Still....No Baby

       I’m back at work today after taking two days of sick time for my back.  And while my back is still sore and sitting here in this uncomfortable chair isn’t helping, I’m so grateful that baby Jude hasn’t come yet.  I mean, he can come any time now (Seriously, Jude, let’s get this show on the road), but I was really really scared on Sunday night when my back was at its worst that he would come.  And that I wouldn’t be physically able to be there with my wife, that I wouldn’t be able to help her and see my son born.  Because that is how bad it was that night, I couldn’t get up out of bed pretty much at all.  I hate having a bad back and this was the worst time for it to act up.  But thankfully S didn’t go into labor that night and I’m slowly getting better.  

I’m also glad that S didn’t go into labor last night.  We had a crazy thunderstorm last night that woke us up from bed around 2:45.  The lightning was so constant and bright that our room seemed to glow and the house was shaking from all of the thunder.  S and I went into the living room to see if the dogs were ok and to look out the windows and the rain was coming down so hard.  S said, “This is the closest I have ever been to being in a hurricane.”  And it really was.  And it would have been terrifying to try to drive to the hospital in that weather.  Austin has been really dry and we need all of the rain we can get, so I hope it continues.  

The nice part though about having my back go out is that S and I got to spend the last 4 days together.  In a normal month our schedules don’t mesh up very much and so it’s pretty common that we only have 1-2 days off together in a month’s time.  So four whole days off together is very uncommon.  So even though we mostly spent the last two days in bed watching movies or on the couch watching movies, it was really nice.  I feel like during this waiting time it’s important to take naps, smile lovingly at each other, eat good food, take long showers, and relax over all as much as possible.  And so we did.

Today S has a doctor’s appointment where we will possibly have a few tests done to make sure Jude is happy in there.  I believe they are going to do a fetal stress test and an ultrasound to measure him to make sure he isn’t getting too big and that he has enough fluid left.  I’m not sure if they are going to do both of these tests today or not, but I hope so.  We worry about our little man!  I think that we are also going to talk about inducing.  I don’t think that we will want to induce before February 6^th  unless our doctor thinks it’s necessary but we will see.   I also want to get her opinion on sweeping S’s membrane, but I suppose it will be a moot point if S still isn’t dilated at all.  I’m sure we will be back later today or tomorrow with an update.

One last thing, congrats to all of those new babies out there!  We have loved reading your stories and seeing all of your beautiful photos.  Thank you so much for sharing your little ones with us here in blogland!

-Liz

Bradley Birthing Class and A Belly Pic!

         Wednesday was a big day in our pregnancy filled world.  Wednesday morning S had a doctor’s appointment, the last monthly doctors appointment.  Dang, can’t believe that starting next month she will be in her 3rd trimester and going to doctor’s appointments every other week.  It all goes by so fast (yet at the same time, not fast enough).  This was the first one that I haven’t been able to go with her to, which made me a little sad.  She got to hear Jude’s strong steady heartbeat (this time he did not kick the machine) and they did all of the normal measuring the belly sort of stuff and everything looks good.

      Then Wednesday night we had our first Bradley Birthing Class and it was awesome!  If you are unfamiliar with the Bradley method, here is a tiny quote from the Wikipedia page, “The Bradley Method emphasizes that birth is a natural process: mothers are encouraged to trust their body and focus on diet and exercise throughout pregnancy; and it teaches couples to manage labor through deep breathing and the support of a partner or labor coach.”  So basically, there are 12 classes and we meet every Wednesday for two hours each time.  In order to be a Bradley teacher you have to have had a “Bradley” birth yourself, do tons of academic work and go to a week long Bradley teaching seminar amongst other things.  One exciting thing about it is that just by coincidence our teacher (who teaches out of her house) lives about two blocks away from us.  We drove to the first class just to be sure we knew where we were going, but I think that weather permitting (and it’s Austin, so I’m sure the weather will allow) we will walk to and from the rest of the classes, which is cool.  We don’t get to walk to anything, we live in a rather suburban part of Austin, so the only thing we could really walk to is a gas station, which isn’t that exciting.  There are 3 other couples in the class (but only two of the other three were there for this first class) and so far everyone has seemed pretty fine with us being in the class.  We really enjoyed the class, it was fun to hang out with other couples expecting their first baby and of the three of us couples that were there this week we are all expecting boys.  This first class was more of an introduction, so we didn’t do too much but we got sent home with homework- mostly exercises for S to do and a few relaxation things for us to practice each night together.  Over all I think it’s going to be a really good thing for us and I’m excited to keep going. 
 

      And I’ve been meaning to post a new belly shot of S for a week or two now, so here is her most recent photo, though it is a few days if not almost a week old at this point.  Gotta love that beautiful round belly!

-Liz 

Doctor's Appointment and Updates

S had a doctor’s appointment yesterday.  Everything looks good.  She is gaining the right amount of weight, isn’t having any problems, and is doing great!  She is still having a few bad days here and there being nauseous, but hasn’t thrown up since we were in Mexico.  We also got to hear the baby’s heart beat (strong and in the 150s).  When they were looking for the heartbeat they found S’s heart beat first and we were both worried, thinking oh no! Why is the heart beat so slow!  But, nothing to fear.  And everyday she is looking more and more pregnant.  We’ll post a belly shot tomorrow I think.

We have been so jealous of all of the other January 2012 baby mommas finding out the sex of their baby already that we seriously looked into going to a 3D ultra sound yesterday.  But the one we liked the best said that they could start doing the gender stuff at 17 weeks, and S is just a day or two shy of that.  But I’m glad we didn’t do it, because we asked at our appointment how many ultrasounds we had after the anatomy scan on the 25^th and they said, to our surprise, none!  So unless there is some sort of problem/complication with S before delivery, they won’t do another one the entire rest of her pregnancy!  I could have cried I was so sad to hear that we wouldn’t get to see the baby for almost 4 full months.  That means that I’m really glad we didn’t run out and pay for an ultrasound yesterday because we will for sure want to do that in a month or two to check on the little bambino/a!  But it is killing me, not knowing.  I’m starting to think that the baby is a boy right now.  I don’t really know why, but that is what I have been feeling, though S still thinks girl.  Hopefully we will find out either way on August 25^th!

In other news, we ordered our crib!  I’m so excited for it.  In the end, even though we liked the Ikea cribs and my brother even offered to build us a crib (he worked as a carpenter/furniture builder for a few years), we went with the Graco Lauren crib.  We ended up getting the one that had the changing table attached.  I was originally going to use a dresser that I am painting for the nursery as a changing table but a few people have commented that the dresser is pretty low, so in order to save our backs, we went with the changing table.  It should be here by the 24^th, so that week is going to be really baby filled!  Now all we need to do before the crib gets here is steam clean the carpet and hopefully paint the trim.  I can’t wait for it all to come together.  I started a new painting last night to hang in the nursery, I think it’s going to be really pretty once it’d done.

Happy Friday!

-Liz