Friday, July 18, 2008

The stages of a baby room

First you designate a room in your house as "the baby's room", and then you don't turn back.

Since Nik and I have a one bedroom condo that thankfully also has a computer room, picking which room will be transformed into the baby's room was a no brainer. The computer room was it.

Unfortunately for Nik, the computer room had been "his room". In every place we have ever lived, he always had his own space, his own room. The fact that we called this particular room, "the computer room", didn't really mean anything. Sure, there was a computer in that room, in fact there were THREE computers in that room, but we also had THREE other computers throughout the rest of the house. Yes, we are crazy, psycho, computer people . . but then again, we also have every video game system known to man, four tv's (in a one bedroom condo don't forget!), over 700 DVD's, and well . . need I say more?? Actually, Nik is the crazy, psycho one . . I guess I just don't stand in his way . . . not too much anyway.

Ok, back to the baby's room.

So, Nik had to give up his precious space for the upcoming joy of our lives. I must say that even though he very much values his own space, hence the reason he had his own room in every place we ever lived, he did give it up graciously. There was no pulling teeth or screaming matches involved, AND he moved everything out of the room without me having to nag him at all. It was quite amazing actually.

After he moved everything out, we were left with this empty room . . . a very tiny empty room, because did I mention that before it was a computer room, it was actually a hallway with a closet?? Oh yes, it's true, it's true. Someone (before we bought the place) actually tore down the walls to the closet and added doors on the ends of the hallway, so as to make it a sort of "room". It is like 8.5x8.5 (I think) and because it has no windows, it can not even qualify as a bedroom. Poor Christina. But, I know you've heard me complain about that before, so we are moving on.

Ok, so we are left with this empty room and it is painted a neutral tan-ish color. It was nice enough. The walls were . . . ok, I guess. But my mom and step dad convinced me that the room should be painted to be more baby appropriate. In fact, they offered to do it themselves, so of course I couldn't say no! (I'm so glad I didn't, by the way)

From painting the room, putting together the crib, painting the changing table, and adding decor, the room has evolved so much. I have put sooooo much energy into finding exactly the right items to put in the room, and decorating it exactly the way I want. Plus, I've had to do it "on the cheap".

I knew I could not justify spending money on decorating the room to Nik. As far as he is concerned, if we have a bed for her to sleep in, diapers, and a lactating mother for her to eat from, then we have all that we need. Since we didn't have any money set aside for the "extra" stuff for her room, it took a lot of work on my part to get the room the way I wanted it.

I'm not quite done yet, but I must say that I love how it is turning out. I was depressed at first because it is hard to work with such a small space, and hard to do it with little to no budget, but I am proud of what I have accomplished. Plus, it was really nice to hear Nik tell me how proud he was of the work I have done as well.

I must say though, I am still DYING to have other people see the room. Unfortunately, I live so far away from everyone, that we never have company. It just wouldn't be right to make one of my friends or relatives drive an hour to my house, just so that they can see the room. So, I've just been waiting patiently until the timing works out and they are coming for a visit anyway.

In the meantime, I've taken lots and lots of pictures. They are mostly for myself though because since the room is so tiny, it is difficult to get good pictures. If it were a tiny room with no walls, I could take pictures from the outside and get the whole room. But, since it is a small space with awkwardly placed doors and walls, it is hard to get far enough away to get a good shot.

Even considering that though, I can't wait any longer. It's finally time for me to show you pictures. It isn't the same as seeing it for yourself, but it will give you an idea. And remember, it still isn't finished, but it is getting there.

I wish I had a picture of the room when it was still the computer room, but I don't. So, I'll start from the beginning of what I have . . . my mom and step dad painting the room, through the different stages of the room and finally to the pictures of how it looks now. Tell me what you think!!

Here is the color paint we chose (Hawthorne Yellow by Benjamin Moore) although I doubt you'll be able to get a good idea of exactly what shade this is. The picture doesn't do it justice and actually all of the pictures from painting day came out very dark.






Here are my mom and step dad starting the painting. Hey, Gordon, that isn't the wall, hehehe.





And here I am, see, I helped a little :-)





Finishing touches














The crib is here, yay!!






