Childbirth Class 4

I graduated from childbirth class! Hooray!

I don’t have much to say about the last class. We had a pediatrician come in to talk for a little while. She was nice and talked about the normal stuff. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but I liked hearing her opinion on things. My mom was with me (she’s a nurse) and she asked a few questions. She already knew the answers to the questions, but she’s also an educator… so she asked for everyone else.

Then we went on the tour, which I did with M a few weeks ago. Nothing new there. I cried when I saw a baby. My mom liked seeing everything and knowing where she had to go.

We finished the nursery on Sunday (pictures soon!) and installed the car seat. I sterilized all the breast feeding equipment. I love it! My house looks like we could have a baby in it soon!

M is away this week for his training and I’m holding the baby in. I’m emotional about not seeing him and feeling good about the baby not coming during this week. We’re almost halfway through! He’s stressed that I’m going to call him in the middle of the day and he’ll miss the birth. I told him not to worry. This trip is so strange. His old job had a lot of travel, but it was usually half-way around the world. I couldn’t talk to him for long, but we could email because he had a blackberry. This time, he’s still in the same time zone (and really close – I used to have a longer daily commute!). We talk a few times a day. Four nights isn’t really that long. Just two to go!

Childbirth Class 3

Last night’s childbirth class was much calmer than the one we had last week. We just sat in the chairs and listened and watched videos. We learned all about epidurals and c-sections and all the other gory things.

We watched a video that showed a birth with narcotic medication, a birth with an epidural and a c-section. They were not gory or graphic (thank goodness). I cried every time the baby came out. I might have thrown up a little in my mouth when I got to watch a model of a c-section. But anyway, I was kind of embarrassed about my crying. M did not cry. I am going to be a mess when this baby gets here. Those little slimy, wrinkly babies! I’m crying a little now!

In other news, I had a good night of sleep last night. I think my exhaustion finally caught up with me. I’ve given up on my alarm clock and just get up close to when I am supposed to. I’d rather get 30 minutes of sleep than be on time for work. I’m so lucky that I don’t have set hours that I need to be at work. Whew!

Childbirth Class 2

Well, we simulated labor for an hour last night. It wasn’t a bad labor, we had to put our finger in ice for the duration of each contraction and the guys had to keep track of time and rub our backs. I don’t know if we really learned anything new last night. She reviewed everything from last week. It was good for M, he likes to know what job he needs to do. He didn’t complain when we left last night. I don’t think it really prepared me for labor – when my finger went numb, I decided that the drugs were working. We do know what to do now. I’m ready to be in labor. I’m weirdly looking forward to it.

L&D Tour

M and I must be pretty special. We had a private tour of Labor and Delivery at our hospital on Saturday. The day was insane. We had painters at our house at 7:30, M had a MBA seminar in the morning, our house was torn apart for the window stuff and we had the tour scheduled for 2:30. I was already exhausted from cleaning when we got there, but I was so excited.

The woman giving the tour (Sergeant J) is the same woman who is leading our childbirth class (aka boot camp). We were the only people signed up for the afternoon tour, which was kind of nice. Except that M didn’t really like the personalized service. She started every sentence with M! This is where you will be walking when you arrive! M! Do not attempt to take any other elevators! M! Floor 3! I thought it was funny.

Highlights:
We now know where to park and what door we need to go through. M was worried about after hours, but now we know.
The walk to the elevators is longer than the walk from the parking lot to the front door. I think they do this to help with labor.
The entire hospital smells like Subway
The NICU starts renovation at the end of this month. This means I need some extra prayers that Baby will be fine.
Standard practice is to give me the baby immediately after birth, skin to skin, and to try breastfeeding. I am so happy to know this.
I will get a special lactose-free menu.
I will probably request that they completely remove the huge-ass mirror on wheels from the room. I don’t even want to look at my funky nipples right now. There is NO WAY I want to see myself split in half. I’ll wait a few extra minutes to see the baby.

