Scanning over my entries, I realized I haven't talked much about the birthing class that we have been taking. Per recommendation from our midwife, we have been taking the Bradley Birthing Method classes. The classes started in April and we meet every week for two hours over the course of twelve weeks. We are joined by two other couples and meet in at our instructor’s house. We chose The Bradley Method over Hypnobirth as my midwife pointed out that if we had remotely "A" Type Personalities that we would probably struggle using the Hypnobirth method. Seeing that Constant is an Engineer and I am an Excel freakazoid, we naturally chose the Bradley Birth Method.
In general, the classes are to prepare you for natural child birth and are referred to as a Husband Coached Childbirth Method. In general, your husband /partner, etc. is responsible for being the coach during labor. I can't speak for any other births as I have never participated in any, but from the way I am understanding this is that Constant will be my main coach during labor (versus the nurses/doctors/midwives) - we will use the pain management techniques and relaxation exercises that we have learned and practiced throughout the class. Some folks that were not familiar with the method asked me "12 weeks- why so long", I guess the answer is- If I was training for a marathon I wouldn't just go for one short run would I?
I really didn't know what to expect. This week we will start our seventh class and honestly, I've really enjoyed the classes- much to my surprise. Regardless if you're planning to have a natural child birth or not, the classes prepare you in so many ways that I really believe you will have a better birth, if anything, a much more informed one.
So far we've learned everything from good pregnancy nutrition to the changes and stages that your body will go through during labor. Don't get me wrong, never have they ever said natural child birth was easy and pain free- they do call it labor right?--but I have learned that the pain is manageable and understanding the stages that my body will go through (particularly the transitional stage) has made me feel more comfortable with natural child birth. For me personally, I think just understanding what I will go through during the process has put my mind at ease (for the most part) and has taking the fear out of the process.
I hear a lot of stories from woman that say they for example didn’t want to get an epidural and had planned for a natural child birth, but couldn’t take the pain anymore and opted for one. Most likely that person was going through the transitional phase (on average lasts from 10-30 mins) which really means that stage 2 labor-- pushing/birth was right around the corner and they were almost there. Had they been informed and understood the process, maybe their choice would have been different. Just a thought.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Week 25- Momma at 6 Months
We've been really busy. I'm tempted to say that preparing for a baby is busier than planning your own wedding. It's like you want to get everything done and do anything and everything you've ever had on any list or any desire to ever do NOW for fear that you won't be able to resume these activities for at least 18+ years...and by that time you'll be broke and ragged. That's pretty much everyone's advice to us: "Do it now or else you can't afford it and won't be able to do anything for another couple of decades".
It's amazing that anyone ever knowingly decides to have children.
Not only are we trying to get everything done before we are confined to our house until we are in our early 50's, we also have been taking Bradley Birthing Classes, La Leche League Breast Feeding Classes and reading every other book under the sun in preperation for this lil man to come. As I type this entry, my husband sits next to me on the couch reading Husband Coached Childbirth- 'o how are lives have changed. The change to come is bitter sweet: welcoming, but also scary. I almost feel like writing a letter to myself titled "See you in 20 years old buddy :-)".
In all seriousness, pregnancy is wonderful, but difficult in the same sense. The changes that occur in a woman's body alone are crazy---strechmarks, vericose veins, huge belly growth and darkening areolas to name only a few. It's hard to be sporting that pregnancy glow all of the time when your body is constantly throwing you curve balls.
I had a growth spurt the last week or two and now believe that I have officially adopted the waddler as my "normal" form of walking. I never thought I would be a waddler, but it just happened and I really don't know how not to waddle with a huge basketball tied to my waist. I asked my husband if he thought that I grew too fast and he replied with an encouraging "you have been eating a lot". He's trying to be supportive, for example he just turned to me and said "babes, the book says we CAN have sex."
I can't believe that I have a little over a 100 days to go...I can't imagine how huge I am going to be around July and August for bikini season. Overall, I've felt pretty good and my morning sickness has been occuring only 1 or 2 times a week. I still have lots of energy and am only getting up at 12, 3 and 5 am to pee...not bad.
I hate my pictures taking. I don't think I look adorable..my sister in law who lives in NC asked for a photo of me the other day...this is the one I sent her :-) It's my baby buddha.
It's amazing that anyone ever knowingly decides to have children.
Not only are we trying to get everything done before we are confined to our house until we are in our early 50's, we also have been taking Bradley Birthing Classes, La Leche League Breast Feeding Classes and reading every other book under the sun in preperation for this lil man to come. As I type this entry, my husband sits next to me on the couch reading Husband Coached Childbirth- 'o how are lives have changed. The change to come is bitter sweet: welcoming, but also scary. I almost feel like writing a letter to myself titled "See you in 20 years old buddy :-)".
