Hi Kiddo,
I titled this the way I did because I really have been trying to follow doctor’s orders and “be a princess.” I just suck at it. There’s too much to do and too little time. Also, I’m BORED!! I’m not good at stillness. I’m constitutionally ill-equipped to occupy the same spot in space for more than about a half hour. That said, everyone recommends getting all the sleep we can now, and I’ve been doing pretty well at that.
Things out here in the world really are good. Your dad has been nesting like crazy. He took all kinds of stuff to the give-away pile at the dump. He even took a big chest and a TV stand, and a monster-huge TV I’ve been hoping we could get rid of. (Your dad agreed to that, but he’s been really busy and I can’t lift it.) Yesterday, he vacuumed and scoured dishes, and made our home lovely for Andee and Dylan (our doula and newfound friend and her husband, who we also like a lot). I found it difficult to stay pinned to the couch yesterday, and since I was feeling fine, I justified a dash out for groceries. I hope that didn’t stress you out in there; but my intentions were good. I needed the groceries to prepare dinner for Andee and Dylan to come over, and it was a very low sodium dinner, which I understand is good for blood pressure. I still feel fine and haven’t swelled up or anything, so I’m pretty sure you were okay with it. You rolled around a lot and have been pretty active today, so I suspect you’re not under any stress.
Today was really fantastic for another reason, too. Today our friends Elisabeth, Laurea, and Laurie from church threw the three of us a really lovely baby shower. If you grow up finding that you love lemon bars, today is why. Laurea made amazing lemon bars and I am hooked. They sent the extras home with us and I’ve been snacking on them for several hours. The time we spent with friends was especially wonderful because lately I’ve been especially aware of what a leap it is to have a baby. We’ve taken several classes about how to be good and responsible parents, but we’ve never done anything like parenting before, and it’s really important. We don’t want to screw it up. Being with everyone today made me feel really secure; after all, with a support system around like the one we have, how wrong could things really go? You aren’t even born and so many people love you. I don’t know exactly when you’re going to be ready to be here, but I’m increasingly confident that the world is ready for you. We look forward to seeing you whenever you get here.
Love, Mom
4 comments:
Did you take parenting classes, or birthing classes, or both? Where did you find parenting classes?
We took a newborn care class at UNC Hospitals and also the Infant/Child CPR class. From your blog I got the hunch that you are taking/have taken the same ones. We also signed up for birthing classes and had the very unpleasant experience of having them canceled. We were a little stressed about that, but fortunately, UNC Hospitals has a free doula program (called BirthPartners)and our doula came over to our place and taught us a bunch of stuff. In a way, I kind of prefer that anyhow. Since she will be present for our birth, it was like we were working out the strategy for us and our experience. If you're delivering at UNC, I really recommend the birth partners. My husband has a bunch more resources on parenting classes, and I'll ask him to bring those home and will try to post those soon.
Ok, so I admit it. I was looking for pictures. :-) Read this post, and I immediately thought of a line from "Long Time Coming", a song on Springsteen's "Devils and Dust".
"Well if I had one wish in this god forsaken world, kids
It'd be that your mistakes would be your own
Yea your sins would be your own."
I am almost 40, and I probably am spending too much time looking back, but that line has really stuck with me. My parents did a pretty good job, and I think most of my mistakes have been my own. I think that is a pretty high compliment to a parent.
I would second the UNC CPR and newborn care classes. The "Daddy Boot Camp" class is kind of fun as well. I would also second the UNC Doula program; my wife totally loved the team this past fall. We also used the midwives.
Hope everything goes well for you in the coming weeks and/or days!!
-chris lightner
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