The changing table has been painted and I started putting storage bins on the shelves.





Here are a few more added items.





I was trying to find a small table that I could put on this short wall, so that it was no deeper than the excess space the crib took (jotting out from the wall). But, it wasn't an easy task and I ended up with this little plastic storage container.




But, then, brilliantly, I realized I could cover it and make it look pretty.



You can also see in the above picture that I have something hanging from the wall. Those are the letters, "CC" for Christina Corinne. They are temporarily hanging there because I haven't figured out where to put them yet. In between the letters I also have a heart that says "Little Princess". That will go somewhere on the wall also, but I'm not sure where yet.


Next, I started using my removable wall stickers. Here I decorated one of the doors.





Then, I decorated the longest wall in the room.









I also did the bottom of the other door, just like the first one.






The next big step was to put a sort of border running along the rest of the walls of the room. I am going to add wall stickers to these walls as well, but so far I'm not exactly sure where. So, this is what I have so far.





In the picture above you can also see what is on the top shelf above the changing table.



In this picture, you can see the addition of the toy bag that is hanging over the crib. The two pink shadow boxes on top of the table will eventually get hung on the wall, I just haven't gotten to it yet.





I need to add more pictures of the entire wall with the border, but since I don't have them yet, this will have to do.

Hope you like it!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

One more thing!

Is it weird that Nik is more freaked out about me giving birth, then I am?

Another novel of a post

Nik and I went to our second birthing class last night and it went really well. I know I said this before, but I am so glad that we decided to take the class. I am learning all of these little things that I did not know before. Plus, our instructor is teaching us so many ways to help us relax and relieve pain/pressure while in labor.

This time I actually did the meditation part much better too. I decided that I want to buy a soothing sounds CD. Not only do I want to bring it to the hospital for labor, to help me relax, but I want to start putting it on at night when I'm laying in bed and trying to fall asleep. I think it will help put me to sleep and doing it night after night will make my mind and body really in tune to "relaxing" when the music is on. That will be great for labor!

Our instructor also showed us all of these odd body positions to do in order to help relieve the uncomfortable pressure of contractions. I think all of them involve leaning or using our hubby's for one reason or another. So we all walked around the room and every so often we would stop and do one of these positions. They were all so goofy looking, but I think they will definitely help. In all of the videos we have seen, there is always some laboring mother-to-be bent or leaning in some funny position, and now I know why! Hey, whatever gets me through one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do is ok by me.

In addition to the music and the relaxing positions, we also used massage and back massagers to help relax us. Let me tell you, I was never big into massages, but the moment Nik put that massager on my bag (one of those wood ones with the "balls" on the end), I was sold! I told Nik that we had to go and stock up on some of this stuff. She also took out a bunch of bottles of lotion and had our hubby's massage our hands with lotion. That was very nice and soothing so I’ll want to try that during labor as well.

One thing that our instructor mentioned that I didn't get to try out was the birthing ball. She said that it can be a great comfort to many women and I definitely would like to try it out. I think I'll have to buy one though because she says there is only one in our hospital and you never know if it will be in use when you need it.

Speaking of the hospital, luckily our instructor knows a lot about the hospital and she talked to us a little about their policies and procedures (after finding out from a couple of the people in the room that the hospital tour SUCKED). Apparently, the woman who normally did the tours, does not work there anymore and she was never replaced. So, they have to use nurses that don't really know what they are suppose to do or say. No wonder!! I'm glad to find out that there is a reason that the tour was so very pathetic.

So our instructor told me a few things I wanted to know about the policies of the hospital . . phew! Plus, next week she said we will fill out a checklist of things we want to do and don't want to do. Knowing that she works with the hospital eases my mind, because at least I know that what she is doing goes along with what the hospital does.

Ok, so I know this post is getting really long, but I have to tell you one more thing. We watched a video again and part of it went into detail about the epidural. Let me tell you, OMG! I have always been a wimp and very often I get close to passing out when I hear or see something involving blood, needles, etc.