In all seriousness, pregnancy is wonderful, but difficult in the same sense. The changes that occur in a woman's body alone are crazy---strechmarks, vericose veins, huge belly growth and darkening areolas to name only a few. It's hard to be sporting that pregnancy glow all of the time when your body is constantly throwing you curve balls.
I had a growth spurt the last week or two and now believe that I have officially adopted the waddler as my "normal" form of walking. I never thought I would be a waddler, but it just happened and I really don't know how not to waddle with a huge basketball tied to my waist. I asked my husband if he thought that I grew too fast and he replied with an encouraging "you have been eating a lot". He's trying to be supportive, for example he just turned to me and said "babes, the book says we CAN have sex."
I can't believe that I have a little over a 100 days to go...I can't imagine how huge I am going to be around July and August for bikini season. Overall, I've felt pretty good and my morning sickness has been occuring only 1 or 2 times a week. I still have lots of energy and am only getting up at 12, 3 and 5 am to pee...not bad.
I hate my pictures taking. I don't think I look adorable..my sister in law who lives in NC asked for a photo of me the other day...this is the one I sent her :-) It's my baby buddha.
Week 24- Our Lil Man's Cave
Thanks to the assistance of the owner of Polka Tot Designs where we purchased our crib bedding, we were easily able to decide on the color of our lil mans room. I wanted a shade lighter than or hallway wall color- which is an espresso type color and she reccomeded a color called "Trusty Tan". It was perfect and so Constant painted the lil mans room last weekend. Here are the results of his hard work.
We are really happy with how the room is coming along...now we just need to decorate it.
As you can see, he also assembled the furniture as well.
Here are some Tonka Trucks that he recieved from Cindy and Trisha. Aren't they cute!
Here is a little elephant blanket that he recieved from Kelli, Ro and Laela and some running pants from Katie, Jon and Tyler.
What is this you wonder? Well, Constant and I have been practicing changing diapers on this little lamb my mom gave us. The lamb has been sleeping in the crib and we practice getting Bentley and Sophie used to the new baby by showing them the lamb in the crib. It seems to be working except that they think their new brother is a lamb :-)
Week 23- The Crib Bedding
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that picking out crib bedding would be so agonizing. I suspect that for most new mothers it is not an issue, but for me it was. In some aspects of my life I have a tendency to agonize over the smallest details and obsess about getting the perfect thing. Clearly in other aspects of my life, I do not :-)
Early on in this struggle to find the perfect crib bedding, I realized that the soft colors and cutsie little animal prints or sports designs were not that appealing to me. I also realized that for whatever reason, it is difficult for stores to produce barely any decent bedding sets for little boys. I am not sure of the exact figure, but I suspect that the world is made up of at least 50% men and given that fact you would think they would have some better options available. After an exhaustive search, I almost caved and purchased a Lamb Bedding Set from Pottery Barn Kids. However, I couldn't close the deal and am so thankful that I didn't.
I stumbled on a website called http://www.polkatotbedding.com/ and they are a little shop in Mobile, AL that does custom crib bedding. I immediately fell in love with the fabrics and colors and just everything. After remortgaging the house to buy the crib bedding, this is the set that I finally decided on with some slight modifications. The skirt is tailored rather than "foofy" and there are no little brown balls on the skirt. Also, I had a "Y" embroidered in the bumper for "Yu". The owner took my order and let me tell you, she was a sweet little southern bell....so pleasant to do business with. She even assisted me in deciding on the paint color for the lil mans room.
Though I realize that my lil man will ultimately not give a shit about the pattern on his crib bedding and will probably rarely use it his mom feels much better :-)
Early on in this struggle to find the perfect crib bedding, I realized that the soft colors and cutsie little animal prints or sports designs were not that appealing to me. I also realized that for whatever reason, it is difficult for stores to produce barely any decent bedding sets for little boys. I am not sure of the exact figure, but I suspect that the world is made up of at least 50% men and given that fact you would think they would have some better options available. After an exhaustive search, I almost caved and purchased a Lamb Bedding Set from Pottery Barn Kids. However, I couldn't close the deal and am so thankful that I didn't.
