Doctor Quote of the Day...

Today Carrie went in for her weekly check as we are on the final countdown to birth. Turns out she's now 4.5cm dilated and over 75% effaced. Sounds to me like we should be having a baby...? The doctors reaction confirms this and earned a quote of the day award.

"I just don't understand what's holding this baby in."

She went on to add that it must be a boy as stubborn as the baby is being. So that's where we're at. Ready and waiting, seems like something should be happening but it's not. Due date is still June 30th but it is seeming very unlikely that we make it that far as next week at 39 weeks we may be inducing labor.

One Last Class

Oh boy...last night was our final class with anything related to the baby. We've done the childbirth class, we've done the child care class but last night we went to the dreaded breast feeding class!! My worst nightmare, a room full of women learning to breast feed.

My initial thought here is surely my participation or attendance wouldn't be necessary. To my knowledge a man doesn't really contribute here I thought of it a little like that class in college that was easy and unimportant enough that you could pass the test just by knowing someone who took it and getting all the answers. Furthermore, I would put money on possibly being the first official male graduate of breast feeding class in my family. What an honor.

However, the dreaded "support" word get's tossed around and again I'm front and center holding onto this fake baby doll watching video's about "proper latch."

Now there were a multitude of jaw dropping moments within the class for me but fortunately I was slightly late and missed the two that might have been deal breakers. I arrived about 15 minutes late for class and it was well under way on my arrival. As with any class there is the "ice breaker" get to know everyone portion, followed by any initial questions. This is what I missed and I was later informed by Carrie that it was a good thing.

First off our lactation specialist who is teaching the class discusses her experiences in breastfeeding her three children. She has a 4 year old, a 2 year old and a 9 month old. Perhaps I'm way out of line here and if I am consider me now educated but I would have assumed that only the 9 month old was currently breastfeeding. Wrong!!! Apparently the 4 year old and 2 year old are still as well. To each his own I suppose and I'm sure there is a good argument for this being a beneficial thing but I'm not sure and I'm glad I wasn't in the room quite yet.

Next comes the stupid husband question/comment of the night. In our group of 6 couples I'm fairly sure only two husbands even spoke and the first one to chime in proceeds to ask if breast milk was something adults could have, following that question up with the comment, "not that I'm into that." I think that would have been my signal to depart but alas I was about 15 minutes late missing stupid question #1 of the evening.

Keeping a long story short this was by far the most uncomfortable I've ever been in one of these classes yet and I've never been happier to "graduate." The class prior to this, child care, I actually almost enjoyed learning to change a diaper. I envisioned myself as a rodeo participant dominating the calf roping competition as I successfully changed the diaper in record time. There is no such analogy or fun to be had though in breast feeding class.

Breast pumps, proper latch, massaging the breasts to release milk...I'm not sure where I come into play here but all in all it was educational and something I never want to sit through again. Three hours in class, in a tiny room is enough to drive me up the wall. Add in the subject matter of the evening and it wasn't easy.

Certainly I would do it again in a heartbeat if Carrie asked but hopefully we're both well versed after this class, all goes well after birth and we won't be re-learning anytime soon.

Down to the Wire

So we are truly down to the final hours, days or weeks...at this point no one is sure. Went to the doctor on Tuesday and everything is pretty much good to go, Carrie is "progressing" quickly and it's just a matter of when this new guy or gal wants to come into the world I guess.

I'm fairly certain Carrie is ready for this to be over with. It's turned into pretty much a nightly event of her being up from 3-6 or so because she isn't able to sleep for a variety of reasons. It's actually become so frequent that I haven't even noticed her getting up lately and only realize it when I see random facebook comments from her at 3:46 in the morning.

If there is one thing I think I have learned through all this it's that man pregnancy is a funny thing. To us it's pretty much a slow and steady ride with little bumps in the road as opposed to a woman who rides a rollercoaster of emotion, changes and I'm pretty sure hormones come into play somewhere along the way too.

I think for men the rollercoaster begins when the baby really get's here or at least when things finally seem imminent which has happened for me very recently. I'll admit it, I've been a little stressed the past couple of weeks hoping we've got everything in order and ready. Last weekend we made a major house cleaning effort so that at the very least we had one part of our lives in order. I guess it will probably be the last time we'll feel like that for a while but it should be fun.

As I'm writing this Carrie is on another Doc visit because they wanted to check on things due to some cramping and mild contractions. Who knows I could be in the hospital tonight. Very strange, very exciting and it really does change your perspective on things a bit I suppose. Obviously there are many chapters in life but I'm not sure any have this definitive of a beginning. The baby is there and that's that, no easing into things with this one.

So onto my best effort at remaining focused at work, it's been tough lately having that impending birth thing in my head...it's kind of like trying to be productive at work the day before vacation or on Christmas eve. Despite your best efforts, it's impossible.

High Pressure Sales Tactics

Sunday nights over the past two weeks have gone from a relaxing evening watching Joan Rivers and Clint Black duke it out on Celebrity Apprentice to a 4 hour block of baby class. Think of it like a lecture in college but for an extended period of time. Honestly after fighting my way through the 8 hours of total teaching I wonder how in fact I made it through school in the first place. There must have been a time when my attention span was much greater and I was a better student.

Anyway, back to the class...baby express I think it was called and it involves all things baby delivery. Sure, sounds like a good idea and maybe it is but the kicker is that the ultimate result was much like a timeshare presentation.

