Quinn's BlogThursday, April 29, 2004
Starting Classes
Last night we started our first birthing class. I had no idea what to expect, Allison did all the leg work to figure out which classes were offered, and what sounded best to her. I have some opinion on all the different kinds of classes that are offered, but I fell like we need to take something that Allison felt comfortable with, not me. So the class we started was "Birthing from Within".
Birthing From Within is based upon a book of the same title. I have not had a chance to read the book, we picked up the book over the weekend and found out the class was starting the day after we signed up, so I came to class pretty unprepared. When I first walked in the door I was pretty shocked. It looked very much like a hippy ritual. They had a colorful blanket with a "mother godess" print, a wire basket full of fake peddles spilled onto the mat, a magic wand, and a bunch of other paraphernalia you'd find in the "impulse buy" section of you local new age book shop. My first thoughts were "What has Allison got me into?" There's no chairs, you all sit on the floor. I've never been in shape enough to sit on the floor for very long. I don't care what anyone says, sitting on the floor just ain't natrual. I don't think this makes me a bad person, I just don't sit on the floor well.
The teacher talked about what we were to learn in the class. Over all I have to say the ideas are strong. She talked about being in the moment. Not being in your head, or thinking about some movie/tv show, something you wanted to order off the web. But being there for the experience of the birth. Also, not to intellectualize the process too much. To allow your instincts to take over. All of this I can agree with. I've taken enough acting classes to hear the term "being in the moment" to understand what it means. Its very easy to overthink something, but to allow your creative self to come up with the necessary skills to pull off a scene, this is hard to do, and it's more important then being too heady. This made sense to me. But then she referred to the idea that primitive people were more instictual, and this was easer for them to do, becouse they haven't over evolved a huge brain like we have, so they were better. This harps back to the idea of the "brilliant savage." Which is an idea that I just don't agree with.
So I can tell right away, that there's going to be aspects of the class that I'm going to like, and aspects that I'm not going to like. What I really need to do is to go to the class with an open mind. The ideas that they teach in the class seem sound, even if the delivery of the ideas are not. I can look beyond packaging, no I mean it, I really can!!
After that she had us hold ice in a way to help us feel the pain of contractions. It was more of a symbol of the pain then the actual experience of the pain. This part was not fun, but I thought was important and interesting. She was teaching methods of pain management and coping techniques.
The other part of the class I agreed with was the idea of as a husband I'm not there to rescue Allison, or fix things. I'm there for support. This makes a lot of sense. I never did see myself as a rescuer, but I know if this idea wasn't presented to me in this way, my instincts would probably lead me in that direction and I wouldn't be aware of it. It was good to hear.
So for the most part that was my view of the first class. Allison will of course give you her review of the class. I'm going to try and read parts of the book this week so next week I'll have a better understanding of the class. And I am going to go to the class with an open mind.
No really!
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Last night we started our first birthing class. I had no idea what to expect, Allison did all the leg work to figure out which classes were offered, and what sounded best to her. I have some opinion on all the different kinds of classes that are offered, but I fell like we need to take something that Allison felt comfortable with, not me. So the class we started was "Birthing from Within".
Birthing From Within is based upon a book of the same title. I have not had a chance to read the book, we picked up the book over the weekend and found out the class was starting the day after we signed up, so I came to class pretty unprepared. When I first walked in the door I was pretty shocked. It looked very much like a hippy ritual. They had a colorful blanket with a "mother godess" print, a wire basket full of fake peddles spilled onto the mat, a magic wand, and a bunch of other paraphernalia you'd find in the "impulse buy" section of you local new age book shop. My first thoughts were "What has Allison got me into?" There's no chairs, you all sit on the floor. I've never been in shape enough to sit on the floor for very long. I don't care what anyone says, sitting on the floor just ain't natrual. I don't think this makes me a bad person, I just don't sit on the floor well.
The teacher talked about what we were to learn in the class. Over all I have to say the ideas are strong. She talked about being in the moment. Not being in your head, or thinking about some movie/tv show, something you wanted to order off the web. But being there for the experience of the birth. Also, not to intellectualize the process too much. To allow your instincts to take over. All of this I can agree with. I've taken enough acting classes to hear the term "being in the moment" to understand what it means. Its very easy to overthink something, but to allow your creative self to come up with the necessary skills to pull off a scene, this is hard to do, and it's more important then being too heady. This made sense to me. But then she referred to the idea that primitive people were more instictual, and this was easer for them to do, becouse they haven't over evolved a huge brain like we have, so they were better. This harps back to the idea of the "brilliant savage." Which is an idea that I just don't agree with.
