This time, we have a better excuse than just plain lazy... We have had 2 baby classes at Northside, a friend's shower, a maternity photo session, a girl's-night-in, a nursery chair pickup, and several long days at work for both of us.
First, let's talk about the classes.
We took a birthing and delivery course at Northside Hospital so we'd look like reasonably competent patients in the delivery room. This class was a primer of the delivery timeline, pain management, labor positioning, medical procedures, and practice sitting in uncomfortable chairs. During the eight hour marathon of class, we got to see three births demonstrating Lamaze breathing methods for pain management. There are certain things that should be left to the "mystery of womanhood" that the class completely covered in depth. I know it will be beautiful and joyous when it is my child, but I have decided that the only babies I ever need to watch being birthed are my own. I did learn that I will be an emotional mess when the baby arrives, mostly due to me tearing up while watching the births. It was just more confirmation about how excited I am to meet my baby girl. That being said, we got a lot out of the class, and we'll be practicing the calming breath and relaxation massages later this week.
The second class was baby basics. This class was about changing diapers, bathing, caring for clamped cords, swaddling, and general 'don't drop your baby' advice. This class was a much shorter 3 hours - the same unpleasant chairs became infinitely more tolerable for this class. For me, this brought back of a lot of the stuff I forgot in the 12ish years since Andy, Melissa, and Julia were babies (it seems like no time has passed since then!). I still think I have managed to avoid changing unpleasant diapers and only actually worked with the wet ones. I am sure that streak will end by the time I have been a daddy for 24 hours. The swaddling lesson was very helpful - my baby would have looked more like a taco-bell burrito than a papoose.
We have almost finished the furniture work in the nursery. Katie and I picked up the chair from Acworth last Thursday. Then, after much deliberation on Sunday, we settled on matching hardware for the two dressers. I am now in the process of some touch-ups then a final coat of paint, and all the furniture will be ready!
Finally, we had a maternity photo session for Katie and the Baby at the tail end of January. We used our friend's house on the lake in Buchanon, GA (that's just East of Alabama for those of you
looking at a map at home). The session was a lot of fun for all of us. It was nice to focus on the preganancy in a different way. There were a lot of great pictures taken both in the house and at the lake. Katie is going to make a photo album and do some decorating with them. Once we get the digital set, we will be able to post a few here also.That's pretty much it for baby-related info right now. My work is slowing down due to the recession, but I am learning about a whole new style of manufacturing management. Katie is about to cut her hours in the afternoon - apparently very pregnant people get tired after working all day... who knew?
We have our last parenting class at the hospital starting next week, too. It's Breastfeeding for Couples, but I'm pretty sure that Katie's going to have a lot more success at this than I am.
Happy Valentine's Day, Everybody!
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