All About the Kids

I’ve been walking into Lamaze Class these last two weeks wearing my typical business professional attire, looking a little geeky, and acting more than a little introverted. I know I’m geeky, and my classmates certainly know that as well. However, I didn’t realize how much of a dead giveaway I was until last night.

During our first class time, our instructor had asked us to anonymously fill out a little card with 3 things we wanted to learn during the course of the class. Then she prepared her material based on these questions. Last night, a classmate was asking questions and the instructor finally said to him, “You must have been the one who put ‘Statistics’ on your list of questions!” My classmate said “no”, causing our instructor to swing her eyes across the room (there’s maybe 10 couples who regularly attend class), resting directly on me.

Foiled!

But hey, statistics are a good thing, right?

1. Sarah won the bet–we didn’t have the prettiest pillows in the whole class, though strutting into class for the first time with two very large lavender pillows wasn’t exactly easy for me.

2. Sarah really has been feeling very good so far. After going to class Wednesday night and hearing about the common pregnancy symptoms other people were having…

a. We made an 11:30 run to the gas station for chips & dip

b. Sarah decided to take her first day off from work on Thursday (not that that’s a bad thing)

c. I think our classmates are rubbing off…

3. Twelve to sixteen hours of labor on average?! This childbirth thing just might be a little more work than I had thought! (though Kristi must think 16 is a breeze after putting in 33 hours…)

…the biggest letdown of our first Lamaze class was the phrase “What is said in this room, stays in this room.” Not that I have any problems with confidentiality–I am certain that our instructor created a much more open and sharing environment when she said it. I was just disappointed by the loss of volumes of funny stories I could tell about our class!

After hours of trying to figure out ways to circumvent the “confidentiality clause”, I figure that the confidentiality only applies to inter-classmate sharing, and all the interesting facts and video literature are on-limits. So let the fun begin!

…or 33 weeks for those who don’t want to do the math (that’s out of 40 weeks, Mr. Browning, not 36…sheesh).

Many people have asked me about how Sarah is feeling. If people hadn’t been asking this question throughout the course of the pregnancy, I would think they’re all expecting her to start entering the “big” trimester (on the “sick”, “fun”, and “big” trimester scale), accompanied by all of the pains that go with it. Of course, the baby and she are growing, and Sarah often wonders how much bigger she could get in the coming two months!

I’ll take a go at describing how Sarah feels, though I suppose this may be subject to change at any time…

Sarah is indeed entering the phase where her stomach is getting a little awkward for her. Though I try to help her out of chairs and couches, she can still handle them pretty well when I don’t move fast enough! She suffers from “jittery legs syndrome”, so that even at the end of the day, her legs don’t want to stop moving!

There have been times (like Monday) when we thought her pregnancy sickness was coming back (well, I guess it did come back) but then it seems to leave again for a few days, so at least it isn’t persistent! It’s also a little less comfortable for her to do anything (stand, sit, lay down, etc.) for an extended period of time. Sarah continues to get plenty of sleep, which is a good thing, even if it’s at my expense! Through all of this, Sarah has had a great attitude, and in her opinion the idea of having a baby always trumps the side effects that accompany pregnancy!

…now if her husband could just get that baby room finished!

According to my references, the baby typically turns upside down (in preparation for the “big trip”) between 34 and 36 weeks. At last week’s doctor’s appointment, Sarah was told that the little guy is already pointing south, which is excellent news.