Day 73: Deliveries

We had two very important deliveries today: Little Ted's stroller, and "delayed" baby shower gifts from my parents. We'll post pictures of the second delivery soon, along with an explanation of why the gifts were "delayed."

But for now, we want to unveil our stroller, the Bugaboo Cameleon, complete with Paul Frank limited edition fabric. This was a gift from Grandma & Grandpa Robles. We love it and can't wait to put Little Ted in it and walk around campus. In the meantime, we tried it out in our courtyard, as you can see in the pictures below:







This stroller has lots of cool features. It has some pretty impressive shocks. The handle switches directions - you can set it so the bassinet faces you or faces away. The bassinet can be removed and replaced by a "regular" seat that can be set to an upright or reclining position (we'll post pictures of that, too). The stroller came with a mosquito net and rain cover. If we get tired of the colors, we can purchase a variety of different colored canvas or fleece fabrics to replace the fabrics we currently have. And, to top it all off, we can purchase adapters that fit the car seat we plan on getting and hook that up to the frame. Pretty cool, huh?

Day 76: Childbirth Class 2

Yesterday, we attended our second childbirth class. This time around, we discussed more of the "details" of labor, spending a considerable amount of time discussing pain and how to deal with it. We watched lots of videos of laboring women, all of whom opted for a natural childbirth. If you use your imagination, you can easily figure out how they looked, sounded, etc. By the end of class, we felt pretty bad for them. But all the women in the videos survived and did not seem to be traumatized by the experience, which was reassuring.

At the end of the class, we got to "practice" labor positions. The first position was squatting, not necessarily an easy position to get into when you're carrying a watermelon in front of you. The second was what they call "slow dancing." Basically, the laboring mother stands, supported by her coach, and the two sway back and forth (think of junior high and high school dances). Admittedly, we didn't make it through the exercise without giggling, but I think you have to have a sense of humor about the process to avoid unnecessary worry about inevitable labor pains.

Next week's topic: pain management options. After this week's class, I say, "Bring on the pain meds!"

Miss California Embarrasses her State

Miss California was on CNN's Campbell Brown show last night. Roland Martin interviewed her to discuss opinions she shared during the Miss USA pageant. Prejean created a stir by publicly stating that she does not support gay marriage. Her comment did not go over well with one of the judges, Perez Hilton, a homosexual male. He apparently attacked her during his interview on Larry King. Not surprisingly, this issue became a source for debate on several CNN programs. Roland Martin publicly supported her honesty and defended her position, so I imagine he was a bit surprised about how she behaved during his interview with her. She basically refused to answer any of his questions because they had a political bent (imagine that - political commentators on CNN asking political questions!). Instead, she reminded him - twice - that he needed to focus on her and her opinions, not politics. To top it all off, every time she spoke, she prefaced her comments with "You know what . . ." Yes my friends, she used this phrase a total of eight times during a three minute interview. Don't believe me? Check out the video above.

Ladies and gentlemen, I beg you - do not take this woman to be representative of her state. True, she does fulfill the stereotype, but that's about all she does. I for one was embarrassed for her and hope she doesn't get any more speaking gigs. (God help us all if she does . . .)

Outdoor Space

While in Corpus Christi, we shopped around for patio furniture. Ted had been looking at patio sets online for awhile in search of the right set for the right price. We ended up finding pieces that we liked but weren't able to settle on a complete set (is it just me, or is patio furniture way overpriced?). Once we got back, we did some more shopping and finally put a set together (without having to spend too much money). We found the table, umbrella, and stand at Pier One and the chairs came from Target. We really like our new space - it lets us enjoy the outdoors without leaving our home!

Day 83: Childbirth Class

On Monday, we began our 5 week childbirth class series. We came armed with pillow in hand (we were told we would be doing relaxation exercises on the floor at some point) and headed to the classroom. The same instructor greeted us, and we settled in for introductions and a slideshow. Once again, there was a wide variety of couples present. To our right was the Baylor couple that looked like they were barely out of high school and giggled every time a diagram of the pregnant female body was flashed on the screen. To our left was a husband who, though his wife was clearly pregnant, still had not come to the full realization that they were having a baby. And across the room was a husband who was "well trained" - he had apparently made several midnight runs to the store because "the baby wanted cupcakes."

This particular class covered very general information about labor. During the course of the evening, the nurse mentioned that dehydration was a leading cause of preterm labor. Not surprisingly, about half the wives (myself included) headed to the snack bar at break to pick up a bottle of water. After break, we toured the LDR (labor, delivery, and recovery) and postpartum wing of the hospital. It was nice to know where I will be once I go into labor and get a heads up as to what kinds of monitors will be hooked up to me during that time. Overall, the area looked clean and kept up. The only disappointment: the postpartum rooms are tiny, but I guess that's to be expected. The smaller they are, the more they can squeeze on to the floor. In any event, I won't be there for long, so it shouldn't be an issue.