So I can tell right away, that there's going to be aspects of the class that I'm going to like, and aspects that I'm not going to like. What I really need to do is to go to the class with an open mind. The ideas that they teach in the class seem sound, even if the delivery of the ideas are not. I can look beyond packaging, no I mean it, I really can!!
After that she had us hold ice in a way to help us feel the pain of contractions. It was more of a symbol of the pain then the actual experience of the pain. This part was not fun, but I thought was important and interesting. She was teaching methods of pain management and coping techniques.
The other part of the class I agreed with was the idea of as a husband I'm not there to rescue Allison, or fix things. I'm there for support. This makes a lot of sense. I never did see myself as a rescuer, but I know if this idea wasn't presented to me in this way, my instincts would probably lead me in that direction and I wouldn't be aware of it. It was good to hear.
So for the most part that was my view of the first class. Allison will of course give you her review of the class. I'm going to try and read parts of the book this week so next week I'll have a better understanding of the class. And I am going to go to the class with an open mind.
No really!
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Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Happy Birthday Mom!
Today is my mom's birthday. Soon to be a grandma!
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Today is my mom's birthday. Soon to be a grandma!
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Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Painted The Room
This is my first attempt at putting a lot of pictures on line. Its my hope that this doesn't take too long to download. I know a lot of you are on slow connections, please let me know if it takes too long.
As Allison said, we painted the room this weekend. It was hot, but it went smoothly. We still have some touch-ups to do, but we'll have to wait to this weekend to do them.
This is how we started the day. Allison was tired and it was hot.
The first stroke:
This is easy:
Half way:
Now I'm tired, can I sit down and paint:
Loading up the brush:
Room Done:
And that's our day. I hope you enjoyed it.
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This is my first attempt at putting a lot of pictures on line. Its my hope that this doesn't take too long to download. I know a lot of you are on slow connections, please let me know if it takes too long.
As Allison said, we painted the room this weekend. It was hot, but it went smoothly. We still have some touch-ups to do, but we'll have to wait to this weekend to do them.
This is how we started the day. Allison was tired and it was hot.
The first stroke:
This is easy:
Half way:
Now I'm tired, can I sit down and paint:
Loading up the brush:
Room Done:
And that's our day. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Monday, April 26, 2004
A Room of a Different Color
I'm fairly exhausted after this weekend, but we did it. It was so hot Ethan said the paint was drying in the can. He did most of the work. I had to keep stopping because I was so hot and I don't bend so well anymore. But, the room is a new color. I'm calling it periwinke purple. It was supposed to be a little more purple, but it's dried closer to periwinkle. A great background for the Totoro. I'm excited to get the furniture in.
Ethan took pictures of the transformation. They'll be up soon.
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I'm fairly exhausted after this weekend, but we did it. It was so hot Ethan said the paint was drying in the can. He did most of the work. I had to keep stopping because I was so hot and I don't bend so well anymore. But, the room is a new color. I'm calling it periwinke purple. It was supposed to be a little more purple, but it's dried closer to periwinkle. A great background for the Totoro. I'm excited to get the furniture in.
Ethan took pictures of the transformation. They'll be up soon.
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Visit to the doctor - 27 weeks
We had a great visit today. Here's the stats:
Weight gain since last visit: 1 lb.
Total weight gain: 9
Blood Glucose tolerance test: Dr. Bluvas said "passed with flying colors" (there was no worry, it's a routine test)
Iron levels: good
Blood Pressure: good
Baby size: "perfect"
Fetal Heart Beat: 150 bpm (I think the baby was napping)
This time we asked question about pain medication. Our doctor says we have two options, narcotics or epidural. I was disappointed that they don't routinely give "walking" epidurals to first time moms. What the doctor said was this; If a first-time mom who wants an unmedicated delivery and has gotten to the point were she wants and epidural, the walking epidural is too short (2-3 hours) and possibly too weak for relief. At that stage a mother has usually been in labor for long enough that the epidural will provide a break from the pain and some needed sleep.
