Childbirth Class -- Week 2

This week at our childbirth class we learned more about the stages of labor. It was a good thing too because I knew very little about it and Aaron knew even less. Now we at least will have an idea of what to expect, even though I'm sure no two labors are ever the same. I think he's going to be an awesome coach. We did a breathing exercise at the end of class and acted like we were having both mild contractions and really bad ones and I could tell that he really paid attention during class (or has great instincts) because he made me feel a lot more relaxed and able to focus. Next week we will be learning about drugs. I'm anxious to learn more about them. I know I said that I was going to try to do it natural, but given my low tolerance for pain, I will be surprised if I make it, so I want to know more about what they give you and when they do it.

3 Hour Glucose Test

I just got back from my 3 hour glucose test to see if I have gestational diabetes. They didn't give me the results at the lab -- the doctor will call me later. It was about the most boring thing I've done in a long time. First, I got there and they drew blood, then had me drink another sugary drink, but this time it was twice as sweet as the initial test. Ugh, it was horrible. Luckily they had a straw and I was able to down it quickly. Then I had to get my blood drawn an hour later. She went for the same vein as the first time and it didn't work too well. I think I'm going to have a nice bruise on that arm -- and it hurt! Getting my blood drawn doesn't bother me, but I did start to feel a bit faint when she was moving the needle around trying to get a better blood flow. Then I had to go back in another hour later and an hour after that. She used my left arm both of those times and didn't have any trouble. I had to stay at the lab during the entire test, but I brought my computer and was able to work. It wasn't the most comfortable place, but it could have been a lot worse. She did mention on my last blood draw that she doesn't think that I look nearly big enough to have gestational diabetes (I thought that was very nice, ha ha) and that my doctor's office has a lot tighter regulations for the test than her lab does (i.e., I wouldn't have failed the first test if I had it done through the lab). Of course you never know and I could have just barely failed the first test and I could have gestational diabetes and it will be a good thing that they had the tighter regulations. We shall see next week!

Childbirth Class

We had our first childbirth class last Wednesday. It is a 4 week series, so we'll have classes on the next 3 Wednesdays. The first class we had introductions and watched a video about breathing techniques and ways to help with back labor. I thought it was interesting and took notes -- I think I was the only person in class that took notes! But, at this point I'd like to keep things as natural as possible, so I figure it won't hurt to have a list of ideas for Aaron to look through to help me through the pain. Don't worry I'm not crazy, I will take drugs if I need to, but I think I'd prefer to avoid them for the most part just because it isn't something I've handled well in the past (then again neither is pain!). There are probably 10-12 other couples in the class and Aaron and I felt really young! There was one other couple that was definitely younger than us, but we thought that everyone else looked to be in their 30s or 40s. I told Aaron that they probably thought that's how old we look, too, so there are probably more people close to our age than we realize. Almost everyone in the class is 4 weeks farther along than us, but one couple is due in mid-December and another is due in late January. At the end of class they had us do a relaxation technique which consisted of Aaron rubbing my back and shoulders while I relaxed. It was awesome and I've been looking forward to going back this week just for the massage!

28 Week Doctor's Visit

Our 28 week appointment was the morning after our trip. I had to take my screening test for gestational diabetes, which meant I had to drink a very sugary drink an hour before the appointment. The drink wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was only 10 oz. They draw blood exactly an hour after you finish the drink and then give your results at the appointment. The appointment went well, my blood pressure is still great, weight gain is right on track (still more than I want of course!), and the baby is measuring right on for her due date. Her heart rate was right at 144 bpm. The bad news was that I failed the screening test, which means I have to go back to the doctor to do a 3 hour long test. I will get my blood drawn, then drink another sugary drink (I've heard this one tastes a lot worse), then get my blood drawn an hour later, 2 hours later, and 3 hours later. I only failed the screening by one point and only somewhere between 5 and 15% fail the 3 hour test, so my doctor said that the odds are in my favor that there isn't an issue. If there is though, I can make it through it and there are a lot worse things.

NY -- The Journey Home

We had to get around early to catch our flight. The same cab driver that brought us to the hotel took us to the airport. It was a fairly uneventful drive and we drove a bit through Connecticut, which was good because I had wanted to at least go into it to check it off my list of states I've been to and we'd been very close, but hadn't been there. We had planned to eat breakfast at the airport, but they didn't accept credit cards (seriously!). Luckily there was a snack stand that had cheap breakfast sandwiches and we spent the last bit of our cash. The flight from White Plains to Philly was very quick and we had a long three hour layover. We started by going to TGI Fridays for an appetizer and some of the worst service I've ever had. The other waitresses were good and came often to their tables, but we had to ask one of them to get our waitress to come by. She was at least nice, but obviously had better things to be doing. That was probably the worst tip I've ever left! We then walked through the shopping areas and then sat at the terminal until we were hungry for lunch. Aaron of course had to get a Philly Cheesesteak. I had a pretzel and juice smoothie. He loved the cheesesteak (the pretzel was just so-so). We noticed they were about to start boarding while we were wrapping up lunch, so we headed over to get in line to get on the plane. There was a mom with 3 kids, probably 7, 8, and 9 yrs, in front of us in line and they were obnoxious, but I figured the odds of us being by them on the plane were low. Guess what, they were right behind us! The mom had a speech impediment and spoke extremely loud. She made sure to point out loudly that she and her daughter had to sit by the window or else they would get sick...again. Ugh great -- I've had a weaker stomach during pregnancy and Aaron gets airsick, although he always takes dramamine and hadn't had a problem in a long time. The son sitting by her had lost his voice at Disney World and was speaking in a whisper (it actually sounded like he probably had his voice back, but was still talking in a whisper) and her other son realized how fun it was to play with the seat back tray. She kept yelling across the plane at him. It was really annoying! Something else annoying...while we were taking off, I happened to think that the keys to our car that was sitting at the airport were in my purse -- yes, the one that was in the safe in NYC! I couldn't have thought of it before we took off when we could have called someone to be at the airport to meet us! As soon as we landed we tried calling Brad because we knew it was his day off, but he was sick, so we tried Aaron's mom. It worked out great because she lives in Shawnee, which is a lot closer than Brad was and she was happy to come get us. It was such a lifesaver! She took us home and wouldn't even take any gas money. Of course that meant that we had to drive back to the airport that evening to get the car, but it could have been a much more painful experience. We had decided to board Portia during our trip and were missing her terribly and picked her up as soon as we got home. The last time we boarded her she was mad at us for a couple days, but this time she was very happy to see us. While we had her boarded they cleaned her teeth, cut her nails, and did other maintenance things that she's never had done before. I'm sure they did everthing while she was put under, so I doubt she even knows. She was so glad to be home that she hopped on the bed, fluffed up the pillows and crashed! I think that's pretty close to what Aaron and I did, too! :)

