Major Redesign

Well, the house selling thing really isn't going as we'd hoped.  All this time our real estate lady told us "just wait til spring!"  Spring is here.  We've waited, and it's now the middle of May.  Not a single bite in this house since we put it on the market 4.5 months ago.  So, a new plan is in the works.  I still don't know how it will work, but it's all we can think of to do.  With our tax refund, we'd planned to get the cars fixed up; serviced, new tires and most importantly new back seat belts that our malamute, Haku, kindly chewed off both our cars when he was a hyper deranged pup plagued with the worst case of separation anxiety.  I think Mike nearly had him euthanized after that.  In fact, I'm still surprised today that he didn't.  Anyway, with this new plan, we're going to have to stretch our tax refund even further.

See, in order to fit us, and the baby into this house (not to mention along with 2 cats and a large dog), we need new furniture.  In getting this house ready to show, we got rid of over half of our stuff, including some old borrowed furniture that was too big for this tiny house anyway.  Our stuff is still packed up in boxes over at my grandparent's house waiting for us to get a new house.  But since that probably isn't going to happen, we've devised a plan that just may work in our favor for the time being.  

Task #1: eliminate the office!  Our 2nd bedroom has been our storage room & office since we moved in because this house lacks so much in storage space.  We've already gone through everything we stored in here 4 months ago and packed it over to my grandparent's.  Now, it's all about removing the computer and putting it somewhere else in the house so that this room will be all baby's.  When you have a house as small as this, you wouldn't be surprised how difficult this task really is.  So, in comes the devised plan of buying new furniture.  After much searching, we finally found a desk that was both compact and just as importantly economical to our budget.  It is our hope that it will fit into a small corner of our living room that is currently the home of a 4-shelf bookcase.  Of course some re-arranging of the living room furniture is once again in order, but we think we can do it with a bit of hard work.  Once that task is complete, this room will be empty and ready for us to redesign it into a nursery!

Task #2: Prepare the baby's room!  This is really the more fun tasks we get to do, even though it isn't in a new house.  I've already picked out the paint color to use and everything.  It's a pretty pale yellow called "morning sunlight".  I was determined to give our long awaited daughter a room dedicated especially to her and all of her belongings.  And actually, it was important to us that we do this so that we will be able to keep the cats out of her room, since our cats think everything is made especially for them--especially if it's new!  A nice new crib?!  Puuuurrfect new cat bed!  You catch my meaning.  So, as far as baby furnishings go, aside from the crib that we don't have yet, most of them are hand-me-downs.  I mentioned in a previous post that we are refinishing my mom's baby dresser that was made for her, which I also used when I was little.  We're planning on using it as a changing table as well, so we don't need another piece of furniture that we don't have room for.  Aside from that, I have a storage chest that I got when I was little that I'm also refinishing for her, and my grandparents are lending us their little cradle that my dad used when he was a baby and was passed down through many family members, including me when I was an infant.  The cradle, however, won't be in the baby's room.  It will have to be in ours, so that brings me to the next task....

Task #3: Rearranging OUR bedroom!  When babies are first born, it's recommended that you keep them with you at night at least for the first few months, if not longer.  So this is why bassinets and cradles and bedside sleepers are so common.  They are just tiny beds designed to fit where you need them, like in the parent's bedroom.  Well, they obviously haven't seen our bedroom!  Fitting anything in there is a challenge and a half, but one of the things we have to tackle in there is the fact that when we moved half our furniture out, we also got rid of our dresser that I was borrowing from my aunt.  It was a big old thing with one of those huge mirrors on top.  We were always slamming into it, but we needed it for all our clothes because the closet in there is about 2'x2' and barely fits Mike's work clothes all stuffed in--forget about mine!  So, we need a new dresser.  Preferably one that is taller than it is wide so we can utilize what little space we have in there.  For 4 months, I've been living out of a suitcase.  No kidding.  We have one skinny little 5 drawer dresser that we use to store our socks & underwear, and that's it.  I packed all my regular clothes away and put my maternity clothes into a suitcase which I now live out of. That needs to stop because I'm gonna need my other clothes back.  Besides, I'd really like to start living like I actually live here instead of like I'm just visiting!  Then, in order to fit the cradle in there, we're going to have to get rid of at least one of the nightstands, and shove our bed against the wall.  One thing I'm not sure of is whether or not we'll have room to keep that underwear dresser.  It might have to go too, and hopefully we can keep our clothes all in one.  One of my space saving ideas is to get a bed that has drawers underneath to store things.  That would be helpful, but then again, pricey.  So, we're still searching for the best way to go about doing task #3, but hopefully we find the answer soon because it's all driving me crazy.  Just so you know, nothing ever goes as planned.

