28 Weeks

Apparently, I'm not very chatty lately. I've slowed down considerably in the last couple weeks, so I'm not accomplishing much after work and I can't remember a weekend when we weren't working on getting our new place together. Interestingly enough, the two rooms we aren't using are the closest to being done--the office/workout room in the basement (which is awaiting installation of a new phone line before we can actually use the computer) and the nursery. Sweetie finished the painting, our crib and dresser arrived (yay!) and we put some super cute decals on the wall. We just have a couple more things to hang and then all the big stuff will be done. I'm so happy with the paint job that sweetie did--it looks amazing, so much nicer than I had envisioned. We both keep peeking in the room, just to look at it.

Last night, we took an infant CPR class. I thought we were getting it as part of the four courses we registered for at our hospital but, apparently, I was wrong. We ended up taking it through our town's continuing ed department. Our new town is so small, who knew they even had one? Leave it to the sweetie--those googling skills astound me! Tonight is Bradley class #10 (of 12). I mentioned before that I wasn't so sure about the class but I was trying to keep an open mind. Now, I can say unequivocally that I hate the class. I think that the Bradley method is great and we've gotten a lot out of some written information we've found, but this particular class just sucks. The instructors are very nice people, but not the best teachers and there's a lot of talk about vague "relaxation techniques" or "coach strategies" without any detail. I really thought that was what we would spend 12 weeks learning, but so far . . . nada. I'm also personally a little annoyed because I was told when I registered us for the class that this husband/wife team taught the class together. In reality, the wife has been present for 2 or 3 classes so far and he has taught the others alone. Call me sexist, but I have a hard time hearing that contractions feel like strong menstrual cramps from someone who hasn't experienced either. Oh yeah, not to mention the fact that he just can't seem to bring himself to add "or partner" when talking about the father. The coach is always "he" and the parents are always referred to as "mom and dad" despite the fact that here we are sitting right in front of him with a fetus who will clearly have two mothers. We go back and forth between wanting to stop going and feeling like we should see them out since we've already paid for them. I think we can stick it out for three more weeks and hope that we end up getting a little something out of them, but I'm really starting to resent spending every Wednesday night at these things.

I also have my 28 week checkup today, where I'll get a rhogam injection and my gestational diabetes test. I'm hoping both go well. We are also planning on interrogating the midwife about the hospital procedures, since that's where it turns out I'll be birthing. I'm most concerned about whether there will be limitations on the birthing positions I can use and what procedures are routine and if we'll be able to decline them (I heard that our hospital gives routine pitocin during delivery of the placenta. I can hardly believe that, but if its true, there must be a way to get out of it?) Any suggestions on things I should check into?

24 Weeks

Over the past month, I've noticed people staring at me wherever I go. At first, I put on my tough girl "what are you looking at" attitude, cuz really, what are they looking at? But then it hit me--I'm obviously pregnant. People like to look at the belly (I like to stare at pregnant bellies myself, so I get it). The thing is, I haven't really felt big. I've been enjoying the honeymoon period that is the blissful second trimester--I've had lots of energy, I've been able to eat, and I've been shocked when I walk by a mirror to see this huge bump. (I've actually laughed a few times after getting a glimpse of myself--I look like I shoved a pillow under my shirt!)

If I'd been convincing myself that the whole labor and delivery aspect of this journey was still a long ways off, I got a wake up call at my 24 week midwife appointment. My favorite midwife walked in and very nonchalantly said, "You know you aren't having this baby at the birth center, right?" Um, no. Actually, I didn't. I don't think I've posted much about this before, but my heart has a history of getting all confused and beating in a crazy rhythm. My heart races, I get light-headed and, I found out the hard way, I can pass out if I try to do anything strenuous like walk across the room. Aside from causing a lot of excitement, its not such a huge deal--not life-threatening and only slightly increases my chances of having something bad like a stroke or heart attack. Still, the doctors that oversee the midwife practice are concerned enough about it that they want me to deliver in the hospital.

I'm terrified of delivering in the hospital because, in my irrational mind, hospital = c-section. Aside from one or both of us coming out of this thing with less than perfect health, I'm most scared of having a c-section. A midwife will still be able to attend our birth, but I'm not sure how else being in the hospital will affect our plans. Many questions will be asked at our next appointment.

Now, without further ado, I present the belly:




The funny thing? This picture is a couple weeks old and I'm WAY bigger than that now. And the last week or two, I've noticed the belly has started getting in the way when I try to do crazy things like, oh, bend over to put my socks on, or get up from sitting on the floor. Now the fun begins!

Moving

Well, things didn't go exactly as planned with the move (are any of us surprised?). Our moving date was moved up because, as the guy at the moving company so kindly informed me, they were busy because it was what they call in the moving business the end of the month. I wondered what he thought those of us not in "the biz" called that week near the bottom of our calendars, but since he would soon have all my earthly belongings under his control in a big truck, I decided to keep my sarcastic questions to myself.

Unexpected event #2-the floors are in. OK, that was expected, but the unexpected part was the stairs. Let me just say right now that if you ever hire someone to sand, stain, and finish wood stairs you may assume that means the entire staircase, but you would be wrong (And when I say you, I mean I. I was wrong). Apparently, it is common knowledge to everyone (except me) that sand and stain the stairs means only the treads. You're on your own for the risers. You, dear reader, probably know this, but I hope you decide to humor me and act as shocked by this information as I was. The woman at the flooring company was very amused by my confusion. I could not understand what we were supposed to do with the risers. Well, apparently everyone paints them. Had we been in possession of this information a few weeks earlier, the sweetie would have painted the risers right along with the trim on the stairs, which leaves me wondering what the floor installers thought we were planning when sweetie painted every. single. surface. of the house, minus the stupid risers. Saving the best for last? I remain confused.

Moving on, the trim around the sliding doors needed to be replaced when the doors were replaced. Which means . . . yep. More painting. Poor sweetie, we thought it was almost done.

But, we're moved! We still have a ton of boxes everywhere, but we've finally reached the critical mass of unpacking where its starting to look more like a home than a storage facility. Also, I found the box with the camera cable in it and someday I may even get around to setting up the computer. Then I could finally post my 24 week belly picture and it would be even more exciting if that happened before my 30th week of pregnancy. And speaking of that, I'm fairly certain I may need a wheelbarrow to carry this belly around with by 30 weeks, but that's a story for another post.