Gustav

Well, the last and most important lesson I took away from our last childbirth class on Wednesday was simple, "Be flexible." Our childbirth educator passed on that advice from a friend of hers who had her baby in a hotel during her Katrina evacuation. We had learned that day that Gustav might be headed to New Orleans and that we might have to evacuate. As we now know, and as I sit in my mom's kitchen in Arkansas, those are both truths.

Gustav has thrown a nasty wrench into my birth planning. I am nine hours away from my home, my doctor, and my friends. We have spent the past nine months or so building a wonderful relationship with our doctor and discussing how we would like to birth our baby. Now, there is a possibility that I could have our baby away from home, and that is hard to accept. I like to be in control of the situation, and although birth is an unpredictable event, I could never have imagined these circumstances. Sure, I knew it could happen when I found out we were pregnant back in January, but I could never really visualize it. But now I'm living it. One of my biggest fears about the birth is for doctors/nurses to promote interventions that I don't need. I trust that my doctor would not do that - I don't know what kinds of doctors I will encounter if I give birth elsewhere, and that scares me.

Sounds like a sob story so far - but there are many positives. I was able to leave early to avoid traffic, and I have a place to stay with family during this evacuation. My family is together - Travis, Same and me - and that is amazing. One friend of mine had to leave her husband behind because he is essential medical personnel. I cannot imagine being away from Travis during this time. So far, I have had a very healthy pregnancy, and hopefully the birth will be healthy as well - leaving little need for intervention. And I just found out today that my friend who lives near here works at a hospital - labor and delivery is right down the hall from her office. It always helps to know someone on the inside.

Last but not least, whereever it happens, our little girl will be born soon! YAY!

For the time being, we are trying to relax. We know the next days will bring mountains of anxiety and stress. We only hope that the damage from Gustav is minimal and that we can go home...and soon.

Does she know?

Our adorable pooch, Same, has been acting out of sorts lately. We think she may have a sense that change is imminent. In the past week, she has pooped in the garage and the hallway, peed in the stairwell, and torn up some papers in our bedroom. Normally she is well-behaved, and she is definitely potty-trained. We don't know what's up!

Maternity pictures - Sneak Peek!

Yay! Five pictures from our maternity session are online as a sneak peek:

http://imagesbyamy.blogspot.com

Check them out! We LOVE them!

L&D Tour and Maternity photo shoot

It's week 35 and nope, no name hints yet! You all will have to wait until she's born, unless you happen to be around Travis and he blurts it out again. That happened a couple of weeks ago when we were having breakfast with some friends. He was just saying a sentence and where he would normally say "the baby" he said "(the baby's name)". It was TOO funny. Then he had the nerve to say, "I thought it was going to be you who gave it away." Ha! The thing about her name is that we aren't completely sure yet, so we wouldn't want to tell and get everyone thinking it is one thing, then change our minds. We have changed our minds quite a bit during the almost nine months, so there's no telling if we'll change it again. The name we were settled on for about two months was dethroned not too long ago, in fact!

Plus, you're all lucky we gave away the gender! Next time we're going to keep that a secret too. (Look at me talking about next time already!)

We had a doctor's appointment yesterday and before the appointment we went to tour the labor & delivery unit, postpartum unit, and the nursery. Our childbirth educator recommended we do that so we will know where to go when the moment comes and also to ask the nurses some questions about procedures, etc. We were pleased with what we found. The l&d rooms are very comfortable, they have a nice big shower, a CD player so we can bring some music, and the nurse there was very nice. I told her about our intentions for a drug-free delivery and she said that it's not common but they do have natural moms. I will have to have an IV inserted (but no drugs put in unless it's an emergency) and have the fetal heartbeat monitored for 20 minutes of every hour. Other than that I am free to move around and labor as I please. For natural moms, I have heard it is imperative to move around - nobody in that much pain wants to be confined to a bed (much less a hospital bed). She told me that I really didn't need to pack too much - that they will have everything the baby or I need. I may decide to bring a nightgown of my own b/c I don't know how comfy it will be to wear a hospital gown for two days (or hopefully just one day). And I'll bring an extra pillow or two.

We then went to the post-partum unit and the rooms there weren't quite as nice. At this point though we won't care about the room because our little girl will be in it with us. Anyway, they are pretty small and the "bed" they have for Travis is inhumane. Luckily he slept on worse in East Timor. It is standard for the baby to be in the room at all times except when she is seeing the pediatrician. They have lactation specialists to help with breastfeeding. It is a very secure unit, in fact the nurse kept referring to it as a 'lock-down' unit, like a prison. I prefer it that way!

The doctor's appointment went well, too. We actually saw the nurse practitioner this time, and we really like her. She said the baby's head is 'way down' which is GREAT because at this point she is not likely to flip and be in breech position. Everything is going as it should be.

I'm still doing yoga and I just started swimming in the apartment pool. It is SO hot here all day so I wasn't really able to comfortably walk for exercise anymore. Swimming is so nice - I wish I had been doing it all along. It makes me feel weightless, which with the 30 extra pounds I'm carrying these days, feels quite nice.

Finally, we had our maternity photo shoot today. We are an exhausted pair (I guess trio) of models as a result. It was about two hours long and part of it was outside (again - HOT!). It was really fun though and the photographer was great. We were part of a promotional deal she is running for maternity/newborn shots so we got a great deal and we will be used in her portfolio. Her website is imagesbyamy.blogspot.com, and she will have a 'sneak peek' of our session posted in about a week. Then, for the grandmas reading this, photos will be available for purchase shorty after (although you may want to wait for the newborn pics - they'll be cuter than my pregnant belly).

That's it for now - I'm off to eat Oreos!

34 weeks!

Well, at this point, the doc said that if labor started, they wouldn't stop it. So, whenever the little girl decides to come out, we'll have a daughter! We are very excited.

I have been feeling extremely huge and tired lately. I don't think it helps that it's a million degrees outside.

We're having some maternity pictures done this week as a part of a maternity/newborn photo package. I hope they turn out.

Feeling big...

I'm feeling big today!

Travis as a dad

Travis found this video and thought it portrayed the type of dad he will be. Please watch!