Being Sara

As this is my first baby, and the first baby in my side of the family, including most of my family’s friends, we had one heck of a baby shower on Sunday.  I think my family initially tried to keep the event a secret, but that didn’t last long, and I enjoyed helping out where I could.  The shower was held in the newly refurbished ballroom at Richard’s Public Library in Newport, NH.  Just about 30 of my closest female friends and family gathered there.  They all admired my stomach, told me how great I look, played a few games (thank you to our social coordinator - Biddy) and gave me presents.

As I’m sure most people would agree, showers are generally dull affairs.  Particularly if you’re a distant relative or friend.  Since I have never attended a shower for a close friend or family member, I generally find them to be a rather long afternoon.  If you are the guest of honor however, showers are tons of fun!  First, you get to visit with lots of friends and family, some of whom you may not have seen in a while.  Next, you don’t have the pressure of winning games, because you can’t participate.  Everyone waits on you, and then you end the afternoon by opening up gifts.  Who doesn’t love opening gifts?!?  It’s like Christmas in July (or whatever month you happen to have a shower in).

Everyone was wonderfully creative and generous with their gifts.  My dad and sister refinished a rocking chair for me.  Three incredibly generous people tried to give me the stroller I had listed on MasterWish.  I got a few beautiful hand-made blankets, a lovely silver musical turtle, some great books, a few highly entertaining baby toys, and tons of adorable baby clothes.  As soon as I got home I made Zach admire everything that we had been given.  I don’t think he was excited about the clothes, etc. as I was, but he was at least patient with me while I organized everything.  Last night I managed to get all of the baby clothes washed, folded and put away.  I still have to wash the blankets, but I’m kind of waiting until the end of the week when our crib will hopefully arrive, undamaged (the first crib they sent us was pretty dinged, but they took that back without much fuss and have shipped out a new one).  So, things are coming along nicely, and in the next few weeks Zach and I can shop for the few remaining things that we’ll need before the baby arrives.

baby, maternity, baby shower, gifts

If you have ready any of my previous posts on my current condition, you know that I frequent both Baby Center and Pregnancy Weekly for information, as well as What to Expect When You’re Expecting (of course) and another pregnancy book that Jenny gave me. In all of my reading, the “experts” talk about mild swelling of the hands and feet. Up until now, I had managed to avoid this affliction. I started to notice my feet were looking larger than normal last week, which was mildly concerning. I followed the suggestions in the literature though - drank more water (which seems contradictory, since my feet were swelling with water…) and keep my feet up as much as possible. The swelling did go down some, but I’m not sure how long that will last. The other thing that a lot of the literature, and some mothers that I have spoken to said, is that a lot of times women’s feet grow during pregnancy - and they don’t shrink back! If that happens, most women go up a 1/2 to a full size larger. As someone who has never met a shoe store she didn’t like, you can perhaps understand why this would be so disturbing. I have closets full of shoes, and when they fit, I will sometimes go a week or two without wearing the same pair twice. If I won’t fit into my shoes anymore, then I’ll have to start all over with the shoe collection. Since I still have shoes from the 9th grade that fit me, this is a huge and costly undertaking. So this week I’m mourning the loss of my shoes. I’ve been wearing the same pair of flip-flops for the past three months, and I’m too afraid to try on my shoes right now. I think I’m still in the denial phase. So, please send small feet thoughts my way, and hopefully after the baby, and the deflation of excess water in my body, my feet will return to their normal size, and I’ll be able to enjoy my shoe collection again.

feet, maternity, pregnancy, shoes, swelling

One of the things that everyone talks about for pregnant women is frequent urination.  They say that during the first trimester women often need to use the facilities often because of hormone changes.  Then in the third trimester, the baby takes up more space, leaving less and less room for your organs, which obviously includes the bladder.  Well, I never experienced this irritation during my first trimester.  If I was urinating more, it was simply due to the greater fluid intake, and not really a problem.  This past week however, I find myself in the bathroom a ridiculous amount of time.  It seems like every 15 minutes I have to go back again.  As I am waddling back and forth to the bathroom, I have pondered how much time, both work and leisure I have wasted on this process.  That of course, makes me even more frustrated.  I’m nearly to the point of wishing I could have a cathater for the last few months, just to save the hassle of getting up 4 times an hour to waddle back and forth to the bathroom.

Another concern I’ve recently had is my belly button.  Apparently some women’s belly buttons pop out during pregnancy.  I have always enjoyed my “innie”, and have never ever had a desire for an “outie.”  As the baby has grown, my belly button has shrunk to less than half its previous depth.  Since I still have 2 1/2 months to go, I’m worried that the increased rate of the baby’s growth will soon leave no more room for my belly button, and I will indeed “pop.”  They also say that belly buttons generally go back to their normal shape after the birth, but I’m still not looking forward to the possibility of toting around an “outie” for a few months - so please send positive “innie” thoughts my way, and hopefully I won’t have to mourn the loss of my belly button.

pregnancy, baby, bladder, frequent urination, belly button

On most of the websites and in the literature I’ve read, everyone suggests finding a childbirth class that “works for me” has the philosophies I’m looking for, talks about the topics I’m interested in, etc. Unfortunately, in a small town, my options are limited. My doctor’s office and the local hospital put together a childbirth class, and pretty much, that’s it. So of course I signed up.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that the first class was Tuesday, the 27th. And, you also know that Zach was out of town that day. Luckily for me, my sister, Caitlyn volunteered to go with me. I can tell you I was very glad she came along - I would have been the only coach-less person there if she hadn’t. Unfortunately, I think I scared her away from ever having kids after all the discussion about labor and the things that can happen. She said later that the tour of the maternity ward, with the beds that have some heavy duty stirrups made her a little light-headed, and the talk about episiotomy I think did her in.

At any rate, the class was pretty good. They had water, juice and snacks available. There were seven couples who attended, and none of them looked to be overly weird or creepy. I had assumed that every new mother did as much reading and research as I do, but much of the information covered in the first class was stuff that I read about months ago. I did pick up a few useful tips, and we did get to tour the maternity ward. Our local hospital is undergoing rennovations, so the maternity ward is currently under construction. We toured the old rooms that they are using right now, and then sometime in July or August the rennovated rooms will be opened. I felt a lot better after seeing the rooms, the equipment, and learning about who would be in the room, what to expect, etc.

As with most rennovations, the construction ends up being an inconvenience for quite a few people. Everyone from the class parked in the new parking lot when we arrived at the hospital for our tour. Unfortunately, the door to that parking lot was locked when we finished the tour. We walked to the other end of the hospital to get outside, and then had to walk around the outside of the hospital to get back to our cars. Of course, there is no easy way to walk all the way around the hospital, so after two embankments and walking through the construction parking lot, we finally arrived back at our starting point. Watching 7 very pregnanty women navigate embankments in flip-flops is quite the sight…

Next week we have to bring pillows and sit on the floor for two hours. I was hoping that all those scenes I saw of childbirth classes on television were just exaggerating, that no normal person would make a pregnant woman sit on a hard floor for two hours. I guess I was wrong, and I am certainly not looking forward to the backache that is sure to follow the next class… At least Zach will be able to come this time, and will apparently learn how to massage my back, and who doesn’t like back massages?

childbirth class, lamaz class, maternity ward, pregnancy