Traveling
As I write this, we are in the throes of our final pre-baby trip. I'm writing this on Mark's parents kitchen table (which is a brown wood, for you, Melissa). We're here visiting for three reasons. One, our nephew Nathan was born two weeks ago, so we wanted to meet the little tike. (Newborns are TINY, btw!). Mark's bro & sister-in-law bought a dance studio about a year or so ago, and tonight is the studio's dance recital, so we wanted to come support them and cheer them on with that. And finally, tomorrow is mother's day, so we wanted to celebrate that with his fam, particularly because his parents will be moving to Mexico this summer. I was a little nervous about traveling this close to our due date (would prefer not to have this baby in Dallas), but I'm glad we came. No baby so far, so seems like a good choice. :) It's going to be nice to just stay at home for the next weeks too, though.
A couple of weekends ago, we made another weekend trip to Wimberly, TX to see my aunts. We had such fun - we spent the day on Saturday going in and out of children's thrift shops (got some great deals!), and then on Saturday night, my aunts surprised us with a birthday/baby shower, complete with homemade cake! Yum! They really showered us with gifts, and we felt very special.
Speaking of showers, we have actually had three so far, and my friends at work are throwing me one more next week! The first was a surprise joint shower in CO with my high school friends, the second another surprise shower with our friends from church, and the final was last weekend, a more intimate joint shower with a group of friends from our old church. My mom was here for this last one, and it was really nice that she was able to be included and meet our friends. Lots of parties for this little guy on the way - we have definitely felt a lot of love coming from our friends and family.
Preparations
As I mentioned, my mom came out last weekend, and helped us transform our old study into an adorable nursery! She came on Friday night to a totally empty room (which was quite an accomplishment just to get it that way - remember me having to overcome my OCD and resign myself to just putting away a bunch of things in boxes), and HUGE piles of baby stuff - from showers & gifts from friends, our thrift store shopping sprees, Mark's old toys that his parents gave us as they clean out their house. The baby stuff was stacked all over our living room and guest room, and a lot of it needed to be cleaned. Well, by Wednesday morning when she left, we had painted the nursery, cleaned the nursery windows and screens (which hadn't been done in probably 20 years), put up a closet organizer (that was Mark's doing - good job Mark). Arranged all the furniture in the room (previously repaired and painted by Mark), sorted/cleaned/put away ALL of the baby stuff, and even hung up the wall decorations!! We're done!! My mom also organized all our stuff in the "game room," which is the sun room off our living room that we intend to tear down and make into a patio some day. I just could not believe how much we got done when she was here! The room has lots of personal touches from many generations in both of Mark's and my families, and I really like that it is not just all new stuff - and not just because I'm cheap. :)
Below are pictures. The pale quilt my Grandmother made before she died - actually she made it about 7-8 years ago, and died about 5 years ago. She made it for her "next great grandchild," which happens to come from Mark's and my loins. It's neat to have something personally made for Ziggy which comes from his great grandmother, who made it before he was even being thought of being conceived. The crib and the rocker came from my parents - they bought those in Boston before my sister was born, and used them for both my sister and I. Fortunately, they break down pretty flat, so they were able to mail them to us from Oregon. The crib bedding and brighter red/yellow/blue quilt above the dresser was made for Ziggy by my mom. The dresser is a hand-me-down from Mark's family. Mark's parents bought it for Mark's brother Dan when he graduated from college, to help him furnish his first apartment. Dan and Robyn painted it a few times -first for their guest room, and then painted it to match the nursery for their first child. They then handed it down to us, and Mark repainted it, put on a new back, and put on new hinges. The bookcase is one of Mark's first woodworking/handyman projects. He made it in Starke to hold some kitchen items in our breakfast nook. This also received a new coat of paint. The yellow quilt on the bookcase is actually a little sleeping bag that Mark's mom made for Mark when he was a little kid. There is also another quilt and taggie blanket made by our friends. And finally, we bought the lamp during our thrift store spree in Wimberly. We liked the base, but not the lampshade, so our aunts helped us recover it with fabric and cut out the yellow and red squares so it would match the room. We didn't get to quite finish it, so my mom glued all the fabric in place when she finished. Even the small stereo has some history - it belonged to Mark's grandmother, and we acquired it after she died.
