Why seek out new life, when you can create it from the comfort of your own home?

Who would have known that something so natural would be so complex? Actually, what I got most from the class was that while it is a bit of a learning process for both mother and baby, it is a natural process that we are all hardwired to do, and mothers just need to stick to it and trust themselves and their babies. (Not counting those instances where breast feeding is medically impossible). It seems that the biggest concern is just getting a good latch, but once you have that down, the rest is just learning the signs from your baby for when they are hungry.
I also learned that I will have to wait four weeks before Bionca is really able to pump so that I can feed him as well. While that is a bit disappointing, there are plenty of other things that I can do for him before then. I’m looking forward to the experience.

We just got home from our first birthing class, and it’s already proving to be very informative. The class is pretty small. I think that there are 7 couples there, which makes it very easy to not only talk to the people in the class, but make sure that we get individual attention when we need it.

The instructor focused mostly on the early stages of labor. Most of it was what to expect, and while we are already aware of most of that, she did go over some great topics like exercises to help shorten the length of labor (walking, squatting, and lunging). We are also going to be working on relaxation techniques, which is something that Bionca has a hard time with.

We have also gotten some tips on what we need to do to prepare. For instance, keep a shower curtain and a few towels in the care for when Bionca’s water breaks. We need to also find music of different tempos to aid in the different stages of labor. Also, while her lips might get chapped, we need to make sure to get some unscented lip gloss to prevent any nausea.

I’m going to read through the book, and make sure that I am prepared for the next class.  We have homework of starting our exercises, practicing massage, and coming up with 10 relaxation techniques. It should be a busy week.

June 4th, we had our latest ultrasound, but we never updated the site. (We’ve been a bit lax in that, lately.) Anyway, Perrin is doing well, and is still measuring 2 weeks ahead. That’s pretty exciting, since it means that it is more likely that he will be born in July. Anyway, on with the pictures.

He’s kind of smushed between the placenta and the wall of the womb, but you can still see his features here.

Same thing from a different view, but I like this one because you can really see his nose and mouth really well.  Also, with the way that his face is obscured, it reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera.

He just looks like he is sleeping between two pillows.  Don’t let these images fool you, he’s an active little bugger.

He’s still breech, and hopefully he will turn around soon, but in any case, he’s healthy and doing well, and we can’t wait to see him.

It’s official. All betting is now closed. Peanut is a boy.

Yesterday was our 18-week anatomical evaluation ultrasound. We had been looking forward to this one for a while, since this is usually when you find out the sex of the baby. At first, Bionca just wanted it to be the two of us that went, but it worked out that both of my parents, her mom, and her grandmother all came with us. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The tech was fantastic, as she explained the anatomical structures that she was measuring as she went, and was quite funny too. Peanut was doing great, as he was just cuddled up against the placenta like a big body pillow. Some of the highlights were when we saw Peanut wave to us, and seeing and hearing his little heart. We get to the end, and she is looking to see he sex, but Peanut had his legs curled up underneath him, and he just wasn’t moving. I was worried that we would have months yet of not buying clothes, using “he/she,” and “him/her,” “the baby,” and any other generic term that we could think of.

She went to bring the doctor in, since she couldn’t get the shot of his heart that she needed, and we had hope of a second chance. Bionca immediately got up and started jumping around and shaking her belly trying to get Peanut to move. Soon the doctor came in, and we got back to desperately looking at the screen. After doing some measurements on the heart, he moved in to see the sex of the baby.

Once again, Peanut wasn’t be cooperative, but the doctor thought that he saw a glimpse of a labia. Bionca got excited and squeezed my hand, and I started grinning hopefully. After a few more minutes of moving around and getting nothing, he seemed about to give up when he finally got the right angle, and made the declaration that it was a boy.

Bionca cried while I grinned like an idiot. I’m not really sure how everyone else in the room reacted, since I was so focused on the little screen, and Bionca. It was a great moment.

We proceeded to Bionca’s Ob appointment, and after waiting over an hour, and doing the exam, the doctor declared that all of Bionca’s tests came out good, and that she was doing great. We have a completely normal and healthy pregnancy.

Very good to know.

What a long night. Yesterday, Bionca was having some severe pain, that mostly hit when she sat up, but even when she was sitting still, standing, or laying down she was in pain. As a result, we decided to call the doctor and get their advice. They advised us to come to the Triage center at Winnie Palmer, and so off we went at 7p.m.

We check in, and sat. They had a good number of women in there, but they didn’t seem too busy. Boy was I wrong. We quickly learned that all of the triage beds were taken up, and that we would be there for a while, with more women coming in the whole time. A while turned out to be until 1 a.m. (5.5 hours for those keeping score at home) Luckily, our phones are a veritable cornucopia of entertainment, and I am a social person able to strike up a conversation with just about anyone or we likely would have gone insane.

Some parts of the waiting were not so bad. We talked for a while with this woman and her mom that were close to her due date, but had been in there like 10 times already. At one point we even had the whole waiting room laughing and talking. That was a very good thing, considering how miserable most of the women looked. You would think that since they know that that waiting room would be full of uncomfortable pregnant women that they would have some better chairs, and ways for them to elevate their feet.

We didn’t call anyone since we figured that it was a minor issue, and that we would just be sent home, with the plan being that if that changed, that we would let everyone know. Well, since Sha’Vonne was home when we were leaving, we had to tell her where we were going, and then her mom called and talked to Sha’Vonne, and now she and Gabby knew, so the whole time we were there we were I’m trying to manage information (mostly by saying that Bionca isn’t doing any worse, and that we are still waiting). It got a bit hectic at times, but I was able to manage it. There was no way that it made sense for anyone else to come to the hospital, as there was already little room for people.

Eventually we got called back, and Bionca saw the doctor. They used the Doppler device to hear the heart beat which was strong, and Peanut even kicked it. Then they did an ultrasound of her uterus and pelvic exam. Everything came out okay. they basically diagnosed the issue as round ligament stretching, and called it a night. It was pretty cool with the uterus ultrasound, since we got to see Peanut’s head, and we could even see the brain structure. I don’t know if Bionca was as interested in it as I was, but she was really tired.

The worst part was after the exam, we had to wait for about 30 minutes while they did the paperwork to release us. At this point it was 2 a.m., and we just wanted to go home. By the time that we got home, it was 3 a.m., and we about collapsed. We were tired and miserable, yet even knowing that it was basically 8 hours wasted, we would do it all over again 10 times. I’d much rather wait 8 hours to have them tell us that everything is okay when we think that there might be a problem, then wait until we know there is a problem and they tell us, “If only you have been here sooner…”

I can live without sleep, I couldn’t live with those words haunting me. No regrets. Well, maybe one. Next time, I’ll bring a miniature camping kit. If we are going to be there for a third of a day, we should at least make ourselves comfortable.