Hee, Hee, HOO!

That's the breathing Jason is supposed to lead me in if I feel like I need to push during a contraction and I'm not supposed to for some reason. I thought it was more or less a thing the movies had made up, and I felt like such a goof. :)

The childbirth class was interesting. We learned how to time contractions (from beginning of one to beginning of the next is "how far apart" they are), when to go to the hospital (when they're five minutes apart for one hour), some relaxation techniques (hard to know whether you were doing it right, as there wasn't any pain to distract yourself from), got to watch Bill Cosby's "natural childbirth" routine while we ate our lunches, then learned some basics of baby care (it's harder than it looks to swaddle a baby, lemme tell ya), and took a tour of the maternity wing of the hospital. It was cool to see where I'll be giving birth in a couple of months-ish. Of course there was lots more information too. It's nice to feel that much more prepared for all this, and I'm sure it will feel extra reassuring when I'm actually there. Oh, and Jason claims that with the nurse's supervision, he will give Jamie his first bath instead of watching her do it, like the instructor (a nurse at the hospital) says dad usually opt to do. He likes a challenge.

I can feel Jamie's movements much more dramatically now; he's getting big and space is obviously limited in there. I read that it's more elbows and knees that I'm feeling now than hands and feet. And this boy already has a routine. Every morning at 4:30 or 5, he's wide awake and playing, probably a kung-fu game. Seriously, kaboom, bam, bam, bam! It's a crack-up. I fall asleep at 9:45 or 10 p.m. lately, sometimes even earlier (also, the devil and his ice hockey team have made the junior league championships--crazy!), and yet I still can't even get eight hours in on the weekdays because I just always wake up at that time and usually lose at least an hour trying to get back to sleep. Once I do, it's Max who is up and wanting us to play with him, and between his racket and Jason kicking him out, sleeping time is over. But I haven't been too tired, so it's just a silly kind of thing--we're old boring people now, going to bed WAY early even on weekends, and what good does it really do? :)

On Thursday I embark for Sacramento, and I can't WAIT!! It's going to be so awesome for my mom (and Rob and my dad, if they want to) to finally get to feel her grandbaby, and to go shopping and go out to eat and stuff with her, to hang out with my fam, to see my friends and have a baby shower with my wonderful extended family! Just getting to see so many people I love, after living here with hardly anyone I even know, is going to be so...re-energizing? That's not the word I want, but there's the evidence that pregnancy absentmindedness is no myth.