Classes/Learning
Like I said, we finished our Bradley class last weekend. We ended up deciding to hire a Doula, and as part of the package, she offers a 4-hour private childbirth class. We originally thought we would skip this (after 8 weeks of Bradley classes and a full day hospital class), but she convinced us otherwise. She's helped deliver over 200 babies, and has some particular theories in effective pushing. She says she thinks that most women push ineffectively, and that most of her mothers now only have to push for about 30 minutes when using her techniques. That combined with her claim of an average of only 6-10 hours of active labor, I'm sold. I'm still not sure when we'll fit in this class, but it sounds worth it!
We're also signed up to take a few more classes in the next couple of weeks. I hope Ziggy can hold on long enough for us to get through them! We're signed up for a 6-hour breastfeeding class, two 2.5 hour sessions of "life with baby," and a 2-hour infant CPR class.
Now that I'm finally able to stop obsessing about the birth, I've got to start learning about how to take care of this baby! On friends recommendations, we've bought "The Happiest Baby on the Block," which Mark is actually reading right now. It's about how to soothe your baby. I've got two books on breastfeeding, and we also have Dr. Sears Baby Book. We even picked up SupperNanny's book at the thrift store.
My body
Definitely changing! I'm up to about 50 pounds of weight gain, now. More than the "recommended," which maxes out at about 35 pounds, I think. But my doctor hasn't said anything, and it actually seems to be in line with many of my friends weight gains, so I'm not worried. I'm actually fairly impressed with my weight. I'm rather substantial now - you don't want to mess with me! :) I'm almost up to Mark's weight, and I think he's hoping that I'll pass him just for the sheer shock factor of weighing more than him. Although, he's not quite as willing to let me sit on his lap anymore. :) I'm actually pretty comfortable considering my size. I've got the round ligament pain coming back more pronounced, particularly in my groin. The biggest discomfort is my feet, which hurt a lot when I stand/walk, and as a result, I've slowed down on how much walking I do. But this morning, Mark dangled enough of a carrot in front of me to get me take a long walk. Mark's folks live not too far from a Whataburger, so I did manage to walk there to get my honey butter biscuit combo. Yum! I've also got some fairly considerable stretch marks - mostly on my hips, but I don't really mind them too much. Sure it would have been great if I didn't get them, but they'll go away eventually. Also, I can't inhale quite as much food as I used to, as my stomach gets squished into a smaller and smaller space. I suppose it's like having that gastric bypass surgery. :) I also have some nauseousness again - but I think that may really be heartburn/indigestion. Once again, it's that feeling like I'm starving, and it makes me want to eat, which is NOT helpful if it's really heartburn. So figuring out really when to eat can be confusing.
Overall, though, I feel like I'm doing pretty good considering I'm 8 months pregnant. I think working actually helps, because it keeps my occupied and busy, without having to exert too much energy. When I'm at home I get worn out and frustrated that it takes all of my energy to put three dishes away. At work I can be much more productive sitting in one place. :)
Work
Speaking of work, I'm still not sure how much time I'll take off, and in what capacity I'll go back. I do know that I'm taking a minimum of about 3 months off, and that I'll be going back part time. But in speaking with some new moms at work, I found out that I can keep my benefits unfrozen (most notably, the vesting part in the savings program), if I take a 30-day personal leave, versus the extended LOA for family. With six weeks disability, and 30-day personal leave (that's 30 working days - another 6 weeks), that's almost 3 months. Then I can go back as little as one day per week (8 hours per week - doesn't even need to be all day), and my team seems pretty flexible in even letting me do some work from home. I'm starting to lean this way (versus 6 months off), so we'll see what happens.
I'm in the handover period right now with the woman who will be taking over my job. It's a little frustrating, because she's got a LOT to learn, and who knows how much time she has to learn it. I think everyone assumes this baby is not going to pop out until it's due date, and that we technically have two people working my job full time, so they are still trying to give me new work to do. Fortunately, I'm able to pass the new stuff on to her, as I try to wrap up all the stuff I've already started. They have also only scheduled her to work until the end of September, so if I decide to take the full six months off, I'm not sure what they'll do. I'm actually more worried about coming back part time, without any support, and needing to get a full-time job done on a half-time schedule. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Too many unknowns for now. But at least the time is flying by at work, as I really do want to wrap up as much as possible, so my replacement isn't overwhelmed and doesn't have to re-do work just because it's hard to pick up some of my work mid-cycle.
And finally, here is the 8-month pictures.
