Still hanging out

Just a quick update to let you know that we are still hanging out. No real substantial news since yesterday. Well, I guess I could mention that C passed the mucus plug this morning. But that doesn't give any real timing indication yet. We could seriously still be three weeks away.

Part of me says, "Whew! Three more weeks would be great! There is so much to do." But another, louder part of me says, "Lets get this baby here!"

Here's hoping it will be sooner rather than later, because this is getting really uncomfortable for C...

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The one week countdown

So we're on the one week countdown. Okay, maybe not officially, since C isn't due until a week from tomorrow, but I'm anxious eager for the baby's arrival. Well, come to think of it, I'm anxious and eager.

So we went to the doctor today for the weekly checkup. C is 70% effaced and 3 cm dilated. I've read the books and done the prenatal class, so I'm at least familiar with these terms.

"So," I started. "Do you think we'll be back for our weekly appointment next Wednesday?"

"Well," he replied, "Maybe. Its hard to tell. Baby will come when she is ready. She could come today. She could come in two weeks. We just can't tell."

"But, based on your experience?" I prodded.

"Well, if I had to bet on it, I'd say you probably won't be back to see me for your next weekly appointment. We'll probably be seeing each other in the delivery room before then."

Aha! I pinned him down. Well, almost.

Funny thing is that C finished her thesis (big YAY!!!) this week, and got permission to defend early, so she is defending on Tuesday of next week (unless there is a surprise in the mean time). When C told her doctor this, he laughed and said, "Kind of cutting it close, aren't we?"

To which C responded, "Well, the committee wanted to schedule it for Thursday (the due date), so I thought Tuesday was a pretty good deal."

"Well, your water may break during your defense."

Wouldn't THAT make a great horror story for future generations....

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Bad Example

I was in Super Wal-Mart the other day, walking through the baby section, which happens to be right next to the frozen foods section when I overheard an interesting conversation, of sorts.

It happened about four aisles over, so as you can imagine, it wasn't the quietest of conversations. I heard a young child crying. What he was crying over, I'm not sure, but his dad was having a hard time soothing him. Apparently it was getting kind of frustrating, because the next thing I heard was this daddy losing control and shouting, "DAVID! JUST CALM DOWN FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" (Remember, I'm hearing this from four aisles away.)

I'm thinking that this was a bad example of parenting. I'm thinking to myself, "Hmmm. If I'm David, and my dad starts shouting at me, I'm not thinking I'm going to be calmer for the experience."

Then I'm thinking: "Hmmmm. Do you think David is going to follow Daddy's example and get more roused up? Probably."

Poor David. It was a no-win situation. There is no way David is going to get calmer the more that Dad loses his cool.

I hope I'll be a daddy who can can keep his cool. I'm sure it seems easier from this side of the fence.

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Just two more weeks!

This is getting so close that I'm getting giddy. I can't wait for this baby to come. I'm so excited to be a dad -- even if it means sleepless nights and poopy diapers and baby spit-up.

I have this aversion to all bodily fluids (and solids, too, for that matter), so the fact that I'd be excited about changing a diaper is kind of funny. But I'm excited for all of it. I'm ready for the whole shebang, if you know what I mean.

At the doctor's office for the weekly visit today we found out that C is 50% effaced, and dilated to one centimeter. That doesn't mean that this baby is coming any time soon--chances are good she'll still hang out until her Dec 7th due date--but at least we know that things are progressing normally. C's body is doing whatever 38-week-pregnant bodies do at 38 weeks.

We have a car seat, so my mom can stop freaking out. Seriously, about three weeks ago my mom called me on the phone and asked if we had a car seat yet.

"Not yet" I replied.

"You do realize that you can't take the baby home unless you have a car seat installed in your car, don't you?" My mom asked.

I'm trying to figure out if that was a real question. I mean, of course we know this. Does she honestly think we don't understand this? Or does she think that we would ever consider taking the baby in a moving vehicle without a car seat?

"Yes mom, I realize this. But we've still got five weeks. And even if the baby were to make an early appearance, I could still drop by Babies'Я'Us and get a car seat."

Seriously.

But she ended up buying us a car seat, so I shouldn't complain. She took us shopping and let us pick the one we wanted. That was pretty cool. So thanks, Mom. I appreciate it.

I kept hoping the baby would come early, but BW is hoping to get her thesis sign-off today. If not today, then for sure on Monday. At this point, the baby can come anytime after the thesis has been signed off. Even if that means a week late. I'll just be glad that the thesis is done.