When we were leaving, the nurses said, “See you soon!” and I almost cried. I cannot wait.

So, in other news, my house has all new windows and all new, freshly painted exterior trim. It looks amazing. I am so proud of our little house. Of course, with the fresh paint, parts of the outside look shabby and now we are going to get the house pressure washed, but that’s a small thing. I am so happy this is done! However – the inside is still insane. We did have the interior trim put back in, but the finish work is pretty expensive and we already burst the budget with everything else. M is caulking and painting all the interior trim by himself. I’m so lucky to be married to a man who can fix anything. The nursery window is already done! He did a great job. I spent all weekend cleaning up the construction mess. I pretended I was nesting, but washing sawdust from the bottom of the toilet doesn’t really strike me as “preparing for baby.” This week I will scrub the nursery from top to bottom and then I FINALLY get to set up the room. I will be in heaven!

Today is April 12th. I am supposed to have a baby in one month.

Childbirth Class 1

We started learning how to give birth last night. M thinks this is ridiculous. I think it is necessary. So I win and we’re going every Monday in April to the community room in the hospital.

The class last night was a little intense. The instructor is a small woman with an intimidating personality and sometimes it felt like we were in trouble. Like she was lecturing us. “Gentlemen! You must get her to change positions!” M was a little afraid. We were expecting something a little more soothing. Oh well. You get what you get.

Things we learned:
The hospital tour (the thing we want most) isn’t until the last class. M is going to miss this class because of training. We’re going to schedule a separate tour.
You are supposed to pee every hour during labor to reduce pain.
TACO if your water breaks (Time, Amount, Colorless, Odorless).
Only 10% of women start labor with their water breaking (or 75% of my friends).
You can use a rolling pin as a back massager.
I am the furthest along in the class.
M is in charge of keeping track of the contractions, making sure I am comfortable and making me change positions.

So last night was laboring at home. Next week is labor in the hospital. Week 3 is medical interventions (C-sections, epidurals… all that). The last week is a pediatrician and the tour.

In our regular life:

M’s training (the last week of April) is for a new job! I am so happy for him. The timing is a little tricky. I’ll be in my 37th week, so labor could start while he is away. But it might not. And he’ll only be in DC, so a little over an hour away if things get going at non-rush hour times. If it starts between 6 and 10 am or 2 and 7 pm, I’ll probably have to wait a few hours for him to get to me. That’s going to have to be ok. And, no, I won’t call my MIL to come labor with me. Our neighbors have already agreed to come over and sit with me if needed. My mom is going to come down to attend the last class with me.

And, since we don’t want to make these last few weeks of pregnancy easy, we are also getting our windows and all exterior trim on our house replaced right now. M called me and said 6 windows on our front bump-out are already gone. I really can’t wait for this to be done. We can’t open most of our windows because they were painted shut or had no screens. And I couldn’t see out of the back windows because the seals were all broken. This is going to be so nice!

CPR Certified

We took our CPR class last night. I expected it to be filled with, I don’t know, teacher type people. But it wasn’t. It was about 90% pregnant couples. It was CPR for all people, not just infants (but that was obviously what most of us wanted). I took out my aggression (bad day at work) on poor Annie and I am SORE today. No one tells you that CPR class is actually a workout. My wrist is aching, my butt is sore (can I talk about butts any more here?). I’m like an old person!

And I think I’m pretty well off. M was amazed looking around at all the pregnant girls. Everyone asked everyone else how far along they were. Most people were about 30 weeks. One girl was 2 days ahead of me. I was one of the smallest girls there. M told me I was lucky, and he’s right. Some of the girls at 30 weeks were carrying so low – they had to do the CPR with the mannequins on the table.

So now I can help someone who collapses. I know what to do if my baby starts choking, I know what to do if my baby is unresponsive. I hope I don’t ever have to use this stuff.

Steak, furniture and classes

Hi! Did everyone have a good weekend? Things were insane in my house!

First Item!

