Quick update

We had our follow up ultrasound today. The good news is that one of Lloyd's kidneys is normal size and one is only ever so slightly enlarged, so they aren't really worried about it. The bad news is that apparently my cervix measured short (it gets shorter as you progress through labor, so yeah, not supposed to be short at 28/29 weeks) and it looks like its pulling some of the amniotic fluid down a bit (the term funneling was used). So, we are off to Mary Birch to get a full check out. We just stopped home to grab stuff to keep us busy and I'm eating a bit since we have no clue how long we will be there. Keep your fingers crossed that they are just going to tell me to take it easy...since I'm sure this is just a result of all the stress of the last week or so.

So this week had to get better, right? Well, I guess it did. I still have a job (right now).I still have 80% of my income. I now have every Monday off. It appears I still qualify for my maternity benefits in January. I still work with 75% of my co-workers. Baby health insurance costs only $300 per month (by adding the 'only' I'm trying to make this a positive statement...which is really hard to do). We only had one small earthquake this morning.

And in the true nature of cosmic balance, for every blow I've received this week, Brad's received a boost. He received some amazing news this week and one of his lifelong dreams is now very much within reach. There are still hoops to jump but he is so close now!

And in the grand scheme of things: we have our health, we have a roof over our heads, we can still pay our bills, and we are expecting the amazing gift of our son in February. We will be fine.

And for another positive...it was 85 degrees last Sunday! Which means we could sit in the shade in our short sleeve t-shirts in the middle of November. Living in San Diego has its privileges.


Here's a progress shot at 27 weeks:


And here's a shot of my favorite 'maternity' t-shirt. Its super nerdy and totally not about being pregnant, but it sure does work...



So the positive thoughts will continue to flow and will be flowing out to all of you. This is a hard time for so many people, but we will all get through it and things will get better.

This Week

Wow. This has been quite a week. At work the news was bad (no bonuses, no raises, possible pay cuts and talk of layoffs) and then a slow tire leak turned into an unexpected (but needed) set of new tires (ugh!). If you don't mind, I'm going to take solace in the (also needed) $50 shoes I was able to bring home for $8. Next week has to be better, right? ;-)

HypnoBirthing

Following our hospital visit at Mary Birch, we decided to pursue HypnoBirthing for our natural childbirth preparation. We began our class series with Jennifer Lindeman at the end of October and are already more than half-way through the series.

For some background, the fundamental premise behind the HypnoBirthing method is that for the vast majority of women, pregnancy and childbirth is a natural and normal part of the life process. Our bodies are expertly designed to conceive and nurture a developing baby, so it follows that our bodies (as well as our babies' bodies) are expertly designed to birth. As a result there is no reason to fear childbirth. Unfortunately, culture, society and history have turned childbirth into something that is fundamentally feared by most women and this fear and stress and the resulting pain, serve to propogate this 'reality'. However, through relaxation, we can retrain our bodies to take back the birthing process and let our muscles do the work they were designed to do. The births we've seen in class are amazing. The women look like they are mostly napping and resting and many don't even need to push at the end.

In class we are learning to use self-hypnosis techniques to attain a very relaxed state. The class time as well as practice time also helps to turn feelings of fear and apprehension into calm and positive anticipation of the birth. I can already see a huge difference in my outlook over the last three weeks. I wasn't scared of the actual process of child birth per se (although before the class, it had been far enough in the future, that I hadn't thought about it as a reality yet), but I was very scared about being rushed and a (medically) unnecessary c-section. I already feel more confident that the birth won't be long, that we will be able to work with hospital staff and that we will be able to do this the way we want. As for the birth itself, I'm actually looking forward to it! The mind is truly an amazing thing.

The Great Registration

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I headed to the Babies 'R Us (conveniently located down the street from her house!) to officially start our baby registry. I had already narrowed down all the big things (stroller, car seat, sleeping arrangements) through a ton of online research (and review reading) and through the handy Baby Bargains book. This is a book I probably would have never even thought existed or thought to look into, so I was really glad my boss gave me a copy a couple months ago. It has been invaluable when looking into not only how things work (because frankly I had no idea what the difference was between a convertible and a hybrid car seat!), but what features are really necessary (and they seem to be pretty candid here) and how people can waste their money. They also review the common brands and provide real feedback about cost v. benefits and users' comments. I highly recommend this book for all first time parents.

Now, we are doing a few things different from what 'most people do'. First thing, which I believe I've already talked about, is we are trying to stay in our current place until we can buy our own place hopefully in a year or so. This means that we don't have a baby's room to decorate. Right here, we are saving a TON of money. Second, my friend has already offered to let us use her crib, which we have happily accepted. So when the time does come, that expense is already take care of. With a few choice pieces of furniture that Brad's parents got us when they were in town visiting in August, we now have plenty of storage space for the new baby stuff in our own bedroom (having a 'college dorm bedroom' still (i.e. not much bedroom furniture) really paid off ;)

Diapers are going in the lime bins, diapering 'essentials will go in the lime plastic tubs and the changing station will be on top of the lower dresser.

Here's a shot of one of the other dressers. There's baby blankets in the deep drawer and all of our stuff is in a matching lower/wider dresser under the window to the right of this wall.

Because of the space issue, a lot of our baby choices have been simplified. Things either need to be compact or need to be multi-functioning. The 'bassinet' will be a play pen (I mean, 'Pack 'n Play - see the things you learn! ;) Not only can we use the top as a bassinet that will sit next to our bed when Lloyd first comes home, but once he is bigger, we have a portable play area that we can take with us or use in another room once we have our own place. There will also be no highchair, but rather a convertable booster chair, that sits in a normal dining room chair and converts to a toddler booster seat when he's older. The activity center can be used for back and tummy time while little and a play mat when older - plus folds down like an umbrella vs. most of the others that need to be stored sideways.