Two more weeks! Horay!!

Don't worry, I'll post pictures. :)

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A graduation of sorts

So last night we had the final "Lamaze" class. I put it in quotes, because at the end of it, I'm not sure why it was categorized as a "Lamaze" class. Really, it was a third-trimester class. We discussed Lamaze only on the first week, and only for part of the time. That was a disappointment for me because we were hoping to get more information on natural birthing options. As it was, all I could tell was that our instructor favored natural birthing, but didn't really care what we decided to do.

Here's the roundup.

Week 1: Overview of pregnancy; Nutrition throughout pregnancy; Trimesters; some breathing, massaging, and relaxation exercises.

Week 2: Stages of labor; "the video"

Week 3: Epidurals; spinal blocks; tour of the hospital maternity ward

Week 4: Newborn care; Postpartum care; 10-minute refresher on recommended breathing patterns during contractions.

It was an interesting class, but it wasn't a "Lamaze" class. That's too bad, since we paid almost double the price of the third-trimester class with little to no information about Lamaze. I expected some Lamaze-specific material, tips on breathing with follow-up on subsequent weeks, homework on breathing, stuff like that. For a third-trimester class, it was really good. For a Lamaze-specific class, it was, um, lacking.

Other than that, I'm glad we took the class. I learned a lot of information, and I feel a lot more confident about the concept of birth than I did four weeks ago. I think that I might be able to get through it without passing out, which would be a bonus. I think I'm even going to try to cut the cord myself. This is a major step up. So this class has, after all, been a good thing.

So I think we're ready; at least in terms of knowing more about what to expect. I feel ready, I guess; as ready as we're going to be, since you're probably never _ready_. BW (Beautiful Wife) still needs to finish her thesis, but that will happen this week. Which is coincidentally the week BW hits the 37 week mark, which is considered "full-term." We had a lady at our church on Sunday tell us that you can just tell when somebody is ready for labor, and BW apparently has that look. She thought that BW might have her baby even this week. You could just see it in BW's face, apparently.

I hope not. We still haven't picked a name.

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Five Weeks to Go

This week we had our second (of four) Lamaze classes at the hospital where we expect our little girl will be born sometime in the next five weeks.

I was proud of myself. This was the class where we had to watch "the video" and I think I handled it amazingly well, thank you very much. It will be interesting to see what actually happens, but I'm thinking that this will be a good experience all the way around. At least I hope it will be. You can't prepare for every possible situation, and I frankly, there are some I'd rather not prepare for because they are too scary, but in general, I'm an optimist, so I expect that our case will be like most and everything will be okay.

Anyway, the class was good. We talked a lot about the procedure of birth and the stages and stuff. There was a lot of it that was new information for me, and I'm glad to have more of an understanding of what to expect.

I haven't said anything here yet, but a recent comment made me decide to tell you that we've decided to use a non-traditional birthing method. We are preparing to do a hypnotic birthing, following the "Hypnobabies" course. I'm really excited about it, and think ti will be a very powerful, positive experience. I have no expectation that we will fail, but it is nice to know that if something unexpected *does* occur, we are in the hospital and can have necessary intervention.

We talked to the Lamaze instructor after the class on Monday and asked her about how supportive the hospital staff will be with the decision to use hypnobirthing techniques. She was very positive about it and said the hospital would be very supportive. Even better, she knew that our doctor in particular is very supportive of women who choose alternative birthing options. That was encouraging, because we haven't talked to him about it yet. In fact, he asked on the very first appointment if we were planning on an epidural or a natural birth, and we said we didn't know. He has never brought it up again. Neither have we. (We will at our next appointment on Wednesday.) So it is nice to know that he will be on board with us. What we need to be successful is people supporting the decision, rather than a bunch of critics saying how hard it is going to be. So I'm glad he'll be on our team.

It was also nice to have the Lamaze instructor (who is also a head nurse [I forget the correct term] in the labor and delivery department) tell us that if we requested a birthing nurse who is familiar with hypnobirthing that we could get a nurse who will be supportive of us.

In the end, we started the course a little late, but BW (beautiful wife) is working on the courses at an advanced pace, and all seems to be going well. I also got a CD with scripts for the birthing partner that I get to use.

I hope you aren't bored by this whole explanation. I'm just excited about the decision and am really excited about welcoming a little baby girl into the family sometime in the next month or so. Yay!!

Now I just need to practice relaxing -- which is hard when you are as excited as I am .

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