Baby New Year?

Yesterday Tiffany had her 39-week appointment. There’s been some progress in the past week. Dr. Thompson said that she is about 1 cm dilated and 70% effaced. We have another appointment scheduled for next Wednesday, and an ultrasound, but Dr. Thompson doesn’t think we will get to next Wednesday. Apparently the baby’s head is VERY low as well so she looks to be routing around for a way out!

We’ve got just one day left for this year. My original prediction was today, but that looks to be off the table unless Tiffany goes into labor and has an unusually quick delivery. I think we’re both getting anxious. Tiffany is pretty comfortable, she would probably tell you that she has had a pretty smooth pregnancy. The biggest issue for her has been some back pain and some trouble sleeping, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a pregnant woman not having issues with either their back or sleeping.

It does seem a bit odd that someone will likely be living in our house next week other then us, though her room is decorated better than ours and she probably already has more clothes than both of us combined. It will be nice to see a living, breathing tiny person using some of these things we’ve been amassing over the last nine months.

I’m sorry to say I think Chase (our dog) is in for a rude awakening. He certainly won’t be ignored, but he gets treated much like a child now, especially by Tiffany so that’s going to change. Recently, he decided to start the night on the floor sleeping before jumping into bed. We think he got tired of waking up every time Tiffany got up to go to the bathroom. He usually jumps in after he knows he won’t be disturbed too much and gets a few hours in our bed after her last trip to the bathroom. This baby is probably going to put a huge crimp in his sleeping schedule. Join the club Chase.

I am interested to see how he reacts around the baby. My guess is he will be in the lap or on the legs of whoever is not holding her. I’m not sure we need a baby monitor because anytime Chase hears anything he barks or mumbles under is breath, hopefully he gets use to the baby waking up and likewise, doesn’t wake her up too often. 

A lot has happened since we first got pregnant, for one, buying and moving into a new house. It doesn’t seem that long ago.I remember thinking I would have a birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas all before the arrival and here we are. There are those moments that you always remember throughout your life and I can still remember the moment very clearly when the pregnancy test turned positive. I have a feeling there’s another one of those moments coming up in the next few days.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

So it’s Christmas Eve and it appears as if we’re getting closer to the big event. I’ll stick with my prediction of Thursday, the 30th, but I don’t think it’s going to go much past that if I’m wrong.

At the doctor Wednesday, Tiffany was slightly dilated and later that night she had what we think was her first contraction. There have also been other “signs” that I won’t bore you with. Friends of ours just had their first baby two weeks ago today and when I talked to Matt he said that Andrea had been showing “signs” since Monday.

I, of course, asked him what these signs were and he said they were better off not spoken, I now know what he meant. Tiffany’s comfort level is still pretty good though her feet swelled up at church this afternoon. She also started holding her stomach part way through the service and immediately I thought she was having a contraction.Turns out she hadn’t felt the baby move for a while so she was pushing on her stomach. Shortly thereafter activity began again so no worries.

I was slightly relieved she wasn’t going into labor as I am hoping to get through Christmas. For the kid’s sake, I didn’t want her to share a birthday with Jesus. Not bad company, but let’s face it your kind of an afterthought when you’re sharing your birthday with Jesus. A few days later will be hard enough. Plus, I wanted to enjoy our last Christmas as “DINK”s, though since we’ve been buying stuff for this kid since May, that doesn’t really apply.

Oh, what’s a DINK? It’s a term I first heard at work at GS Marketing. DINKs are the highly desirable demographic “Double Income, No Kids”.  These folks are desirable because they have plenty of disposable income, or at least that’s the theory. Being a DINK was nice, but in reality, we haven’t been DINKs since we found out about the pregnancy.

Which brings me to my next point. Why do you have to wait until the child is born to claim them as a dependent? I don’t really want to add it up, but we’ve spent plenty of money on our child this year, yet no tax credit if she’s not born before the 31st. That doesn’t seem fair, but I’ll save that sad story for our daughter the first year she doesn’t get something she wants for Christmas :).