I stumbled on a website called http://www.polkatotbedding.com/ and they are a little shop in Mobile, AL that does custom crib bedding. I immediately fell in love with the fabrics and colors and just everything. After remortgaging the house to buy the crib bedding, this is the set that I finally decided on with some slight modifications. The skirt is tailored rather than "foofy" and there are no little brown balls on the skirt. Also, I had a "Y" embroidered in the bumper for "Yu". The owner took my order and let me tell you, she was a sweet little southern bell....so pleasant to do business with. She even assisted me in deciding on the paint color for the lil mans room.
Though I realize that my lil man will ultimately not give a shit about the pattern on his crib bedding and will probably rarely use it his mom feels much better :-)
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Week 22- The Gender
Wednesday, 14th of April was a great day. We started the day out with a midwife appointment at 8am. I gained 6lbs since last visit, my blood pressure was higher than normal and I am measuring two weeks bigger than I should be. Outside of that, everything went really well. :-) In all seriousness, regarding the weight gain, I had been gaining about a pound a month (which is really good) so I expected at some point that I would see an increase. As for the blood pressure, I am chalking it up to being really excited and nervous about my next appointment that day. As for measuring two weeks bigger than I am suppose to be, not sure what to say, I thought I looked small for almost being a solid 6 months pregnant. My Midwife was not alarmed about any one of these things, so I guess I will try to take it extra easy.
After the Midwife check up, we went to Exeter Hospital for our ultrasound appointment. This is the long appointment where they take tons of pictures of the baby and measure everything to make sure that all is well with baby. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the accurate name of this appointment is and my Google Man is sleeping :-)
I was filled with emotion leading up to this appointment. I was VERY excited, but also VERY nervous. This was my first ultra sound. I was excited to finally see the baby and hopeful that we would find out the sex, but also very nervous because I didn’t know what to expect and was a little nervous that something was going to be wrong.
All I have to say is what an amazing experience. The Technician was awesome. She had lots of experience which made me feel really comfortable. She of course pointed out everything to us from the head to the bum to the kidneys, etc. Let me note that the bum was the last thing she pointed out to us. The technology is absolutely incredible.
As I said, I think the Tech strategically pointed out the bum last, I think she wanted to get through everything for fear that I would get distracted once we located the “private parts” :-) After she got Baby Yu to cooperate and open his legs, there was no mistaking it that Baby Yu is all boy. See below I had a feeling that he was going to be a boy. All of my dreams were about baby boys. The night before the ultra sound I had a dream that I was having an ultra sound which showed a baby boy. Constant and I are absolutely thrilled. We can’t wait to meet our lil man.
Here is a picture of his side profile:
Here is a picture of his man hood:
After the Midwife check up, we went to Exeter Hospital for our ultrasound appointment. This is the long appointment where they take tons of pictures of the baby and measure everything to make sure that all is well with baby. For the life of me, I can’t remember what the accurate name of this appointment is and my Google Man is sleeping :-)
I was filled with emotion leading up to this appointment. I was VERY excited, but also VERY nervous. This was my first ultra sound. I was excited to finally see the baby and hopeful that we would find out the sex, but also very nervous because I didn’t know what to expect and was a little nervous that something was going to be wrong.
All I have to say is what an amazing experience. The Technician was awesome. She had lots of experience which made me feel really comfortable. She of course pointed out everything to us from the head to the bum to the kidneys, etc. Let me note that the bum was the last thing she pointed out to us. The technology is absolutely incredible.
As I said, I think the Tech strategically pointed out the bum last, I think she wanted to get through everything for fear that I would get distracted once we located the “private parts” :-) After she got Baby Yu to cooperate and open his legs, there was no mistaking it that Baby Yu is all boy. See below I had a feeling that he was going to be a boy. All of my dreams were about baby boys. The night before the ultra sound I had a dream that I was having an ultra sound which showed a baby boy. Constant and I are absolutely thrilled. We can’t wait to meet our lil man.
Here is a picture of his side profile:
Here is a picture of his foot:
Here is a picture of his man hood:
Week 21- Baby Moon in Mexico
I am catching up on the blog entries, but wanted to share a little bit about our wonderful baby moon in Mexico's lovely Playa del Carmen last week. After a lot of hmm'ing and haw'ing (is that how you spell it??) and debating whether or not we could truly afford this vacation, we literally said what the hell and booked it two weeks out. I actually booked it and Constant said something like "Yes, dear whatever you think". He can be wonderfully accommodating at times :-)
We had an absolutely amazing time; the weather was perfect, our accommodations were beyond 5 stars, the food was outstanding and even the Virgin Island drinks were satisfying. Everything was perfect.
