Birthing Class

I've already posted these pictures on facebook, but I'm extremely proud of them so I'll repost them here:

This is Josh wearing the Empathy Belly at our birthing class today. All the partners took turns wearing it, but Josh volunteered first. He looked great.

We wanted to sign up for a six-week birthing class but it clashed with our institute class, so we switched it for the "weekend intensive" course. We braved the terrible snowstorm last night to make it to St. Mark's Hospital and met up with the rest of the weekend warriors at 7 last night. For a couple of hours we talked about breathing, practiced some calming techniques, discussed contractions, and made lists of pros and cons related to childbirth. It was fun, but we ran a little long and we didn't even have time to watch a birthing video. Our instructor invited us to come to class half an hour early today to catch the video. Class started at nine, so Josh and I planned on leaving at 8:15 to make it for the video.

Due to today's inclement weather, and the fact that we learned we needed to get gas, and the realization that we had forgotten our pillows back at the apartment, we made it to class around 8:50. The last ten minutes of the video were totally fascinating.

Today's class lasted almost all day, starting at 9 and ending at 4, and again we ran overlong. There wasn't even time to discuss breastfeeding because it's such an intensive course (being condensed to one Friday night and one Saturday), so we can sign up for an individual class to cover that topic. We watched a couple more short videos of live births featuring a natural birth, an epidural birth, and an emergency c-section. When we covered pain management options, there seemed to be so many cons and side effects to the baby, that I really hope I don't cave in and take medication during the whole thing. We practiced more breathing and toured the labor and delivery rooms of the hospital. Then we discussed pediatricians, the stages of labor, what to pack in your hospital bag, what happens to the baby just after birth, the recovery stage, car seat safety, and a million other things.

I'm really glad I got to take this class because I'm one of those people that hates the unknown, so I have to ask a million questions. The instructor seemed to get tired of me asking so many questions, and especially when I came up to her after our class finally ended with my notebook full of more questions. But she answered them all and I feel far more prepared about hospital policy. I was really curious about what they allow during the early stages of labor in the hospital, since my experience with childbirth is really more my sisters' experiences with home births. There are rules in the hospital that don't exist when you're having a baby in your bedroom at home, so I needed to find out what those differences are. I asked whether I needed to have an IV placed, whether I would hold the baby before she gets checked out and measured, whether I could walk around the hospital to endure the contractions, whether the baby could stay with me instead of in the nursery, and a bunch of other things that weren't considered routine discussion material within the class. I'm really pleased with the answers I got. I definitely have more control over the situation than I first anticipated and that calms all my concerns about having a hospital birth for this first baby. I also want to try out a home birth and compare the two experiences, but that's years away from now.

And as a side note, those birthing videos? Not appropriate for all ages. Holy cow, I saw a lot of body holes. And it wasn't beautiful in any way--it was natural, but also gross and real and practical. I couldn't eat my snacks during the videos because the sweating and the moaning and the stretching was just way too off-putting. It's going to be a miracle when Scarlet comes out, let me tell you. Just five more weeks...

It All Evens Out

Last night I had four goals to work on after getting off of work: I was supposed to work on my school assignments, read 50 pages in my new book, shower, and get my scripture reading done for the day before I went to bed. Josh and I had a dentist appointment after work yesterday, so we went to that and I was so tired, I dozed off a little in the chair while waiting for the hygienist.

After the dentist, we got some dinner and I watched a tv show to relax, but by the time the show was over, I was so exhausted that I begged Josh to take me to bed. He was pretty confused, since it was only around 6:30, but he came to bed with me and continued working on his laptop while I slept. I woke up around 10, feeling completely wide awake, which was a problem because Josh was getting tired and I can stay up all night if I'm feeling that awake that late into the evening. So I showered and Josh went to bed.

After my shower, I started doing my schoolwork and managed to finish my class. Then I read my scriptures and the next chapter in my new book. By the time I finally went to sleep at 2 a.m., I was feeling pretty good about having gotten all of my work completed despite the huge nap after dinner. With the three-hour nap, and the following four hours of sleep, I even got seven solid hours of sleep in. I figure I slept and worked on my goals about the same amount of time, but in reverse order, so really, it all evens out.