The narcotic choice they offer is Fentanyl (I think I have the correct spelling). The thing with narcotics is they pass to the baby and it will put you out like any narcotic should. They won't give it if you're 8-9 cm dilated and it's short lived.
I asked about other medications. Maybe something like Tylanol, which she said was fine for early labor, but there's a point in active labor where your stomach won't be normal. Medications could upset your stomach, and you wouldn't absorb it anyway.
So that's the 411 on pain medication. I hope to avoid them. I thought the whole idea of birth was pain. Something I read the other day talked about the pain in labor on a scale of 1-100. One being no pain and 100 being the most painful thing you could imagine. That labor was 110-120, you have to learn to cope with it. I'm not doubting that it will suck, I'm just hoping to make it through.
The next thing we asked about was something we'd heard about. We've both come across the idea that you should make sure the doctor waits until the umbilical cord stops pulsing before it's cut. Ethan has heard more than I, but it seemed to make sense. I just haven't found something to back this up. What Ethan heard was the idea that the baby gets all of it's blood that was circulating into it's body before being detached from the placenta. Dr. Bluvas seemed to think that this wasn't necessary. That, say, if you cut off your leg, you wouldn't need the extra blood from the leg because there's less of your body to need the blood. The answer made sense to me. I'm trying to find more information. I think if we were adamant about it, it would not be that much to ask.
Everything else was good. She asked if we had a car seat, if we were taking classes, and if I was getting exercise. She looked at my round belly and said that it was the perfect size. She was generally please with how everything was progressing.
Our appointments are up to every two weeks. Next one is May 3rd.
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We had a great visit today. Here's the stats:
Weight gain since last visit: 1 lb.
Total weight gain: 9
Blood Glucose tolerance test: Dr. Bluvas said "passed with flying colors" (there was no worry, it's a routine test)
Iron levels: good
Blood Pressure: good
Baby size: "perfect"
Fetal Heart Beat: 150 bpm (I think the baby was napping)
This time we asked question about pain medication. Our doctor says we have two options, narcotics or epidural. I was disappointed that they don't routinely give "walking" epidurals to first time moms. What the doctor said was this; If a first-time mom who wants an unmedicated delivery and has gotten to the point were she wants and epidural, the walking epidural is too short (2-3 hours) and possibly too weak for relief. At that stage a mother has usually been in labor for long enough that the epidural will provide a break from the pain and some needed sleep.
The narcotic choice they offer is Fentanyl (I think I have the correct spelling). The thing with narcotics is they pass to the baby and it will put you out like any narcotic should. They won't give it if you're 8-9 cm dilated and it's short lived.
I asked about other medications. Maybe something like Tylanol, which she said was fine for early labor, but there's a point in active labor where your stomach won't be normal. Medications could upset your stomach, and you wouldn't absorb it anyway.
So that's the 411 on pain medication. I hope to avoid them. I thought the whole idea of birth was pain. Something I read the other day talked about the pain in labor on a scale of 1-100. One being no pain and 100 being the most painful thing you could imagine. That labor was 110-120, you have to learn to cope with it. I'm not doubting that it will suck, I'm just hoping to make it through.
The next thing we asked about was something we'd heard about. We've both come across the idea that you should make sure the doctor waits until the umbilical cord stops pulsing before it's cut. Ethan has heard more than I, but it seemed to make sense. I just haven't found something to back this up. What Ethan heard was the idea that the baby gets all of it's blood that was circulating into it's body before being detached from the placenta. Dr. Bluvas seemed to think that this wasn't necessary. That, say, if you cut off your leg, you wouldn't need the extra blood from the leg because there's less of your body to need the blood. The answer made sense to me. I'm trying to find more information. I think if we were adamant about it, it would not be that much to ask.
Everything else was good. She asked if we had a car seat, if we were taking classes, and if I was getting exercise. She looked at my round belly and said that it was the perfect size. She was generally please with how everything was progressing.
Our appointments are up to every two weeks. Next one is May 3rd.
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Comments
Thanks to my web guru Brian, you can now leave comments. That is why my blog and this baby blog has moved to .php
Feel free to comment on anything you want:)
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Thanks to my web guru Brian, you can now leave comments. That is why my blog and this baby blog has moved to .php
Feel free to comment on anything you want:)
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Hospital Reviewed
I found these reviews of the hospital we're using.
