Okay, I have to admit that at this point in Kate's pregnancy, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of 'wow-bang' activity. The visits to the midwives at Womancare are getting, well quite frankly, a bit dull. We walk in, they take a few measurements, check the heartbeat, ask if she's having any troubles, and off we go!
Don't get me wrong! I'm glad that the pregnancy is thus far rather 'boring.' The idea of impending parenthood is exciting enough without an extra-special 'thrills.'
I will however share this picture of Kate and her growing belly. This picture was taken on Oct 1st and Kate is about 30 1/2 weeks along.
This puts her into her third trimester, which means we're on the downhill slope to baby's arrival in December. As such, since Kate's a big fan of being prepared (I am as well; she's just better at it than me), we're starting to get some of our ducks in a row before baby makes his/her appearance.
For one thing, we've signed up for birthing classes through the
Foothills Childbirth Education Association. We had originally hoped to get into a specialized class that taught the
Bradley method of husband-coached childbirth, but the scheduling and timing didn't work out. So instead, we're reading a book entitled "
Husband-Coached Childbirth" and taking this class through the FCEA for a general introduction about what to expect from the birth.
The class actually had its first session on Wednesday this week...and it was very informative! Okay, so sue me...but I honestly had no idea how the internals of a woman's body worked during childbirth. In this first class, our instructor Krista gave us a crash course in the bodily functions that occur during childbirth. I won't go into it all here, but I have to admit, I am seriously impressed with how God has put women together to allow babies to be born! Everything just operates like a smooth machine. Sure, there's always the chance of a glitch, but it's almost beautiful how it all functions.
Sorry, I'll skip over the waxing poetic here. :-)
So we went over the physiological aspect of childbirth and some general talk about relaxing during childbirth. Krista didn't lie to us - she told us that childbirth would be messy and painful, but there are things we can do to help ease the pain. The key seems to be to trust that your body knows what it's doing...so just let it. Don't focus on the part that's automatic; concern yourself with anything else that adds to your comfort. Krista and the FCEA seem to be big fans of husbands and partners helping with the birth and with minimal use of drugs - basically as natural as you can if what they'd prefer.
Krista finished with an anecdote about how one never forgets all those details related to the birth of one's child. Even when the child is grown up and getting ready to graduate from high school like her daughter is. She got rather sniffly and teary-eyed during this story...and none of us could blame her! It really hit home the kind of love that we're going to be bringing into our lives.
Oops - waxing again. Moving on. :-)
We've also started talking with our church about getting the baby baptized. We met last night with Deacon Bill and his wife from
SEAS Parish. We'll need to go to a class at the church next month, and after that we'll probably plan on having the baptism in January. We're still debating whether we want to have the baptism during a regular Mass or a private ceremony. We're leaning a little bit toward the public one. We would have liked to set it up so the baptism occurred on a holiday weekend - to make it easier for Kate's mother to visit - but sadly, I'm scheduled to work both holiday weekends in January and February. In any case, we'll figure something out.
As part of the process, we chose our friends Debbie and Rick to be godparents of our baby. They are wonderful, good-hearted people that go to the same church as we do. Debbie worked with both me and Kate at the library for some years before Jason - their charming boy - was born. We've made an effort to stay in touch, get together for dinner, that sort of thing.
Here's a picture of Deb, Rick, and Jason at one of their friend's wedding:
Other than that, it's business as usual. Kate regularly feels the baby moving, usually when she's not. It's too the point that occasionally I'm lucky enough to feel a kick or push when my hand rests on Kate's belly. It's the coolest feeling! :-)
That's all to report for now.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you're having a great day!
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