First, here's the mini-summary of what's been up (now with bullets for a nice summary format!).
- Visited the extended family out of town for a week. Lesson learned: do not assume that just because family owns a computer that it will be usable. My in-laws got phished and their solution to the problem is to leave the computer off, possibly indefinitely. Also it's unsafe to assume anyone over 30 understands how to avoid phishing, and I should offer some education on the subject to the family to avoid this in the future.
- Spent time visiting my grandma, and my kid still hasn't really warmed up to her. She was all about my grandpa though, so it rubs salt in the wound that he's gone and the kid isn't into reading with her great grandma at all.
- My parents' house is SOLD! It will never again be my problem at all! SCORE!
- so much with the hurting and the limited stamina. I think this kid sits a good 6 inches lower into OUCH territory, so most things hurt a great deal. Example of limited stamina: it's taken me over 5 hours to get the festive holiday cards ready to the point of needing stamps (which I haven't actually purchased yet) and I get so zonked every time I try to finish a task that takes more than 5 minutes.
- 30 weeks. whoa. yipes. oh my. ohhhh my. surreal.
Now the questions for you readers who are smarter than me and more experienced at stuff than me (with more bullet points!):
- Hypnobabies course: worth it? I did lots of prep but no course the last time, and I felt the self-hypnosis helped with pain management a great deal, so I'm not sure if it's worth it.
- Nesting: how much do I really need to do beyond having a place to sleep, some diapers, and some clothes (and the nursing pillow)? I feel twitchy about the whole thing but mostly it's because I know there's a lot of baby stuff somewhere in the boxes and I can't move them alone so it's rather moot me wanting to get at them.
- Taking one class this semester: good idea or insanity? It's 6 credits and I failed it once before (oh super duper hooray for the $30,000 mistake) but I'm not sure. If I wait a year to take it, I lose a year of pay and gain a year of debt plus interest. If I fail again, I'm out of pharmacy school altogether.
- Childcare: how many hours a week do I need for a newborn outside of the hours I'm in class (it's 10 a week including the 4 hour lab)? Should I plan for some certain number of hours or beg the "church ladies" to come help if we need it or hire a student to do child minding and a bit of cleaning (so mostly dishes and laundry)? We have a full-time infant spot (PHEW) that's available starting 10 weeks post due date, so that rocks, but it's also the Monday after my final, so not so helpful or ideal.
Coming up (post preview):
- Guest post on BALANCE from the spouse
- Preparing for postpartum depression
- Life in limbo and getting out
I don't have any sage advice to offer, but I wish I did! I'm going in to this thing pretty clueless, myself. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHB - YES YES YES. Totally worth it. I'm a huge proponent of the program. Here's the posts I wrote on it: http://mycheapversionoftherapy.com/pregnancy/hypnobabies/
ReplyDeleteYour nesting plan sounds perfect to me!! Less is more, especially in the beginning.
If you take the class (and i get why it seems like a good idea), PONY UP for having the first 10 weeks of daycare arranged ahead of time. You don't want to add the daily/weekly stress of arranging for childcare on top of the time you'll spend studying for/attending the class!
I am doing HB right now (courtesy of Josey, who lent me all of her stuff!) and I am really enjoying it. Though I have yet to try out the whole "birth" portion of it, I am finding it has been REALLY beneficial as far as anxiety goes this pregnancy. I feel very confident and... relaxed (?) about the whole thing. I feel very positive overall and dare I say, excited about my birthing time. If anything, it MAKES you make 30 minutes for yourself to RELAX. Ergo, totally worth it.
ReplyDeleteNesting? Feh. I never really get the urge to DO anything or PREPARE anything beyond sleeping apparatus, diapers, clothes. That's all you really need. But yes, nursing pillow. That is KEY. I went three days without one and thought I would literally DIE.
Congrats on "turning 30!" HFS woman... we be having zee bebes sooooooooon! :)
Oh my babies! It's actually really soon! Whoa!
DeleteIt sounds from your more recent post that you decided to take the class. I got through the semester I gave birth only with support from my school. The school taped classes I missed (and friends sent me notes so I didn't actually have to take notes and could listen to the class while caring for the baby). My professors were also understanding--it made it a lot easier to be home for a couple of weeks to heal and establish nursing. A friend who did it wanted to go back to class after a week, but it was still helpful to her to have established options for getting the work done ahead of time (both childcare to do it at school and the flexibility to do it at home). Good luck!
ReplyDelete