Our little baby girl isn’t so little anymore. Measuring around 16 inches and over approx. 2.5 lbs she is well in to her first growth spurt….and boy is mama feeling it! My tummy seems to have exploded in to its own celestial planet and yet we still have 3 months to go. I just can’t wait to see the gigantic proportions this baby bump will evolve in to with the weeks and months to come.
This weekend the hubby and I had our very first introduction to baby care and breastfeeding info, as we spent all of Saturday morning and early afternoon attending baby classes through Group Health in Capital Hill. Slightly overwhelmed and even more perplexed about body parts and baby poop, the classes were taught by an excellent instructor. Sitting in the room with over a dozen 8 month+ preggers was definitely a sight to see…especially when we got a ½ hr break to go grab food. I think Safeway was a little overwhelmed with the bellies! As Michael and I go on tours of local hospitals and birthing centers, and attend more of these baby prep classes, the more we realize that what we thought the birthing process was going to be like is not the way it actually happens. Instead of a room full of family meeting and greeting the new baby, we find out the short recovery period will be filled with doctors, nurses, and lactation consultants. Any time we thought we would have to visit seems to be taken over by medical paperwork and the always-advised time to sleep. Every source of information we consult (books, nurses, baby dr, doulas, etc), there seems to be more of a laundry list of stuff to prepare for baby. At least 45 mins of skin to skin contact per day for the first 3 months……you sleep when the baby sleeps……all night marathons of breastfeeding…..yay! All the while I’m sitting in the room staring at videos of babies sucking out mommy’s milk thinking “ouch” and “is that even possible?” Nonetheless, as much as this baby stuff becomes overwhelming it is overshadowed by the excitement we both have to meet our baby girl and to see her grow in our arms every day.
An exciting event came this weekend as Auntie Elizabeth and I started opening the 3 huge moving boxes of clothes and gifts we received from the baby shower in California. As we started ooo-ing and awe-ing over all of the cute outfits we realized that we were going to need somewhere to put all of this stuff. Sprout’s room may have cute polka dots on the wall, but we haven’t even started putting together any of the furniture yet…including the dresser. So my fantastic husband (who actually reads directions) put together the nightstand and dresser for Sprout’s room. Unfortunately, by time ½ of the clothes were hung and folded I remembered I wanted to wash the clothes before our little girl ever wore or used these items. After working in the stock room in a department store once, I became aware of the chemicals and pesticides they use when shipping and packing clothes. So, we just feel it is better to give it a clean wash for our little girl. You ask where that left us with 3 huge boxes of clothes and gifts??? Well, it was left right there in the middle of the living room! Our puppy Jacob seemed to love it because he could sniff and pull out his favorite pieces, but to us it just looks like a tornado came about and destroyed the inside of our house. Guess this is just a sign of what’s to come with a new baby?!?