Picture this...your staying at a resort and you want to get the free shuttle, dinner, maybe an extended happy hour for the week whatever it may be they want you to simply sit through their short 1 hour seminar about the resort. Next thing you know you really feel like you need to buy this thing and they make it hell to say no. Ultimately I suppose it's easy to win out because there is a monetary factor involved but in baby class that is not the case.

Day one consisted of roughly three and a half hours of relaxation techniques for the expectant mother. Great!! by all means let's get her relaxed have the baby...everybody wins. That's where they get you...as an expectant father it becomes apparent that you are the one that is responsible for said relaxation. Coaching, soothing, encouraging and MASSAGING!!!

Again, completely understandable come baby time and labor is in full swing. I for one am SO glad that i don't have to be in charge of that but in class I suddenly find myself rope-a-doped into giving massage after massage but we aren't really having the baby...just practicing?

Translation...my relaxing Sunday evening watching celebrity apprentice just turned into a group spa session for Carrie and all with the promise of a more comfortable birth. Now are you seeing the timeshare comparison??

In all honesty I'm making it sound worse than it was and I only tell the story because Carrie and I had fun with it and the comparison for most of the week. Glad we did it, glad it's over...the only funny thing is, I think I feel better about the child birth thing, but I'm pretty sure Carrie feels worse.

Baby Update

So once again I've been neglecting my expectant fatherly duties in recording and documenting all things pregnancy for a little while. Truth be told though it's pretty uneventful anymore and that might be a good thing.

Since the 3D ultrasound it's been a grind to the finish and we've still got a month and a half to go. Sure seems like the first few months flew by but now I think we're both just ready to meet the new baby and get going with things.

The baby room is pretty much completely setup at this point to which we owe a great deal of thanks to two baby showers for providing a multitude of wonderful gifts to help us prepare.

In addition we've gotten to purchasing some of the major things as well like a pack and play, one of those swing things and we did receive the ever important Jayhawk onesy. I do have to admit though that the excitement of my first trip to look at all the baby stuff has gradually worn off as there suddenly became a cost associated with said items.

Other than that not a whole lot of news. We took one last trip to Mexico pre-baby with Carrie's work which was fun but also very glad to be out of there right before the dreaded swine flu took hold.

After that Carrie took a trip to Quincy and I'll be doing the same at the end of this month so it's just been a busy time with doctor visits in between.

The only other thing really is that we've taken a couple of baby classes which deserve their own posting so that will come this week I promise. After that I guess we're getting down to the nitty gritty and I'll be in touch as things warrant some reference and certainly when we get down to time for the baby to come and going forward I think I'll use this as a sounding board beyond just pregnancy but to talk about all those other challenges that will certainly come along the way.

Oh and one last thing...struggling with boy names so if anyone has any good ideas feel free to sound off...we probably won't use the one you suggest but you never know :D

Looks Like a Real Person

28.5 Weeks at this point and entering the homestretch. Carrie is still in good spirits but we're both getting anxious. Time that once seemed to fly by is now standing still.

We did however visit the doctor this week and have some neat stuff to share. Technology is truly amazing and this week we had a 3D ultrasound done in which we got a chance to see up close and personal some images of the baby.

Not sure exactly how this all works but basically it's like looking top down through the stomach and at the baby. If it cooperates things look pretty incredible, if not a little blurry. For the most part the baby wasn't super cooperative but we did get a few great shots that I wanted to share.



Now it's funny because while they're doing the ultrasound the baby is moving and tossing and turning so you get to see all that going on and it's truly a real live person in there at this point which is somewhat shocking to me for some reason.

We saw hands opening and closing. Several times the hand seemed to wave at the "camera" or perhaps the baby is as non photogenic as I am and was attempting to block the view.

Another really crazy thing that happened was it's eyes opening. Apparently this isn't very common for them to catch this on the ultrasounds but it did in fact open it's eyes which again was very exciting but kind of strange as well because the images are pretty vivid.





We found a baby picture of me that Carrie thinks looks VERY similar to the baby in the above photos but we'll have to see when it arrives.

Another note worth mentioning from the visit is a possible answer to the ever popular question of "what are you having?"

We managed to again avoid temptation and not find out the sex but we did have two moments where we thought we might be getting hints from the ultrasound tech and the doc. The problem is they were opposites.

I swear during the ultrasound I heard the word "he" slip a few times while talking about the baby. Problem is after that with the doctor the word "she" slipped. Who knows? and honestly at this point I've given up...everyone seems to have one reason or another why it is what it is based on an old wives tale or something and I guess come the day of the birth we'll just have to prove half of those wrong.

Some Assembly Required

After much deliberation and two cribs being discontinued we left Baby's R Us last night with a crib in tow. I was very impressed with Carrie's selection for a variety of reason. First it is a very nice looking crib and I think it will go well with Carrie's style. More importantly from a man's perspective it looks relatively easy to put together and it was pretty reasonably priced..

Now when I say that it looks easy to put together that was just my opinion in eyeballing it. The true test will come when it actually happens. My doubts were raised though when the box was carted out and the words "Easiest Crib to Assemble" were on the side of the box." Why would you have to say that if it were true? It seems to me that anytime something is "easy" to assemble...it's not.

Fortunately I get to procrastinate a little while longer as the current bathroom remodel is taking precedent along with Kansas basketball season which has turned surprisingly successful over the last couple of months.

Full documention of the crib assembly will be available and if all else fails I guess I'll have to make Thomas get on a plane and fly to Denver. At the moment though confidence is high.