Taking the Tour

Today Tiffany had her 38-week appointment so I tagged along. We also had a scheduled tour of the hospital before the appointment and I had never seen the inside of this hospital before. The doctor’s office and hospital are located right next to each other so it was easy to make it to both on time.

At the hospital we got to see a LDR room, a post-part-um room and visited all the nurseries (there are three levels for various needs and stages). LDR, for the uninitiated is labor, delivery, and recovery. When we get to the hospital we head directly to the third floor since we are already pre-registered. At that time they will put us in a LDR room in either the east or west wing. I’m a little lost on where the west wing begins and the east wing ends, but I was careful to take note where coffee and snacks are available.

When we get to the third floor after arriving and enjoying complimentary valet parking, we are then taken to an LDR  room where will be all through delivery and then two hours after. After two hours, we’ll head upstairs to the fourth floor to a post-part-um room where will be for about two days. Those rooms are smaller than the LDR rooms, but both have private bathrooms including a shower and a day bed that didn’t seem too uncomfortable, but I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough.

The tour guide said that cell phones were not allowed in the LDR rooms because they can interfere with the signals that the some of the monitoring equipment sends out to various outlets. Many doctors can actually monitor vitals from a desk in their office.

Still I found it odd that no cell phones are allowed, yet they do offer Wi-Fi.  The main takeaway I got from today was that newborn kids don’t look too good. We saw some in the nursery and these kids were not cute. I’m not judging, but clearly it doesn’t matter how good looking they end up because I find it hard to believe all 20 of these kids are going to be ugly. 

The doctor’s appointment revealed that TIffany is just a little dilated, but not a measurable amount, whatever that means. Nothing newsworthy otherwise. We then stopped by my office for a few minutes since I won’t be going in to the office tomorrow or Friday. I’m predicting an arrival next Thursday since my office will be closed again anyway next week. 

Vacancy

As promised, some pics of the nursery. Yesterday’s fun project was to put the curtain rod up above the window, a simple task one would think. It might have been if our house had been built with normal walls. Without going to in-depth, let’s just say it took 30 minutes and five holes in the hall to find a place on either side where screws could be anchored.

Of course the test holes had to be filled in with spackle, sanded and then painted to match. So what should have taken 15 minutes took about 2 hours over the course of 2 days. While I had the paint out, I did get to paint some of the lighter spots on the wall that I missed with the first two coats. Mercifully, I think the work is done and the nursery is ready for an occupant. The diaper bag is packed with her take on home clothes and that’s our city-mini stroller folded up against the wall. 

You’ll notice that framed puzzle on the wall, another fun project. Tiffany and her sisters put the puzzle together in about five minutes, that was not the problem. When we went to look for  a frame for said puzzle, the choices were limited, problem 1. Finally we found one that was to our liking and as Tiffany tries to put the puzzle in the frame we find out that the puzzle is just a shade too big for the frame, problem 2. Either Pottery Barn Kids can’t measure or our frame was off. Whatever the issue, Tiffany had to shave a portion of the puzzle off all the way around so it could fit in the frame.

Yesterday, we were at Target looking for a hamper and sure enough what did we see, something that looked pretty close to our framed puzzle, albeit smaller, already done and ready to hang. I will say our puzzle looks better. 

The breastfeeding class yesterday was pretty informative, I think we both got something out of it and I was not the only dad-to-be in attendance which was my concern. The class was held at Memorial Hermann which is about 20 minutes from our house and was taught by a “lactation consultant” I suppose that’s better than milk maid. It was a pretty nice looking facility and we briefly walked through the “family birthing center”. The way this place looked, coupled with how far our hospital is from our new house, got me wondering if a transfer of birth places was possible. (It’s not).

Short work week for us both this week. Tiffany only works Monday and our office will be closed Thursday and Friday. We tour our hospital Wednesday and have the 38-week appointment so I’ll go to that in the morning and she’ll drop me at the office while she goes to her hair appointment. Once she’s done with that I should be done at the office and will head back north for the weekend unless the doctor tells us to check in to the hospital.

