Back To The Real World!

Now that I've come down from my high of the ultrasound. . .haha. . .we met with the director of La Petite today! Logan's going to start preschool there next Monday, March 14th instead of Wednesday the 16th! I guess they don't have openings for the Wed-Thurs option after all, so he'll go Mondays and Wednesdays until there is an opening, and then I can switch. He'll be there on the days they learn music and Spanish -- fun! He'll miss dance day.

I was glad to hear I don't have to pay if he's going to be out both days of any week, and we can even do a one day a week option. I thought about starting him that way, but it sounds like kids adjust better/quicker the more they come so we'll see how two days a week goes and if I want to go down to just one day or even cancel his enrollment, I can do so at any time with no penalty. I can also pick him up at any time of the day, so for his first day on Monday next week I will pick him up after lunch.

I forgot to bring my camera today, but he played a little bit (he loved their magnet blocks) although he was very shy. . .I know it's going to be rough the first few times. :( But I think he will really like it. . .I pray he does!

It's only 3 minutes from our house in a nice, new, well-kept, high security building. It's $91 for two days a week (not as pricey as some, although 3 days a wk at Gail's is less than that!). There are individual, closed, large classrooms with different sections and windows to the hallway and outside which give it a quiet, comfortable feel. Six kids to each teacher; in his room there are two teachers, so 12 children.

There are two playgrounds. They give daily report cards which will let me know Logan's mood each hour, what he did each hour, how well he slept, ate, went to the bathroom, etc. They also have individual learning objective summaries distributed quarterly (real report cards). Parent teacher conferences are twice a year. Portfolios are kept throughout the year as well as weekly journals. Theme Newsletters are distributed the Friday before a new theme begins. "My Journey Experience" is distributed every Friday to show what books the child read, what songs they sang, and what they did in their learning centers. Calendar of lessons are displayed weekly for parents to read about the circle time topics and what centers are available for the children to choose from. "Car Talks" are distributed daily on your child's cubby to know what to talk to your child about when they come home. Classroom folders sent home weekly.

The Early Preschool class' typical day is: exploration and learning, handwashing/breakfast/bathroom, settling in/clean up, music & movement, morning circle time, transition/bathroom/clean up, outdoor play experience, learning centers, literacy & language enrichment, handwashing/preparing for lunch, lunch, quiet time, transition/bathroom/waking up, learning centers, transition/afternoon snack, afternoon circle time, outdoor play experience, music & movement, literacy and language enrichment, exploration and learning. We bring diapers/wipes and stuff for nap time.

This Wednesday we will go through a parent orientation day (to go through the routine before Logan starts) and turn in the paperwork which I picked up today to fill out. I am allowed to come in and participate with anything as often or for as long as I'd like. I said I'd help with field trips (which are a few times a year) :-)

It's ironic because I tried La Petite for a couple of weeks back when I was a little girl! I wrote about my daycare experiences on my bio blog, but for those who didn't read -- it actually wasn't a good daycare! My next daycare was A Child's World which was good, but my last one was Afternoon Connection, another not-good daycare. But this seems nothing like the La Petite in Iowa in the 1980s so that didn't affect my decision.

In other news, I talked to Gail and I still don't know the whole story, but it sounds like after her surgery (on the 18th) she will know if/when she is returning; I told her I am praying for her and that everything goes well!

As for me, am still doing well! We celebrated the news of our baby girl by going out to eat to Carols O'Kelly's on Saturday. The guy who Joe works with whose wife is due the same day as me (well three days before now that my due date has changed), said they are having a girl, too!

A friend, Sara, had a baby on Thursday night (she was induced two days before her due date) and it was a girl (Emily), as well! It is the season for girls!

Some other friends of ours (Andy, who was Joe's HS friend and bestman in his wedding, and wife Ashley) just had a boy, however! I forgot to mention here that on February 10th Benton was born! Joe's other high school friend who is due a month after us finds out in a month what they are having!

Now it all makes sense why everything has been so different in this pregnancy! I don't think I ever mentioned here that this baby has an opposite schedule as from when Logan's most active time to kick was; Logan was always most active in the morning (and he was indeed a morning person once he was born) while this baby is most active at night. So it'll be interesting to see whether this baby likes to stay up and sleep in!

Speaking of kicking -- Joe was able to feel the baby on Friday! (In my 19th week, four-and-a-half weeks after I first felt her kick.) It is fun to have a picture to go along with the kicks now!