2012 in Review

Happy New Year! Josh and I celebrated the new year by sleeping in and then eating out for breakfast. It was a magical beginning, but this post is all about reminiscing on the past 12 months. I went through some pictures this morning and pulled out some that help illustrate what a fantastic, magical year 2012 has been for Josh and me. So many wonderful things happened and I thought it would be fun to show what we got to experience this past year.

I went back to college after a year-and-a-half break last January. It was...stressful. Josh was in school, of course, and we were both working, but I was working full-time and taking 5 classes and working an extra part-time editing job on the side. It was a dark time for me and Josh remembers it as the time when I yelled a lot, but we got through it. I finally graduated.

 

In between the winter and spring semesters, my sisters came up and we all went to April Conference. It was pretty fun, and a surprising snow fell that morning, completely baffling me and delighting my sisters.

Before the graduation ceremony in August, we had another little surprise. On Father's Day, we both found out that I was pregnant. It was incredibly welcome news, although we weren't expecting it for a few months yet. I was pretty sick for the next couple of months, including on our July trip with the family to California, and at graduation, but no one seemed to notice.

I did not look this pregnant in June

Also before the graduation ceremony in August, Josh's parents rented this gorgeous beach house in California. Rachel was training at her new job in Chicago, so she couldn't make it, but the rest of the family went to a ton of different and beautiful beaches, Sea World, and Disneyland. I was pretty horribly sick almost the whole week, except miraculously on Wednesday when we went to Disneyland. I call it a Disney miracle.

Our next adventure happened the day of graduation in August, when Josh and I announced our pregnancy to both sets of future grandparents. There was much rejoicing. I really think we managed to surprise them, which was the goal, because what is more fun than surprises? We gave "congratulations" cards to both sets of parents, with a picture of the first ultrasound in each. We tactlessly requested the ultrasound photos back, because they were originals. Copies proved impossible to make and we really want to keep Scarlet's first pictures, but everyone seemed cool about it.

Then the very next day, Josh, Jonathan, Rachel, and I flew to London and spent two weeks in Wales and England, revisiting old haunts and finding new fun places to explore. It was a wonderful trip, sapping all my vacation days and giving me a pretty awful five-day cold, but worth every minute. I'd do the whole thing over again in a heartbeat.

We got back at the end of August and I started WGU's MBA program in September. The schooling isn't too difficult, although it isn't too interesting either. Plus, I started a week later because we had to travel to Las Vegas for Super Family Fun Day, which is just a weekend-long family reunion. We played a lot of Skip-bo, apparently.

I got through two whole months of schooling before the next fun visit from family, which came at the end of October. Nicole and Rebecca brought five nieces and nephews for a weekend visit to the corn maze at Thanksgiving Point and trick-or-treating at the Hogle Zoo. One booth at the zoo gave Jonathan two bags of Doritos, which he kindly split with me, making the whole trip that much more fun.

At the end of November, Josh and I enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with his family before trekking down the next day to Las Vegas to spend Second Thanksgiving with my family. The weather was mild enough that we were able to set the tables outside--something we can only do every couple of years or so. The sun was pretty bright for those sitting on the north side of the table, but Josh and I were lucky enough to snag the shady side.

 

December marked the end of Josh's undergraduate experience, but since graduation happens once a year in May for U of U students, there are pending photos of that event. To reward him for all of his hard work, I bought him a computer game and an Xbox for Christmas. Also for the final month of the year, we made plans to double-dip at both families again, visiting both sets of parents for the same holiday. We spent the weekend before Christmas in Las Vegas but traveled back on Christmas Eve day to make it in time for Christmas brunch in Salt Lake City. It was wonderful to see everyone again, and we really tried to make it work out with both families for Thanksgiving and Christmas in case Josh gets a job that takes us far away from everyone.

This is us eating (again) in Las Vegas for Christmas dinner, which I think we actually had on Sunday the 23rd. Eating seems to be all we do at my family according to these pictures, but we sure do it well.

This year was just splendid. We had two amazing vacations. Josh and I both graduated. We spent several holidays with family and are preparing for the next great event, when Katie Scarlet is born in February. That event alone guarantees 2013 will be even more magical than 2012 was!

It's impossible to make out, but the gift tag reads, "Do not open until February 16, 2013."