The other thing that is different, is the amount of things I'm making. I'm making burp cloths and blankets and bibs, so most of those things could be avoided. I've already linked to several of the things I've made, but the latest (bibs and shoes) can be seen here. I'm also making most of the crib accessories (bumper, blanket, ruffle, etc.), so again, more things missing from the registry. We also already have the diaper bag thing handled as well as slings (although we did register for a basic Baby Bjorn for Brad) and a nursing cover. Given all these things, you should see the list of 'missing items' they printed out when we were done! It still makes me giggle.

But despite the simplification, the registry process was very overwhelming. Not only are neither my mom or I big shoppers, but the selection of each type of item was overwhelming. For example, I knew going in, that I was going to add some Dr. Brown's baby bottles to the list as they have come highly recommended by a couple friends of mine who have used bottles to give them some freedom with their nursing. However, what I didn't know what that there were many sizes of bottles, many sizes of nipples and many cleaning and drying accessories. There were starter packs, but since I plan to do most of his feedings by nursing, our needs will be different from someone who is feeding a baby exclusively from a bottle from birth. I haven't read anything about any of this yet, so I had no idea what we might need. We are planning to take a nursing class and I'm sure a lot of that information will be discussed there, but for now I'm in the dark.

Fortunately, despite the overwhelming nature of the experience, I think we came away with a good list of things to get us going. And regardless, at least we now have the list of 'needed items' in one place for our own reference if nothing else!

OB Update

We went to our OB check-up visit yesterday. It was pretty routine: weight (I'm now up 13 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight - which I was surprised about - I thought for sure I would have gained more than the 5 per month I'd been averaging), blood pressure, heartbeat, and tummy size checks. Everything was normal. And the doctor was the most pleasant she's ever been, which was an even more pleasant surprise for me. She also referred us for a follow-up ultrasound sometime within the next 2-4 weeks to check how Lloyd's kidneys are doing.

I also got the pleasure of taking my 1 hour glucose tollerance test yesterday. Yum! I had to fast for 2 hours before, then drink an orange bottle of glucose. They then took my blood an hour later. I've been crashing lately, which hasn't really happened much for the last few years since my metabolism slowed down. But now that Lloyd is bigger, I think he is stealing some of those energy reserves and I've had a couple low blood sugar freak-outs and crashes lately. I was afraid I might get a bit 'crashy' during the test but I was fine and Lloyd seemed to really like the sugar rush after I drank the glucose drink. I'm assuming unless the test comes back abnormal, they will just go over the results at next month's appointment.

Dogs and Babies

There are a few things that we've done in the last couple weeks or so that all merit their own posts. So, while the posts haven't be as timely as I would have liked, there will be a few over the next few days talking about the classes we've taken and the baby registry we started.

The easiest place to start is the short afternoon class we took through Sharp Hospital called Dogs and Babies. When I was reviewing the booklet of offered classes, I was most excited about this one - mainly because it never would have occurred to me that such a class was available.

For almost 11 years, Jenny has been a significant member of our little family. We aren't concerned about her being mean to Lloyd when he comes. But we were concerned about potential jealousy issues (she's been known to be jealous when we give attention to other dogs or cats - she'll come over and say 'hey look at me now, look at me!!' - when normally the last thing she wants is to hang out with other dogs.) as well as fear issues (she hasn't exactly spent a lot of time around kids).

However, we were comforted last Thanksgiving when our nieces and nephew were visiting from France. At first, she wasn't exactly pleased they were there and would mostly avoid them when they came round to check her out...That is, at least, until she realized that people that close to the ground have a tendency to drop more food. Once this light bulb went off in her head, she turned the tables on the situation and began to chase our Nephew around the living room rather than the other way around as had been the case earlier in the week. We've already noticed the change in her when we are at the park and she's much more interested in the small kids, but then, they are usually eating.

Anyway...the class. Our instructor is a dog trainer for the San Diego Humane Society and began to teach the dogs and babies class when she began her own family. Her goal was to develop a program to help avoid the potentially bad things that can happen between dogs and babies that result in the dog needing to find a new home. In the vast majority of situations, these 'bad things' are completely avoidable as long as the parents know the warning signs.

The fundamental thing, which I will 100% admit that I had never thought about like this, was to understand that babies and small children are not able to have the same relationship we have with our dogs until they are about 5 years old. They just don't have the abilities in their tool chest yet. So this means that the relationships in the house form a sort of open-ended triangle, with a strong relationship between the parents and the dog and a separate strong relationship between the parents and the baby, but not a direct relationship between the baby and the dog. Furthermore, the role of the parents is to keep the baby (and subsequent toddler) from becoming sensitized to the dog. This not only helps with developing a relaxed relationship between the dog and the baby, but also keeps the baby from being overly drawn to other people's dogs, thus preventing potential biting accidents.


The end goal is a house where the baby/toddler can do its thing without involving the dog in its uncontrolled and uncoordinated games and the dog can feel safe and secure that it isn't going to be pulled, pinched, yanked or otherwise involved in the baby/toddler's play...and thus be calm and happier around the child. We both think this method will be perfect for Jenny given that she has a tendency to worry. We aren't worried at all about her being aggressive toward Lloyd, however, she also does not need to spend her golden years always concerned about what that mini-human is going to do to her. Hopefully she will just enjoy the fact that she will likely have food at her disposal at all times once he is walking around...can hardly wait! ;)