This morning we went for the 32-wk appointment with the midwife and took Jonathan with us. He and Dale got to see the two birthing rooms--after all this time, Dale had never gotten to see them, and he was quite impressed. Said they looked like rooms at The Stockyards, which they do. Jonathan wanted to know if we could have a sleepover in them sometime.
The baby had grown quite a bit in the last four weeks, even though I'd put on only 2-1/2 pounds. We had a great experience with my blood pressure, which was up extremely high for me at the start of the appointment due to rushing around, making sure we weren't holding Joan (the midwife, whom I was meeting for the first time) up, etc., and it was 140 over something. Usually I'm about 100/60; good Sprong genes. My pulse was also racing, I think about 130 or so. So I did some quick relaxation as we've been practicing with the self-hypnosis, Dale helped by doing his stuff (gentle touches on certain parts of my face where I like it), and my pulse dropped by 20 beats very quickly. The blood pressure was back to 103 over something by the end of the visit. The midwife was impressed with how quickly I was able to get things under control, which was encouraging to hear. Sometimes people think this self-hypnosis stuff is a bunch of silliness that must have come out of California or somewhere equally kooky; it's nice to be able to say that the program was actually put together by a college dean from New Hampshire.
Anyway, today I was 32 wks 4 days. NOT LONG NOW!
This evening after dinner, I was still at the table reading the paper, and Jonathan was on the loveseat listening to a new Alison Krauss & Union Station CD that we got today. I asked him what track it was on, and as he got up to go look at the DVD player, he either tripped on his own feet or tripped on the rug and went head-first into the glass doors at the bottom of the electronics shelving. Not at all what one wants to see their son doing! The glass shattered everywhere, but luckily he had just one teeny tiny cut on his right temple, not even a centimeter long, and that's about it. He was scared more than anything else. Certainly put my heart in my throat! Never again do I wish to see a child of mine flying into a sheet of glass.
Very exciting day yesterday--my new computer arrived! Jonathan was excited too; guess there's no hope for him growing up in a house with two techies for parents. At least he also knows how to drum.
Setup went fairly well until Dale convinced me to start messing around with stuff while I was copying files from my laptop to the new desktop over the network. I was too tired to tell him no, and of course at some point we digressed from the original mission (to set it up so that he can print from the iMac through my computer w/o having to unplug the printer cable from mine and into his), changed some settings on some folders . . . and the file copying stopped. Ooooh was I irritated! It took quite a while to get back to where we'd been (due to icky Windows settings), but eventually we did. I was more mad at myself for not standing up to him and saying that while he might be comfortable doing stuff while files were being copied, I wasn't and he was going to have to wait. I'm not usually such a doormat.
Anyway, this afternoon I successfully transferred all my Netscape mail info and browser bookmarks (I have many genealogy sites that would be awful to have to reconstruct), which was a big milestone. All the additional software programs I use have now been installed, and I am fully in business with my lovely 19-inch flat panel monitor and my wireless keyboard/optical mouse. The additional screen real estate is completely wonderful in my genealogy program, and the speed with which everything happens is fantastic. I'm quite pleased!
Jonathan had a weekend-long sleepover at his Aunt Jenny's this weekend--or, as he referred to it all last year, "a four-walk sleepover". I guess a high point of going there is taking Homer for walks. Jfer picked him up about 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon, and he (finally!) came home about 11:30 this morning. Dale and I raced each other to be the first to open the door when he rang the doorbell. He had a wonderful time--came in the door holding a fingerpainting in his hands, didn't want Jenny to leave (he invited her to stay for lunch), and triumphantly pulled off his socks to reveal painted toenails. What else are sleepovers for?
The time without him went by faster than Dale & I expected. Friday night we rented Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which I had not gotten to see when it was out at the theatres, and turned it up really loud, since we can't do that even when Jonathan's asleep. I enjoyed the movie and the sound was fantastic--the only thing was Dale started to get concerned that all the sounds and rumblings (which rattled our insides) were scaring the baby. I informed him that the baby was fast asleep, but I'm not sure he was too reassured.
