Happiest baby on the block

At our birthing class this past Tuesday we went over what we could/should bring to the hospital with us and we watched a video call "Happiest Baby on the Block".  That video was the best thing I have ever seen.  

For all of those who are not familiar with happiest baby on the block, I will give you a quick summary.  The person who wrote it is a pediatrician and has been for many many years.  He said that when a baby is born you need to still think of her as a fetus and that the next three months are the "fourth trimester".  Keeping that in mind will help you to be able to keep you baby happy.  He gave 5 S to sooth a baby and stop crying generally in seconds to minutes. 

The first S is swaddling.  He showed how to swaddle a baby with a blanket and explained that swaddling is a way to help the baby calm down and stop scaring herself with all of her movements which she is not used to.  The baby in the womb had little to no space and felt comforted by the close quarters.  Swaddling is as close as the baby can get to feeling that way again.

The second S is side/stomach.  It is recommended to have the baby sleep on their back, but one of the quickest ways to calm a baby is to hold them on their side slightly tilted toward their stomach.

The third S is shhing.  When the baby starts to cry you can shh the baby making sure your shh is as loud as the baby is crying.  If it is not than the baby can't hear it and it is like you aren't doing anything.  As the baby calms and isn't as loud, so should your shhing.  Besides saying shh you can have just static noise.  The reason these are so helpful is because as the baby is in the womb, she is constantly hearing noise and it is quite loud as loud as a vacuum cleaner.

The fourth S is swinging.  The swinging motion or a giggling motion mimics being in the womb because the mom is constantly moving and thus leaving the baby in constant motion.  Swing or giggle at the rate the baby is crying, lessen as the baby's cry calms down.  Just like shhing.

The fifth S is sucking.  Whether it is a bottle, a pacifier, or a finger sucking is one of the best ways to calm a baby.  Remember, to build the baby's sucking muscles, you should slightly tug on the pacifer.  Yes tug not hold in place its a little bit of the reverse-psychology.

Dave and I were amazed to see him calm the babies so quickly.  It was like magic!  I hope I can get these down for when Lucy is here to help keep her happy and calm.  Apparently doing these steps help the baby to sleep better and longer-which would be fantastic!!

For all of those keeping track with me I have 6 weeks until her due date!!

Baby Shower etc.

Saturday I had my baby shower and it was great!  Thank you all to those who helped and got things for us.  I really appreciate it.  The shower was fun and we got to play some games, like guessing belly size.  A lot of people under estimated how little my belly is!  But I still have 7 weeks so I will get bigger!  The theme of the party was Winnie the Pooh.  Kari ordered a cake that not only tasted amazing but was super cute.This week I also took the time to set the crib up.  I think it is a great looking crib, it has a drawer on the bottom.  Our good friends the Rhiens, gave us the crib.  They got it for free and didn't need it because they already had a crib.  So we very gladly took it off there hands.  It was a great blessing.

On Tuesday we had our second birthing class.  Class last night was a tour of the hospital.  This was amazingly helpful.  We now know where to park to go to the hospital, where to first go, where the family waiting area is and we got to look at one of the rooms where I would give birth (as long as it doesn't turn into a c-section).  The room was amazing!  They also have everything you could ever want to help with the labor and delivery.  Baylor is going to be a great place to give birth. 

I am now 33 weeks and have 49 days until my due date.  I found this picture online, this is potentially what Lucy looks like at the moment.  She is about 16 inches and 4.5 pounds. However, I have been measuring small, so she probably isn't quit that big.  I can't wait until she is here!!

33 Weeks Pregnant

Whew, It's Not So Bad

I want to share with you an article I read on CNN this morning. It is refreshing to hear a positive viewpoint in today’s media. This is a link to Glenn Beck’s (no surprise) article entitled “What’s Right With America? Plenty”:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/10/beck.rightwithamerica/index.html

Here are a few excerpts I appreciated (if you don’t have time to read the whole thing):

>> "We've made it through a depression; we've made it through wars, oil shocks, and major terrorist attacks and we're still standing. In fact, we're not just standing, we're towering over the rest of the world. Our economy is almost as big as the next four largest economies on Earth (Japan, Germany, China and Great Britain) combined. The state of California alone has an economy as large as the entire country of France. Illinois has the same GDP as all of Mexico. New York matches the entire GDP of Brazil. Florida's economy is as large as South Korea's. Texas has a GDP roughly equal to Canada's. Michigan's economy is as large as the entire country of Argentina."

>> "What's right with America? How about the way we treat the less fortunate? With no help from our government, Americans gave a record $306 billion to charities last year alone. We give twice as much as the next closest country and, relative to the size of our economies, we give 1,000 percent more than the French. What's right with America? It's not just the wealthy who are generous. Two-thirds of American families making under $100,000 a year give to charity. Compassion is ingrained in our culture like no other."

>>"We love our country. World Values Survey found that 77 percent of Americans are very proud of their nationality. That puts us in a first place tie with the Irish. Australia was next and no one else was really even close."

I have to agree with him. Sometimes we hear so much negativity from the media we forget that our United States of America is still closer to perfection than any civilization has ever been before.

Prepared Childbirth

This past Tuesday Dave and I had our first birthing class.  It is called prepared childbirth.  It is done by the hospital I will be delivering in.  I thought it was great!  

I enjoyed hearing about what really are signs and what are not.  For instance having flu like symptoms are a sign you are in the preliminary stages of labor.  I did not know that.  Other things were really obvious like, if your water breaks.  The instructor also went over the importance of breathing during labor and delivery.  It was funny she said I am not going to teach you that hee hee huu method that all the movies show.  She just really emphasized that you need to be aware of your breathing to help you focus and if possible to make a pattern to take you mind off all of the pain.  We will see how much of a pattern I develop while screaming at everyone around me.

This was just the first of 4 classes, one of the nights we will spend touring the hospital.  Which to me seems really important because I can image us getting separating while Dave does some type of paper work and then he misses everything.  I would be really mad if that happened.  

Anyway this is just a blip of the things running through my mind lately.  I have 8 weeks to ago and I am both excited and really nervous for her to come!  But that is probably how every mother feels.  This is about what Lucy is up to at the moment:

--She is about 15-16 inches, weighs about 4 lbs, and never stops kicking!

--She is very quickly running out of space and soon will only have room to suck her thumb and dig her little toes up my ribs and around my sides.

--Dave and I like to play with her by poking my sides so that she pokes/kicks back at us.