Best Local Hospitals for Supporting Women's Choices:
Sequoia Hospital has a long-standing record of supporting women's choices and progressive birth practices:
Private-practice midwives
Supporting continuous mother-baby contact through the assumption that baby should stay in the room with mom; this supports breastfeeding and bonding and reduces infection and trauma for the baby.
Nursing staff that provides care for families both before and after the birth, so the nurses who help you in labor may also be the ones to help you with breastfeeding and recovery in the following days.
Supporting bonding and breastfeeding through LDRM rooms(Labor/Delivery/Recovery/Maternity) so that the whole family doesn't have to be transported and haul all their stuff from the birth room to the maternity room and so that every new family has a private room and the partner can stay with the new mom and baby!
Last, but certainly not least, they are known for providing respectful reception and highest-quality care to women who choose hospital birth after receiving prenatal care from an out-of-hospital provider. No care provider likes to take responsibility for a laboring woman who received prenatal care from another practice with their own, different set of protocols, but Sequoia Hospital providers seem able to rise above this to provide the best possible care to every laboring woman. We are lucky to have them in our community!
And:
Sequoia Hospital - Sequoia's probably THE BEST place to have a baby on the Peninsula. Sequoia Hospital is one of our local midwifery leaders, boasting TWO midwives in private practice. (NOTE - As of January, 2003, I heard that the midwife situation is changing - one midwife left and another can't attend births because of an injury sustained (in the line of duty?) Call to ask them.) The nurses there are wonderful; they clearly strive to support alternative choices, and they provide excellent care with a level of respect and compassion that borders on the saintly. They have Labor/Delivery/Recovery/Maternity rooms,
meaning that once you check in for labor, you usually stay in the same room for your entire stay there; it's a relief not to have to haul your luggage from one room to the next, and I think there's something psychologically very satisfying for the new mothers about not being moved around during this vulnerable time. They have default rooming-in, meaning that healthy mothers and babies are kept together in the mother's room; all routine newborn care is provided right there in the mother's room, which is a superior environment for bonding and breastfeeding. (There used to be something funny about the anesthesia situation at Sequoia - the nurses seemed very reluctant to call in the anesthesiologist to administer an epidural, so they really pushed narcotics instead; this was a lose/lose situation for first-time mothers in need of pharmaceutical pain relief; they usually ended up with an epidural anyway, and then their baby had needlessly been exposed to the considerable
immediate and life-long risks of the higher doses used in IV narcotics compared to an epidural; this seems to have improved. Some years ago, I personally witnessed an incident where the nursery nurse shook a baby abusively after the parents declined a diagnostic procedure, but they seem to have become more respectful of parents' choices since then.)
Here's the Link
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I found these reviews of the hospital we're using.
Best Local Hospitals for Supporting Women's Choices:
Sequoia Hospital has a long-standing record of supporting women's choices and progressive birth practices:
Private-practice midwives
Supporting continuous mother-baby contact through the assumption that baby should stay in the room with mom; this supports breastfeeding and bonding and reduces infection and trauma for the baby.
Nursing staff that provides care for families both before and after the birth, so the nurses who help you in labor may also be the ones to help you with breastfeeding and recovery in the following days.
Supporting bonding and breastfeeding through LDRM rooms(Labor/Delivery/Recovery/Maternity) so that the whole family doesn't have to be transported and haul all their stuff from the birth room to the maternity room and so that every new family has a private room and the partner can stay with the new mom and baby!
Last, but certainly not least, they are known for providing respectful reception and highest-quality care to women who choose hospital birth after receiving prenatal care from an out-of-hospital provider. No care provider likes to take responsibility for a laboring woman who received prenatal care from another practice with their own, different set of protocols, but Sequoia Hospital providers seem able to rise above this to provide the best possible care to every laboring woman. We are lucky to have them in our community!
