Today was a fairly good day. This morning, my dad helped me with a major shopping spree at Trader Joe's. Shopping with him in the late morning and using his handicap card is the best way to shop! I'm already finding it so helpful to have another set of hands or even someone to just watch the cart while I run to the bathroom yet again. I'm super grateful for his help. Anyway, this morning I stocked up on all kinds of basic frozen and packaged foods to keep in the kitchen in case the baby comes soon. We filled up two whole shopping carts and then I happily paid for all my loot with a generous gift card from Louis' co-workers. When I came home, I cleaned out the fridge and freezer, stocked them full of food, and then cleaned and stocked our pantry shelves. Ahh, it feels so wonderful to not only have lots of food in the house, but to be able to accomplish this major pre-baby necessity.
This afternoon, I de-tagged and started washing all the baby blankets, towels, wipes, bedding, and clothing that we'll be using right away. It's so much fun watching all the cute baby stuff come out of the dryer! Tomorrow, I'll do another load or two and then find a home for everything. I already started creating more space in our bathroom cabinets for the baby. It's amazing how much room one little person needs! On our of our shelves, we have his and hers bins of medicine and toiletries. Mine has my herbal tinctures, vitamins, and homeopathic remedies. Louis' has advil, cough syrup, and other things that are not so liver-friendly. Now, the baby has it's own bin, which is full of chemical-free shampoo and body wash. Guess I got my way in that department :)
This evening, Louis and I went to a breastfeeding class at Kaiser. We rushed to have dinner before the class, and I knew he was distracted by a real estate deal he was waiting to hear back on, but it was nice for us to do a baby-focused thing together. When he had to take a work call in the middle of the video about baby-led breastfeeding, I tried to remind myself to not get frustrated. I mean, if I was at an event that was important to him and I was on call expecting a birth, I wouldn't be able to concentrate very well either. I do actually give him a lot more credit than he thinks. I really do appreciate how hard he works for us. I need to do a better job of showing him. This past week has been incredibly busy and he is so exhausted by bedtime that he is asleep within 90 seconds of getting into bed. I don't know how we could have really prepared for the stress of balancing work with late pregnancy baby prep, but we're doing the best we can.
The class was actually pretty good. We were the only homebirthing couple there but I got to stay anonymous as a normal pregnant lady and not share that I was a midwife. I was surprised by how full the class was. Some dads were really into the videos and asked a lot of questions. Others were just there. The instructor passed out dolls for us to practice positions with and Louis held the doll in his arms the whole time we weren't using it. The instructor noticed and commented at the end of class how it had been touching to watch. What a great daddy he's going to be.
I couldn't help but think about how weird it is that we have classes for breastfeeding. I wonder what women in developing countries would think. Crazy American women. As a kid, I remember seeing some babies being formula-fed, but for my whole adult life, I've been surrounded by nothing but breastfeeding. It's all I know, really. I was just reading a breastfeeding book that described how the use of formula changed the whole process of caring for babies. As compared to breastfeeding, formula came with rules about amount and temperature and sterilizing and weight gain and sleep training, etc that started requiring women to ask (and pay) doctors for advice. Before formula, women just asked family members or other women for help if they had questions. It would be wonderful to get back to the point where experienced women were the experts, especially considering that the breastfeeding education doctors receive in medical school is pathetically minimal. I would never think to ask a pediatrician for advice about feeding, but I guess that's just me being silly again.
Next week, we will be taking a newborn care class, just for kicks :)
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