accomplishments addendum: preparing

[mamajoan]

I forgot to mention in my accomplishments post last night that I also accomplished packing my bag for the hospital, another thing I never managed to do with Isaac since he was premature. On Saturday when I was sitting around feeling all neurotic over my stomach pains, I decided to do it (albeit I had already been planning to do it this weekend anyway). So I threw together a bag. It was another area where having done the whole childbirth/hospital thing before probably helped -- as opposed to being a first-timer just working off people's lists from the internet "What To Pack For the Hospital." Of course, since I spent a week in the hospital with Isaac whereas the typical stay is two days, I probably have an inflated idea of how much stuff I'll need ;) but whatever, the bag wasn't too too heavy anyway.

I packed: some ratty comfy clothes to labor in and to sit around in later; a novel; a book of number puzzles (not sudoku); some toiletries; munchies. And probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. I also wrote down phone numbers of a bunch of people I might want to call, since all that stuff is stored in my cellphone and you aren't allowed cellphones in the hospital. I didn't pack my slippers because, well, I'm still wearing them around the house. I may go to Target and pick up an extra pair.

I also packed a bag for Isaac consisting of: a change of clothes, a diaper, and a set of pajamas. I put both the bags in my car and felt all accomplished and stuff.

Now here I am at the office on like four hours of sleep and my boss wants me to do my self-evaluation for my performance review and my brain is mush. Happy frickin' Monday.

Comments

[opadit.livejournal.com]

you aren't allowed cellphones in the hospital

For what it's worth, the last time I was in a hospital ER, we were allowed to use a cellphone. Different hospitals must have different policies, based on equipment or their own opinions of what the etiquette should be. Probably can't hurt to ask!

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said in my post, I spent a week in this hospital after having Isaac, so I think I know their policies on all this kind of stuff pretty well. Not to mention all the many many times I've been there for checkups in the past 7 months and seen all the many many signs saying "NO CELLPHONES" and the like.

as far as sibling stuff...

[queenalia.livejournal.com]

...just read a really good point on babycenter: "expecting" the older sibling to be excited and happy and all that about a new sibling is kind of like "expecting" the wife to be happy if her husband were to come home and say "here's my new wife, aren't you excited and happy? now, you'll have to help take care of her because she's so young and inexperienced."

it made me both feel better about my own sibling issues (la) and also more sympathetic (i hope) for whatever sam goes through if/when we expand the family.

my plan, if it's at all doable if/when, is to talk about it casually like i do most things, and then make sure there's an adult (not owen-- he's mine) who is the dedicated sam caregiver. as soon as i go into labor, Sam Adult takes over sam, and they do whatever he needs at whatever speed he wants. i remember a lot about life just before and after my brother was born, and yeah i had no clue what was going on except that my parents thought it was a big deal. but ... y'know... parents get excited about the strangest things... :}

Re: as far as sibling stuff...

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

Yeah ... I've read a fair amount on how to prepare a kid for a baby, and I think it's better to focus on the realities of how it will affect daily life, and not so much on feelings and so forth. The reality is, the baby will cry a lot and sleep a lot and occupy a lot of mom's time. That kind of information has more meaning to a little kid than "you're going to be a big brother! isn't that great?"

I definitely don't expect Isaac to be all happy and excited about it, at least at first -- in fact, even from my perspective it's hard not to be a little sad about the loss of our special closeness. You have to be aware that your relationship with the first child can never be the same again once the second child arrives. It doesn't have to be bad, necessarily, but it's going to be different and that's a little tough to think about....

The hospital where I'll be giving birth basically requires what you described -- if a child is present at the birth, there has to be an adult who's solely responsible for that child, ready to take him out as necessary, and so forth. I'm not planning to have Isaac actually be present for the birth, but I'm definitely lining up people to be in charge of him during the whole labor/birth -- whether that means just sitting around in case he wakes up (if it's nighttime), or driving him to daycare, or playing with him at home, whatever.