And:
Sequoia Hospital - Sequoia's probably THE BEST place to have a baby on the Peninsula. Sequoia Hospital is one of our local midwifery leaders, boasting TWO midwives in private practice. (NOTE - As of January, 2003, I heard that the midwife situation is changing - one midwife left and another can't attend births because of an injury sustained (in the line of duty?) Call to ask them.) The nurses there are wonderful; they clearly strive to support alternative choices, and they provide excellent care with a level of respect and compassion that borders on the saintly. They have Labor/Delivery/Recovery/Maternity rooms,
meaning that once you check in for labor, you usually stay in the same room for your entire stay there; it's a relief not to have to haul your luggage from one room to the next, and I think there's something psychologically very satisfying for the new mothers about not being moved around during this vulnerable time. They have default rooming-in, meaning that healthy mothers and babies are kept together in the mother's room; all routine newborn care is provided right there in the mother's room, which is a superior environment for bonding and breastfeeding. (There used to be something funny about the anesthesia situation at Sequoia - the nurses seemed very reluctant to call in the anesthesiologist to administer an epidural, so they really pushed narcotics instead; this was a lose/lose situation for first-time mothers in need of pharmaceutical pain relief; they usually ended up with an epidural anyway, and then their baby had needlessly been exposed to the considerable
immediate and life-long risks of the higher doses used in IV narcotics compared to an epidural; this seems to have improved. Some years ago, I personally witnessed an incident where the nursery nurse shook a baby abusively after the parents declined a diagnostic procedure, but they seem to have become more respectful of parents' choices since then.)
Here's the Link
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
Baby's Room
More great deals from Craig's List. Here's our crib, changing table and Dutailier glider:
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More great deals from Craig's List. Here's our crib, changing table and Dutailier glider:
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Doctor on Tuesday
I'm excited our next doctors appointment is on Tuesday. This brings us within three weeks of our next ultra-sound!
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I'm excited our next doctors appointment is on Tuesday. This brings us within three weeks of our next ultra-sound!
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Due date approaches
Exactly three calendar months from today.
This weekend we've cleared out my office. I've managed to fit a room into a closet. Sounds horrifying, but I think we've managed to do it in an organized manner (would I have it any other way?). Ethan, who refuses to share closet space with me, has moved his clothes into the other closet in the computer room. We're both excited to bring the crib and changing table in from the garage. At the moment we're contemplating painting the room first. Not knowing the baby's sex hasn't swayed our choices. I'm horribly opposed to pink or blue, and we both like green (yes Mom, the baby's room is green). We plan on adding cute mural-ettes of the characters from My Neighbor Totoro.
As we both go through our large collection of books, I find myself reading those few interesting chapters and giving the books away. Practically sacrilege.
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Exactly three calendar months from today.
This weekend we've cleared out my office. I've managed to fit a room into a closet. Sounds horrifying, but I think we've managed to do it in an organized manner (would I have it any other way?). Ethan, who refuses to share closet space with me, has moved his clothes into the other closet in the computer room. We're both excited to bring the crib and changing table in from the garage. At the moment we're contemplating painting the room first. Not knowing the baby's sex hasn't swayed our choices. I'm horribly opposed to pink or blue, and we both like green (yes Mom, the baby's room is green). We plan on adding cute mural-ettes of the characters from My Neighbor Totoro.
As we both go through our large collection of books, I find myself reading those few interesting chapters and giving the books away. Practically sacrilege.
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Sunday, April 11, 2004
heartbeat
A couple of weeks ago Allison and I went to the doctors office to have our kid's heartbeat checked out. I brought my camcorder to record the audio. I didn't use headphones like I should have so the audio peaks quite a bit, but it's interesting to hear none the less. The doctor had trouble finding the baby's heartbeat over Allison's. As you could imagine, Allison's heartbeat was quite loud, and you could only find the baby's heartbeat if you got right on top of him/her. The baby's heartbeat is a lot faster then Allison's. I'm posting the mp3s right here:
Allison's heartbeat
Baby's heartbeat
(If you click on them, they should open up and you should just be able to hear them. If not, right click on them and click on Save As and save them to your computer, then once they're on your computer just double click on the file and they should open up and you should be able to hear it.)
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A couple of weeks ago Allison and I went to the doctors office to have our kid's heartbeat checked out. I brought my camcorder to record the audio. I didn't use headphones like I should have so the audio peaks quite a bit, but it's interesting to hear none the less. The doctor had trouble finding the baby's heartbeat over Allison's. As you could imagine, Allison's heartbeat was quite loud, and you could only find the baby's heartbeat if you got right on top of him/her. The baby's heartbeat is a lot faster then Allison's. I'm posting the mp3s right here:
Allison's heartbeat
Baby's heartbeat
(If you click on them, they should open up and you should just be able to hear them. If not, right click on them and click on Save As and save them to your computer, then once they're on your computer just double click on the file and they should open up and you should be able to hear it.)