First Childbirth Class

I'm 31 weeks pregnant, which is about 7 months along, so at our last prenatal exam I asked when we should be signing up for birthing classes and our doctor gave me a list of dates for the classes.  It was literally only a few days before the only class we could attend began, so we tried calling them to sign up.  No one responded until the day before the class started, and we barely got in!  

Class started at the hospital on Wednesday, April 27th and ran from 7pm-9pm and it will do so for the next 6 weeks.  I was really looking forward to starting these classes only because I knew it would give me a better idea of what labor and delivery is like and hopefully ease my fears about it.  The first hour and a half of class was fairly predictable as our instructor mostly talked about all the different stages of labor and what normally happens with an uncomplicated delivery.  Then we watched a video of a live birth during which Mike gripped my leg in alarm.  Clearly, he's nervous about that.  There were about 10 couples there, most of whom looked around our age, or maybe a bit younger in their 20's.  A couple of them, however, looked like they could be about 13, and one pregnant teenage girl was there with her mom and had no male partner.  So, for the duration of the class, the instructor had to constantly correct herself in referring to the husbands/boyfriends as the "birthing coach" or "labor partner" instead of "dad".  That was a little annoying, since it really felt like she was distancing him from me who she called "mom".

I enjoyed the information given, even if I had read about it before, but the part I was most surprised about occurred during the last 15 minutes of class.  We were given a tour of the labor & delivery floor.  I was surprised to discover how nervous it made me to see where I would potentially be giving birth.  We toured a birthing suite that was currently not in use and learned about what would go on there from the moment you check in until the birth of your baby.  It was a fairly spacious room with plenty of bench seating for guests, if you wish to have them.  Most of the suites offer jacuzzi tubs for laboring, but only one has one all to it's self.  The others have to share (first come, first served).  I was a little put off by that because ever since I learned from my doctor that the hospital birthing rooms had tubs, I had been looking forward to having the option of laboring in one.  I plan to avoid medication as much as possible, and any kind of natural pain relief and relaxant such as a jacuzzi tub are extremely welcome and desired!

Having learned that, the instructor told us that one of our things to do this week was to pre-register for a suite and fill out paperwork at hospital admitting.  When we pre-register, we were told if we want the bigger birthing suite with the private jacuzzi, we should ask for it.  Even though they can't guarantee we'll get it, we have a much better chance at it.  This being a small town, I can't imagine how many women will go into labor at the same exact time, but after seeing all the pregnant women around my due date in my class, it certainly isn't impossible!

After the tour of the birthing suite, we were taken around the corner to the next hall in the postpartum ward where we will be moved once the baby is born. The postpartum rooms are SMALL!  There's only enough room for a twin bed, a little rolling crib and a really uncomfortable looking fold-out chair for "labor partner" to sleep on!  Then we were told that we'd be expected to stay usually 2 days, or more if you end up having a c-section.  It did ease my mind to learn that it is the hospital policy that your baby stay with you the whole time and does not go to a nursery unless there is something wrong and it needs special care.  

All in all, I was glad to have gotten the tour and learned what to expect, however it did make me start to feel nervous about it all.  I wonder how my experience will be, and if I will even make it to a birthing suite at all.  I keep fearing that since I'm so focused on having a natural birth, I'm totally overlooking the possibility of having something go wrong and ending up with surgery at the total other end of the spectrum of natural just like my sister did.  I try to remind myself of that possibility now and again, but it's scary.  I know that prior to getting pregnant, I had accepted the idea that if I ever got pregnant with any kind of fertility treatments, I'd pretty much be guaranteed a c-section delivery, due to the complications of multiple birth.  But now that I've actually gotten pregnant on my own, without treatment, and we know it's a single baby, I happily fell back to my old wishes for a natural birth.  If I could, I know I would prefer having a midwife deliver my baby at a birthing center, but our town doesn't have such things.  There are midwives, but the fact that I feel uncomfortable in my own home really ruins the whole home birth idea for me.  I do feel lucky that the hospital has such an updated maternity floor, giving women the option of laboring in comfort rather than being strapped to the bed the entire time.  That puts my mind at ease.  

We were actually given a childbirth class text book and homework assignment to read 53 pages and answer several questions.  Who knew there was a text book for giving birth??? Next week, I'm looking forward to learning all about natural labor and pain relief as well as learning the roll and responsibilities of the "labor partner".  Believe me, my labor partner needs all the coaching he can get!  I honestly believe I'm going to be more calm during labor than he will be, and it worries me that his nervousness is going to affect me in a bad way.  I hope he can learn to be calm and confident and attentive and not freak out.  I have faith in him.  It's just that he definitely needs this next class!  :D