In fact, when I was in high school, I almost passed out in health class when the teacher was talking about steroids. I was so close to passing out in fact, that I lost my hearing and my vision. I had to get up and feel my way to the door. I walked out into the hallway and lay down on the yucky high school hallway floor, just to try to calm down and gain my composure. Don't worry, that wasn't embarrassing at all, lol, yeah right! Anyway, my sister gets like that too so I know I'm not the only freak :-)

Ok, so back to the epidural video . . . yeah, so I almost passed out. I really really wanted to learn about the epidural and be as informed as possible, but apparently my body felt differently. I was sweating, dizzy, queasy, and starting to lose my vision when finally I gave up and left the room. It took me a few minutes, a trip to the bathroom, and a bottle of water before I felt better. And of course, by that point not only had I missed the rest of the video on the epidural, but I also missed the video on episiotomies. That sucked because I really wanted to learn more about that, but I don't know if I could have handled it anyway.

I'm going to be great in delivery aren't I? LOL. Well, I have done SO much better since I started trying to get pregnant. I use to almost pass out every time I had blood taken, and now with all of the practice I've had (they take a lot of blood when you are pregnant), I can do it like a champ. In fact, I don't even get queasy anymore. It's amazing!! So, I'm just going to try this whole giving birth thing natural and we'll see what happens. And if I'm in enough pain to want the epidural, hopefully I will want it so bad that it won't make me pass out just thinking about the process.

Ok, on a lighter note . . I have another doctor's appointment tonight AND the exciting part of it is that my mom and my sister are coming with me. My sister is flying in today (as we speak) for my baby shower this weekend. I can't wait to see her and I'm looking forward to having my mom and sister come with me to the doctor and then we are going out to dinner with Nik.

I still have so much more to say . . . funny how I don't talk for weeks and then all of a sudden I can't stop talking! But, I know, I know, this post is already ridiculously long. So . . . I'll stop there. Talk to you soon!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

She takes my breath away

My new nickname for my daughter, at least while she is in the womb, is my little alien. Yes, it's weird. But I can't help thinking of the Alien movies when she is wiggling around in my belly. I don't know what in the world she is doing in there, but whatever it is, it feels from the inside very weird, and it certainly looks weird from the outside.

She no longer feels like a baby kicking, but some strange foreign object inside me that is using my uterus as an experimental bubble that she can test the limits of and try to break free from. Of course, an alien, or foreign object, is the furthest from the truth. Carrying her inside of me is the way it works and the way it is suppose to work. I am told that all of her moving around is preparing her for the world outside the womb.

What I'm feeling though does seem quite odd, but it is fun to see and feel what she will do next. And being able to feel her throughout the day, although sometimes uncomfortable, is amazing. I love always knowing that she is there and of course feeling her move around makes me feel like she is healthy and safe. She takes my breath away . . . actually, she literally takes my breath away.

Did you know that when pregnant, your lungs are constricted and actually don't fill up with oxygen as much as they otherwise could? Since that little girl in there needs all of the room she can get, my lungs have graciously given up part of it's internal body space for her. So now, as she gets bigger, and until she "drops", I always sort of feel like I'm not getting enough oxygen. (If you hear me huffing and puffing, you'll know why!) So, Christina has already learned to take my breath away, and she hasn't even been born yet. What a girl! :-)

Monday, July 14, 2008

All the things I want to say

I know, I know. I've been a bad, bad blogger. I haven't updated this blog in a very long time, and it wasn't for lack of material either. I've just been busy, frustrated, stressed out, and overall not creatively motivated. But, I'm back and I have so much to tell you. It may take multiple entries actually. Hmph, let's see . . where to start . . .

Nik and I had our first birthing class last week. At first we were dreading 3 hours on a Tuesday night, but it ended up going really fast and we learned so much. Our instructor covered a lot of information, gave us several helpful hand outs, showed us three birthing videos, and had us practice meditating (or at least I think that is the best word for it).

For the meditation part of the class, we had to lay down on our sides and practice breathing while listening to calming music and our instructor talking slow and soft. We were suppose to tune everything out and relax. Apparently, learning to tune everything out, breath properly, and relax, is a very important part of the laboring process. It's too bad that I wasn't able to relax at all, even during the exercise. So I don't know how in the world I would do it during labor.