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Friday, April 09, 2004
Books Books and more Books
Allison and I have been cramming for our baby. Borders had a sale on books, and Allison's Aunt Dianne sent us a big box of books (thank you, they look useful). But now we have more reading material then we could ever hope to finish before the baby comes. That's all right, because some of them are "care instructions" for after the kid is here.
So far, the book that I've been the most disappointed with is "What To Expect When Your Expecting" It's the book that everyone recommends, even the doctor. From what I can tell, that's all marketing. It is chop full of information, but so is "Gray's Anatomy". I wouldn't turn to Gray's when I have a broken arm, there's better books that delivers the information in a much more concise and a more timely manner. So far the book we've like the best, believe it or not, is "Kiss Baby & Child Care". The information is presented in a very clear manner and over all is a much better book, I highly recommend it.
Also magazines. We've discovered that American magazines are pretty worthless. They're all about "Sex While Pregnant" or "How to Look Good While Pregnant" and they all assume you were a size 8 before you got pregnant. So far the British magazines like "Pregnancy and Birth" and "Mother and Baby" have been great! They have very informative real world articles that look at the birthing process from all different angles. And they also have articles about unexpected pregnancies, something no American magazine would dream of publishing. That and I also like the way they say Nappys and Mummy:)
Last but not least I've been reading "The Expectant Father" this is a book that we got free from our health insurance. I normally wouldn't pick this book up, assuming that I could get all the information I needed from the other books. But surprisingly I found it to be quite useful to read information from a guy's perspective:). Useful enough that I picked up the next one "The New Father" (for $1.50, thanks amazon).
So all in all it's been study time for us, it looks like we're going to be tested in about 3 months.
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Allison and I have been cramming for our baby. Borders had a sale on books, and Allison's Aunt Dianne sent us a big box of books (thank you, they look useful). But now we have more reading material then we could ever hope to finish before the baby comes. That's all right, because some of them are "care instructions" for after the kid is here.
So far, the book that I've been the most disappointed with is "What To Expect When Your Expecting" It's the book that everyone recommends, even the doctor. From what I can tell, that's all marketing. It is chop full of information, but so is "Gray's Anatomy". I wouldn't turn to Gray's when I have a broken arm, there's better books that delivers the information in a much more concise and a more timely manner. So far the book we've like the best, believe it or not, is "Kiss Baby & Child Care". The information is presented in a very clear manner and over all is a much better book, I highly recommend it.
Also magazines. We've discovered that American magazines are pretty worthless. They're all about "Sex While Pregnant" or "How to Look Good While Pregnant" and they all assume you were a size 8 before you got pregnant. So far the British magazines like "Pregnancy and Birth" and "Mother and Baby" have been great! They have very informative real world articles that look at the birthing process from all different angles. And they also have articles about unexpected pregnancies, something no American magazine would dream of publishing. That and I also like the way they say Nappys and Mummy:)
Last but not least I've been reading "The Expectant Father" this is a book that we got free from our health insurance. I normally wouldn't pick this book up, assuming that I could get all the information I needed from the other books. But surprisingly I found it to be quite useful to read information from a guy's perspective:). Useful enough that I picked up the next one "The New Father" (for $1.50, thanks amazon).
So all in all it's been study time for us, it looks like we're going to be tested in about 3 months.
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Thursday, April 08, 2004
Email Upheaval
I can't even remember how long I've had my Urania8@angelfire.com email address. I've just got notice that Angelfire (was bought by Lycos) will be shutting down it's email accounts. Best bet to reach me:
allison at packthecat.com
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I can't even remember how long I've had my Urania8@angelfire.com email address. I've just got notice that Angelfire (was bought by Lycos) will be shutting down it's email accounts. Best bet to reach me:
allison at packthecat.com
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Wednesday, April 07, 2004
At Home Blues
I've been at home the last couple of days. I'm exhausted. It's become harder to get comfortable and sleep through the night. My bladder has felt like it was getting squished and everytime the baby kicked it managed to land right on my bladder. This didn't help by the fact that I practically had to go the minute I left the bathroom. By Sunday I had gone from uncomfortable to painful. I stayed home Monday homing to catch up on some missed sleep. That seemed to help, but as soon as I returned to my desk on Tuesday the pain was back so I called my doctor's office who told me to come in. Officially a urinary tract infection. I'd heard and read how common they were in pregnancy, but vowed to avoid them. Hurmph....The nurse gave me a prescription for antibiotics, told me to drink lots and lots of water and cranberry juice. Luckily there was a Safeway next to the Longs I went to fill my prescription and stocked up on bottled water and juice and lunch snacks for the next couple of days.
