33 weeks

I am 33 weeks yesterday!  We had a very eventful week this past week.  There will be two posts.

Here are the fruit comparisons:

Eli

• weighs a little over 4 lbs (~ the weight of a pineapple or an adult duck (I wonder if he's a witch))
• is ~ 17in long (ladies, think of the length of your favorite collarbone length necklace)
• has hardening bones and he is gaining more fat and looking less wrinkly 
• has an almost mature respiratory system
• can tell the difference between light and dark/night and day (I'm sure he'll forget this knowledge as soon as he arrives and sleep all day and fuss all night)
• kicks and punches with more force now.  

Mom: 

• has to pee all the time.  Frequently rushes to go and then the bladder only releases about 3 drops.  It is obnoxious.  
• has started waddling a bit.  My hips and pelvic bones are sore, especially going from laying/sitting to standing.  
• has been reading a ton about labor and delivery, so I'm starting to feel much less nervous about it.  I'm trying to go into it with an open mind about what I want since things will happen how they happen and I will just adjust accordingly.  Although an epidural scares the bejeezus out of me.  
• Heartburn...yay
• My fingers have been swelling a bit.  I wear my wedding rings on a chain as a necklace.  
• I'm tired.  Naps are frequent and frequently unintended!  

Dad: 

• is doing well in school and has been looking into an alternative to the UMD fire protection degree.  This other option is Capitol College and is a degree in Astronautical Engineering.  Either one would be pretty awesome.  
• has been taking over a bunch of chores for me (vacuuming the stairs, taking the dog out, carrying the laundry up and down the stairs, etc)
• has been procrastinating on learning about labor :)  I think he thinks 7 weeks max is a long way away.

Mika: 

• pees, poops, eats, and demands attention.  What good practice!  
• got many many treats this week

So I started washing baby clothes and prepping the hospital bag this weekend.  I have all the 0-3 month clothes washed and sorted.  I might do the 3-6 months in a week or two.  We are also going to give the cloth diaper thing a try and we have a good starter stash built and prepped.  We have pockets (bumgenius and fuzzibunz) and prefolds with covers (thirsties, flips and 1 econobum).  I got almost all of them used and almost all of them will last through potty training, so if we keep up with it and don't switch back to disposables, we'll be spending a max of around $300 for diapers.  If we don't, they have a great resale value, so I'll just sell them for about what I paid for them.  Not much risk there.  We plan on using up the disposables we have received first while we get settled with Mr. E and find a general routine.  

I had an appointment on Friday and everything was great.  Heartbeat was 143.  Fundal height (my belly) measured right at 32 weeks and the doc told me to keep up the walking and my eating habits.  My pelvic bone hurting is normal.  That was really it.  I go back the first week of December (36 weeks), then again two weeks later (38 weeks), and then every week (39, 40 weeks...they won't let me go past 41 weeks).

We took an infant care class and learned a bit about diapering, bathing, things that happen at the hospital, skin care, sleeping, swaddling, dressing, nails, etc.  

People have been asking us what we need so I'll list it here.  This isn't a request for items, I just can't think of things on the spot when asked because we really are good to go for the first few weeks.  I've been trying to think about it, but we really do have the basics to get us going.  We could probably use a few more bottles for when I start pumping.  We have a few Avent bottles and some babies r us brand drop ins (like the Playtex nursers), but a few more probably wouldn't hurt.  I know many people swear by the Dr. Browns, but we would prefer not to have bottles with a ton of parts to clean and worry about.  (I've heard the Dr. Browns leak if they aren't put together just right).  We could also use a bottle drying rack and dishwasher container.  We don't have many socks or mitten things.  We could probably use more crib sheets.  

Things we have a ton of: heavy blankets, 0-3 and 3-6 months clothes, bath time stuff (shampoo, soap, lotion, towels), teether toys.  

Larger items we have: car seat, play pen, swing, bouncer seat, boppy pillow, bumpo seat, crib, dresser, stroller, bassinet, diaper caddy, backpack (diaper bag)

Here is our registry again in case anyone wants to look.  Again, this isn't a request for items.  People just keep asking.   http://www.amazon.com/registry/baby/3C6NTSMZVLTNU

Maternity Ward Tour

Brian and I took a maternity ward tour yesterday.  We took it pretty early because it is only offered on Tuesdays at 1300 (1pm) and I don't want to miss work and I start next week.

So Bethesda is a pretty cool hospital when it comes to delivery.  I am pleased after the tour.  I feel like they are a happy medium when it comes to policy.  Here are the highlights.

I will labor, deliver and do a few hours of recovery in the same room.  All rooms have one bed, a rocking chair, a birthing ball, squat/birthing bars, a small fold out couch (the nurse recommended air mattresses over the couches), a few chairs, a spacious bathroom with a walk-in, sit-in shower, the baby's hospital bassinet thingy, TV, and probably anything else you can think of except for a birthing tub.  The rooms themselves are very spacious and could probably hold 4-5 people comfortably even with staff coming in and out.  They showed us how they take apart the bed for delivery and explained how it helps when baby comes out.  They have posters of suggested positions for the birthing ball, allow you to labor in the shower for a bit (not birth there), require 20 minutes out of every hour to be on a monitor (but I can move around when not on the monitor).

