Monday, December 6, 2010

Weekend Recap

What a busy weekend.  It started off Friday afternoon with a 4D ultrasound of Star.  It was great to get to see her features.  She's pretty much what I expected her to look like oddly enough.  Okay, even cuter than I had imagined.  I am so happy she looks perfect and even had chubby cheeks and a chubby chin with the most kissable lips.  Oh my gosh, her lips...they are adorable.  It was difficult to get a great picture because the umbilical cord was next to her face but I am happy with what we saw.  I am happy that she looks great and healthy.  I love that I can picture her now.  She was sucking on her hand and her feet were by her face.  It's so neat to see what she is doing in there on video.  I am going to bring the video to Florida so we can show J's Grandma.  The video is better than the pictures in my opinion.  Watching her move is magical as opposed to feeling it and guessing what she is doing.  I will hopefully post some pictures here Wednesday along with J's baby picture and my baby picture so we can compare!

Friday night we had J's company party.  It was fun and I was very touched when all of his employees got together and gave him a gift bag stating how much he means to them.  He is very appreciated as their manager and I love that.  I know he is amazing but to know that his employees see it too is so great.  He received a gift bag with an hour massage, a $75.00 gift card to a Sushi restaurant, a "South Butt" (similar to north face) jacket and a framed photo of his staff.  I snuck off to bed before everyone left-I was impressed that I made it to 11:00 actually.

Saturday we had a seamstress come to the house and look at the glider in Star's room.  I am waiting for pricing for a slip cover and hope that if the pricing works out she will get started during our trip to Florida. 

Saturday I got ready for a dinner with my girls who were in town.  We went to dinner and a lingerie party for my friend Denise.  My friends Anna and Kristen came in town.  It was so great to get together.  I miss them so much and it is so nice to talk with girlfriends.  The lingerie party went great but I ducked out before the limo came so  I could get some rest before our childbirth class the next morning.

Child birth class started at 8:00 am.  We got to the hospital and signed in by 7:40 leaving us 20 minutes to check out both nurseries at the hospital.  We saw lots of babies but there was this one little boy that caught our eye.  He was alert and two days old and just perfectly content lying in his little portable crib looking around the room.  Others were crying and sleeping, this little boy was so calm and it was so neat to watch him looking around just taking it all in.  During the first break J and I went back to the nursery and there was a set of twins right up next to the window. 
Back to the class...It was mind numbing.  It was painful.  It was boring.  A couple of the classes we had already taken went over a lot of this class.  We spent an hour going over what to expect when you are pregnant..."uh, lady...we've been pregnant 7-8 months.  We get it."  We were the only couple in class that took the breastfeeding and infant care class.  No one else had taken any other classes which surprised me.  At one point when we laid on the floor to 'practice relaxing' with our pillows, lullaby music on and lights off, J and I actually tried sleeping and ignored everything the teacher was saying.  We didn't learn as much as I had hoped unfortunately but I am glad we took it because we did learn some things.  I found it interesting that after going around the room everyone in the room wanted an epidural, including myself.  I am for laboring as long as I can manage without an epidural but when it becomes too much I am all for an epidural.  I would like to enjoy some of Star's birth.  We also got a tour of the labor and delivery floor and the two recovery floors and saw the recovery room for women after c-sections.  I like to have the "lay of the land" so that was nice. 

I guess what we found out that was most interesting was:
  • what to expect after delivery (and I mean, what to expect 'down there')  The nurse teaching the class showed us the mesh underwear and the pad the size of a Volkswagen Beatle.  YOWZA!  J and I both looked at each other in amazement at the size of that pad.  I think it was as long as the ladies arm...not kidding.
  • We found out that c-section rates are 39-40%.  Crazy.
  • 800 babies are born each month at our hospital.  They don't call it the baby factory for nothing.
  • The reason I chose our hospital is because they have the only Level 3 NICU in our area.  It's brand new, like 3 months old.  I hope we never see it but it is there which is great and babies are brought here from other hospitals because it's so advanced.  She briefly touched on this.
  • We can request a room with a tub in it upon arrival if one is available.  If not, we can ask for a room with a shower or use one of a few birth tub rooms during labor. 
  • We can request to have 'bedside admit' where the baby is bathed and assessed right on me after delivery or next to the bed if necessary.  J and I are both interested in this.  I want her placed skin to skin if possible after delivery whether it be J's skin or mine-not placed under warming lamps and assessed across the room.
  • I can also request that J be present at all times with her after a c-section and that she be placed skin to skin with him if I am not able to hold her.
Ready for this week to fly by so we can get on with our vacation.  This is the first vacation that I feel I actually NEED.

1 comment:

Heather said...

I hope someday I can make those birth plan decisions! Good luck with all of yours!