Brenda’s Pregnancy Journal

Last night as Charlie & I got into the truck after our lamaze class we looked at each other & Charlie asked me how in the world we could do justice to the story when we retold it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to recount the evening effectively & relay how hilarious it really was, but I’ll give it a shot.

Our lamaze teacher, Christine, was out last week so we had a substitute. Patti, the sub is a nurse at the hospital, as well as the education coordinator. Unlike our lamaze teacher she is a little more in touch & she is able to teach more effectively b/c our lamaze teacher gets sidetracked very easily. Anyway, this week when we arrived Patti was there again & she explained that our teacher would be comming for the 2nd half of the class. We had been in a hurry & for the first time we decided to eat dinner after class instead of before, knowing that someone would be bringing snacks, but when we arrived, we found out that the couple who had signed up for snacks wouldn’t be there. After the first hour of lecture & a video on C-section our lamaze teacher showed up. Strangely, after lecturing us for weeks on eating good nutrition & insisting we bring healthy snacks, she brougth licorice to share. During break while we were eating the licorice a chunck  of my tooth came out! I now have this gaping hole in my mouth & it’s driving me crazy. It didn’t hurt, but it sure feels strange. Charlie put the piece of tooth in his wallet & we proceded w/ class - I had eaten way too much licorice since I was so hungry, but now I had a tummy ache. Christine led us through our breathing excersizes & taught us the “big cheek blow” and once again, she never holds back when explaining anything & sometimes we feel like junior highers giggling through a sex education class. Class is supposed to end at 8:30, but at 8:40 she announces that she has a special graduation ceremony she’d like to take us through. First off, she gives sample packs of astroglide (sexual lubricant) to the 2 couples who will be delivering first - okay…that was just a little weird. Then she cue’s the CD & dedicates the next song to all the coaches. She dimmed the lights & the song “The Rose” by Bette Middler begins to play & she asks all the coaches to close their eyes. At this point Charlie & I and a few others are doing all we can to keep a strait face, as sweet and sincere as our teacher is, this was a little too “fluffy” for most of us. Anyway, while the husbands have their eyes closed she hands a rose to each mom & when the song ends instructs us to give our partners the rose. Now, my husband is not the type to appreciate a flower (he doesn’t mind giving them to me, but I learned in highschool that giving Charlie flowers would be like giving John Wayne a boquet of daisys). Okay, so now Charlie & I are giggling so hard that we both have tears streaming down our face, most of the other couples are also holding back laughter - and our substitute Patti is also amused - catching my eye with an understanding look. (even she was a little rebelious - using the birthball as a chair she couldn’t stop bouncing on it & Christine scolded her - too funny). So I’m biting my lip, trying to think sad thougts, just doing all I can to quit laughing - and especially avoiding looking at Charlie b/c whenever that happens we both just loose it. We eventually get ourselves under control & Christine tells us she has another song for us, but has to cue the CD so in the meantime asks us to read aloud a handout of 36 ways to reduce stress. By now, its past 9:00p.m. and we’re all tired and STARVING. We get through the 36 ways and she begins the song (briefly mentioning that it had actually already been cued - so we’d just wasted 5 minutes). The song “This little light of mine” begins and she turns off all the lights & this time asks the moms to close their eyes. She then passes around lit candles to each of the coaches. Once the song finally ends & I feel like I’ve had my eyes closed for an eternity (okay I did peek a couple times) she tells us to open our eyes. She shares that there are going to be dark days ahead & we need to look for the light. I know she was sincere and I appreciate her sentimentality, but it was just a little much don’t ya think? So we then get to blow the candles out (I KNOW that hospital does not have insurance for lit candles - can you imagine if we had set off a smoke alarm??). We are finally handed our certificates of completion and she at last shares with us why she had been unable to attend the last class…She’d donated her kidney!! Woah. Her best friend had needed a kidney & unfortunetly she wasn’t a match, but after doing all the research she decided to donate one anyway - that just tells you what a sweet & genuine woman this is, even though she’s slightly out of touch w/ reality I have appreciated her & enjoyed her class. We didn’t get home till almost 10:00 ~ I wouldn’t trade our lamaze class experience for the world. We did learn stuff, we had a great time getting to know the other couples & we will never forget all the giggles we had.

I am surviving on my wednesdays off, if it weren’t for them I think I’d go crazy. They give me time to get all the things I need to get done - and I can’t imagine trying to do it all after work or on the weekends. Yesterday I woke up at 8:00 (that’s 3 hours of sleeping in for me) and started doing laundry. I washed almost all Elliot’s clothes & his diapers. It was so fun to imagine that in a few weeks I’ll get to put all these adorable little items on my son. Next I cleaned the bathrooms & straitened the bedroom, kitchen & living room. No need to clean the kitchen - we haven’t cooked in weeks. There’s nothing like the feeling of a clean house!

In the afternoon I visited with my mom who is in the hospital. She is not recovering how they expected her to after her surgery (her 2nd surgery in 3 weeks) and while most of the time she is just uncomfortable, some of the procedures are very painful. I was with her & had to remind her to relax & breathe - it was awful watching her in so much pain. We both were thinking of how our roles will be reversed next month. She is so strong & has put up with so much pain, I only pray that I have 1/2 of her strength. It has been neat to see how much having grandchildren gives her so much joy. Hopefully she’ll be released & come home today.