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Meet & greet: My baby’s bedroom

I’ve finally got my little boy’s room situated! I thought I’d take some pictures and show you how we’re organizing everything to start out.

Here’s the view of the room from the door way. The bed in there is used as a guest bed.

We have a little cubby-style shelf in the corner. One drawer has diapers ready to go, along with some wipes and diaper cream. Another drawer has burp clothes, another has breastfeeding aids (nursing pads, lanolin) and some baby first-aid stuff. The last bin has hats and t-shirts.

You might see a cardboard box in one of the slots. That’s holding diapers from my diaper cake, and once I use those up, I’ll put something cuter in there.

The bed is on risers that we got from Ikea. The bed is high enough that a box of diapers will easily fit under it. We have several hundred diapers and wipes under the bed. The rest of our stash is under our bed in the other room.

We bought the bookshelf from Home Depot. I love the colorful covers of children’s books, so I wanted to have some facing out, rather than having their binding out. The blue thing hanging from it holds shoes and socks, bibs, and bags for diapers. The wastebasket below is for — you guessed it — icky diapers. I have an air-freshener disk for it and I have some baking soda on the bookshelf to sprinkle on top.

The closet is a bit smaller than I’d like, but it’s working for now. We have board games on the top shelf (nowhere else for them to go) and heavy baby blankets next to them, with just a little bit of space on either side for some small items.

The six-slot hanging thing came from Target. The hanging clothes are current sizes. In the slots: 1. Sleep sacks 2. Sleepers with feet 3. Clothes sizes 3-6 months 4. Towels, washcloths 5. Pants 6. Clothes sizes 6-9 months. I have them labeled with sticky notes so that when other people do the laundry, they’ll know where I want things to go.

His current clothing size will be hung up, ideally.

The wicker basket is for dirty laundry. There’s a zip mesh bag that I’ll use for socks. They are so tiny and are certain to get lost any other way. I’m storing clean socks in another zip mesh bag.

The cardboard box below is for outgrown maternity wear and baby clothes.

I have Christmas things in the bin below that. Nowhere else to put it.

I have two baskets under the crib. One basket is for receiving blankets. The other is to store mattress pads and sheets.

Our bed skirt, bumper pads and quilt (hanging on the wall behind the crib) was made by my grandma for my cousin’s daughter. She no longer needs it, so she kindly sent it to me to use.

I decided to put the bumper pads elsewhere in the room. Changing the sheets with the pads on … not easy. Not to mention, bumper pads are questionable in their safety, so I decided just not to worry about it. One pad fit perfectly along the window sill. The other is hanging over our cubby shelf to add a splash of color.

Visit The Natural Mommy for more “meet and greets!”

CPR class

On Saturday, Shane and I attended a 4.5-hour course on infant and child CPR and first aid. It cost $40 each, and I think it was worth it. Shane had previously been CPR-certified for adults, but hadn’t had training for infants and children. I’d never had hands-on training.

Our small class each had a child-sized and infant-sized manikin to rescue.

In the CPR portion of the class, we learned the technique and steps to follow. We also learned about AEDs and how they can help people over one year of age. Finally, we learned anti-choking techniques.

We took a short break for lunch and returned to learn more about first aid. Since there are so many things that can require first aid, you really can’t hope to cover all topics in the class. I don’t think I learned anything new here, but it was a good refresher.

I hope we’ll never have to use our CPR training, but it’s nice to know its there. We’ll be practicing on teddy bears periodically so we won’t forget what to do.

Next week, we’ll have a class on newborn care. I hope it’s beneficial!

Rush hour and home games

My biggest concern about going into labor isn’t the sensations I’ll experience. I’m not worried about that. No, no — my biggest concern is whether I’ll need to get to the hospital during rush hour. Or a Steelers or Pens game. Cuz that would stink.

You see, it’s maybe 15 minutes to the hospital on a typical weekday afternoon. In the middle of the night with no traffic, I’m guessing it would take 10 minutes without speeding.

But rush hour? Forget it. It could take 45 minutes to an hour, easily. I don’t have the patience for that. It would stress me out and maybe even slow down labor.

So I’m really hoping my labor is such that I don’t need to go anywhere during the hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. or 4 to 7 p.m. during the week. Please? That’s only 25 percent of each weekday.

Also, I want to avoid going to the hospital before/after the Steelers’ home games on Dec. 7 and 28, and the Pens’ home games on Dec. 8, 11, 20, 23, 27, 30 and Jan. 3 and 6. The Pens games ought to be less trouble for us, but it will be harder for us to effectively detour around Heinz Field.

Wait a minute. I think I’m asking for a bit too much.

My baby is probably like, “Geez, lady! I can’t handle this pressure! First, you want me to come on a convenient day in December. I have no calendar, so good luck with that. Second, you want me to avoid rush hours and home games, too? And probably snow and ice storms? Sorry! I have no clock, calendar or Weather Channel. Good luck to us all!”

Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be so picky. I’d just rather not have an extra-uncomfortable ride to the hospital. And I’d rather not deliver him in the car.

