a fairly lengthy baby/pregnancy update

[mamajoan]

Last night mom and I went to childbirth class again. It was again a little weird since for us it was our second class but for everyone else it was their sixth and final one. But that was okay, because everyone was still super-nice, and we learned a lot, so it was all good.

And! Two of the women in the class had had their babies in the past week since the last class! And one of them came to class! You can imagine the chorus of oohs that went around when the couple walked in with their 5-day-old baby! Little Stefan. He was sooooo cute and teeny. And so well-behaved! Naturally everyone wanted to hold him, and he didn't fuss at all when he was handed around the room. He just sat there staring at whomever was holding him, with a mildly curious expression as if to say, "You're not my mommy. Oh well, that's cool."

He got a little fussy when handed back to his dad (LOL) so the mom took him out of the room and fed him while we had some actual class. Then, of course, he soiled his diaper, which delighted Lori, the lady who teaches the class. "Oh, let's have a diaper-changing demonstration!" she cried. The mom was amenable, so she set everything up on the floor in the middle of the room and we all gathered around to watch her change the diaper. So we got to see the bit of umbilical cord still attached (ew) and what newborn breastfeeding poop looks like (also ew) and all. The mom already diapers like a pro, though of course after five days she's already done it several dozen times so that's no surprise. ;) And Stefan didn't pee on her (which, as everyone in the "biz" knows, boy babies very often do) and barely fussed at all the whole time. He was the perfect baby model.

I must say that the baby testicles still strike me as bizarrely large. The penis seems to be in proportion with his little body, but the balls, dude, they just look so huge. But I've thought that of every baby boy I've ever seen, so it's probably just me. ;)

Anyway, since one topic of the final class was "what life is like with the baby for the first few weeks," it was perfect timing to have little Stefan and his parents there, although everyone was pretty surprised that they bothered to come to class. ;) They seemed incredibly chipper for people who have probably gotten ten hours of sleep total in the last five days. ;) The mom was even cheerful about all the bruising she has. Well, with a baby as cooperative and adorable as theirs, I guess it's easier to be upbeat even when you're tired. :)

Anyway, the rest of the class was about how to push the baby out -- much time was devoted to passing around a lifesize model of a woman's pelvis and a lifesize newborn baby doll so we could experiment with pushing the latter through the former in different ways -- and about what will happen in the hospital immediately after the birth, and, as I said, about what life will be like for the first few weeks. It was all pretty interesting, especially the parts about what happens if the baby is in different positions (face up vs. face down, etc.), what happens if a hand or shoulder tries to come out along with the head, and what the various delivery positions are. Lori had one classmember demonstrate the positions: on all fours (which is how Stefan's mom did it), squatting, lying on your side, or the classic back-lying, which Lori calls "the stuck beetle position" because you basically splay out like a bug pinned to a board. ;)

We left class a bit early because at the end they were just getting their certificates (you get a piece of paper saying that you finished the class; some insurance companies require this before they'll reimburse you) and we don't get those because we didn't do the whole class. Lori's next birthing class starts up on the 24th, so we'll be there for that, and meet a whole new set of expecting parents. :)

Last night I tried sleeping in a chair to save my back/hips, but it wasn't working out. I couldn't convince my brain that it was time to sleep, since the body was upright. So I switched to the bed, and actually had less hip pain than the past few nights, for no apparent reason.

Then this morning I had my prenatal checkup. It went fine. We have gained 2.5 pounds since last time and about 20 pounds overall, although really it's a bit more than that because at the first weighing I was wearing heavy boots and now I'm being weighed barefoot. But anyway. It was all fine and I had a long chat with the midwife about breastfeeding, traveling with baby, sleeping with baby, etc. She said the same thing she said at my last visit, that I seem to be "sailing through it." I guess that's true. I've felt a lot more run-down in the past couple of weeks -- just tired, having trouble breathing and dragging my body around, etc. -- but that's normal so I haven't really been worrying about it and she didn't seem too worried either.

