Party of Four?

oh gosh, what a difference a few weeks make. let’s see…

oh! two weeks ago we went and took a tour of the hospital/birthing center that we’ll be using. it was a very surreal experience. seeing everything, imagining us in that place made me feel better (one less unknown), but knowing we’d back in 4-7 weeks most likely was very … intimidating. even ryan got a bit spooked and he’s been relatively un-spookable this entire time.

we’ve also started taking classes. i procrastinated a bit with calling, so we’re stacking them up fairly tightly in the 8th month at about one per week. last week we took the cpr class, which made me feel much more prepared. next week is breastfeeding, followed by “baby weekend” where we have massage (for pregnancy and labor) on friday night and a full day (8ish-3ish) of infant care on sunday.

and then there’s the showers. one tomorrow, one next weekend (which is also a house-warming party for us), and one the weekend after (smack dab between the two classes). we’re about to go from very little baby stuff to more than we have room for. it’s going to ease my mind considerably in terms of how prepared we are for charlotte’s arrival.

one more thing i’m doing to prepare for her big day is reading up on a bunch of different laboring techniques. i’ve already decided that science is my friend, so i’ll be going the medicated/iv’d/monitored route, but i know there still somethings to learn from “natural” methods. Specifically how to manage pain *before* the drugs kick in. i’ve picked up a couple of books, one on the bradley method and one that’s more of a general meditation guide. they aren’t telling me much i don’t know about meditation and channeling your focus inward (something i’m already familiar with), but they’re all over the “why doctors and medicine is evil” stuff. one of the books is so out of date (first published in 1984) that it’s just flat out wrong. i thought i was doing a decent job of filtering out the propaganda, but it seems to be catching up a bit with me. i blame hormones and stress and “omg i’m giving birth very soon!” stuff. once i get through them completely, i’ll probably post really-real reviews. …you know, like i’ve been planning for the books i’ve actually completed ;)

i’m also napping almost every day. fortunately everyone at work is very understanding. i take off around 2 or 3pm, sleep for a couple of hours and catch up on work later in the day. i do not like this, because it requires giving up way more control than i’d like way earlier than i’d like (you know, before the day i go into labor ;) ) but there’s little i can do about it.

so that’s pretty much it. there’s really not much to report on charlotte. we get checkups every couple of weeks now, and she’s doing just fine. at 36 weeks (2ish weeks from now), we’ll have another sonogram. i’m looking forward to seeing her again, to see how much she’s actually grown and such.

no decent pictures either this week (we’re such slackers), but i’ve got a couple from random events that are share-worthy and show how much my belly has grown.

bye now!

you know what? there isn’t really much to report on just now. we’re all just sort of doing our thing and waiting for the next phase/doctor’s visit.

we went to the doctor about a week ago and besides being reminded why i like my doctor so much, it was largely uneventful. she asked me to stay on the progesterone until i hit 12 weeks and then start weaning myself off (which i’m doing, now that i’m officially at 12 weeks). we took a shot at listening for the heartbeat, but were unsuccessful. i’m still full of worry that something’s wrong in there and the only reason we don’t know it is because of the progesterone. i hope when we have our appointment at week 14 and we hear the heartbeat that i’ll be more relaxed, but i have a feeling it will take until the ultrasound at 18 weeks before i calm down about that. of course, that will just make room for different things to worry about ;)

the bump is growing a bit all the time (which, if i were normally rational, i would interpret as a sign that everything’s okay, but i can’t because i’m me). it’s to the point that when i’m sitting back in a chair, it will “hang over” (at least visually) a note pad or computer i have in my lap. i still have moments where i look fat instead of pregnant, but i’m starting to make the conscious choice for clothes that push towards looking pregnant. i’ve bought a couple of things (here and there, on sale and such), but i’m not quite big enough for any of them to look right yet. i did buy a bigger bra though, which has helped discomfort out a bit.

we went to a wedding yesterday and took pictures of “the bump” in a dress not really designed for bumping. it accommodates it pretty well at this stage though if you just push the gentle waistband up over the bump. those pictures should be up as soon as i get not-lazy enough to do so.

i’m looking forward to the first trimester being over. i haven’t gotten “all the way” sick, but i have had a few days where i got much closer than i’d like. nothing really crazy like the oj has happened since, i have been on a “mmm…buffalo wings/chicken fingers/chicken sandwich” kick which is probably not just me wanting things that taste good. i have days were i want meat, days where i want juice, but again, nothing quite so “omg love!” as the oj thing.