Like I said, we finished our Bradley class last weekend. We ended up deciding to hire a Doula, and as part of the package, she offers a 4-hour private childbirth class. We originally thought we would skip this (after 8 weeks of Bradley classes and a full day hospital class), but she convinced us otherwise. She's helped deliver over 200 babies, and has some particular theories in effective pushing. She says she thinks that most women push ineffectively, and that most of her mothers now only have to push for about 30 minutes when using her techniques. That combined with her claim of an average of only 6-10 hours of active labor, I'm sold. I'm still not sure when we'll fit in this class, but it sounds worth it!
We're also signed up to take a few more classes in the next couple of weeks. I hope Ziggy can hold on long enough for us to get through them! We're signed up for a 6-hour breastfeeding class, two 2.5 hour sessions of "life with baby," and a 2-hour infant CPR class.
Now that I'm finally able to stop obsessing about the birth, I've got to start learning about how to take care of this baby! On friends recommendations, we've bought "The Happiest Baby on the Block," which Mark is actually reading right now. It's about how to soothe your baby. I've got two books on breastfeeding, and we also have Dr. Sears Baby Book. We even picked up SupperNanny's book at the thrift store.
My body
Definitely changing! I'm up to about 50 pounds of weight gain, now. More than the "recommended," which maxes out at about 35 pounds, I think. But my doctor hasn't said anything, and it actually seems to be in line with many of my friends weight gains, so I'm not worried. I'm actually fairly impressed with my weight. I'm rather substantial now - you don't want to mess with me! :) I'm almost up to Mark's weight, and I think he's hoping that I'll pass him just for the sheer shock factor of weighing more than him. Although, he's not quite as willing to let me sit on his lap anymore. :) I'm actually pretty comfortable considering my size. I've got the round ligament pain coming back more pronounced, particularly in my groin. The biggest discomfort is my feet, which hurt a lot when I stand/walk, and as a result, I've slowed down on how much walking I do. But this morning, Mark dangled enough of a carrot in front of me to get me take a long walk. Mark's folks live not too far from a Whataburger, so I did manage to walk there to get my honey butter biscuit combo. Yum! I've also got some fairly considerable stretch marks - mostly on my hips, but I don't really mind them too much. Sure it would have been great if I didn't get them, but they'll go away eventually. Also, I can't inhale quite as much food as I used to, as my stomach gets squished into a smaller and smaller space. I suppose it's like having that gastric bypass surgery. :) I also have some nauseousness again - but I think that may really be heartburn/indigestion. Once again, it's that feeling like I'm starving, and it makes me want to eat, which is NOT helpful if it's really heartburn. So figuring out really when to eat can be confusing.
Overall, though, I feel like I'm doing pretty good considering I'm 8 months pregnant. I think working actually helps, because it keeps my occupied and busy, without having to exert too much energy. When I'm at home I get worn out and frustrated that it takes all of my energy to put three dishes away. At work I can be much more productive sitting in one place. :)
Work
Speaking of work, I'm still not sure how much time I'll take off, and in what capacity I'll go back. I do know that I'm taking a minimum of about 3 months off, and that I'll be going back part time. But in speaking with some new moms at work, I found out that I can keep my benefits unfrozen (most notably, the vesting part in the savings program), if I take a 30-day personal leave, versus the extended LOA for family. With six weeks disability, and 30-day personal leave (that's 30 working days - another 6 weeks), that's almost 3 months. Then I can go back as little as one day per week (8 hours per week - doesn't even need to be all day), and my team seems pretty flexible in even letting me do some work from home. I'm starting to lean this way (versus 6 months off), so we'll see what happens.
I'm in the handover period right now with the woman who will be taking over my job. It's a little frustrating, because she's got a LOT to learn, and who knows how much time she has to learn it. I think everyone assumes this baby is not going to pop out until it's due date, and that we technically have two people working my job full time, so they are still trying to give me new work to do. Fortunately, I'm able to pass the new stuff on to her, as I try to wrap up all the stuff I've already started. They have also only scheduled her to work until the end of September, so if I decide to take the full six months off, I'm not sure what they'll do. I'm actually more worried about coming back part time, without any support, and needing to get a full-time job done on a half-time schedule. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Too many unknowns for now. But at least the time is flying by at work, as I really do want to wrap up as much as possible, so my replacement isn't overwhelmed and doesn't have to re-do work just because it's hard to pick up some of my work mid-cycle.
And finally, here is the 8-month pictures.
Hope you've enjoyed this entry. We'll have to see if the next one has pictures of our son!
