Learnin' stuff

Saturday we had our first childbirth class, one of the two intensive classes going all day for two Saturdays in a row. Ahead of time I was entirely dreading it. For some reason I built it up as if there would be only hard, uncomfortable chairs, a Nurse Ratched-type teaching the class (the type totally entrenched in the hospital system who was all about drugs and doing birth just one way), with a lot of hormonal pregnant women who would ask dumb question after dumb question, when the rest of us just wanted to go home.

Turns out I was only right about the chairs.

The teacher actually used to teach Art History, and anyone who knows about the stereotypical art teacher will know what this woman was like: she told us if we needed to take naps, it was OK to lie down, just make sure our partners were listening, and she encouraged us to put our feet up, so that, by the end, every spare chair was being used for a pregnant woman's feet. And it turned out I was the one asking all the questions, at least until I had others comfortable enough to ask, but I seemed slightly more educated, having read and watched a lot of videos about childbirth. In fact I was slightly shocked at how little some of the women had educated themselves, but perhaps they were waiting for the class.

I was very happy that Jason got to finally see and learn a lot firsthand, and, more importantly, that he was attentive and seemed excited to actually be learning so much! I have no doubt that he's going to be so amazing in childbirth. He listens well and he understands that I'm going to be emotional and crazy during labor and for the following couple of weeks. The teacher said that the two weeks following birth are the most hormonal of a woman's life, like the worst period ever. To which one of the husbands asked if there was some kind of pill that could be given to his wife to make it better, haha! (The answer is no.)

The one thing that surprised me slightly was that out of the 9 couples, 3 were dead set on getting epidurals, 5 were going to "wait and see" if the pain was too bad to take, and then decide, and I was the only one who is dead set against NOT taking anything. The teacher said that's statistically pretty accurate, as to how it breaks down. She also said that unless you have a delivery that isn't too painful at all, as a few lucky women have, you will probably opt for one unless you are determined, as I am, to not have one. Because obviously it's going to hurt like hell, and you just have to expect it. The scariest thing for me is that we watched a birth (which I think is cool), but she pointed out that the pushing and the baby actually coming out is not the most painful part, it's the part just before when everything internal is stretching. So if it looks that bad from the outside, I can only imagine what's going on on the inside! Ack! But still, I'm absolutely determined, and will only receive any drugs at all (pain relief or Pitocin) if completely medically necessary.

Well, I could go on and on, but that's it for now. This Saturday, after having already learned what a normal end-of-pregnancy, labor and delivery is like, we'll learn what complications may arise, about c-sections, newborn care, and we'll take a tour of the maternity ward (and nursery!), which I'm most excited about.

Stretchy stretchy!

So last night I'm stretched out in bed with my laptop, wearing my $3 "I (heart) NY" t-shirt that no longer covers my belly by any means, when Jason walks in and goes "what are those red lines?" I can't see what he's talking about until I use a DVD as a mirror to look down under my belly. At first I think (and hope) that they're just marks from my sweats (yeah, I'm totally attractive in the evenings these days!) but after 20 minutes or so they're not going away. And again this morning, there they are! So I guess despite putting on Burt's Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter every day, while it feels good, doesn't really do a whole lot to eliminate stretch marks. Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long for them to show up, what with my crazy pale skin, and they could look a lot worse, but still... dang it!

Turkey Day and Crib Warming Party

This weekend was lovely. For Thanksgiving we had a total of 7 people who came and brought some amazing food. I had to take several small plates and eat them very very slowly, and noticed even after the first that the things left on my plate were all store-bought. The home-made food was just too amazing! Jason did a great job with the bird for a first-timer, after calling his mom the night before and getting some advice. And we were able to do it without a thermometer or turkey baster, just propped the turkey up on some ramekins, spooned the melted butter and seasoning on it every 20 minutes, and it turned out pretty beautiful! Afterward we all hung out, played Outburst, and around 9:30 everyone left, at which point I crashed and burned into bed!









After spending pretty much all day Friday recovering, we got ready for the housewarming/baby shower on Saturday that our dear friends and leaders of our church community group hosted (at our place). It was lovely; we're not a very rowdy crowd to begin with but I think any event with "baby" in the title on the invitation is going to be pretty chill, even with the 22 people or so that attended. It was a pretty even mix of guys and girls, drinking some wine, beer, and myself some Martinelli's sparkling cider, and several people brought over amazing appetizers and baked goods. We got some good loot for Baby Powpow, including a baby monitor, the baby gym, blankets, and the letters to spell out "Powpow" painted by our friend Monica. No cheesy shower games, which was fine, and again around 9:30 or so everyone took off, at which point I once again crashed and burned. Fortunately we were compelled to go to church on Sunday so we could donate to His Toy Store, which may not have happened considering the freezing rain, the long walk (probably about a mile and a half total) and train construction (3 trains), but we're glad we went. And even gladder that we got a ride home with Kieran, who took most of the photos at our shower:








(That last photo is of me and my doula, Danelle. As usual, more photos on our Flickr site.)