Getting closer...

Kelly and Dorian in front of Dorian's crib (note the bassinet or "Moses Basket" inside the crib - he'll sleep inside that for the first month or two).


Who's a big boy? Dorian is!

We have contractions, people!

Yes! My body is in tip-top working order and getting ready for labor! I have started experiencing contractions. Now, some women experience these as early as the fourth month, so this does not mean labor is imminent. It does mean that I am one step closer to getting there though. Yay!

Our to-do list is getting shorter...

Items checked off our list in the past month:

-Crib assembled
-Last item purchased (changing table)
-Childbirth, Infant CPR, Baby Care and Breastfeeding classes completed
-Carseat properly installed by the California Highway Patrol (free service!)
-Birth preferences typed up and given to doctor
-Pediatrician interviewed; registration completed
-All baby clothes and blankets washed in hypoallergenic detergent, sealed in ziplock bags
-Children's books brought down from attic, covers wiped clean and books organized on bookshelf
-Diaper service registration completed - first diaper delivery arriving this Monday
-Health insurance chosen for Dorian (will begin after first 30 days on mine)

We just need the baby now! The only things left on my to-do list are related to cleaning/organizing the house, applying for nursing school and helping James with his various projects. Come on Dorian, we want to meet you already!

To dream, perchance to sleep!

Surprise, surprise, it's 1am and I can't get to sleep. I am desperately tired but Dorian still insists on compressing my bladder. I need to go to the bathroom, but then I get there and only a couple drops come out. Back to bed...5 minutes later, I experience an agonizing need to pee again. So I return to the bathroom and yep, you guessed it...only a couple drops come out. It's weird how suddenly all this came on, especially after months of barely experiencing any symptoms. I am seriously considering purchasing some adult diapers. At least now that I have stopped working, I can rest during the day and get ten minutes of sleep here and there. I've been trying to walk every day too because I know it's good for me and will help reduce labor time. I just have to be sure I time my walks with my liquid intake and the location of bathrooms en route! I am craving sugar like mad right now. It's taking all the willpower I have not to chow down on ice cream and chocolate. And let's not even talk about my back and hip issues at the moment...between my incompetent bladder and joint aches and pains, I feel about 90 years old. Still, in spite of it all, I am so excited and happy I can barely stand it!!!! I am now 37 weeks pregnant. Dorian is full-term.

Maternity Leave

I went to the doctor yesterday. Everything is still fine and dandy with Dorian and I. However, I have had an exhausting week. Dorian has settled onto my bladder, my back is aching like you would not believe, and I have not slept more than a few hours a night for the past week. I was not able to work on Tuesday and while I made it in on Wednesday and Thursday, it was pretty rough. My doctor is not comfortable with me making the long commute at this stage of the game and being on the go for 12 hours at a time. I was officially signed off on disability leave yesterday. Now I really am going to have time to nest, rest, pee, eat and wait for Dorian's arrival!

The clock keeps ticking...

We went to the doctor on Friday - she checked my cervix and said it is closed but beginning to bud! How exciting that my body is preparing for labor! We will be seeing her every week from here on out.

We "interviewed" the pediatrician today, even though we knew we'd choose him, as he was my pediatrician. James and I had the opportunity to ask some of the questions we've been wanting to ask, so it was a worthwhile visit.

We have our second to last baby care class tonight. Last week we diapered, swaddled and burped dolls. Tonight we are going over recognizing illness, which I think will be much more useful. It was funny because James and I were by far the youngest couple in the class last week, and also the only ones who had any experience caring for babies.

This is my second to last week at work, and thank goodness! At 36 weeks pregnant, I am finally experiencing some more significant aches and pains. My back is starting to ache constantly and I seem to pee every 15 minutes or so. I am not sleeping well at all due to having to pee so often. My hips seem to start throbbing randomly out of nowhere, and my feet even started to hurt yesterday! I am well and truly pregnant. And despite all the symptoms, I am still loving every minute of it. Every time Dorian kicks me (and quite hard now!), I can't help but smile and talk to him. Every hiccup makes me want to hold him and make them go away. Whenever I look at the crib by the side of our bed or the tiny little clothes he will soon be wearing, I start to tear up. I have never been so excited or happy in my entire life.

It's just a matter of days (okay, so probably 2-3 dozen days) now...

Baby item pictures!!!

I suppose it's time to get some more pictures up of all the cute little baby items we've been buying/given over the summer! We'll start off small and over the course of the next couple weeks, we'll work up to the larger items...


$3 toy banjo from the Salvation Army (brand new!) Grandpa Bruno keeps threatening to get Dorian addicted to the banjo from an early age, so we thought we'd preempt him and buy a toy one. Maybe the novelty will wear off by the time he is 5 or 6 and Grandpa is ready to enroll him in banjo lessons!


Dorian will be well-groomed and healthy with these necessities.


