Sunday, April 29, 2007

A Beautiful Day for a Baby Shower



We had our first baby shower yesterday afternoon at my mom's house. It was the first beautiful day in about a week. It just couldn't have been better! Lindsay and Cara threw a beautiful shower for us and I can't thank them enough. It was so nice to see everyone and we received a lot of beautiful things for Matthew and his room. I want to thank all my friends and family that came yesterday! We have about six more weeks to go now, so we are winding down to the end. I am growing by the day and with my short frame I feel like a house. It was nice to compare my "bump" with Lindsay's (who by the way is much taller than me), we are carrying our boys completely different. We are very fortunate that we have such wonderful friends and family supporting us through our journey and we know that you all will be there after he is born! Thank you!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

We finished our prenantal classes last night!

We finished our prenatal class last night. We talked more about breathing techniques to use in the different stages of labor. We also watched a movie about interventions and medications during labor. It discussed the pros and cons of each and the video showed how each procedure was done, with was very helpful. We also watched a short video on c-sections. We also got to tour the new section of the hospital for the babies. It officially opened to patients this past Monday (April 16th). The new wing at Bronson is the "old" part of the hospital, completely remodeled and redone.

The new wing is very nice. The labor and devliery rooms are well equipped with just about everything you would need both for me and Ryan. The delivery rooms are quite large allowing for space for all the nurses, doctors and Ryan to move around in. The recovery rooms are also very nice and spacious. There is also a larger hydrotherapy room to use if I wish. Each room comes with a tub though. The tub was not the biggest one, but I could easily fit, so I can use that if I wish too. Each delivery room has a DVD player and television. I reassured Ryan that the DVD player was for playing music to help us relax instead of watching a movie! Just kidding, he knew that. Each room is also equipped with thier own baby scale, measuring tools and warmer, so they don't have to hunt for things when you are ready to deliver.

They were very busy last night. Only one labor and delivery room was open and only a few recovery rooms with a few more moms waiting in triage to be admitted. While we were walking through the hospital we saw a lot of brand new babies with thier little button noses and loud cries! We walked past the nursery, but it is protected by security, so we couldn't see all the babies there. The new security is also nice. Every baby has an ankle bracelet and if the baby gets too close to a door, the wing goes into lock down and security is there in a heartbeat. I guess this has happened by accident a few times this week by accident while the nurses get aquanted with how close they can get to the doors with the babies. Matthew will also gets wrist bands that match me as well. Each nursing station has a large monitor with all the babies and mother's heartrates, so they can monitor us from thier stations too.

It is very exciting to think that we will be there very soon! I go to the doctor this afternoon for a bi-weekly appointment then I am off to Western for my LAST class of my grad program. We are very excited here, well except for the fact that I have to start paying back my loans next month, but that was expected. Take care!

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Our first day at prenatal class

We went to our prenatal class last night and were very happy with what we learned. There are 11 other pregnant ladies there with us, so it is a pretty full class. Two moms are due in May, a few in June and the rest in July. It is nice to see other round bellies and realize that I am very comparable to them with my belly size. We talked a lot about the stages of labor, relaxationa and breathing techniques. We also talked about worries we all have and basically in a nut shell what to expect. Even though every delivery is different, it was nice to hear what other moms and dads were concerned with. We watched a video that followed a woman through all her labor stages and the delivery and for some reason that was the first time that it really hit me that I am having a baby. I know that he kicks all the time and that is a reminder and all the doctor appointments, but when I was watching someone else do that and thought about myself in about two months, give or take a few weeks, I got really excited and honestly really scared, which is very natural. I just want to experience it all and meet my little boy. I have no idea how my body is going to react. Because of that Ryan and I need to prepare ourselves to the best we can.

Now for an update on Matthew. He is about 4 pounds now and about 19 inches long from crown to feet (according to my books), but let me tell you in this small torso I have he feels much bigger and longer. Maybe it is the big feet he has. He is very active, especially after dinner. I am starting to notice more movements while at work too. It is funny, because during certain times in my routine at school he reacts that same every day. For example, when we do calendar and the whole class is saying "today is thursday..." he starts kicking and moving. I am not sure if he likes the noise of the kids. He settles down when it is independent work time, but wiggles around more when it is noiser in the room and there is more going on. My students think it is really cool and they keep telling me how "fat" I am getting. Nice! Other than that he is very healthy and the doctors think everything is going smoothly.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Welcome

I wanted to welcome you all to Baby Matthew's blog. I decided to do this to keep all of you in touch with what is happening with us here in Portage. I am currently in my 30th week and everything is going very well. I am on Spring Break this week, so I am catching up on some sleep and finishing up some papers for my last grad class. Matthew has been busy kicking and growing the past few weeks. We start our prenatal classes next week, so I will keep you posted on that.