36-week appointment update

Fully clothed and wearing boots, I weighed in at 160.3 at my 36-week appointment on Thursday. Holy smokes. If you’re keeping score, I started out at 136, and lost a few pounds in my first weeks. Net gain is like 24 pounds, which is right on target.

BP is 120/80, yay.

I had my Group B Strep test today, and the results should be in by my appointment next week.

When midwife Tina measured my belly, she was perplexed. I was 32-33cm. Two weeks ago, I was 33 cm. In theory, I should have been 34-36 cm today. Because of this, she wanted to do an internal exam to gauge the position of the baby’s head.

Just as I had suspected, he’s dropped and fully engaged in my pelvis. She said he was at “zero station.”

That just means he’s found his way to the exit. It could be weeks yet before he decides to actually move out of his little home.

A station is measured from -3 to +3, (some OBs use a -5 to +5 scale). Basically, it relates to where the baby’s head is located. A -3 means the baby is floating around still and hasn’t engaged. A +3 means the baby is crowning and is almost out. I think.

My back sort of feels like it really needs to pop. Like there’s a buildup of pressure in the lower part of my spine, ya know? Maybe it’s because of the pressure of Baby’s head on me. Yah. That could be the reason. A small person is head-butting me in the uh, butt, after all.

I know it’s going to be a lot of work to move his head three measly centimeters. Whatever. We’re up for it!

So since he’s positioned pretty low, that could affect my belly’s size. I’ve gained a few pounds in the last two weeks, so that’s a good sign. If my belly is still on the small side next week, I might get another ultrasound.

I just wish they’d stop worrying about his size. There’s a lot of room for me to “hide” a baby, that’s all. He’s fine. I know this for a fact, y’all.

She said my cervix was softening, but it was sort of situated far back and she said it would be uncomfortable for me if she tried to check possible dilation. Thanks for sparing me that, midwife Tina! I’m glad I don’t know if/how much I’m dilated. It could still be weeks before anything happens, and whatever the result, it can’t predict when true labor will begin.

Oh won’t you stay, just a little bit longer?

***Disclaimer*** Family, I’m not in labor. I’m probably not going to have this baby for awhile. Don’t get your hopes up, and don’t call and ask if I’m in labor. I will be annoyed. Kthx.

—–

So last night, I had regular contractions for at least an hour. I was trying to go to sleep when I noticed they were coming sort of regularly, so I thought I’d time them. Yep, every ten minutes.

They fizzled out, as I thought/hoped they might, but still it made me think that I really need to get my tush in gear!

These things weren’t like the Braxton-Hicks contractions I’d been having for the last few months. With the B-H, it was just an all-over tightening that I could see and feel. It wasn’t painful, but slightly uncomfortable if I tried to move too much before it was over.

The ones last night were low instead of all over. I wouldn’t call it painful, but there was some discomfort similar to a PMS-y cramp feeling. Lasted for a little bit, then went away. Then came back 10 minutes later.

I got up, went to the bathroom and then fixed myself a bowl of cereal. Then, I thought the best thing to do would be to try to get some sleep. If it petered out, fine, I’d get some rest. And if this was the real deal, I’m pretty sure I’d wake up. Cuz I don’t think many people have babies while they’re sound asleep.

I know that these sorts of contractions can happen for many weeks before anything really happens, so I’m not getting my hopes up.

I just hope that he gives me at least a few more days to get things ready. First of all, last night when I was flossing, part of a filling for a cavity popped out. Yes, that happened to me just a few months ago. This time, it was a different tooth.  I’m hoping I can get in there sometime today to have it looked at and fixed. I do think my current dentist filled that one, as well as the last one she had to fix. I’ll have her check my records to make sure it was that tooth, and if it was, then I’ll have her repair it but then I’ll switch to a new dentist.

A few months ago, she scraped a small filling loose and I had to have it repaired. One time, ok. But two? It’s making me think she’s not very good at cavities. I don’t have time to go find a new dentist right now, and I barely have time to get this fixed as it is. I’m annoyed.

So yah, there’s one reason why I need this little guy to stay put.

Number two: He doesn’t have a pediatrician yet. Whoops. I’m working on it, but it’s not so easy. We might just have to go with our best guess and if we need to switch later on, then that’s what we’ll have to do.

Number three: I haven’t had my Group B strep test yet. That’s tomorrow, and I believe it takes a few days for the results to come back. I understand that if you haven’t had the test done, it’s standard proceedure to give a laboring lady an IV of antibiotics, just in case she’s positive for the bacteria. I’d really hate to have an unnecessary IV.

Number four: His room isn’t totally ready and the house isn’t in order. These things are totally minor, but not having them done would cause me unnecessary stress. I need to do some more batches of his laundry, get rid of some junk in there, and do some heavy-duty cleaning.

Four compelling reasons why he should stay put for a little while longer, yeah?

So if anything, last night’s little episode was a good reminder for me that he’s going to show up whether we’re ready or not, so it would do me some good to finish getting ready. I still could be pregnant for six more weeks, in theory. But, I’m starting to think he really is going to be here this month.