Baby Preparations: Red Alert!

Posted on 26/11/2010 by dsavage

Well, this last week Kim went to the OB/GYN and boy were we in for a surprise!

Seems that, while Kim is somewhere around 32 weeks, the baby is around 35 weeks, and they told us that we needed to start seeing them every week.

I jokingly said, “Well, then next you’re going to be telling me that we need to be getting that car seat installed after we leave here…”

“Well, no, but I would pack your hospital bag and put it in the car for each appointment.”

Yikes. I guess that means we have to step up the progress of getting everything together a little bit quicker.

More to come by the end of the weekend.
-D

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Baby Preparation: infant CPR and child safety

Posted on 21/11/2010 by dsavage

Today’s class was pretty good, all things considered equal. I thought that the teacher was experienced, and had some good stories, and very knowledgeable on the subject. Though, I have to admit, I thought it was kind of short. I mean, when I took CPR certification years ago, (when I was getting lifeguard certification,) we spent a lot more time on the mannequins and had an actual proficiency test as well as a written test at the end. I guess I kind of expected the same thing this time.

Don’t get me wrong, I thought that it was an OK refresher, but if people didn’t have any background, I don’t know how much it will help them.

Also, I kind of thought that it needed more info on baby-proofing a house. That would have been helpful. But they had some good ideas on that as well, and I figure that if we were allowed to play with lawn darts, play mumbly-peg, and have BB-gun wars when I was a kid, how much worse could we be?

Yeah, on second thought, I should probably research that topic… just in case.
-D

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Baby Preparations: Baby Essentials class

Posted on 15/11/2010 by dsavage

Hi all,

Didn’t sleep again last night.

One good thing that did happen from the lack of sleep was watching a movie called “Whip It” directed/produced by Drew Barrymore and starred the girl from Juno. It’s about roller derby girls, and it’s actually not bad. It really reminded me of the Paul Newman movie “Slapshot.” (Though, they had the “Manson” sisters instead of the “Hanson” brothers.)

Yesterday’s baby essential class was pretty good. It went over all of the stuff that I’m going to have to know to take care of the baby. (How to pick-up/hold the baby, change diapers, how to bathe a baby, how to swaddle a baby, etc.) During the class, all of the Dads were supposed to hold the “baby” (doll,) except when changing, bathing, etc. I have to say, most of the guys in the class were wimps. I mean really, does it matter if you have a pink blanket for your doll, in class? (two guys out of 5 asked for a different blanket because it was pink…) And, I think that I was the only one that “held” the baby the entire time. (What the heck are these guys going to do in a month or two?)

One of the things that kind of surprised me, (but probably shouldn’t have,) was when I asked about getting/using a Moby wrap. I was wondering because I’ve heard/read great things about them. She said that (1) I should check out the Northside Hospital store, that they have some in there for sale, and if I was interested, they would let me try them on. (2) She said that in our society, guys just don’t wear them.

Now, she did follow that up with, I needed to go with whatever I was comfortable with, and do what I felt was right, and not worry about whatever anyone else thought. (edit: I know that she meant well, don’t get me wrong… you wouldn’t believe how many times I get the “most guys” explanation.) I was thinking to myself, if it’s more comfortable for the kid and me, why in the heck would I care what some redneck at WalMart thought? I’m pretty sure that if I cared what other guys thought, I wouldn’t be able to cook, sew, crochet, do needlepoint, (though I don’t because it’s frustrating to me,) or cake decorating.

(And I would know when the Football, Basketball, Baseball seasons started/ended/how to do fantasy teams, etc. etc…. )

I looked into it this morning, and it looks like while it’s not exactly popular yet, some guys actually like the Moby wrap over anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDtb1ieynzo&feature=channel

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANCIOwuon6A&feature=channel

I looked into it, and they aren’t that hard to make… (something like “Buy 5 yards of jersey fabric, and cut into 12 inch strips. Boo-yah, done!) Maybe I’ll post something as well. Anywho, I have to get going.

Do you guys know anyone (guys in particular,) that own/use a Moby wrap? (Looking forward to your comments/emails.)
-D

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Baby Preparation: Childbirth class

Posted on 14/11/2010 by dsavage

Yesterday we went to one of our first classes in preparation for the upcoming arrival. The childbirth class was put on by Northside Hospital here in Atlanta, and it was pretty informative. (Though, there were parts of the class that reminded me of the “Blood on the Roads”-type of videos from driving school. Trying to scare you into submission…)

Anywho, all-in-all, it was a good time had by all and I learned a couple of relaxation techniques that I might start trying out here at the house to get around for bed.

(They work well for this, as evidenced by Kim falling asleep in one of the “visualizations.” But to be fair, she’s interrupted every night with having to get up and go to the bathroom about three times, and she doesn’t go back to sleep as quickly as I do.)

I might go back through the class materials and post some stuff on here for you guys, our next class is on Baby Essentials and then a tour of the hospital delivery area… Wish us luck!
-D

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Baby Preparations: Babymoon!

Posted on 08/11/2010 by dsavage

Well, you know that they say that you shouldn’t post when you’re going on vacation until you get back, that way thieves won’t know that you’re gone until you’re already back. (There have been many recent “Facebook” break-ins reported lately. I kid you not!)

