May 23, 2013 (week 34.5)
The baby is now about 5 pounds and about 18 inches long, and
she is still moving well even with the more confined living quarters. I find it
most uncomfortable when she is lying horizontally and her legs are kicking
through my obliques. I try to change my standing position so that her head
drops back down where she “should” be. I am perfecting my waddle now. Before I
head over to the pool for my swims during the week I joke with my colleagues, “She’s
a penguin on land and a manatee in the water… It’s Erin, the largely pregnant
woman.”
On Saturday, my cousin Rikki and her daughter came by the
house as I was baking Gus’ cake. They brought over some 2T, 3T and 4T clothes (I
went through and organized the age groupings) that we will be keeping in “storage”
until the appropriate age for Sierra. Gus’ apple/blackberry birthday cake and
chocolate covered fruit came out well (although I wish I took it out about 3
minutes earlier). Everyone seemed to enjoy it at the BBQ that evening (most importantly Gus did).
Our Sunday birthing class focused on interventions and
medications during labor, all very informative. The class had very good information
for the “just in case” scenario. The
class is primarily focused on natural birthing (without medications or
inductions) which is what we want, but it is good to know what there is out
there, just-in-case. We also toured the
Sutter Davis hospital… it’s too bad our insurance doesn’t cover delivery at
this hospital because it’s very nice! Birthing tubs too. Oh well! Afterwards we
had a nice b-day dinner for Gus with Lyn in town.
By Sunday evening I started feeling sick and by Monday
morning it was official. I stayed home from work. We had several nanny
interviews that evening, so I pulled myself together and we met and interviewed
3 lovely women. We already had interviewed one person the previous week, and
wanted to continue interviewing throughout this week. I had made a job posting
through www.care.com and “joined” for 1 month for $28. This put me in touch
with about 15 people who were interested in our posting for the fall (M-TH 3hr/day),
and of the 15 we chose to interview 3 and interviewed one other woman we were
referred to. By the end of the evening
we were fairly confident we had found the nanny we wanted to watch Sierra in
the fall. The woman happens to be very familiar with cloth diapering, using breast
milk, and proper swaddling techniques. You may be wondering what “proper swaddling”
is, here’s a website that gives you some insight: http://www.hipdysplasia.org/developmental-dysplasia-of-the-hip/hip-healthy-swaddling/
. Essentially you want to leave enough room for her legs to move around. Our
fall nanny has 2 little girls (one is 1.5 months now and one is 1.5 years) who
will be coming with her to watch Sierra, which Gus and I find will be great
socialization for her.
On Wednesday we went to our baby class (2.75 hrs) on breast
feeding. I was glad Gus came too, because it is important that both of us
understand what’s actually going on and also knowing I have a great person to
support me if things get tough. It was very informative and helpful on what
positions work best etc. I also brought up questions about drinking beer and
breast feeding. Luckily, I had done some research before so I could be more
directed with my question. Here’s a great journal article about the topic http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-0080.2006.00056.x/abstract
. I came away concluding it takes about 2 hours to clear the alcohol from your
system (from one drink) and I don’t have to pump and dump. Another piece of
interesting information that I looked up was about light drinking during
pregnancy here’s the link to the journal article: http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2010/09/13/jech.2009.103002.abstract
. I won’t state my opinion on it because I think the journal article itself is
very much in line with what I believe, so if you want to read it you will come
away with my opinion on the article in the results section.
I did also ask our instructor about a few carriers,
mentioning one I bought off craigslist (The Ergo), one we were given as a
hand-me-down (The Bjorn) and a sling. She loves the Ergo, but is very much
against the Bjorn. I was surprised because at first glance you would have no
idea what the big difference is between them… the risk of hip dysplasia
apparently… http://www.hipdysplasia.org/
Gus and I are excited to have a 3 day weekend together! We are
heading to his hometown to see his mom. We plan on driving through King’s
Canyon Saturday and going kayaking at Shaver Lake on Sunday. The dogs are
excited too, they just won’t know it until they smell that we’re getting close.
I gained 2 pounds this week!!! I made up for not gaining
anything last week (putting me at 31 pounds of weight gain):
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