Friday, November 21, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Ahh hee ahh hee ahh hee ahh hoo
This weekend, K and I attended a childbirth class at a local hospital. It was a crash course (Friday evening, Saturday) covering everything from epidurals and c-sections to baby swaddling. The instructor was a nurse practitioner at the hospital group that I will be delivering at, and she had a 1 year old, and was pregnant with her second. She was very good, informative, and fun to listen to. She also had personal anecdotes, and great insider advice (‘make sure you ask each nurse (the nurses change every 12 hrs) for a few extra panties (the special greatgranny panties), and stash them in your bag to take home.’). As both K and I have not yet reached the exciting final chapters of ‘What to expect when you are expecting’ there was a lot of useful information that was new to us.
She led us through some breathing techniques. Maybe it works wonders while in labor, but chanting "Ahh hee ahh hee ahh hee ahh hoo" while in a conference room in a hospital on a sunny day was pretty funny. She took us out into the lobby and asked us to give each other massages, it was nice, I don’t know if we gained anything from it, and we almost fell asleep next to the stairs. Another activity was a labor and delivery version of the Newlywed Game- How well do you know your spouse? Or at least the avatar of your spouse during actual labor and delivery- questions like ‘What kind of animal do you think your spouse will be during L&D?’ The lad sitting next to me seemed to think her husband would be an ostrich – he would love to bury his head in sand and not resurface until it was all over! I thought (hoped, more like) that K would be a cat, cool as a cucumber. He thought I would be one too. Haha, let’s see. He was asked to guess my pain threshold level on a chart ranging from -7 (Give me an epidural even before labor begins-impossible) to +7 (I can handle anything. anything. a c-section. without any medicine-Impossible) He selected -6 (Give me an epidural whenever safe) – perfect. I am a wimp, and proud of it. Another game we played involved the men leaving the room, and separately making a list of the pros and cons of pregnancy and childbirth.
The list we made had Pros such as (1) Nursery Decorating and (2) Babies-r-us
The list the men made had Cons such as (1) Nursery Decorating and (2) Babies-r-us
K and I didn’t really have much input to offer, at least none that were stereotypical and expected.
The one Con that our instructor said was always on the men’s lists but never on the women’s list was money. Hmm.
The labor instructor talked about the TACO test for water breaking (to test if it is indeed your water breaking, test the fluid for 4 things), and I've already forgotten what the T stands for (I do know, however that it does not stand for Taste, the instructor made sure to point that out to us-ick!) but the rest of the letters are Amount, Color, and Odor.
My least favorite part of the class? The videos. I am sure that seeing the couples go through the different stages of labor, and the actual delivery, was educational in some way, but a part of me wished that I could have just read the book and skipped the visuals. Isn't the book usually better than the movie anyway?
That morning K told me that S had invited us to a surprise birthday party for U. It was at 4 pm, an hour before the end of our class. We hoped the class would end early, or that we could afford to miss the last hour of class. A few times during the class, K went out to attend phone calls. He told me it was S, telling us that we could stay longer, that U was still out at the store. I was gratified that S thought we were pretty important guests if she felt the need to call us to give us blow-by-blow details of what was happening, to make sure we were there for the big surprise. I told K that S was good, that it was pretty hard to have surprise parties these days, especially when it at the surprised persons own home! We went to a store during lunch, bought U a birthday gift, bought something for S too. The last part of the class was on swaddling a a baby, we quickly swaddled a plastic baby, got the instructors okay and left. And wouldn't you know it, not only was S good at keeping secrets, so was K! Yup, a surprise baby shower!! When we walked in and I wished U, he looked a little confused, quickly recovered and took the gift (K hadn't told them the story he told me, but U's birthday was around the corner anyway, so it was a good one). S had arranged for some fun games, she was a great hostess; and there was so many people there; I felt blessed to have so many people care about us so much; especially when we live so far away from family. There was so much great food, it was a great evening!