Calm Before the Storm

Tiffany had her 37-week appointment on Wednesday. She’s not dilated at all so it doesn’t look like we are on the cusp of anything. The baby has “dropped” however so things are progressing. I’ll be going to the next appointment this Wednesday and we’ll also be touring the hospital where we will deliver. It’s right next door to the doctor’s office. 

Saturday morning we get to go to a breastfeeding class. Apparently, it’s for couples. I say apparently because this is what Tiffany says. I was not in favor of going because I don’t plan on breastfeeding the child so I’m not sure what I would get out of it. Tiffany’s point is that I need to go for support and to help remember things she might forget. That led to the following exchange.

Me: “Do you acknowledge there are things that I know more about than you?”

TIffany: “Yes”

Me: “Okay, well when I tell you something in any of those areas you don’t listen to me anyway. So even if I remember something from this class that you don’t, you’re not going to listen to me because clearly I don’t know more about breastfeeding than you do.”

While Tiffany acknowledged  that could possibly happen, she still wants me to go. My concern has nothing to do with the time, it’s two and half hours, or the time of day, the morning, but that I will be making a bunch of women that I’ve never met before extremely uncomfortable.

“What is that guy doing here?” I have been assured that won’t be the case so I will be attending the class.

The rest of the day will likely be spent putting the final touches on the nursery. I’ve said that before, but “we” seem to keep finding things to do. We did add some key pieces off our registry that Tiffany was concerned about getting, the pack n’ play, the highchair and the breast pump. The highchair, pack n’ play and the swing from Tiffany’s grandparent’s have taken up residence in our office, conveniently located in the baby wing. 

Once Christmas is over, we should have some more room in the closet in the office so those items won’t be just sitting against the back wall. We’re pretty much ready though, I do need to put the car seat in the back of the car but in a pinch we could throw it in the back before leaving for the hospital. I doubt it will come to that.

The Baby Wing

That’s what I’m calling a portion of our house on the first floor. Walking in the front door, on the left, there is a small hallway with two bedrooms and a bathroom...the baby wing. One bedroom is the nursery, the other the office and bathroom in between is decorated in a not so subtle theme that is just slightly childish. (There are cartoonish blue whales far and wide).

The office bookshelves have been screwed to the wall so they cannot be tipped over by a wandering toddler down the road. It’s location is also good because either of us can be in the office and just be steps away from the nursery. 

The nursery is also very close to completion. Today we selected a curtain rod to hold the valence. I will put it up tomorrow or Tuesday and then we should be ready for some pictures which I will post of course. 

Today is the 12th and our doctor says that they will not let Tiffany go longer than a week late before inducing so no matter what happens, this time next month, our daughter will be with us.

I hope she can handle having a portion of the house dedicated to her. 

Push Gift

There’s been plenty of talk during the pregnancy of a “push gift” for Tiffany. Of course, by talk, I mean Tiffany dropping hints she wants one. I have mixed emotions. For those that don’t know, a push gift is a present for the mother after the birth of the child for “pushing” during delivery, as if there is any other way for the child to be born.

Kudos to the first woman who said to herself, “I wonder if I can get my husband to get me a gift for giving birth to the child that I wanted just as much as him.” Congratulations also go out to all the women who helped spread this notion that a woman is entitled to a gift for giving birth to her own child.

I wouldn’t have a problem at all if say I had asked a woman for a child, she carried it for 9 months and then gave it to me and the child and I went on our way. That sort of arrangement would be worthy of a gift, no question.

Here’s my issue. It’s not like I haven’t done anything during this process. I’ll let everyone’s imagination figure some of my duties out, but I don’t recall getting any help painting the nursery for example. I don’t expect a “paint gift.”

I’m not trying to compare painting a room to actually giving birth, the painting probably took longer than the birth will ;), but it’s not like anything has come up that she didn’t know about when we decided to get pregnant. “Oh I have to push the baby out of me?? That’s a surprise.” 

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the effort, but shouldn’t my unquestioned love and devotion be enough? I guess we’ll see what happens and how much “pushing” their actually is.