My back was killing me during the entire "relaxation" process and I could not get comfortable. I guess my mind is not powerful enough to block that out. Of course the situation will only get worse when it's the real deal, so I'm guessing I will totally suck at this meditation thing. I guess all I can do is just keep practicing in my classes, and hope that I get better at this.

The instructor was right about one thing though. After doing that exercise at the very end of class and then heading home, I was able to sleep like a baby that night! Actually that phrase "sleep like a baby" doesn't even make any sense since we all know that babies typically wake up throughout the night. So, I guess a better way of saying it, is that I slept like a rock. All of the calming influences in class paid off for me when it was time to get a good night sleep. So I guess you could say that even though I wasn't any good at meditation, the exercise wasn't completely wasted on me.

Overall, I was pleased that we signed up for this class and I'm looking forward to the next class tomorrow night. I wish I could say the same for the hospital tour though.

Nik and I went to the hospital last night for the infamous "hospital tour". I had been looking forward to this for months. Several girls on the nest (baby related message board I'm on) have said how informative their tour had been. Of course I hadn't talked to anyone that specifically took a tour at my hospital, but I figured they would all be basically the same. I was wrong . . . big time.

The so called "tour guide" walked us through L&D (labor and delivery ward) and the maternity ward and showed us the rooms. That is pretty much it. Now, maybe you are thinking to yourself - "Well, that is just what a tour is." I know my husband definitely felt that way. But, I guess I was expecting more, based on the other hospital tours I have heard about.

I expected the "tour guide" (a nurse), to give us some information about the process of giving birth at their facility. For example, what are the policies and procedures and how strictly do they or we have to stick to them?

The L&D nurse mentioned that when we get into our room they will give us an IV and check our vitals. I wanted to ask, "what if we don't want an IV, is that standard, do I have a choice?" But, of course I didn't ask because I was in a room full of strangers who all just stood there and nodded their heads.

I guess that was my own personal fault, and I probably should have just spoken up. But, I didn't. There were a couple of instances like this, where she would casually mention something and I would think, "well, I really don't want to do that/follow that/etc . . do I have too?". I guess I just didn't want to seem like the annoying person that doesn't want to follow rules. But, I really just wanted to know if these policies and procedures are set in stone, or if they are flexible. Now thinking about it, I should have just asked that very question. Damn, too late!

I have decided that I am going to talk to my doctor about the hospitals policies and procedures and I'm going to ask if they are flexible. Since she works exclusively with this hospital, I think she should know. Plus I feel more comfortable telling her what I want and don't want (even if it goes against the hospitals standard procedures).

But, the place where I feel I really was let down by the tour, was all of the stuff I haven't thought about or that I don't already have an idea about. Who is going to tell me about all of the unexpected things I am going to encounter? For example, one girl on the nest said that on her tour, they showed her the size of the pads that new mothers will need to wear after delivery. Apparently, you bleed so much that you have to wear something that resembles a DIAPER (gasp!) for quite a long time. Had she not heard this on her tour and passed the info. on to me, I would have no idea. I was hoping that during my tour, I would learn more things like this, that I did not know or expect.

By the way, I was also expecting the tour to take about an hour. I'm not sure where I got that timeframe from, but I guess I just thought it made sense. Instead, I think we might have hit the 20 minute mark, and that included all of the walking we did and elevators we took just to get to L&D.

Seriously, the tour was pathetic. So totally pathetic that I realized as we were walking out of the building, that they never even told us where we should check in when we arrive at the hospital in labor. Of course I could just go to the L&D nurses station and have them direct me. But come on, doesn't that information seem important to tell expectant mothers on a tour of the hospital where they will deliver? Plus, I don't even remember where the L&D ward is located in the hospital because the tour was so fast!

Man, can you tell I'm frustrated? Nik didn't get it though. He said it was what he expected. So, I guess my expectations were just too high. Well, excuse me for wanting to be prepared.

Anyway, this is where I will leave you for today. I'll have to finish catching you up another day. I don't want you to fall asleep reading my novel of a blog entry.
Coming up in future entries: the stages of the baby's room, mine and the baby's health status from the doctors and my own point of view, my upcoming baby shower, and updated belly pictures. Plus, I'm sure I'll throw in some more b*tching and complaining, lol.