Saturday seemed to go by fast, although I don't know why. Dale and I did get to practice a piano duet together, which was fun. In the evening we went out for dinner and then rented Lost in Translation--it was excellent and we recommend it.
We continue to practice our self-hypnosis and getting into a state of deep relaxation for the Hypnobirthing (you can read more about Hypnobirthing from medical care providers' point of view here). The main problem we have is when one person goes off before the other, as whoever it is usually starts to snore, which then naturally interferes with the remaining person also achieving said state of deep relaxation. Yesterday afternoon I had to get up after about the fourth time of nudging Dale, who was rattling the windows. On the other hand, it came in really handy this morning--of all mornings, when we didn't have Jonathan turning up in our room about 6:30 or 7 a.m., we got a phone call at 7:30! Dale was snoring when I answered it, thinking it was going to be Jennifer, and I think I had actually slept through the night (although we didn't go to sleep until 1 a.m., so I'm not sure if that counts or not), so it was kind of disappointing to get woken up . . . on the other hand, it was from Glen, so it was not only okay but even a welcome call--now if it had been a wrong number, that would have been MOST disappointing. Anyway, when Dale got off the phone, he crawled back into bed and we put on the hypnosis CD, and before we knew it we were off again and slept until about 9:30 a.m. We didn't exactly feel refreshed when we got up, but we didn't feel any more tired than usual; Jonathan wakes us up before 7:30 anyway, so we did get a bit of a lie-in after all.
Next week I have my first massage with our doula (not just any doula but a Certified Massage Doula), which I am greatly looking forward to. My calves are tight, as are my shoulders, my hips ache, and all the weight pulling on my back will be a relief to get rid of--but I don't really have anything to complain about, I'm not in any dire straits or having sciatica or anything. Only about 8-1/2 weeks to go, I think. I did find out that the little fingers I feel right around my pubic bone mean that the baby is facing the wrong way and would be coming out sunny-side up if s/he doesn't shift, so I'm doing everything I can with my posture to encourage said spinning. (Jonathan came out face-up, and that sure puts a LOT of pressure on the back.)
That's about it for now. I know I still owe the airplane story; it will appear here one day. Hope everyone else is enjoying the springtime!
Daddy, this is the kind of thing just perfect for blog entries! Or have you forgotten how since you are worse than anybody else who has a blog? (No, you don't get to count Mom's entries to your credit.)
Courtesy of my father, here is a link to the Holy Bible in Pig Latin. Actually, only the books of Genesis, Job, and John are easily gotten to via a browser, and I found that they didn't display with Netscape, so use IE to get to them.
Someone obviously had too much time on their hands. I refuse to believe this was done by hand; said "translator" must have written a script to change the words into Pig Latin. Who are these people???
We are back from Utah. It was quite a trip, although not exactly what I had planned (I did not make it to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City), nor Dale either. Nor some people on the flight with us to Las Vegas, but that is a story I shall have to save until the weekend when I have time to properly relate it. Suffice to say that I have either a great deal of bad karma to work off, or I was simply the universe's way of delivering to people some very bad karma they had earned for themselves (the latter is Jennifer's interpretation and why I love her so much!).
Jonathan did fantastic and ended up doing his Bambi Club in the ski school for 3 days instead of two. By the end he could put his own skis on and ski by himself, linking turns and everything. He was beautiful! The last evening he and I rode the Main St. Trolley to a restaurant and had pizza for dinner, and then rode the trolley back. He loved that.
Tomorrow Jonathan and I are taking Andy west of town to go on the Vanishing Texas River Cruise. It should be a nice time and a pleasant drive as long as we don't get hailed on. At any rate, I must be off to bed so that we can get started in time in the morning. Last time I did this with Brian and Joy and underestimated how long it would take to get out there by at least half, and I do not intend to make the same mistake tomorrow.