Andi’s exciting life.

Matt and I went on our birth center tour this week. The tour itself was pretty lame. We first met in a classroom, and the slide projector wasn’t working so we couldn’t watch the usual slideshow. Then, we all walked over to the hospital and up to the birth center together. Part of the tour was showing us where the elevators were that we needed to take, and the tour guide kept mentioning a big “orange triangle” at the elevator. When we got there, she said, “Here is the orange triangle I was talking about.” We all looked down, and there was an orange and yellow rectangle on the floor with no sign of a triangle anywhere. Everyone in the tour seemed to think that was funny and weird.

Anyway, so we all go up to the 15th floor, the penthouse of the hospital, if you will. We are then supposed to see where the welcome desk is, which is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. and where we check in. It was about 6:00 p.m. and it was closed, so we just went in the door when someone else was coming out. Top security. Then we got to the nurses’s station, and the nurses seemed almost surprised to see us even though these tours happen on a regular, scheduled basis. They said they were very full and only had one labor and delivery room available, which hadn’t yet been cleaned. So, that was the one we went to. Luckily, the bed had been stripped and there was nothing yucky to see. The nurse had nothing prepared to tell us and we all just stood around trying to think of questions to ask her. She did seem very nice and well informed though, and the room was ridiculously nice. As I mentioned, it’s on the 15th floor, and there were two walls of windows overlooking San Francisco and the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a really beautiful view, and all the rooms have that.

So, the nurse answered any questions that we had and then told us that there was no postpartum room to show us because they were all full. So, our tour guide said she would take us to see the Well Baby Nursery. We walked over there, and the blinds were closed and we couldn’t see anything. Seriously, this was the most crippled tour possible. We did get to see two very cute and quiet newborns passing by while we were there, and we didn’t hear any women or babies screaming, which was nice.

I expected to be scared after the tour because of the realization that I would actually have to deliver this baby soon. Actually, I felt more comforted and relaxed after seeing the place and getting an idea of what to expect when we arrive. Matt said he felt better too afterwards. If you are interested in seeing a virtual tour of the UCSF birth center, go here.

Yesterday I had my 31-week appointment with the midwife, and I am happy to report that Baby G is head down! I knew I could feel some part of him up high at the top of my uterus, and I was hoping that was his rear and not his head end. Upon palpation, the midwife confirmed that it is indeed his butt that I’m feeling, and she said he is in a very good position. She also said that he is unlikely to turn at this point, so I should be out of the woods on having a breech baby. Also, my fundal height was right on schedule at 31 centimeters. At my 26-week visit, the doctor I saw measured me at 30 centimeters, but I didn’t trust his measurement at the time. The midwife seemed to be more careful to be accurate, so I feel confident that the baby’s size is just right.

This was actually a new midwife who I had not seen before, but I really liked her. She mentioned that if she does the 37-week appointment that she does a limited ultrasound to double check the baby’s position and size and amniotic fluid levels, etc. I would LOVE to get another ultrasound, so I changed that appointment to be with her. Matt will go with me to that one, so he’ll be able to see the baby too. I can’t wait!

After waiting for a few months for this newborn basics class, I was really looking forward to it and expecting great things. It really didn’t live up to our expectations. The teacher was a lady who was very California and had a masters in counseling, so she was kind of touchy feely and liked talking about feelings. She seemed disorganized and just sort of touched on random things here and there without going as in depth as she could have on lots of subjects. If people asked questions, she couldn’t really give clear or complete answers. We expected it to be a labor and delivery or pediatrics nurse teaching the course, which I think would have been more useful. Matt wanted to leave at the lunch break (which was only half an hour!), but we decided to stick it out.

The fun part of the class was that we had a doll, pictured above, that was “our baby” througout the class. We picked a monster huge one that was too big for any of his practice clothes or anything. Hopefully our baby will not be born anywhere near his size. At the beginning of the class, the teacher said she wanted us to hold and interact with “our babies” throughout the class, which was fairly silly. She was holding a doll of her own and would baby talk to it periodically.

Anyway, all in all we walked away with a few tidbits of information that we didn’t know going in, but overall it was a waste of time. We did get to watch a portion of The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD, which was very useful after I had just read the book, but I could have just bought that on my own and saved a lot of time and money. Matt says he feels slightly more prepared than he did before the class, so I guess it did some good.

Oh, and I once again feel inferior about my belly size after the class. There was one girl who was 33 weeks along with a huge round belly, and I still barely look pregnant at all if I’m sitting down. Matt says I should be happy if it means that we aren’t going to have a huge baby and that a 7-pounder wouldn’t be a bad thing. He makes a good point. Also, I guess everyone just carries differently, and I need to stop having belly envy. I do get lots of comments from people now, so at least I am noticeably pregnant to the outside world. I’m just not that big.