Then when I got to work, my coworker who's giving me her crib told me that her son has something called Fifth Disease. I'd never heard of it, but apparently it's a virus that causes a rash and is highly contagious and can be very bad for an unborn baby, although if a child or adult catches it, you just treat it like a cold or flu and it gets better on its own. Anyway, I called my midwife to see whether I should be worried, and she said that as long as I haven't had contact with the actual infected child -- just his mom -- it should be fine. If my coworker develops symptoms, then they'll do some tests on me. She also said that I shouldn't worry about the crib, because the Fifth Disease virus can't survive on a mattress or other materials, only in a human body. So anyway, that was a relief, and it's nice to have such a responsive medical care person. Especially when I keep hearing horror stories from other parents about their asshole doctors. :P

(Speaking of doctors, note to self: find a pediatrician!)

In other news, alas, it seems I'll have to stay away from mom's place for the next week or so. The workers are supposed to start on her two rooms today; they'll be scraping and primer-ing and painting, and it will raise a lot of paint dust that has a high likelihood of containing lead, so it's best for me to stay away until the work is all done. Snif. Speaking of the painting of mom's apartment, she and I picked out colors for the back room that's going to be sort of the baby's room. I hope they look as nice on the walls and floor as they do on the paint chips. ;)

For my birthday months ago, mom gave me a gift certificate for a free massage, and I finally got around to calling for an appointment. It's on Sunday, with a massage therapist who is specially trained in pregnancy massage. I'm sooooo looking forward to that. *wistful sigh* Is it Sunday yet?

Comments

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I find it strange that the only position for giving birth one ever seems to see in TV and movies is the "stuck beetle" one. I don't think I had really heard of other ones until I saw Wonderland, a british movie wherein Molly Parker gave birth while squatting and leaning forward against a board, which seems a much more appropriate position from which to let gravity help. The reclining position seems too much like a position best suited to allow physicians to treat one like a passive object of their medical care, which might work in case of complications, but not in labour itself, unless one wanted to rest a little.

Ooh, free massage. Enjoy! :-)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Well, the lying-flat-on-back position basically came about during the days when the birthing mother WAS a passive object of her OB's medical care -- when they would routinely shoot her full of drugs and yank the baby out. Nowadays, when it's used, it's used on mothers who have had epidurals, because the epidural renders you basically incapable of moving your legs. And since the vast majority of mothers -- at least, the vast majority of the ones you see on TV -- have epidurals, that's why you only ever see the lying-down position.

One of my pregnancy books goes into the history of childbirth, and cultural/societal perceptions thereof, and thus why it's done the way it is now, at some length. It's interesting stuff.

Nowadays, in environments where more natural childbirth is encouraged, i.e. birthing centers or hospitals with at least a moderately progressive outlook on the birthing process, the stuck-beetle position is much less common. Especially if you use a midwife instead of an OB. People are widely starting to realize that, hey, there's a REASON all those aboriginal/tribal women in Africa and so forth give birth in the squatting position.

Take it from me -

[rupie-zum.livejournal.com]

Girl babies can get you, too, if you don't watch it.

And yeah, boys and girls have proportionately large genitalia. Girls' labia will look swollen - and some girls' breasts will be little buds, until the hormones settle down. Even odder - girls can have mini periods. Moira had menses for the first two weeks - a residual effect of the hormones she was exposed to in utero.

Enjoy the massage. :)

Re: Take it from me -

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

wow, thanks for that bit of info. I probably would have freaked if I noticed my girl baby bleeding vaginally without prior warning.

Re: Take it from me -

[rupie-zum.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was definitely odd! The nurses didn't tell us until after my husband noticed it while changing her first diaper.

[kenboy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the video of Rhonda's c-section, which is mostly of her head, to avoid too many ER-like shots, I pan over as the doctor is lifting out Nate, and man, are his nuts huge. I vaguely remember his pediatrician telling us at his first visit that there's excess fluid in there which eventually gets re-absorbed into the rest of the body.

Or something like that.

As far as poo, breastfeeding baby poo is a wonderful thing.

Compared to toddler poo, man, you have no idea.

:-)

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

No kidding. My almost-11 month old daughter is just now experimenting with table food (she would only nurse and eat baby food until very recently). After dealing with some particularly icky diapers yesterday, I asked my husband if we could go back to me nursing her exclusively. ;)