It stresses me out to miss work. Being pregnant puts me in this strange position. Already I've not been offered positions. Kind of illegal, but kind of practical. Already I have to skip some basic functions of my job. And my brain has taken a serious leave of absence, making it more difficult to communicate quickly (although this seems to come and go now instead be consistent. Any body read Flowers for Algernon...) Would I, being a manager, think of the pregnant woman as the right choice for training and a promotion? I find it hard to not to justify their actions. I guess if I knew exactly what the future held after the baby was born I might object. But I'm only entitled to three months of leave with job security. Meaning if I consider six months to be what I chose as a parent to care for an infant or even breast feed, I'd have to negotiate that with my managers. Hmm, we'll see what happens.
In any case I like what I'm doing now more than anything else; slinging coffee, managing retail, renting apartments. The people I meant generally become friends and the environment creative. Although I think a few have missed out my never having jobs as waiters or fry cooks, or retail clerks, and therefore a much needed dose of reality. There's still a horrible smell of corporate flatulence, but the band can't play in the garage forever.
Now that I've shared my mind, I'll go back to lying down and reading. I having picked up my knitting for days. I've been stuck on deciding weather I want to match the yarn up to were the last multicolored skein ends or just dive in with what ever color I get from the next one. This is the first baby blanket I've made. It's supposed to be a gift for a friend at work who had her baby about a month ago. I'm afraid he'll be in college first. You can check out Lion Brand yarns for the diagonally knitted baby blanket pattern, a fairly easy one. I'll take some pictures before it goes to it's new home.
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I've been at home the last couple of days. I'm exhausted. It's become harder to get comfortable and sleep through the night. My bladder has felt like it was getting squished and everytime the baby kicked it managed to land right on my bladder. This didn't help by the fact that I practically had to go the minute I left the bathroom. By Sunday I had gone from uncomfortable to painful. I stayed home Monday homing to catch up on some missed sleep. That seemed to help, but as soon as I returned to my desk on Tuesday the pain was back so I called my doctor's office who told me to come in. Officially a urinary tract infection. I'd heard and read how common they were in pregnancy, but vowed to avoid them. Hurmph....The nurse gave me a prescription for antibiotics, told me to drink lots and lots of water and cranberry juice. Luckily there was a Safeway next to the Longs I went to fill my prescription and stocked up on bottled water and juice and lunch snacks for the next couple of days.
It stresses me out to miss work. Being pregnant puts me in this strange position. Already I've not been offered positions. Kind of illegal, but kind of practical. Already I have to skip some basic functions of my job. And my brain has taken a serious leave of absence, making it more difficult to communicate quickly (although this seems to come and go now instead be consistent. Any body read Flowers for Algernon...) Would I, being a manager, think of the pregnant woman as the right choice for training and a promotion? I find it hard to not to justify their actions. I guess if I knew exactly what the future held after the baby was born I might object. But I'm only entitled to three months of leave with job security. Meaning if I consider six months to be what I chose as a parent to care for an infant or even breast feed, I'd have to negotiate that with my managers. Hmm, we'll see what happens.
In any case I like what I'm doing now more than anything else; slinging coffee, managing retail, renting apartments. The people I meant generally become friends and the environment creative. Although I think a few have missed out my never having jobs as waiters or fry cooks, or retail clerks, and therefore a much needed dose of reality. There's still a horrible smell of corporate flatulence, but the band can't play in the garage forever.
Now that I've shared my mind, I'll go back to lying down and reading. I having picked up my knitting for days. I've been stuck on deciding weather I want to match the yarn up to were the last multicolored skein ends or just dive in with what ever color I get from the next one. This is the first baby blanket I've made. It's supposed to be a gift for a friend at work who had her baby about a month ago. I'm afraid he'll be in college first. You can check out Lion Brand yarns for the diagonally knitted baby blanket pattern, a fairly easy one. I'll take some pictures before it goes to it's new home.