Next Monday, class meets again. Not sure what we're going to discuss, but I have not doubt that it will be blog worthy material. :-)

Day 84: Baby Shower

Last Sunday, Ted IV attended his very first baby shower. My mother-in-law did a wonderful job with the decorations, food, and games. Even Ted and Matthew had a role in making sure the shower went off without a hitch - they were on pencil sharpening duty, which, believe it or not, is very hot and tiring when you have about 50 pencils to sharpen and the electric pencil sharpener is not cooperating.

We had a great turn out. Little Ted got lots of nice gifts, as you can see in the slideshow below. Even though he hasn't arrived yet, it is clear that he is loved!

A big thank you to everyone who attended. You were all very thoughtful and generous. Believe me when I say Little Ted will get lots of use out of your gifts!

Weekend Trip to Corpus Christi

We headed down to Corpus Christi this past weekend for a much needed break from Waco and to attend a baby shower hosted by my mother-in-law. We left Thursday morning after Ted's class and arrived in Corpus without incident. First order of business: pick up Matthew from school. He really liked being picked up by his Uncle Ted - not only did he get a Happy Meal, but he also got to watch several episodes of the Clone Wars when we arrived home. Doesn't get much better than that.

My parents were scheduled to arrive Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, they were held up by weather. They spent far too many hours on the tarmac in Abilene (they were supposed to be in Dallas) waiting for the storms to pass through. Eventually, they made it to Corpus late Friday evening, exhausted and in need of rest.

While waiting out the arrival of my parents, the rest of us attended a birthday party for one of Matthew's friends at Chuck E. Cheese. You can see a couple of pictures from the event in the slideshow below. The rest of the pictures are of us relaxing in the backyard on Saturday (we all needed some down time!) and shots from around Ted's parents' house.

Day 90 - Newborn Care Class

Yesterday evening, we attended our first education class at Providence Hospital, where Little Ted will be born. The class was entitled "Newborn Care," and it covered topics like how to swaddle your baby, change his diaper, and bathe him, SIDS, colic, jaundice, and when to call the doctor.

The class was very informative and made Little Ted's arrival all the more "real" (sometimes it can be easy to overlook how soon he'll be here!).

A couple of highlights from the evening: we won a prize (along with about 2/3 of the class) during a game of bingo. It is the lovely burp cloth you see below, which says, "I'm a kid, I am America's Future!"



The other highlight: the wide variety of questions asked during the evening. The couples definitely displayed their level of baby experience and general knowledge through their questions. We heard everything from "How do you know if a baby is hot?" and "When on a road trip, is it necessary to stop and change your baby's dirty diaper when you're only 20 minutes from your destination?" to "Can you avoid smelly diapers by breastfeeding until the child is potty trained?" Meanwhile, as the nurse described Shaken Baby Syndrome (her definition: an injury that happens to a baby when it is shaken), my hubby leaned over to tell me that she should describe the injury as a cerebral contusion (thank you very much, neuroscience class). Guess situations like this prove that it takes all types to make the world go round. :-)

How much do you know about Peeps?

Find out by taking the quiz on the famous Easter candy, below.



http://www.delish.com/food-fun/quizzes/peeps-quiz-trivia

The Last 100 Days

We've recently become pretty avid CNN watchers; it helps us to keep up on national and international news, a must with the current economic state of affairs. In any event, CNN has been following President Obama's every move as a part of its "The First 100 Days" series (and I mean every move - recent reports on the president have included mentioning that he bumped his head when entering Marine One, tripped on his way to speak to Congress, and gave the queen a bad gift on his recent trip to London for the G-20 Summit; you can read more at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/first.100.days/). So, as an homage to our latest television addiction, we give you our version, The Last 100 Days (of the pregnancy, that is, and today is day 100 on the countdown). We promise not to bore you with too many mundane details; you won't hear about the number of times I trip in a day (which happens too often these days to be interesting anyway). But we will keep you updated on the latest baby news (as always) and other happenings.

The latest baby news: we had another doctor's appointment yesterday, and everything looks a-OK. Little Ted's heartbeat is good and strong, he's growing "according to schedule," and all is well. We go back in another 3 weeks to do a glucose test. That same week, we also begin our various childbirth/childcare classes at Providence Hospital (should be interesting).

Other happenings: As for the parents of Little Ted, school has been keeping us plenty busy. Ted had two tests this past week, and it doesn't look he's going to have too much down time between now and finals. I've been kept busy balancing teaching (my students are trying to get through their research projects) and research (a painfully slow process). So, to give ourselves a break, we went to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. I can't remember the last time we went to a movie theater - and that's not just because mommy brain is setting in. We highly recommend it - lots of fun for kids and adults. Just be sure to see it in 3D if you can. And right now, we're enjoying the beautiful, 70 degree weather from the comfort of our back patio, waiting for our meal of pork ribs and au gratin potatoes to finish cooking. Gotta love Fridays.