Monday, April 28, 2014

A baking first


This is the last post I'll ever have to write referring to "the baby" or "it" (unless for some reason blogging is still popular when it's time for #2, but that seems unlikely). 18ish hours till we found out. Totally not counting and definitely haven't been all day.

This weekend I did something I'm not sure I've ever done before. I baked, and no chocolate was involved (and it was for me).

Raspberry bars
II swear, I shared with friends, I didn't just eat the entire pan alone.
 
It wasn't a health thing, those bars are the good stuff, packed with butter and sugar. I was just craving a fruity dessert. Possibly a first.

I think it's safe to say coffee is back in my life, sort of. I can only handle super dark roasts (that's not new), unflavored, and made in the French press. The weird part is I've had my coffee plain since high school, and now I need half and half. I can't seem to go black, although some have argued that's how I got into this situation to begin with.

I poured milk on my cereal after the picture, I'm not a weirdo.
 
My capstone project for grad school is due in one week, and there's nothing that makes me more productive in every other area of my life than a major deadline like that. Saturday, instead of working on it, I cleaned, grocery shopped, prepped dinners and lunches for the week, baked, ran 5 outdoor miles that were shockingly enjoyable, and even started my baby book reading.
 
Like a good American, I am extremely adverse to any sort of pain, discomfort, irritation, or basically anything remotely unpleasant. On that note, I'm not really interested in earning any sort of #BAMF badges refusing pain medication - anywhere really, but childbirth seems to be the most popular place. I'm lucky enough to be born into a time and place with excellent medicine that my health insurance covers, so I would like to take advantage.
 
BUT I actually know people in real life who are intelligent and normal who went/plan to go the natural way. It makes me wonder why, and if there's anything I'm missing. So I wanted to hear the other side. I dived into this book, recommended from someone or somewhere that I've already forgotten.
 
Right off the bat, they made it really tricky to take things seriously.

Maybe I'm immature, but maybe he could have just gone by "Dr. Read".
Directly following that was a chapter called "Orgasmic birth". With pictures. That's all I have to say about that.

If Eric could have the baby, this book would be perfect because he's really open minded and non-judgmental. He totally accepts that all sorts of hippie dippie, crunchy BS might be legitimate. For unclear reasons he married someone really cynical, suspicious, and dismissive, and I have to have the baby, so this book is going straight back to the library. I was looking for something that was based on, you know, science, to give me the other point of view. I originally wanted a non-biased book to just give me both sides neutrally, but apparently this is a pretty polarizing issue, so that may not exist.

That got a little more serious than I intended. Anyway, for the second weekend in a row, I reconnected with a fellow Starbucks barista friend. We went and visited our friends Eileen and Mark, and their two adorable kids. 

Eric works Sunday nights, which I may have mentioned means I need to wait a whole extra day each week to watch Game of Thrones. One on hand, this sucks because I'm horribly impatient. On the other hand, it's nice to have something to look forward to on Mondays.

How AMAZING was this week's episode??? Let's all talk about it. Someone got sick of hearing "it wasn't like that in the book!"

No joke, we were mid conversation after the show, and then he didn't answer a question, so I looked
over - this. It's not unusual.


All the votes have been noted, and whoever guessed correctly will win the exclusive prize of bragging rights forever.

Do you keep in touch with people from former jobs? It's always easier said than done but I've made some of my closest friends through work - one was even in our wedding! I think customer service jobs are the best for getting tight with your coworkers. Especially when you have an evil boss (Heatmiser).
 
 


15 comments:

  1. Hahaha, Ina May is not your girl, huh? :) I really like the blog Evidence Based Birth ( http://evidencebasedbirth.com/ ) for uh, evidence based birth practices! The Whole Pregnancy Handbook has a good balanced perspective. Holler if you want to borrow it and we can make that happen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ready for a stranger to de-lurk from the internets and spout her "Well, when I birthed babies..." story? Too bad. ; )
    But I am one of those "normal (I swear) natural" moms and here's why: after pitocin and an epidural with my first, the birth turned out...weird. I couldn't move and he seemed loopy and it just didn't seem right to me. I decided to try a natural birth with my second and, while it didn't give me a single flipping orgasm, it was dreamy! He came out alert and content and I was up and walking around within the hour. Now I'm not sure whether to blame the pitocin, the epidural, or my kiddo - but I feel like the drugs had something to do with the awkwardness the first time around.?.?. Just my $.02!

    And I can hardly wait to read if you're having a boy or a girl!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Okay, another lurker - but my first was born "the normal way" and I had real issues with the catheter placement. It hurt me, even with epidural, and when I insisted that it was removed, I progressed and delivered well.

    Second - was on pitocin but no pain-relieving drugs. Was an AMAZING experience. Enough so that I started classes toward being a midwife after he was born.

    Third/Fourth - twins. Planned a home delivery before I realized it was twins, and then no midwife would consider me safe. Ended up having to deliver in the OR, and if I have to have a spinal placed...please give me the meds.

