I mailed in our Pre-registration for the hospital this week!! We have to register at 20 weeks so that they have, I can only imagine, all of our insurance information before we check in for the Big Date!! YAY!! Oh and by the way Mom, you’re our emergency contact – forgot to tell you…
Then I printed out all the schedules for Birthing Center Tours (free!) and Childbirth Classes ($135) & all the other sundry classes they offer. We decided to do the Speed Childbirth Classes (9-4:30 for two Saturdays) instead of the 5 week long weekDAY classes that would just kill us – we are NO good at after school activities since neither of us gets home until 6:45 if are modes of transportation are running on time, that is. I consulted a fellow co-worker about the additional classes – breastfeeding and childcare – and she let me know that the Lactation Consultant they send in after the birth is the best thing going & your contact with a consultant AFTER you get home and see where any and all problems might lie. There’s no reason to go learn about breastfeeding when you don’t even have anything latching onto you at the moment, right? Plus, that was another $45. And they cover all the Childcare issues in the Childbirth class so we should be set there also. Saving another $35 or something like that. We found a Lamaze instructor in our area-ish (not
When I reminded Matias that I mailed in the pre-registration form he got all excited and I asked him what that was all about – he said “I’m really excited to go on the tour and take the classes together and get moving on this thing” to which I smiled & kissed him, gratefully. I was nervous that he would fight me on the “classes” thing since he’s the oldest of 11 he’s changed his fair share of diapers and then some and bathed and burped and fed and…you get the picture…so I was nervous that he would declare himself Expert and refuse to participate – you know how men can be. Thankfully, this hasn’t happened. I did tell him one time that I haven’t had much experience with babies (really only my niece and nephew and we didn’t even live in the same state for most of that time and there’s one memorable diaper changing incident that still scars me…) and that I, being a Active Learner, need to actually get in there and get my hands dirty, so to speak, to make myself feel more prepared and ready. Plus, tons of reading. Read then do…tis how I learn. And make lists. Plus, and this is the Big Reason, I wanted to make sure we were both doing the same thing and not bringing in lessons learned from past experiences that might be “wrong” and then end up arguing over those points while our child lies on the changing table flinging poo everywhere while we discuss the proper front-to-back or back-to-front style of wiping. I would like to be on the same page with him on this and thankfully, I think we will be. And everyone has heard that the first child is the one who gets the binky boiled clean after touching a dirty surface for a mili-second and that the following children just get the dirt blown off before returning it to their screaming maw – can you just imagine what happens at child number 11? So not only has he agreed to the classes he’s EXCITED ABOUT THEM!! YAY DADDY!!! Elevates some stress for me, considerably.
The Bebe has definitely been moving around more as of lately. He is waking up earlier – sometimes even before I’m out of bed! Usually he was getting active while I was on the bus – sometimes two hours after I’ve already been awake (you really don’t want to know how long my commute is…) and then normally after I’ve eaten snacks or meals. Now, he’s up way before that and pushing off his pond walls and, as I imagine, breaststroking his way to the other side to do a flip turn and head back. He’s our little swimmer, this one! Which just makes me ache for the day I can get him in the pool with me!!! I didn’t spend 6 summers teaching swim lessons for nothing, people!! I thought I felt a kick this morning that Daddy would have been able to feel but since we were sleeping I wasn’t on the ball enough to grab his hand and see if it would happen again.
We went to the Tavern last night for dinner (don’t worry mom, no one was smoking around us at all!!) since Matias didn’t have any fish for dinner (good Catholic and all…) and it was so nice to see all of our Girls again – we honestly hadn’t been there, I think, since the end of January!! They all came over when I walked in (bus was also almost 40 minutes late!!) and oooh’ed and awe’ed over My Belly and just generally got excited. They were talking to us and asking questions about how we were doing and how excited and happy they are for us and just general giggle-ment – it’s nice to know we really aren’t just “customers” to them – they even remember our Anniversary! Our regular server (she actually switches stations with people so she can serve us!) was so cute – she commented on how my tastes buds haven’t changed that I was still ordering the same things! (Rueben with fries and a side of Blue Cheese!) and then brought me a double serving of a hot fudge brownie for dessert! She asked how far along we were now and was ASTOUNDED to learn it was 5 months already – she swore it felt like only two months!! And then said, well it’s no wonder you’re showing so much then!! I miss our Tavern though but I’m so glad they haven’t forgotten about us. They all came over and even said “please come back more often and don’t wait so long between visits”. Selfishly, I will MISS our St. Patrick’s Day celebrating there though. It wont be the same this year – no getting to the Tavern at NOON for GREEN BEER and about 540972 cigarettes. No singing along to the Irish band (the owners father is the lead singer) & calling my mom to tell her how much I miss her and how all the Irish-ness of the day makes me miss my childhood and
Plus, I’ve gotten them to start calling my Shirley Temple’s “Virgin Cosmos”. GIGGLE. And I get extra cherries. They like us, they really like us. I suppose this is our first taste of the transition from childless to child-ed; getting to see if our “friends” will still be there after we become Parents, you know? And yes, they still want us around!! I know this might sound silly to some who haven’t experienced the Tavern with us but these guys are fabulous. The night we got engaged we went straight there and celebrated, we get a booth anytime we want cause Matias likes to stretch out, they were fabulous for my Diva Dinner before the wedding, like I said, they remember our Anniversary and us coming in after our engagement…the list goes on…anyway enough about that.
I think it’s time for a little Introduction to Music 101 – just threw on Some Devil!! I’ve ranted numerous times about how I think this is just the BEST LULLABYE ALBUM EVER – now it’s my turn to put it to the test!! HEH. He’s kicking.
“before you came, you know I never cared, it's a just a game, I played, yeah oh up and away...”
1 comment:
One more thought to add to the pile. This is a long story - I was GbH positive and I had to wear an IV from the time I went into labor. I was bummed because I was so excited to have this natural labor/birth and that seemed to change the process in my mind for some reason.
The town we live in is very liberal (like CA only in the Midwest) and they have this excellent birth services group in town. We were doing the class there and they gave us a list of birth services they offer (there is a point to this so bear with me!) My office gave us a "gift certificate" to spend there. At first we were going to get a post partum doula. Someone who could come and help us after the baby came b/c I, like you, have limited experience with kids and one VERY frightening changing incident with a baby while babysitting that made me NEVER baby sit again (ha, I was baby sitting for Shari Kramer when I was like 15 years old!)
At any rate, after finding out about that positive test, we decided we would have a BIRTH DOULA. It was the very best decision we ever made. It is pricy (though most will do a slidding scale) but SO SO worth it. Molly, our doula, was there from the time I started having strong contractions and she rocked. She was a calming force and Kevin said he would have been scared if it was just he and I in there during the early part of labor.
SO I recommend to any parents-to-be to consider getting a birth doula. Just a thought. If we decide to have another baby, I would have a birth doula (Molly) be a part of our birth no matter what - issues or no issues.
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