Baby Care, Paper T Shirts, and BF in the OR!

We had our baby care class today. The first part we watched a video and slide presentation. The video showed the parents right after delivery with baby being held skin to skin and being breast fed. I had to hold back tears! Darn pregnancy hormones.

Then she showed slide pics of an actual circumsion which was a little painful to see. My hospital doesn't use any local anesthesia for circs! They only give the babies 2 teaspoons of sugar water to help cope with the pain. WTH?

Then we played with some baby dolls, washing and diapering them! That part was fun in a weird way. We got lucky and scored a boy baby doll so we could practice cleaning him up correctly.


Our practice baby!

We got to see the paper t shirts that they give the babies to wear in my hospital. I kept picturing the thin white paper like what they use to line examination tables. This was actually heavier paper, kind of like the stuff they use for expensive paper napkins. It had a small piece of velcro to hold it closed.



Christopher holding the baby doll. The paper t shirt is blue and pink.


The nurse said that they want parents to bring in their own clothing for the baby so he will get used to what you'll be putting him in at home. That kind of makes sense. The paper shirt they provide is for immediately after birth when the umbilicial cord stump has iodine on it. I guess it's triple staining or something.

She was also a lactation consultant and told us that if we had her as a nurse for a c-section delivery, then she would do everything possible to get the baby skin to skin with you while in the OR and even attempt some breast feeding there. I was very shocked at that!

Without saying it, she let us know that not all others nurses would try it. But it's still pretty amazing that it's even a possiblity. Of course you might be so out of it after the c-section that it's impossible.

A Baby Shower...

for us! It's hard to believe it's really time for our own baby shower. A special day to celebrate this baby boy.




Today when we woke up, Patches was kicking me like normal. I usually tell Christopher about it so he can get a quick feel while we're both right together.
Chris put his hand on my belly and shook it just a little saying hello. Then right as he placed his hand flat on the sweet spot, Patches gave one of his power kicks! (We're talking the kind that can move the remote control or whatever is resting on my tummy.) Chris pulls his hand back in surprise, saying "Wow, what do those feel like on the inside?!"

They feel awesome.

It was like Patches was telling us to come on, get up already! It's his big day, pre-birthday. We have things to do! It's baby shower time.


My sister in law, Caroline has been so supportive of us during the past year. She hosted the baby shower at her house. It was beautifully decorated and everything I could have dreamed for.

Christopher, Tracy, and Patches

Some of the party ballons.

This cute little guy was one of the ballon weights.

Some of the favors around the cake.

This cake was beautifully decorated as a baby carriage. It was a vanilla cake with a creme layer. The two wheels were chocolate cupcakes. "A Baby Is A Precious Gift"


Sister in law, Caroline with the beautiful cake. Her mom, Mrs. Ernst is looking on in the background.

We played some really fun games. The guys even enjoyed participating.

We were shown this tray for one minute. Then we had to write down all the items that we could remember. My friend, Bonnie won this one easily!

Then we played a baby word scramble game. Again Bonnie put most of us to shame. I think her youth helped her. My pregnancy induced attention deficient disorder gave me serious trouble! Who knew "rodeomothh" was motherhood and "unserry hemry" was nursery rhyme?

Bonnie, again a winner. This time of "Guess How Big the Momma To Be's Belly Is." The object was to cut a piece of yarn just long enough to wrap around my stomach at the biggest point. I dreaded this game a little since it basically makes fun of how big I am! But it turned out fun to play. Christopher (thank you, honey!) and the twin 6 year olds, Amber and Zachary were the closest after Bonnie. Everyone else had miles of extra yarn! Apparently I do look THAT big. :)

Christopher helping the twins, Amber and Zachary measuring and cutting their yarn.




Debbie, the official winner of the "Find The Baby Pin Game." There were 80 baby pins inside the bowl covered with uncooked rice. The object was to find as many pins as possible during one minute. It was a lot harder than what it looked like because the rice was bigger than the small pins. Debbie shifted through and found four. I found NONE!

Mrs. Ernst who finished second place after a tie breaker.

My mother in law, Margaret, playing the game.

My other sister in law, Alice.

Brother in law Steve who thought he had a plan to win.

Christopher finding two pins and managing to spill rice all over the floor!

Chef Christopher with his yummy lasagne! I know he won't let us starve after the baby is born.

We had lots of good food and good times. It was the perfect baby shower! I'm going to blame it on pregnancy hormones, but when I think back over the evening I start to cry. We enjoyed ourselves so much.

Thank you, Caroline for hosting it. And thank you to all those that came and for all the gifts we received. Patches is one lucky boy.