Week Thirty Four: Sunday 31st August 2008

This week marked the final parenting class of the series, and I must say although we may have made it through the sessions, I can’t say I feel any more prepared for the birth or for bringing a baby home – do they really expect you to go home without a manual of some kind? The final class was a little on the dull side, with the highlight for me being the large chocolate sundae consumed on the way to the hospital. It was delicious and now I am completely hooked!

This week I started planning the hospital bags packing, that’s right, two of them – one for the labour, the other for the hospital stay. My kit for the labour includes:

 Fit ball
 Stress balls
 Heatpack
 iPod and speakers (yet to select my play list – any suggestions?)
 Massage oil
 Tennis ball (a good massage tool)
 5 pound coin (ok, this one might sound strange, however according to my Nan, it is good luck to place a 5 pound coin in the baby’s hand as soon as it is born)

Most of the above are designed to help me manage the pain as naturally as possible – and after all the money I have spent, I don’t think I will have a choice about an epidural anyway. I can just hear Ash now, “We can’t afford an epidural thanks to buying your $40 stress balls!”

At my obstetrician appointment last week, he did his usual very precise measurement of the baby, by laying his hands across my stomach, and declaring, “Well you are measuring bigger than 33 weeks – it’s going to be a tall baby”. To which I responded, “Really, how big?” He looked at me for a split second and then said “How should I know? This big (spreading his hands out wide).” Am I asking too much for a little science here? I probably shouldn’t complain too loudly though, the lack of science does have it’s benefits - I am yet to weigh in for any appointment, so I can proudly tell people I have no idea how much weight I have gained.

We are also finalising the girl’s name at the moment, and continue researching on the net. I found a bizarre site that gives you the opportunity to “test drive” your baby’s name:

http://www.babynamegenie.com/baby-name-test-drive.php


Or there is this one that can tell you how many people in America have the same name as your baby:

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 8 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I think Ash has settled on his choice, and judging by the votes on our gender counter, he is likely to have his way this time around – Harrison may just have to wait a couple of years…

With the nursery completed over the weekend, next week’s blog will include a slideshow of the makeover from beginning to end.

Until then, only three weeks remaining of work – yippee!