Swaddles and Forceps and Poo...Oh My!

I am 31 weeks today and what an informative week it has been! On Wednesday we participated in a class through our hospital called BabySense. This focused on the ins and outs of newborn care. Everything from bathing and diapering to swaddling and feeding were covered. We both found it very worthwhile since our experience with infants is limited. I know many people say a lot of what goes into caring for a newborn is instinct, but I guess I'm sort of type-A and wanted to get as much information beforehand as I could. All and all it was a great class and we feel like we came away from it with a new wealth of tips and insight.

Today we had our 8 hour Prepared Childbirth class. You may recall that I missed the boat on this last time since Ethan came early. I decided to get it done as early as possible this time! Although I've already experienced labor and delivery once before, the circumstances surrounding it were not exactly normal. I mostly wanted to take this class to get information regarding pain management options (since I progressed too quickly from 6cm to 10cm last time), and tour the Labor and Delivery rooms. I'm still a little on the fence when it comes to the subject of an epidural. I made it through without one last time, and the worst of it was the laboring pains. What I'm afraid of now is the fact that a 7lb (or whatever size) baby may feel much different when being delivered than a 3lb baby did. I had basically no pain when I pushed with Ethan, and I'm not so sure that would be the case this time around. Right now I'm of the mindset that I'll go into it and try to labor as long as possible without any meds, and make the decision when I'm in the "optimal" window of time (which we learned was 4-6cm). But who knows how I'll feel by then! Again, this class offered us a lot of information. Though there were some things I could have lived without knowing. I'm not so sure I needed to see the needles they use for the epidural....that might have been better left to my imagination!

I'll leave you with the latest belly pic from today. It's crazy to think that now we're counting down in single digit weeks!

Love,
Ashley