the point that s/he could probably hear us in conversation. *Whew!* I was worried that he was ensuring our child would be death with the yelling.

So, every night, Mo has made a ritual out of talking to Blueberry to be sure that s/he becomes familiar with his voice too. He tells him/her about his day, says 'I love you!' and talks about how excited he is for him/her to join us in the world. It's very cute.

We tried to convince all of his family members to talk with Blueberry too when we were there over Thanksgiving, but the only one brave enough to give it a go was Asad, who did it somewhat reluctantly and couldn't bring himself to talk directly to my belly -- he was more bent halfway over, a good couple of feet from the belly. He has a reputation to uphold, you know.

I want to make more of a ritual of playing music for Blueberry. Our friend Jessica (who just had her baby a week ago, by the way, in case I forgot to mention that last time -- we got to meet little Aixa on Saturday before we left, and Mo was enthralled with her all wrapped up like a burrito sleeping on Cesar's chest -- he kept saying, 'I want one!') gave me a set of Belly Buds, which are basically belly earphones so I can play music directly for Blueberry. (I know -- it's ridiculous the amount of products they've come up with these days. I didn't want to buy them since they're useful for such a short period, but since they've been handed down to me, I'll use them!) I'll have to find a regular time of day for that to help Blueberry build a schedule.

Okay, back to enjoying these Hawaiian delights directly.