NY Day 4

On our last day in the city we got up to hit up Times Square once more because Aaron decided he wanted a NY hat. On our way we passed by a watch stand where Aaron found a $5 watch. While we were browsing, 2 cops pulled over and talked to the vendor to see his license. He was working hard to get out of a ticket and doing some serious smooth talking. It worked and the cops told him he had to move and said he could finish up any sales. They were sure to tell us that he wasn't selling anything illegial. I tried to find a watch, too but I didn't find any that I liked. After we found a hat we checked out of the hotel, grabbed a cab and went to Grand Central Station. Our hotel for our last night was closer to the White Plains airport. We were able to get right on a train, unfortunately the a/c was broken. Ugh! It was so horrible. Luckily we had grabbed some cold water bottles on our way out of the hotel and it helped keep us cool. The train ride was probably 30 minutes long, but felt much longer due to the heat! We finally made it to Rye and grabbed a taxi ride to the hotel. The hotel was nice, but looked like it might have peaked as a weekend resort for folks from the city in the late 80s. We decided to use the Nuvi to find somewhere nearby for lunch. As the hotel seemed like a resort, it was outside of town a bit, but it looked like there were some places to eat less than a mile away so we headed out. When we got to the restaurant it didn't look very good and 0.5 miles away there were fast food restaurants, so we continued on. Most of the walk we were the only English speaking people we saw. It looked like a well cared for area, but we did feel like we stuck out a bit. It wasn't terribly hot, but it was extremely humid, so the walk was miserable. We finally made it to Burger King and probably took 2 hours to eat just because we didn't want to have to trek all the way back to the hotel! On our way back the GPS took a different route (I guess it was shorter since we didn't stop by the first restaurant). We went by a park that had a motorcycle toy and I guess we were a little giddy by that point and decided to go for a ride.

When we got closer to the hotel we ran across a beautiful rock wall.

I even decided to do some rock climbing. ;)

When we got back to the hotel we decided to play shuffle board and then Aaron cooled off in the pool and I dipped my feet in and read for a while.
We went back to the room and started packing for our flight the next morning. At that point I realized that we left my purse in the safe at the hotel in the city! Aghhh!! I did have my license, so I could fly home, but my credit card, bank card and $40 cash were all in the purse. I called the hotel right away and they said someone in security said they would check the safe for us and call me back that night. They never called and even though I knew that I could cancel my cards and $40 wasn't that much money, I hardly got any rest that night.

NY Day 3

This morning we took our time getting around and headed to Cental Park, which was just a few blocks north of our hotel. We thought about taking a carriage ride, but decided to see it by foot. We only ended up making it about 1/3 of the way into the park, but there was so much to see in just that little area that we were ok not seeing the rest. We stumbled across a visitor's center on our walk and they directed us to a beautiful area with a fountain and a pond. There were people renting row boats in the pond and we thought about doing it, but the pond was really small and there were a lot of boats, so we decided just to watch. There was a large cafe overlooking the pond and we were hungry, so we stopped to check it out. Unfortunately it was fairly hoity-toity which meant there were only 5 things on the menu and the cheapest was $27.50 (a hamburger). We decided to keep walking and we'd find something that we'd like better. We headed back towards our hotel through the park taking a different path. We ran across another pond, this time it was full of rented mini sailboats -- very picturesque. Aaron saw a family with an RC speed boat, so he watched it. We later saw the sign that said they were forbidden!

After that we ended up going through the children's area, which has a zoo and some carnival rides. There was also a restaurant. Well, we thought it was a restaurant, but it was really a grab-and-go cafeteria, but we were so hungry by that time that we decided to go ahead and eat. The food was actually pretty good, we shared a small pizza and a quesadilla. We sat outside and could watch all of the people walking through the park. I don't know if any of you have read (or seen) the Nannie Diaries, but I kept thinking about it as I'd see women walking by with children that obviously weren't theirs.

We went back by the hotel for a nap and then headed back out to go to the Empire State Building. Our hotel had such a great view of the city, we weren't interested to go to the top, but we wanted to go by the building and thought it would be a nice walk to an area we hadn't visited. On our way back we stopped by a Chinese restaurant for dinner and then decided to walk some more and we stumbled across Rockafeller Center. The skating rink was a restaurant and we saw 3 armed (automatic weapons!) police officers. It freaked me out because we had been to many other areas that had to have been extremely high security areas, but we hadn't seen that type of security. When we left, we saw 3 other officers staked out along one side of the rink. Maybe there was a celebrity eating and they had hired police security? Either way it was a little scary!