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Friday, April 02, 2004
Still More Pictures
Here are a couple pictures that I took from our last ultrasound. This First one you can clearly make out the shape of the baby's body. The head is to the right, his chest is just under it to the left.
This was the ultrasound where we were supposed to find out the sex. We really wanted to know. But we didn't do this ulrasound with our usual doctor. We had to see this different doctor in Palo Alto because he had a more high-tech ultrasound machine. (That's why the picture is in that red color) The machine was really very good, you could make out a lot of detail, but the doctor we were working with was a real jerk. He had no bedside manners what so ever. He barely ever spoke to us, he just went down his check list of things to look for and then left. The nurse stuck around a bit longer to try and help us figure out the sex but she was unable to do it.
I video taped the session, when I got back to work, I put the video on the computers at work and stepped through the frames to try and figure it out myself. We still don't know. The last thing the nurse said to us was that it was a 60% chance of being a girl. At least that's 10% better then the hart beat test.
Here's the other picture. I like it because you can clearly make out the hand and the fingers. In the video you can see 60%her make a fist. It was quite cute
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Here are a couple pictures that I took from our last ultrasound. This First one you can clearly make out the shape of the baby's body. The head is to the right, his chest is just under it to the left.
This was the ultrasound where we were supposed to find out the sex. We really wanted to know. But we didn't do this ulrasound with our usual doctor. We had to see this different doctor in Palo Alto because he had a more high-tech ultrasound machine. (That's why the picture is in that red color) The machine was really very good, you could make out a lot of detail, but the doctor we were working with was a real jerk. He had no bedside manners what so ever. He barely ever spoke to us, he just went down his check list of things to look for and then left. The nurse stuck around a bit longer to try and help us figure out the sex but she was unable to do it.
I video taped the session, when I got back to work, I put the video on the computers at work and stepped through the frames to try and figure it out myself. We still don't know. The last thing the nurse said to us was that it was a 60% chance of being a girl. At least that's 10% better then the hart beat test.
Here's the other picture. I like it because you can clearly make out the hand and the fingers. In the video you can see 60%her make a fist. It was quite cute
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Thursday, April 01, 2004
In Pursuit of Doula
We got a recommendation for a Doula from our doctor. I called her right away and she sounds excellent! It'll be a huge help to have someone "not emotionally invested" in a non-distractible sense, there to help.
We meet with her on Sunday in pregnant woman's paradise...Baskin Robbins...
Here's more info on what a Doula does:
...A doula, with her knowledge of the natural physiology of labor and delivery can explain suggested medical procedures and interventions and help provide the clarity expectant parents need when faced with difficult decisions. A doula does not, however, function in any medical capacity and does not ordinarily use any clinical skills. Labor assistants with clinical skills such as those used by nurses (fetal heart tones, blood pressure checks and vaginal exams), are called monitrices, and are usually professionally trained as nurses or midwives...
...Physical comfort measures used during labor can include massage, counter-pressure, gentle touch, and literally supporting the laboring woman's body weight during a strong contraction. Positioning and frequent position changes are proving to be helpful in labor progress. Doulas often help mothers in squat or other positions that require strong physical support. Emotional comfort is essential if the mother is to feel safe and secure in the birthing environment...
Here's the full article.
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We got a recommendation for a Doula from our doctor. I called her right away and she sounds excellent! It'll be a huge help to have someone "not emotionally invested" in a non-distractible sense, there to help.
We meet with her on Sunday in pregnant woman's paradise...Baskin Robbins...
Here's more info on what a Doula does:
...A doula, with her knowledge of the natural physiology of labor and delivery can explain suggested medical procedures and interventions and help provide the clarity expectant parents need when faced with difficult decisions. A doula does not, however, function in any medical capacity and does not ordinarily use any clinical skills. Labor assistants with clinical skills such as those used by nurses (fetal heart tones, blood pressure checks and vaginal exams), are called monitrices, and are usually professionally trained as nurses or midwives...
...Physical comfort measures used during labor can include massage, counter-pressure, gentle touch, and literally supporting the laboring woman's body weight during a strong contraction. Positioning and frequent position changes are proving to be helpful in labor progress. Doulas often help mothers in squat or other positions that require strong physical support. Emotional comfort is essential if the mother is to feel safe and secure in the birthing environment...
Here's the full article.
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