Pregnancy Update

Yes, I'm still pregnant. And getting bigger every day. Total weight gain to date is about 17 lbs; I've finally outpaced Minh. I'm officially 27.5 weeks along (out of 40). The start of the third trimester is here -- how did that happen already?

I'm feeling fine (thanks for asking) but am finally starting to feel "pregnant". My physical energy is now trailing behind my mental ambition. Each weekend I bite off more projects than I can chew and each Monday morning I am tired, sore, and grumpy. Otherwise, I'm feeling very healthy. The only thing even remotely medically "interesting" about this pregnancy is that next week I have to go get a shot of something in my ass because I am Rh negative. Thanks, to the 'rents for passing that on to me.

The good news about all my frantic project tackling is that both the baby's room and study are now painted. (Yes, the frickin' stripes are done!) And the new rug is in too. I'll post a pic or two of the kid's room once we get the crib in there (should be sometime next week).

Speaking of furniture, my father delivered the cradle he and his friend made, by hand, for the little guy to sleep in for the first few months. It's quite a fine piece--much better made than the crib Minh and I bought him at Babies R Us. Surely the crib was made by 7-year-olds in Indonesia, not by 70-year-old men in Nahwood.



In related news, Minh and I have joined a cult. Well, not a cult exactly, but we're taking a Bradley Method natural childbirth class. We signed up because a very friendly co-worker of ours is teaching it. And we're genuinely interested in learning the natural childbirth techniques and I think we'd both agree that a natural birth is our first choice. However, I am not about to declare a distaste for all things medical, including epidurals. The only other couple in the class surely has. That woman is so anti-medicine she won't even keep aspirin in the house.

After only two sessions I think I can say that the class is really interesting and will give us lots of good techniques for "managing the pain" of labor. Whether we make it all the way through without modern drugs remains to be seen. Actually, the really best part of class is that I have to practice relaxing and Minh has to massage me. :)

For me, the biggest problem with the class is that it seems to set you up to have an adversarial relationship with your OB (that's right, I'm using an OB not a midwife -- oh, the horror!). There's alot of talk of what the doctors will try to get you to agree to in the heat of the moment and what you need to know to be able to effectively resist them. That doesn't sound very nice and I'm not sure how much of it to believe. On the positive side, I now know what types of questions to ask my OB ahead of time so I know where he stands on things like episiotomies and such. (You didn't think we'd get all the way through my pregnancy without the word episiotomy showing up at least once in this blog, did you?)

Long story short, we're moving right along getting ready for this baby. So, what's still left on the now-infamous baby To Do Spreadsheet? The major ones are:

(1) Figuring out the whole day care thing. We've visited four family-based places and one has real potential (and a spot open!). But we want to visit a couple centers first and then we have to decide if it's worth it to spend $500 between now and April just to hold the spot at the family place.
(2) Picking a pediatrician. Any advice is welcome. I know several folks use and enjoy NAPs.
(3) Plant the rest of those damn bulbs, of course! (according to Minh we are at 55% completion)