Lifestyles of the Young + Suburban

Archive for January, 2008

Yesterday we received a super nice box chock full of all sorts of baby goodies from the Caveney clan. Melissa really hooked us up with some nice items – lots of clothes, some books, a ship wheel (for the pirate themed nursery), and my favorite the BeBe Sounds Prenatal Talk ‘n Tunes Heart Listener Gift Set (see pic below).

When I first took this out of the box, I was a bit concerned this was going to be like the time machine from Napoleon Dynamite and cause serious discomfort.

Apparently Lisa had played around with this earlier and assured me no crystals were necessary and this was painless.

After pausing the State of the Union address, we hooked up the head phones, turned the power on and applied the microphone to Lisa’s belly. We heard gurgling, some thumps and then panting. The panting was from Jackson, who had gotten curious about what we were doing.

Ten minutes later we kept hearing noises and trying to decipher what the baby was doing or trying to tell us.

Lisa took a break and out of curiosity I attached the microphone to my belly to see if it could distinguish anything audible through my rock hard abs. Interestingly enough, I heard much of the same thumps and gurgling. So either I have a baby in my belly (which I have tried to convince Lisa of a couple times when going for that extra cookie after dinner) or we were missing something.

We delved deeper into the package and found the Talk n’ Tunes part of the product. There is a little microphone that connects to two little speakers that go on Lisa’s belly and the we can talk to the baby! I had a nice little chat with our boy and tried to get Jackson to say something to his little brother. He just looked at me, head slightly tilted, like I was the goofy one! Lisa said she felt some kicking, so I am hoping that was the baby’s way of saying he heard me loud and clear.

You can even hook up the mini-speakers to a radio or CD player and let the little guy jam out. I should have hid all of Lisa’s Bon Jovi CD’s because I am sure he has gotten an earful of “Livin on a Prayer” this morning.

13 weeks to go as of today!

Sunday was our last birth class and I am happy to report we passed. We even got little forms with our names on it, which are “perfect for the baby book” according to the instructor.

The six hours seemed to go by a little quicker even though we had more videos (not sure why they don’t warn you or provide a rating system on these), learned all about c-sections (which account for almost a third of all births), and took a tour of the hospital (LDR-labor and delivery=very nice/pleasant, post-birth=small/get out now). A few people didn’t show up and I wonder if it is because they got a sneak preview of the hospital (with their baby) earlier in the week?

We also had a few calls from real estate agents wanting to show our house. It looks like the good weather in Dallas was also in Atlanta, so our fingers stay tightly crossed for serious interest and a contract.

Yesterday was the first day of the third trimester. Yea!

Here is a handy little widget that you see how far we have come, what we have left and cool little animated picture of what he looks like (the books say I should say we, because I am apart of this too — despite the fact that Lisa tells me I (will) have no idea).

Enjoy the countdown to 4/29!

Here are some pictures of Lisa before her last doctor’s appointment showing off her new curves.

We tried different angles and as you can see, some show more than others. Jackson was wandering around her so it looks like she is hiding her face in a few.

I am looking forward to her belly button to pop…it’s getting pretty tight in there (like a tiger).

Yesterday Lisa and I went to a child birth class held at our hospital. We were both a bit apprehensive about going because we really didn’t know what to expect.

After talking through it, we had each envisioned sitting around in a circle on mats talking about natural child birth and different breathing techniques. Boy were we wrong…at least for 4 of the 6 hours.

We both decided we would go in with an open mind and hope that some of our questions would be answered (even some of the ones we hadn’t thought up yet), our fears would be lessened, and we may even end up meeting some other young couples going through some of the same growing up stage we are in.

After going around the class to tell a little about each of us and what we hoped to get out of the class, we realized our due date was the furthest away, but that most everyone was in the same boat – tell me what I need to know, because right now I feel like I don’t know anything (or as one of fathers to be put it – “We don’t want to be ignorant, because right now we don’t know nothing!”).

There was definitely a lot of information that came out of the class and we are definitely in better shape having attended. We both liked that the woman leading the class wasn’t pushing natural vs medicated child birth and helped highlight the pros and cons of both.

Most of the other people in there were a little tough to identify with, but with the exception of the woman who couldn’t pay attention and asked questions that had just been answered 5-minutes previously and the couple who talked and giggled the entire time (this wasn’t us, I promise), everyone was pretty nice.

I was able to add new words to my vocabulary like effacement, mucus plug, and placenta (I had read about this, but had a chance to see pictures and videos – I will be with the baby when this thing is delivered). And we went through the three stages of pregnancy, the times each of these last and when Lisa would have the opportunity to get an epidural.

Some of the surprising things I learned were:

• she will not be able to eat once she gets the hospital (except for ice chips and maybe some light liquids)
• the epidural does not last throughout the labor process and supposed to wear off before the pushing part (stage two)
• there’s wi-fi throughout the labor and delivery wing of the hospital (Lisa already told me I can’t stream, but I may live blog;)

Next week we get actual tour the labor ward and practice our breathing techniques. It should be fun and is just another part of our adventure in our journey to becoming Mom and Dad.

There’s a great column in today’s Dallas Morning news (if you can get past the depressing sports news on the front page) that my mom pointed me to. It is (surprise!) about naming a baby.

While it isn’t necessarily an advice column, it does make me feel better because this guy is a only a few weeks away from his son’s birth and still on the playing the baby name game. At least we have a few months!

Is it good that I am getting a little Monday evening satisfaction out of another man’s personal struggle to ensure his child has a name for success, a name for great deeds and a name for not getting mocked or beaten up?

Remember: Your Vote Counts, although we never said the winning vote(s) will be selected, but we did appreciate everyone weighing in!

UPDATE: I had written the columnist at the Dallas Morning News, and he linked back to my original baby name post. With the extra spam comments we’ve gotten, I am pretty sure this means we are big time!

Yesterday, Lisa went in for a regular check up and she was able to get in some tummy time with the sonogram lady.

Mom (Manchee), Lisa and myself were all excited to see how our favorite little boy had been growing since we last saw him in early December when Mom (Austin) was in town.

As you can see from the above picture, he is still a boy (and according to the woman running the ultrasound, “Very much a boy!”).

Above you can see a nice profile of Baby Manchee, but what you can’t see is the full 1lb 9oz he is currently clocking in at!

Here is Baby Manchee waiving to you. Thanks for stopping by.

When we were back in Georgia over Christmas we stopped by the house to do a few things — namely some serious yard work (did I say we?), change lightbulbs and to pack up the computer.

After a couple of months trying to sneak on to my work laptop, Lisa realized she needed to have our trusty Dell back in Texas so she can play email, money, and pictures. She also reminded me that my excuses of not making significant updates to our website (manchee.net) are now no longer valid.

So look out for some updates to the main part of the site in the coming months weeks.

Happy New Year!