    Bottom line: natural labor isn't impossible, even with inducement. I was so happy I had that experience. It isn't everything, but it also isn't nothing if that makes sense. I have a real sense of specialness related to that delivery, and I'm sure that's partly the nurses saying "we deliver 98% with epidurals! Wow mama"

    ReplyDelete
  4. My mom had me with drugs (the first kid) and my brother without. She swears the recovery was SO much easier with my brother. Like the poster above, she said everyone was alert and happy and read to go home right away.

    However, during the actual birth without drugs, she threatened to rip my dad's arm off and "beat him over his head with the bloody stump." She's not an angry person in general so....well, you and Eric can decide whatever you want. :) Just more information.

    So excited for you guys to find out today!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That book sounds... interesting.
    I met my husband at my retail job and a lot of my close friends also worked there, though I met some of them at college and I decided to work there after moving to the DC area before I snagged my career job.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I had both my babies with epidurals and loved it. they were not however orgasmic so maybe that isn't the answer.
    I love raspberry anything so those bars look amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You will know if you do or don't want an epidural while you're there....which probably will mean you will want one. Unless of course you are some freak of nature that barely feels any pain.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The childbirth class we took was really heavily skewed towards natural childbirth...something we didn't know when we signed up for it. Then when we realized I might need a c-section, I got really pissed because they hadn't really covered ANYTHING about it in class other than "don't get one." Awesome.

    I've kept in touch with a few people from my old jobs, which is good since I currently work by myself and can't really make friends with coworkers at the moment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Man, I'm so behind! I missed the first couple episodes when I was traveling, and then we had friends over this past weekend, so I haven't seen ANY of the new GoT! It's on the list but I think I need to catch up on work before I get to watch TV. Sigh. I did hear about one major scene that was changed though!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Another lurker here coming out of the woodworks to comment - I was hardcore natural birth advocate for my labor and even Ina's book was TOO much…everything for me. I eye-rolled so hard. We did Bradley Method classes though and I really loved those and the book Husband-Coached Childbirth.

    For me, I'm a complete control freak and the idea of not being able to feel anything and be stuck in a bed was my nightmare. I wanted the freedom to move around and know when to push rather than being told. Either way though - whatever you decide - a super cute baby is yours to keep at the end. So it's really a win win.

    ReplyDelete
  11. My friend, Michelle, had her 3rd baby without an epidural. Not on purpose. After that experience, she would definitely keep with the epidurals. Not that she's having any more but if you wanted an opinion from someone who's gone both ways - epidurals for the win. Maybe they'll even put a little coffee with half in half in it for you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I don't know if I should tell you this because my doctor didn't until it was delivery time. But epidural's don't work all the time on everybody. Apparently I and a small percentage of women are immune to their pain hiding effects. So I got all the natural pain, worst experience of my life. I won't go into any more detail get the drugs and I hope they work.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am not a hippie, I'm not crunchy, and I wear antiperspirant and use normal toothpaste.
    And yet, I when I had my daughter a year ago I opted for a planned homebirth with a midwife, obviously no pain meds. I got super freaked out by the crazy high C-section rates, and infection possibilities, not to mention unknown strangers viewing my lady business. And my step-mother is a NICU nurse and spends hours telling me horror stories of the hospital which kind of turned me off. And (because I'm a jerk) I really hate my MIL who is a nurse at the local hospital and I didn't want her to get her nurse friends spying on me or something. Also, as Jim Gaffigan says (I'm quoting a comic so now you have to take me seriously right?) why would I want to go have a baby in a place where sick people congregate and go to die?
    Anyway, I was "lucky" and had a 5 hour labor so although it did hurt like f#@! it wasn't for all that long. I do totally feel like a BAMF though, because I'm a giant damn baby in all other aspects of life, so at least I can figure that once in my life (well, twice I guess, since I'm due w/ #2 in September) I'll have been something other than a giant wuss.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hahaha I loved your coffee joke.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm not crunchy but I did want a natural birth. I wanted to avoid any scenario that might lead to a C-Section and I just wanted to see if I could do it...sort of like running 100 miles. :)

    I took super crunchy classes (Birthing From Within) and had to look past some of the hippie, spiritual stuff to appreciate the good stuff that was there. The hippie stuff is good though b/c it doesn't immediately say "Hey, this is going to hurt so bad that you can't possibly do it even if you really want to." Those kinds of stories are important IF you are entertaining a drug-free birth.

    Baby #1 - No drugs to 9cm, didn't dilate, got epidural, C-Section for sunny-side up baby.

    Baby #2 - Drug-free VBAC.

    The C-Section was not a good experience. The VBAC was great. I've never had a "normal" birth with epidural so I can't say how that feels. If I were open to having more kids, I would try drug-free again with an epidural if I needed one. I agree with a previous poster though, the catheter required for the epi was the worst! The discomfort almost ruined the pain relief provided for me.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.