There's just something so precious about baby hats and socks, isn't there?


Most of Dorian's newborn outfits look like this - a onesie covered with sweatpants. We also have full-length, long-sleeved onesies with feet and little kimono tops. Big thanks to Auntie Han for sending a large parcel of baby clothes over from England (hand-me-downs from cousins Ro and Joshy). Of course, I have already laundered everything that will touch Dori's skin (including car seat covers, nursing pillow covers, etc) in hypoallergenic detergent and folded them neatly in ziplock bags. How organized (and compulsive!) am I?


A diaper bag even Daddy will use!


Book from Grandma Darby - James and I are determined to master the complicated art of swaddling!


A hooded towel and wash mitt set from Swiss cousin Corinne and boyfriend Manuel, who are also pregnant!

More pictures to come soon - see, I'm trying to make up for lost time here!

Almost 35 weeks, baby!

What a busy few weeks it has been. Our house is looking great - the picture of James and I above is in our newly painted dining room complete with our $90 Ikea table and chair set. Gotta love Ikea! Only the kitchen, bathrooms and nursery still need to be completed. The renovations of the nursery (currently our laundry room) probably won't take place until next spring now. The contractor took too long to start and James and I don't want builders in the house when I am in my last two weeks of pregnancy or when we have a brand new baby. Since Dori will be sleeping in our room for the first year anyway, there is no real rush. So the nursery and one of the bathrooms (which will become half bathroom/half laundry room) won't be completed until next year. Still, when our main bathroom and kitchen are completed, we will take pictures and a video of the whole flat so you can see what we have spent our summer doing! I am so pleased with our house - I am really nesting now!

James and I are now certified "first responders" for infant, child and adult. We know CPR, the abdominal thrust movement ("Heimlich Maneuver") and how to use a defribillator. We have been to hypnotherapy sessions once a week for the past few weeks and faithfully practicing at home. We attended our Childbirth Preparation course (8 hour intensive) on Saturday. It was such an incredible class - we are both so grateful we took it. We watched a few birthing videos - I cried at the end of each one when the mothers held their babies for the first time! The instructor went over all the ins and outs of labor signs, false labor, active labor, when to go to the hospital, etc. She went over the various pain medications, epidurals, induction techniques, c-sections, vacuum pumps, forceps, complications, and hospital procedures. James and I are more determined than ever to aim for a natural birth. There is no way I will take pain medication. Absolutely no way. If it gets to the point where even my hypnobirthing techniques are not helping me get through a long, exhausting and/or extremely painful labor, I will take an epidural over a painkiller any day. The morphine-derivitive painkillers can get into the baby's bloodstream, causing respiratory distress. Epidurals very rarely effect the baby; they simply block the mother's pain signals. Epidurals produce more of a risk for the mother (possible, though very rare, nerve damage, severe spinal headaches), but I would rather take that risk than risk harming my baby. Ditto for vacuum pumps and forceps - I will have an emergency c-section before using either of those possible brain-damage inducing instruments on my baby. I was so relieved to finally have someone lay it all out for us - every pro and con of modern maternal medicine. I feel prepared and armed with the tools I need to have the birth I want, even if it doesn't go exactly as I hope. Having said this, I still feel incredibly excited for labor itself. My hypnobirthing techniques are going to help me tremendously and the breathing exercises we went over in class were most useful as well. We held ice tightly in our hands and sat up on our toes to create a really painful feeling. It was horrible. Then we did this over and over again while practicing the breathing techniques and having our partners talk to us quietly, massage our backs, etc. What a total difference it made! I felt remarkably relaxed and like I could conquer the world. I am going to practice holding ice at home (seriously, try it, ice is painful!!!) with my hypnobirthing techniques.

Today James and I have our first Baby Care class! So exciting. Dorian's arrival is coming up fast. I only have a few more weeks of work left now. And a good thing too...look at my big belly!!!

There's only one thing worse than being blogged about, and that's not being blogged about

I've been trying to get Kel to read The Picture of Dorian Gray for a while, but between school, work and extreme cleaning she hasn't had time. It's not that our Dorian is named after Oscar Wilde's character (his name actually comes from the Dorian scale - WHWWWHW for those of you singing along at home) but I'm sure someone, someday, will presume he is and ask us about it. It's good to be prepared. The book is a great read with fast-flying British wit (particularly from the devilish Lord Henry) and themes of hedonism and Faustian pacts. I recommend it to anyone. Anyway, I ordered a DVD of the 1970's BBC adaptation with Sir John Gielgud and Peter Firth to which we both promptly fell asleep. It's a good version (at least the first half is), but it is very hot here at the moment and we had just been for a 4 mile walk. Hopefully we'll finish it tonight and then if anyone asks us if baby Dorian looks so young and cute because there's a picture of an old man in our attic, we'll be able to laugh knowingly.