Over the week in between catching up on some of the baby books I’ve purchased for US to read, I did a lot of projecting into the future, wondering what it would be like bringing our baby on vacation. I guess in general projecting all of the things that would change in our lives. We are of course are truly welcoming this change don’t get me wrong. I am just curious about the future. When I see the families lugging their children and gear for an army through the airports, I imagine us doing that and I smile. I can tell that many good times and wonderful memories are just around the corner for us.
Besides relaxing and getting some much needed Vitamin D and of course the utterly romantic dinner on the beach, one of my favorite moments of the week was this one:
It’s crazy how priorities change. Last year, you would have seen Constant (and me) double fisting, this year he’s reading “The Happiest Baby on the Block” and I love it!!
For those of you new parents out there wondering whether or not to take a baby moon, I say do it!!
Here are some pictures from the trip:
We had an absolutely amazing time; the weather was perfect, our accommodations were beyond 5 stars, the food was outstanding and even the Virgin Island drinks were satisfying. Everything was perfect.
Over the week in between catching up on some of the baby books I’ve purchased for US to read, I did a lot of projecting into the future, wondering what it would be like bringing our baby on vacation. I guess in general projecting all of the things that would change in our lives. We are of course are truly welcoming this change don’t get me wrong. I am just curious about the future. When I see the families lugging their children and gear for an army through the airports, I imagine us doing that and I smile. I can tell that many good times and wonderful memories are just around the corner for us.
Besides relaxing and getting some much needed Vitamin D and of course the utterly romantic dinner on the beach, one of my favorite moments of the week was this one:
It’s crazy how priorities change. Last year, you would have seen Constant (and me) double fisting, this year he’s reading “The Happiest Baby on the Block” and I love it!!
For those of you new parents out there wondering whether or not to take a baby moon, I say do it!!
Here are some pictures from the trip:
This was our romantic dinner on the beach.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Week 20- A Few Thoughts
I can't believe that week 20 finally got here. It is crazy that I am half way there. Some days, it feels like yesterday I was reading that little positive pregnancy test and then other days it feels like I am in week 56 of gestation. Either way, everything should be easy from here right???....RIGHT?? Ok, so I know I am wrong, but it is worth hoping for.
According to babycenter.com, Baby Yu weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now and is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. I honestly feel like I have more of a watermelon in me versus a banana. My husband says that I really grew in the last couple of days. Out of context that comment would probably sound horrible :-) Honestly, I am happy that I have a definite baby pooch, versus a questional baby belly and that he has recognized my growth. Come the end of August, I will no longer accept these comments.
Last night when we came home from work, our new baby stroller welcomed us. Constant put it together before I could get dinner together. We are both really excited for this baby to come. My only question now is where do I store this thing until August. Constant thinks the dining room would be a great place for it, but those of you that know me, know that I would strongly object to a stroller being in my dining room for over 5 months. I think the stroller should go in the Baby's room, but Constant doesn't like the idea of having to move it when we paint. WTF?? This thing has 3 wheels and can easily be glided out of the room. Men. And by the way, this stroller is huge. How come everything online looks so compact and cute?
Here is a picture of the proud father with his daughter. And no, he's not doing anything naughty to Sophie and Yes, we really did think about putting her in the stroller and taking it for a lap AND if you're wondering where Bentley is...he's actually afraid of the color red and doesn't want anything to do with stroller!!!
Well, that's all for this week. Constant and I are off to Sunny Mexico for the week. Until next week....
According to babycenter.com, Baby Yu weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now and is around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. I honestly feel like I have more of a watermelon in me versus a banana. My husband says that I really grew in the last couple of days. Out of context that comment would probably sound horrible :-) Honestly, I am happy that I have a definite baby pooch, versus a questional baby belly and that he has recognized my growth. Come the end of August, I will no longer accept these comments.
Last night when we came home from work, our new baby stroller welcomed us. Constant put it together before I could get dinner together. We are both really excited for this baby to come. My only question now is where do I store this thing until August. Constant thinks the dining room would be a great place for it, but those of you that know me, know that I would strongly object to a stroller being in my dining room for over 5 months. I think the stroller should go in the Baby's room, but Constant doesn't like the idea of having to move it when we paint. WTF?? This thing has 3 wheels and can easily be glided out of the room. Men. And by the way, this stroller is huge. How come everything online looks so compact and cute?
Here is a picture of the proud father with his daughter. And no, he's not doing anything naughty to Sophie and Yes, we really did think about putting her in the stroller and taking it for a lap AND if you're wondering where Bentley is...he's actually afraid of the color red and doesn't want anything to do with stroller!!!
Well, that's all for this week. Constant and I are off to Sunny Mexico for the week. Until next week....
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