Last night we went to the Armenian Food Festival with our Armenian friend, Garen, and two other friends, Cory and Alex. It was a good time, and we had some delicious food. Cory showed up with not enough cash, and Matt and I didn’t bring that much but we covered him, so we had to be very careful with our spending. Like eight-year-olds trying to blow our allowances, we spent every dollar we had between the three of us. For dinner, we got kebab plates with a kebab, rice, salad, and bread. Matt and I also got dolmas. They had pastries for dessert, and we got two pastries each. We both got something called Armenian Apple Delight, which was delicious and like apple pie with phyllo dough. Matt also got a baklava-like roll and I got a cream puff (which was not Armenian as I was told by Garen after I already bought it). Everything was yummy, and we saw some pretty good dancing acts while we had dessert.

I am thrilled to be 30 weeks along today! I’m 75% of the way to my due date and only 7 weeks away from the baby being full term, which is considered to be any time after 37 weeks. I will admit that 10 weeks still seems like a long time to go because I am so eager to meet this baby, but I have a feeling the next couple of months will go by quickly. September is almost halfway over already!

Last night I finished reading The Happiest Baby on the Block and now feel more prepared on how to handle our little dude’s crying. Of course I hope that we will have an easy going baby who hardly ever cries and sleeps like a champ, but it’s nice to feel like I have a clue as to what to do to calm him down if he is fussy. The book really could have been about a third as long as it was because the author likes to expand unnecessarily on things, but it was definitely a very informative read. Next up is The No Cry Sleep Solution, which is supposed to teach us ways to get our baby to sleep well without constantly holding him or letting him cry it out.

To further prepare for our little one, we have our newborn class this Saturday. It’s through our hospital, UCSF, and it’s called something like “Surviving the First Two Weeks with a Newborn.” I’m really looking forward to it and think it will be good for building our confidence that we are ready for this baby.

Yesterday I watched an episode of “House of Babies” that showed a mom with a breech baby who had to have a C-section instead of the natural delivery at a birth center like she wanted. Now I am afraid that our baby will be breech, although I have no reason to think that would be the case. My next appointment with the midwife is next Tuesday, and she should be able to palpate my belly and tell me the baby’s position at that point. Hopefully he will be head down! The last time we saw him was at 19 weeks and he was head down then, but I don’t think that really means anything because it was so early on. I can feel where he is in my belly now, but I don’t know what I’m feeling for so I can’t tell a head end from a tail end.

Our friends, Lynne and James, brought Matt the biggest zucchini I have ever seen for his birthday. This thing is truly massive. I just weighed it, and it is a whopping eight pounds. I will be hitting the All Recipes hard for zucchini recipes for dinner all week. (As a side note, please check out Lynne’s super cute, 25-week pregnant belly.)

I take back every bad thing I ever said about Babies R Us. Today I went to the grand opening of a new store near us (in Colma), and a brand spanking new Babies R Us is a beautiful thing. Everything was so well stocked, and all the display models of everything were pristine. Plus, all the employees were super friendly and helpful since it was opening day. Now that I have this one so close, I can go there for anything I need without having to go to that ghetto one in Redwood City ever again. I was so smitten by the store that I wanted to delete my Target registry and start anew at BRU. I think it’s a little late for that though.

My venture to the baby superstore was only shadowed by the fact that my pants kept falling down. Seriously, it was a good thing that my shirt was so long or else I would have been in danger of mooning people behind me. I’m finding it harder and harder to dress myself as my belly grows bigger. The rounder it gets the more I like it, but getting pants to stay up when you have a spherical midsection is proving to be difficult. It can only get worse as the baby (and I) keep packing on the pounds.

Tomorrow is Matt’s birthday, and we are going out on some adventure to celebrate, though we don’t know exactly what we will do yet. It will probably involve a museum and some lunch. We got the party started tonight with his birthday cake that I made a day early. It needs a more clever name, but it is called Lemon Apricot Coconut Cake. I had never made it before, but it turned out to be pretty good. Anyway, I’d better hit the sack in preparation for our big day tomorrow.

Is indecisiveness a pregnancy symptom? I have been having the hardest time making decisions about pretty much everything. The choices of what to have for dinner or which color shirt I like better or which TV show to watch all seem incredibly daunting. I’ve heard of pregnancy brain, but I thought that just made you ditzy and forgetful. Maybe being incapable of making a choice is also part of this condition. If this keeps up, my poor child will by lying half naked on his changing pad for twenty minutes while I decide which outfit he should wear.