Week 31

 

Time is flying.  There seems to be so much to do and just not enough time to get everything done.  It was another crazy week at work.  Everyone is either trying to tie things up before year-end, or before they go on vacation.  It makes for some long hours, but because they are so no-stop busy, the time flies.  I was in the office most of the day yesterday (Saturday) just trying to catch up.  It wasn't so bad though, because Bill needed to do some math and we made a joint work day out of it.  He worked on his thesis in an empty office down the hall, and I think it was pretty productive time for both of us.

All that being said, I'm really looking forward to December 23 when we head to Kansas City for a few relaxing days with Bill's family.  If things continue as they have for the first two weeks of this month, the 23rd will be here in no time. 

Baby Amelia is still doing very well.  The pregnancy continues to progress normally, and except for a few very minor complaints, I have been feeling pretty good.  I hope that things remain this easy.  We have a regular doctor's appointment this Thursday, and so will have a new "official" update on baby's progress next week.

Bill and I completed our second full-day of "prepared childbirth" classes today.  They gave us a diploma, but we are really not done with our formal pre-parent training.  We have an infant care class tomorrow night (only 2 hours) and an infant CPR class in mid-January.  After that, it will all be on-the-job training . . . . yikes!

Unlike the group breastfeeding class the other day, I thought today's class was pretty good.  There was a lot of good information that I think will help us weigh all of the risks and benefits in making decisions about how Amelia is going to come into the world.  Here are some of my other observations from the class:

• I learned that "internal monitoring" (rarely used) involves screwing a little electrode into the baby's head.  They passed the little device around and I wanted to test it on Bill's head so that he could tell me how much it was likely to hurt the baby.  The instructor wouldn't allow this though, and so I suspect that it probably hurts plenty.
   
• I decided that, when our baby is born, it will be Bill's job to follow her to the nursery for testing and to keep a constant watch on her.  I know that babies being switched at the hospital is a very rare thing, but I'm not taking any chances.  After spending two full days with the other parents that will be having babies at the same hospital and at the same time . . . . well, it's enough just to say that I want to make sure we go home with the product of our own gene pool.
   
• I was amused at how the instructor was so willing to advocate for the benefits of "all natural childbirth," and then show us films of women going through the experience, and not handling it well at all.  There was moaning, groaning, screaming and plenty of crying.  It seems that if you want to convince a class of very pregnant women that a drug-free birth is the way to go, it might be a good idea to find some films of women with a little higher pain tolerance.

Even though the information was good, I have to say that I'm glad we are done with the all-day classes.  I'm looking forward to less work and more play next weekend (and I suspect that Bill is looking forward to getting back to his usual Sunday Football Insanity -- he's been a super good sport about giving up his Sundays). 

I'm especially looking forward to next Saturday, when I have a planned date with my niece, Aubrey.  She has some experience making "name letters" for the wall in her room.  She offered to help me make some for Amelia's room.  We're going to make a day of it, and that should be a lot of fun!

So . . . week 32, here we come . . . .