Childbirth 101

Drew and I have finally started our 6 week childbirth classes and I am officially in my third trimester. We started the classes a week ago and have gone to 2 classes so far. The class is offered by a really entertaining and intelligent nurse/lactation consultant. It's offered by St. Mary's and free through my insurance. I am really happy about the class and although it is 6 weeks long and 3 hours each week it has been really helpful. I think I am especially enjoying because our teacher is so hilarious and she talks super fast so we get done early each week. Next week we take our hospital tour which we are both excited for. So far our classes have covered signs of labor, when to go to the hospital, preparing to go to the hospital, the birth process, etc... After our first class I asked Drew was he learned and he said, "Everything!" I was a little surprised and laughed a little because I guess as a girl I am constantly reading about birth and talking and listening to other women about birth that it never occurred to me that these subjects would be completely new to Drew. Some fun little tidbits our instructor told us from our first class: the most common birthday --Tuesday and after a full moon, October 5th ( from New Years), and the least common birthday is May 8th (too hot in August to conceive? Not for us apparently!). Also for first time mothers the average time of labor (this is counted from the very first true contraction "from cheerio to bagel") is 19.4 hours. Wow! That's a long time. Most women will tell you how long their labor was from the time they went to the hospital or such so the amount of time in labor is not always accurate. Anyways, we are trucking along and it is a lot of fun!

Drew came down with the cold and has been a little sick for a week. It started last Thursday or Friday. Almost by accident right after he got sick I fell asleep on the couch one night. I slept wonderfully! And I haven't returned to our bed since! It's been beneficial since Drew has been sick especially, but overall I have found a sleep solution! Sleeping on the couch has allowed me more room to use the cushions and pillows to prop up my back and feet as I sleep that I have never had the room to do sleeping next to Drew. This way I can sleep on my back and good bye to being woken up every hour to Drew's horrible snoring (which I am sure has gotten 10 times worse now that he has been congested and stuffy) and tossing and turning due to not being able to sleep on my back. Sleeping in a separate room as Drew and done wonders! I don't know why more couples don't do this! I do miss falling asleep next to him, but the actual act of sleeping next to him... I don't miss at all. Now I can wake up rested and perky instead of angry and grumpy. I used to just glare at Drew in the morning when I would have to get up for work because he gets to sleep in nearly EVERYDAY and I have to get up early for work. It would make matter worse when I would sleep horribly due to this pregnancy and his incessant snoring. So you can imagine that I have been much happier towards Drew in the morning and overall in general :)

I am amazed at how slow yet fast this pregnancy process is going. I officially have only 2 months of work left! I am literally counting down the days of work left. More so than this pregnancy... really I just want time to go faster so I can be done with work and focus my energies on being a mother, but this doesn't leave me much time to have a break from work before the endless work of being a mother begins. Oh well! Yea! I cannot help but be elated every time I think of how close I am to being done with work!! :)

We are still working on a name...

How can something so SMALL need so much STUFF!! Honestly we went to Babies R Us (which I don't really love, but it's the only baby mega store) to start registering and it was so overwhelming and exhausting! How in the world do you prepare to get all the stuff for this baby!? The reason it was so difficult to register is because we have absolutely NO IDEA what we need.... I know we don't need all that stuff that is advertised. For the most part we know the important things we need, but just take pacifiers for example... when you go the section of feeding there is a wall of all sorts of different pacifiers, tons of different ones to choose from. I have NO idea what to get. I just want to write a big note on our registry that says, "Just get us the stuff YOU know or think we will need because we are completely hopeless." It was opposite of registering for our wedding.  At Babies R Us it was more like, "Should we get that?" "Do we need that", "Do you want to get that?", "I don't know!" and thus very unproductive. Blah! I am done with the whole registry thing.

26 week update

I am now 26 weeks (and a 1/2)! I feel like time is crawling a little, but at the same time when I went in for my 26 week appointment and my doctor told me I only had 14 weeks left I realized that this is going to go by quicker than I thought! It doesn't seem like a terribly long time considering all the things we need to do in the meantime. Everything is going perfectly- I'm measuring right on and my weight gain is within the normal limits too (teehee- oh the dreaded scale!). I am going to get my glucose test this week and then Drew and I are starting our childbirth classes at St. Mary's this Wednesday as well. I am eager to learn and ask lots of questions.

We've been slowly acquiring clothes and gear, but we don't plan to buy a crib or a stroller until we are very close. We have no where to store anything in our little apartment! Right now I am passing the time by taking long hikes and walks whenever I can, and getting as much chocolate as I can. Oreos and chocolate have been my absolute vices! It's hard to resist, but walking has helped me gain more confidence in spite of my growing belly, butt, and increasingly declining posture! I love walking and in the last two weeks its been sunny and in the 50's and 60's so I have been taking advantage of the warm weather :)

I have been really bad about taking any belly pictures mainly because I hate seeing what my body looks like, but here is a few pictures for those of you who have been asking! I know I should be better about recording this time in my life, but eh... I lack the energy! These are the only two "profile" pictures I have so far :) And thank you in advance for not posting how huge I look for how far along I am - please humor me and spare me the guilt. I have such a short torso that he has no where to go but OUT! thaNKs :)

14 weeks........................................26 weeks



P.S. Also, my friend (and boss) just had her baby a couple of weeks ago! Which means I got to go visit her in the hospital, but I also got a "family" day off from work:) We had thrown her a baby shower at work just two days before the birth- good thing too! Just wanted to post a few pictures from the big event!