Hiccup!

The boy is definitely getting big! When he was small, I'd feel a faint sensation deep in my belly and think "Is that a hiccup? No. Wait! Umm... yeah. Hmm... that's a hiccup. Oh! And there's another one. Aww... how cute."

Now, there is no denying when he has the hiccups. Not only does my belly move with almost violent spasms, but I feel like my whole boy jumps with each hiccup. It makes me happy when he gets the hiccups because it means that he is practicing breathing techniques and is that much closer to being here. But at the same time, I'm like,"Please! I need a break! You are making me dizzy!"

My Class Clown

At 38 weeks, I am very obviously pregnant. Thursday, Bill and I were at the OB’s office waiting in line to check in. When the receptionist asked, “Can I help you?” Bill walked up and said, “Yes, we are here for a pregnancy test, please.”

Usually, when Bill makes a joke, I laugh and people see me laughing, which tells them that it is okay for them to laugh, too. But I was thrown off guard by this one and had a look of shock, which told the receptionist that it was okay for her to be shocked, too. She looked like she was about to yell, “We have a Code Purple*, people!” but then Bill laughed and said, “I’m just kidding,” which got me chuckling and the receptionist and the rest of the waiting room roaring with laughter. Oh, my class clown.

*Code Purple is a psychiatric emergency

Sweet Red

Holden's Room!

After what seemed like 10,000 layers of spackle and paint and repairs, the nursery is complete!

BEFORE

AFTER

When You’re Married to a Geek

While I picked out pretty much everything for the nursery (to my utter delight, Bill basically said, ”Order everything we need”), I left the baby monitor up to Bill since he is the tech savvy one in the household. I figured that he would get something simple and, my biggest concern, something that would not have interference issues since we live in such close proximity to other families. But then I was reminded that I am married to a geek.

Bill didn’t get just any run-of-the-mill baby monitor. That simply would not do. Our baby monitor, called the Ycam*, is Wi-Fi enabled with multi-client access and password protection. It has a camera that offers high-quality video and sound. That’s right. It records live video. But how, you may ask, can it record video at night? Why through its infrared night vision that automatically turns on in low light conditions. But that’s not all. Our humble baby monitor also has motion detection and will alert us via email and uploaded images of the detected motion. It also offers live stream through our iPhones. Which brings me to Bill’s favorite feature: he can watch live video of our little tyke from work or pretty much anywhere so long as he has his phone or laptop with him. He even suggested that if I want to nap while the baby naps, he’ll keep an eye on him from work through the live video.

Now how cool is that?

* http://www.newbornbabyzone.com/baby-products/top-10-must-have-baby-monitors/

Huff and a Puff

Today was really nice and the snow has been long melted, so we decided to take the dogs up to the Fells for a small hike. And I mean a small hike. As Bill pointed out, we use to run the trails. But now that I am 8 1/2 months pregnant, it's about all I can do. For the most part, the trails were slow sloping, but there were a few sections of some steep inclines. On one of the last such sections, Bill suggested that perhaps city walking (that is, flat terrain) was the best for someone as pregnant as me. I replied,"Oh no. *huff* This is good for me. *huff* It's got my pump blooding." To which Bill said,"Good. And I can see that a lot of it is getting to your brain."

Bill's First Post

I realized today how self-centered I can be...

Jess and I spent our weekend in baby classes. On Saturday it was "Newborn Essentials" and on Sunday it was "Prepared Childbirth." To be honest, "Prepared Childbirth" was the only class out of the five classes we have taken that we were both dreading. She was dreading it because of the rumored gory child birth videos, and I thought I was dreading it out of empathy for her. To our delight, the class wasn't that bad. The videos were well edited and the childbirth process didn't seem as bad as we thought it would. We both left the class in high spirits.

Then we went upstairs for a tour of the delivery room. Jess and I got separated momentarily while I held the door for the 10 other pregnant women, and because the room was too small for me to make my way back to her side, I just stayed behind for the delivery room portion of the tour.

I was impressed with how state of the art everything was. To me, nothing in the world could have been better for delivering Holden into this world. The delivery room had all of the latest technologies, is in one of the best hospitals in the world, and the hospital has a Level III NICU and is directly across the street from the Children's Hospital. What else could you ask for? So, I was surprised to find Jessica in a sour mood as she left the delivery room. Surprised probably isn't the right word-- more like bothered. What else could she want?

On the way home Jess started crying and, like any expecting father would do, I comforted her and told her that I too "thought the delivery room was too sterile," even though deep down I knew it was as good as it gets.

Then 24 hours later it hit me: she wasn't upset by the quality of the room or hospital, she was upset in the same way that a death row inmate would be upset if he were given a tour of the electric chair 6 weeks before his execution date. I can't believe it took me so long to figure that out. I am so sorry, Jess.