Prepared Childbirth Class

Today we went to our prepared childbirth class. We got off to a tough start because the building seemed to be hiding from us....we weren't late or anything, but we definitely got a tour of the same 5 blocks over and over for about 10 minutes. So--we went back and forth about taking this class because 1) it costs money and 2) neither of us was looking forward to talking about my cervix, vagina, mucus, etc. We eventually decided it would be a good idea....well, I told Kyle it would be a good idea and he agreed to behave himself in the class, so we were off to the races.

We talked about all the big stuff (my personal favorite was the pain meds part, but that is neither here nor there). We got to see and touch all the "intervention" equipment....did you know that they can place an internal fetal heartbeat monitor by snagging the blood vessels on the baby's head? Weird.

I feel like we are a bit more prepared for the big day....but I am really really hoping to labor at home for as long as possible. I am not real excited about being poked and prodded by the medical staff for hours on end. Since the hospital is so close (5 minutes...max, with traffic) I think we will try to hang out at home until Kyle gets tired of hearing me whine. We did some little exercises in class to help alleviate pain and I actually think they might help, so I am glad that we did the course. Kyle was not real excited about the overabundance of unattractive people engaged in full frontal nudity in the videos, but I can honestly say that it could have been worse....not much, but still.

All is well on this end. We are going to put some of the nursery stuff together this weekend and should be able to post some pictures of the nursery in the next week or so.

32 week appointment--time is running out!

Today we had our 32 week check up. Everything is going really well. Apparently, the tension I have been feeling in my abdomen has been Braxton-Hicks, which is totally normal at this point. The doctor did my uterine measurements (as always) and I am measuring 32 cm which is exactly where I should be at this point. Can I just say that it is 1) very odd to know the length of my uterus and 2) very freakish that it is 32 cm......that's more like a femur than a uterus! We are at the point where we start going to the doctor every two weeks for a little while and then we pick up to every week. The time is flying by, and we are trying really hard to be productive at work and home to get everything ready for the new addition.

I passed my glucose tolerance test and today I had the anemia test. As far as I can tell, I am done giving blood to the vampires....seemed like every visit I was in there giving 2 vials of blood.

In other news, in the waiting room today, this woman announced to another lady that she was seeing Dr. Dawson (my doctor) and that he had induced her three friends a week before their due dates and she thought that he would probably do the same for her. What the Heck? I am not thinking that I want this to be over any sooner than nature wants it to be. I guess that might change as it gets closer, but I kind of think that I want to let this baby get completely cooked before she is born....call me a crazy hippy.

Belly pictures from 30 weeks (or so)

Here is a pregnant belly picture from 30.5 weeks. I have a new picture to post, but it isn't very flattering......I will get another one taken and post that too.....again, I am SUPER-sized. I still haven't put on a ridiculous amount of weight or anything, but it is all in my belly and the frontal projection is getting out of control. See for yourself.

And now from the side.
And now after Kyle told me to give him a "real smile".
Here is Kyle looking quite proud of his photographic skills and Kale looking like he loves the whole world.

Catching up Part 2

The second shower was hosted by Allison, the wife of one of the graduate students in Kyle's lab and a really good friend of ours. She is wonderful....and is one of those people that can host a party for 50 and make it look like child's play. She makes homemade tamales for crying out loud! Anyway, when we got to her house, I was blown away by the super-cuteness of everything. Best snacks (YAY! because I was starving), cutest decor, best shower game prizes....seriously, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. OH---and I am not a fan of shower games, but everyone loved the "identify this baby food just by smelling it" game. It was hilarious. Did you know that beef baby food looks and smells just like cat food? No wonder babies throw up so much. I was glad that we already decided to do homemade baby food....that jar stuff looked sketchy.
Allison Huie--hostess extraordinaire
The diaper cake
The two toughest sisters in College Station....clearly.
The Puga sisters (Pammy on the left, Denise on the right)

Catching up Part 1

So--the last month has been nuts. Kyle finished his first RO1 grant submission, we had two baby showers thrown for us and were completed overwhelmed by the outpouring and generosity of our friends in TX. Here is the one picture I managed to take from the baby shower thrown by my Junior League friends. The ladies got us a really nice baby monitor and some super-cute baby bath stuff (towels, washclothes, etc). The best thing about the day was walking out of the shower with an entire case of diapers.....in addition to the fancy-pants diaper cake that one lady made for us. I have decided that the diaper cake is GENIUS! There are more pictures somewhere, but you can see some of the ladies in this one.

One of the ladies had the cutest idea....I plan to steal it in the future. She made this really cute cloth pouch with a velcro closure. It acts like a mini diaper-bag for those quick trips or for emergency backup....you can fit two diapers, hand sanitizer and a pack of wipes in it and the fabric is very chic. I am in love. This woman is a family and consumer science teacher at the local high school and is Martha Stewart with a much nicer demeanor.

I have to mention one story....of course. :-). The red-head in the picture was the owner of the house where the shower was held (I want this house when I grow up!). She said that her husband asked if he could have any of the fancy-shower snacks that she made and she told him that he could only have snacks if he brought a gift. Well, apparently, he gave her permission to buy a gift in his name so he could have snacks. When Randi (redhead) got to the store she saw that we had a hooded towel on our registry that looks like a giant shark's head....the child's head goes into the mouth of the shark. Randi said she put down a couple of other things she picked up and immediately bought the shark towel. Her one comment was "I just knew that had to be Kyle's choice so it was a must-have".