I DO NOT HAVE DIABETES!!!! WOOOHHHOOOOO!!! Bring on the cookies. But make them cookies with a side of steak because I’m anemic. I have to take iron pills now. I blame that on M for not giving me cheeseburgers every night. My mom wants to know how anemic I am, so I need to call the office and get the actual numbers. I hope these iron pills don’t stop me up too bad. I got the slow release ones. Now I take 5 different pills a day (which, um, is nothing compared to what some of you do).

Next Item!

We spent all day Saturday emptying out the office and making it into a nursery. Poor M made at least 40 trips from our top floor to the basement carrying tons of stuff – mostly books! We got all of the stuff out of the room before noon (which is pretty darn good!). Then the in-laws came over to help with the furniture. We had some trouble getting desks to the basement, but it all worked out in the end.

M and his dad headed out to BRU to pick up the crib and dresser. They were gone forever. They called me once to complain that nothing fit in the Blazer. I told them to go to Home Depot and get some rope and make it work. They did. Then MIL and I watched them carry the fully assembled dresser up the stairs (we thought it would come in pieces… we probably would have picked different stuff if we knew it was fully assembled). The crib box was all busted up. I would have opened it at the store to make sure it was all ok. M did not do this (although he talked to the guy at the store and they assured him that they had opened the box and inspected everything). The crib headboard was split in half. Yippee! So we have a broken crib in our foyer until they deliver the new one. M called on Sunday and talked to a manager until they agreed to send someone to exchange the crib. He’s good at that kind of stuff. I was almost ready to cry when MIL pulled one of my Pollyanna tricks on me – she said “well, at least it’s not the dresser! I don’t think the guys could get that thing back down the stairs!” She was right. At least it was the much lighter crib that was carried up in pieces. At least the furniture will be here within a week or two. A broken crib 10 weeks before the baby is even due is not a big deal.

So now we have a baby room with a dresser and our office is all set up in the basement. It looks good down there. I wasn’t optimistic and I thought we’d be crowded down there. Now I kind of wish we’d always had the office in the basement.

Next Item!

We took the in-laws to dinner after all their hard work. I spent the dinner with a foot in my rib, so I kind of had to sit sideways to elongate myself. Everyone told me I looked like a fat trucker eating at a diner. I tried to sit better, but then I couldn’t reach the table. I am sitting the same way right now (but leaning to the right instead of the left). The kid will move when I push it down, but then reaches back up in there. Oh boy!

Next Item!

We went to an infant care class on Sunday. We learned how to bathe a baby and how to change diapers and swaddle. She showed us pictures of newborns and all the little things that might scare someone who has never seen a newborn up close. She spent A LOT of time telling us to trust our instincts, to advocate for ourselves and the baby and to not be afraid to ask for help. All the things that girls like me need to hear. I thought that was the best part of the class. The worst part was that our baby doll was ugly. And the clothes we had for him were pink and frilly. We felt bad that we didn’t bond with our ugly baby and then gave him a complex with girl clothes.

Next Item!

Alyssa wrote a few days ago about being on the other side of the fence.

That was a huge thing for me this weekend and last weekend. Normally, I do try to conceal this belly some. I’m usually wearing my huge purple MIL coat that just makes me look like a chubby lady who isn’t used to walking with her fat. I don't want anyone to look at me and feel the sadness that I used to feel.

Right, so we were in Babies R Us registering last weekend and I was sitting at the table getting everything set up. I had my coat on even though I was kind of warm. I didn’t want to bother anyone around me with my belly. Then I realized something. I was in the middle of preggo-land. Although people around me might have suffered from a loss or infertility, they were here because they were preparing for a baby and their dreams were coming true. I didn’t have to hide here!

I had the same feeling this weekend. We walked into the hospital and I kind of guarded my belly. Then I realized I was in a class for infant care. Everyone there was the same size as me. I could rub my belly all I wanted and I could shift uncomfortably when I had that foot in my rib.

It’s a great place to be.