She led us through some breathing techniques. Maybe it works wonders while in labor, but chanting "Ahh hee ahh hee ahh hee ahh hoo" while in a conference room in a hospital on a sunny day was pretty funny. She took us out into the lobby and asked us to give each other massages, it was nice, I don’t know if we gained anything from it, and we almost fell asleep next to the stairs. Another activity was a labor and delivery version of the Newlywed Game- How well do you know your spouse? Or at least the avatar of your spouse during actual labor and delivery- questions like ‘What kind of animal do you think your spouse will be during L&D?’ The lad sitting next to me seemed to think her husband would be an ostrich – he would love to bury his head in sand and not resurface until it was all over! I thought (hoped, more like) that K would be a cat, cool as a cucumber. He thought I would be one too. Haha, let’s see. He was asked to guess my pain threshold level on a chart ranging from -7 (Give me an epidural even before labor begins-impossible) to +7 (I can handle anything. anything. a c-section. without any medicine-Impossible) He selected -6 (Give me an epidural whenever safe) – perfect. I am a wimp, and proud of it. Another game we played involved the men leaving the room, and separately making a list of the pros and cons of pregnancy and childbirth.
The list we made had Pros such as (1) Nursery Decorating and (2) Babies-r-us
The list the men made had Cons such as (1) Nursery Decorating and (2) Babies-r-us
K and I didn’t really have much input to offer, at least none that were stereotypical and expected.
The one Con that our instructor said was always on the men’s lists but never on the women’s list was money. Hmm.
The labor instructor talked about the TACO test for water breaking (to test if it is indeed your water breaking, test the fluid for 4 things), and I've already forgotten what the T stands for (I do know, however that it does not stand for Taste, the instructor made sure to point that out to us-ick!) but the rest of the letters are Amount, Color, and Odor.
My least favorite part of the class? The videos. I am sure that seeing the couples go through the different stages of labor, and the actual delivery, was educational in some way, but a part of me wished that I could have just read the book and skipped the visuals. Isn't the book usually better than the movie anyway?
That morning K told me that S had invited us to a surprise birthday party for U. It was at 4 pm, an hour before the end of our class. We hoped the class would end early, or that we could afford to miss the last hour of class. A few times during the class, K went out to attend phone calls. He told me it was S, telling us that we could stay longer, that U was still out at the store. I was gratified that S thought we were pretty important guests if she felt the need to call us to give us blow-by-blow details of what was happening, to make sure we were there for the big surprise. I told K that S was good, that it was pretty hard to have surprise parties these days, especially when it at the surprised persons own home! We went to a store during lunch, bought U a birthday gift, bought something for S too. The last part of the class was on swaddling a a baby, we quickly swaddled a plastic baby, got the instructors okay and left. And wouldn't you know it, not only was S good at keeping secrets, so was K! Yup, a surprise baby shower!! When we walked in and I wished U, he looked a little confused, quickly recovered and took the gift (K hadn't told them the story he told me, but U's birthday was around the corner anyway, so it was a good one). S had arranged for some fun games, she was a great hostess; and there was so many people there; I felt blessed to have so many people care about us so much; especially when we live so far away from family. There was so much great food, it was a great evening!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Week 32 of Pregnancy: Fetal Immune System
This week sweetpea is anywhere between 17 to 19 inches in length and weighs more than four pounds! He could grow a full inch more this week alone, and his weight can double before the big debut!
The level of amniotic fluid in my uterus has reached its maximum level, making it likely that I have more baby than fluid now. That's one reason why I've been feeling lots of nudges and pushes — there's less liquid to cushion the blows.
If my uterine walls had eyes, here's what we'd see: sweetpea acting more and more like a baby, with his eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. And because those uterine walls are becoming thinner, more light penetrates the womb, helping him differentiate between day and night (now if only he can remember that difference on the outside!).
And good news! He has reached an important milestone about now: The development of his own immune system that (along with antibodies from me) will be able to provide protection from mild infections.
This week sweetpea is anywhere between 17 to 19 inches in length and weighs more than four pounds! He could grow a full inch more this week alone, and his weight can double before the big debut!
The level of amniotic fluid in my uterus has reached its maximum level, making it likely that I have more baby than fluid now. That's one reason why I've been feeling lots of nudges and pushes — there's less liquid to cushion the blows.
If my uterine walls had eyes, here's what we'd see: sweetpea acting more and more like a baby, with his eyes closing during sleep and opening while awake. And because those uterine walls are becoming thinner, more light penetrates the womb, helping him differentiate between day and night (now if only he can remember that difference on the outside!).
And good news! He has reached an important milestone about now: The development of his own immune system that (along with antibodies from me) will be able to provide protection from mild infections.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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