Anyways. We’re back. We went back to where we got married, and hung out for a few days. Interesting story about getting to the airport on the way back though…

First, a little back-story. Kim, as a matter of course throughout the pregnancy has to take 2 injections a day. (What they are isn’t important… but if it is for you, then pretend it’s a super-soldier serum for the baby.)

Well, getting them on the airplane was pretty easy on the way there, since they were in their little cases and whatnot. On the way back however, they’re just considered bio-hazard materials, and therefore not allowed on the plane. No big deal, we drop off the used injectors at the closest hospital that we were staying at. (Nine needles isn’t that big a deal for hospitals, since they have to dump literally tons of bio-hazardous waste a year.) Well, we forgot one of them in the rental car, so on the way to the airport, we had to stop at a much larger hospital… no big deal right? Wrong. These bozos (the head nurse and staff,)are telling me that this one injector is a liability hazard, and they can’t take it. I argue with them for a bit, and they don’t relent. I tell them, fine, no problem, I’m just going to go talk to the administration and see what they have to say about this… and I stomp off in a huff.

That gets a laugh out of them… Now, when I turn the corner, I stop acting angry, as that will get me nowhere. I put it on the ground, and then pick it back up again. I walk, not to the administration like I said, but to the nice old lady at the information counter. I tell her that I picked up this used needle in the ER area, and wondered if I should just throw it away, or if they needed to do something special with it?

She said that if I put it down on the counter, that she would take care of it and thanked me for pointing it out because someone could have gotten hurt with it. I tell her that I’m just glad someone could take it off my hands.

And that was the truth… and then I got back in the car and proceeded to catch my plane. (Which normally wouldn’t have worked, but it was a small airport and there were a whole ten people in the TSA screening area.)

Now, normally I don’t like “presenting the truth in the most favorable fashion,” but that head nurse really ticked me off… What do you think that I should have done?

-D

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Baby Preparation: It’s a little soon, but feeding the baby…

Posted on 01/11/2010 by dsavage

I just happened upon this article on a website I go to every so often about Baby Led Weaning. It’s basically talking about letting kids determine when it’s time to give up the bottle and start eating solid food. The thing that I think is the best part about it is the fact that it says that you don’t have to worry about force-feeding your kid the strained peas or whatever, you just put cooked foods in a plastic mesh lollipop, and the kid gets the idea.

Here’s the link:
http://cooking.cdkitchen.com/KiddieChow/1102.html
What do you guys think? Anyone have any comments?
-D

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Baby Preparation: Checking out strollers

Posted on 30/10/2010 by dsavage

We went to this store in Alpharetta that was nothing but strollers. (Baby on the go, or something like that.)

Now, you would think that a person working in a store that specializes in strollers/carseats, they would be the end-all be-all know-it-all about all things strollers.

Not so.

Holy Cow, if we weren’t there to help her figure out how to break down this stroller and install the adapter to allow the Britax car seat to be used with it, I’m pretty sure that she would have died of starvation by now.

It wasn’t really the best presentation, however, it was excellent in determining which strollers to avoid. She kept saying that “we would get used to working with it after the first few weeks.” Umm, I’m pretty sure that we’re already going to have our hands full after the kid is born, stroller with a steep learning curve isn’t something that I’m going to want to add into the mix.

We really liked the new Britax car carriers, but, man alive, they be expensive! (And, of course, that’s one of the few things you really don’t want to buy second hand.)

So far the best outfit that we’ve seen thus far, has been the Bumbleride with the Britax car seat in it.

Though, a friend of mine sent me the Consumer Reports article on them. (Believe it or not, the Graco was one of the tops. I’ll check it out and get back with you guys at a later time.)

Tomorrow is ultrasound day, so I need to get some sleep, going to bed at a reasonable time tonight. (The trick is to get only a couple of hours of sleep the night before, and then work until almost 9pm…)

See you later!
-D

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Baby Preparation: Movies to watch.

Posted on 30/10/2010 by dsavage

I was told that I needed to see a couple of movies to get me prepared for the “actual event.”

Babies
Betsy’s Wedding
Breeders
From Here to Paternity
For Keeps
Ginger Ale Afternoon
and of course, Knocked Up.

Maybe I should put netflicks membership on the registry…

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Baby Preparations : quote: From “Hit the ground crawling”

Posted on 19/10/2010 by dsavage

“Fear is often the result of not knowing what to expect. Getting a handle on what is going to happen goes a long way to reducing anxiety for both of you.”

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Wigging out: Still not on regular sleep schedule.

Posted on 19/10/2010 by dsavage

Last night stayed up until around 0630hrs, thankfully, still woke up for work on time, and put in a full and productive day. (If I do say so myself,) however, it’s 0130hrs now, and I’m still awake. I have got to get a handle on this. Maybe I should start taking sleeping pills or something, but whenever I do that, I sleep for like 10-13hrs.

Anywho, the latest is the videos were pretty good hits. The pumpkin carving one has gotten 33 hits and the sewing machine one has gotten 13. Considering I haven’t told anyone about them really, it’s not that bad.

I’ve been considering doing a lot more of the sewing ones. We’ll see.

Well, I’m going to study a bit before hitting the hay.
Talk to you all later.
-D

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