Since the staff is there on rotating shifts and you can't guarantee a specific provider for your delivery, no one is in a rush so they can go home, go on vacation, etc.  The surgeons and anesthesiologists are on the same type of shift schedule and most are military.  None are paid by the procedure so there is no pressure for epidurals or csections although their csection rate is close to all the other hospitals in the area.

Babies stay in the room with mom at all times except for a few exceptions:  weighing (out in the hall) and a few standard tests/procedures that we can accompany if we want.  All nurses and main staff members are trained to assist with breastfeeding, latching, etc and lactation consultants are available about 14 hours a day during the weekdays.  As a first time mom, I'll be required to stay for 48 hours before release even if everything is peachy.  They provide everything that is needed for baby except the take home outfit/blanket and carseat (which they inspect to make sure baby fits into correctly before we are allowed to leave.  They also highly encourage us to take the carseat with our car to the fire department just outside the hospital to ensure that the carseat fits right in our car and we know how to lock it in).   They even encourage that we take home all the diapers, bulb syringe/nose thingies, brushes (great for cradle cap apparently but are OR brushes so they can't be bought), wipes, pretty much everything but their shirts and blankets.

It is a training hospital so there may be doctors in training helping with delivery and any other procedures.  I get PAs, Nurse Practitioners, etc in training all the time so I'm not too concerned about this.  When anything complex or important is happening, the (attending? is that the right word?) fully qualified doctor is there to supervise.   For the less important stuff (asking questions, routine stuff like checking pulse and stuff) they might be there on their own, but the qualified doctor dude follows up.  Some people seem concerned about this (one person asked "Can we refuse a training doctor?"), but it doesn't bother me really.  I know I won't be their first patient.  It takes a lot to get to that level.  I don't know all the details of how, but I'm pretty sure every form of medical training requires education on childbirth.

Immediately upon birth, baby and mom get tagged with what they jokingly call baby Lojack.  Babies don't even leave the room for the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) until this band is on.  These tags will cause an alarm that goes off if the baby leaves the maternity ward.  This alarm locks down the hospital and the entire post until all babies currently admitted to the ward are accounted for.  The NICU and csection operating rooms, etc are all right down the hall in the same ward.  So once mom is admitted she really doesn't leave the general area.

They reminded us all that they appreciate birthing plans, but that everything is driven by the mother's body and the baby and sometimes due to those two factors, they can't stick to the plan.  Their policies are pretty liberal.  I can have clear foods and liquids (Jello, sprite, popsicles, water, etc).  I can labor in almost any position and even when being monitored, the cord is pretty long and will allow me to reach the ball, rocker, etc.  We can rearrange the room in almost any way we want.  They encourage the baby be delivered to the mother's belly/chest, dad can cut the cord if he wants, they do everything possible to get baby breastfeeding within an hour after delivery (usually sooner and they highly encourage breastfeeding).

Overall I feel very comfortable with this hospital and the setup/policies.  I'm actually afraid I will be a bit spoiled with this, and with my next kid I won't have great facilities.  For all I know though, this stuff can all be pretty standard.  I just feel like I hear about some hospitals requiring a bunch of stuff to make life easier on the staff or because that is how it was done in the past and putting the mothers' wants at the bottom of the list.  (Hell, they even has a snack room where they keep popsicles, jello, etc for us to use during labor).

Mika and McKenzie

Cheryl and McKenzie stopped by for a visit from Europe on the way to visit other family.  They only got to stay one night, but it is always great seeing them.  Being the hermits that we can be, Brian and I didn't take advantage of them living so close.  Now I miss just knowing we have family in the area and I miss seeing them even more.

Poor...McKenzie?  Mika?  I'm not sure who scared the other more.

Mika is very tall as most of you know and she has a very very loud bark.  She use to be so afraid of children as a puppy that she would plant herself and pee on the spot when they were around.  We don't know why.  She has gotten better though.  She barked very soon after McKenzie saw her for the first time since she was full grown and Kenz is use to small dogs, but probably hasn't seen too many big ones.  I think a combination of Mika's size and the volume/depth of her bark scared Kenz right at the beginning.  So we kept Mika in her crate or in our bedroom while they were here.  McKenzie was still quite worried about the dog though.  After realizing Mika couldn't get out of her crate, she played on our keyboard (also known as a pinano, for those of you who may not know) most of the evening.  I think she liked controlling the sound of the notes.  She is getting very independent and learning to do most things on her own.  A stage I loved seeing my little sisters go through, but I'm sure it can be trying for the parents.  This morning, Kenz found the demo button on the keyboard so she got to dance around to music.  She loves to dance so much, and I love watching her do it.  


When they left for the airport this morning, I let Mika out of our bedroom.  I promptly sat down to write this blog about their visit and check to see what was going on in this world (woot woot the higgs boson particle discovery...I like positive news and I saw it yesterday, but it is big enough to enjoy today too).  Then I hear Mika doing something downstairs near her food bowl, which I know is empty (she has been training me for children all this time).  I go and check to see what she got out of the trash.  Already tossing around a few thoughts with Brian about Mika and diapers last night, I suspected a diaper was the target of her raid.  Sure enough, on the living room floor was a diaper that had been in the trash.  Thankfully, she heard me coming, and it was fully intact and closed (compared to shredded all over the living room floor which is what I mentally prepared myself for).  This has instantly changed our need for a diaper genie from a "like to have"/"nice to have" (and me thinking it was almost worthless since we have so many floors we could be changing diapers on) to a "must have" for at least the main floor.