I don't think I ever mentioned that week 18 was when strangers could for sure tell I was pregnant. I met a woman the day I went to Bounce-U and told her I was expecting in July and she said, "I could tell but you never want to say anything" haha!

Early last week Logan saw me getting out of the shower and said, "Wow Mom, your tummy is big! Time for Baby to come out!" (Because I've been telling him that once my stomach/the baby gets big then it'd be time.) I had to inform him that we're only halfway there :p

I'll be taking my belly pics on Wednesdays now that that's the day that my weeks start :(   

As for everything else. . .a memory that Logan keeps reminding us of that I think he's going to remember forever now, LOL, is something sad that happened to Cosmo a few weekends ago! I was getting ready in the bathroom while Joe was out getting a haircut and Logan was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (that's been his fav cartoon since January, replacing Blues Clues). All of a sudden I heard Cosmo crying but it was unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Anyone who has a dog knows that when they cry there's usually pauses between the cries -- but this cry was a scream that kept on going! So I ran downstairs and saw Logan and Bella staring at the kitchen. There was Cosmo hanging upside down from a chair! His legs were caught in the bars! He was peeing everywhere :( Poor guy, I had to actually bend his legs to get them out! I thought for sure he was going to be limping or just laying around the rest of the day because he doesn't have the best legs to begin with (weak kneecaps) but he immediately went back to his normal self, whew! Bella kept acting like the chair was an enemy the rest of the day (and never jumped up to begin with) but Cosmo has been right back up there again % (that's my sign for an eye roll).

Last Tues Logan played out in his sandbox for the only two hours that it was warm enough, and on Wednesday we met Brooke and Kaelyn at The Amazing Pizza Machine for their first time which was fun (once Logan turns 3 then we have to pay so prob won't go very much then). Friday was just a lazy day. . .I was hungover from my high of the ultrasound the day before and Logan had been a handful all week (ironic that was my first week of no breaks/Logan not going to Gail's since her announcement) but thankfully on Saturday morning he slept until 9:45 am and I awoke to him rubbing my head and smiling adoringly at me -- ever since then he's been well behaved and his predictable self again so I hope it stays! (He was in our bed that morning because if he wakes up at 6 am that's what we do because then he'll sleep til 8 or 9 or even 10, whereas if he wakes up at 7 am in his bed then he wants up for good! He hasn't walked out of his big boy room on his own other than those 5 times between Jan and Feb.)

Today Logan slept til 9:30 and then we met Joe at La Petite at 10. Afterward, we went out for lunch and then Logan and I went to the library until nap time. Once he starts preschool his naps there will be 11:45-1:45 so I hope that doesn't throw off our days since I like to still do activities during that time and put him down at 2/2:30. But I also don't want him to not nap there and then be tired on those days! So we'll see how it goes. I'm going to make sure he goes to bed at 8 pm on Sunday and Tuesday nights and maybe that will help (whereas typically his bedtime is 9-9:30). Although, who am I kidding? Our schedule is probably going to be all mixed up once the baby is here!

A couple of weeks ago when we went to the Amazing Pizza Machine I talked to my friend Andrea who became a lactation consultant after the birth of her daughter last summer. She said that the biggest myth of breastfeeding -- which I believed because it's what the doctors and nurses and everyone tells you -- is that a newborn can go 4 hrs between feedings. Not if you're breastfeeding! That's the #1 way to get your milk supply to dry up. In the beginning you HAVE to do it around the clock. I admit I was not prepared for that last time. Not only did the class I took, the material I read, and the hospital staff (who brought Logan to my room only every four hours) give me the impression that is what I should be striving for, but as a first time mother I didn't realize that there are no breaks in the beginning. So it just didn't seem normal to nurse any more than that -- I mean, who breastfeeds every hour? Where's the time for anything else :p

Well, now I know the answer is, there isn't time for anything else when you're breastfeeding! There are people I know who thought those first few weeks were going well, only to dry up later -- but it was because they were on the 4-hour schedule. Whereas, the women I know who had an easy time long-term nursed as often as every 45 min. in the beginning!

It wasn't until I bought my pump when Logan was 3 weeks old that then I pumped and nursed every two hours, but the damage was already done. . .I really never stopped doing it that often in the entire 9 months. Combined with Logan's jaundice that made him not able to work very hard during that first month, my milk supply dried up fast. It was only by pumping (and taking supplements) that I kept my milk supply going. That first month made ALL of the difference.

So I hope I have a more realistic view going into it this time and that hopefully it will help get me off to a good start this time. I'm hoping my baby girl doesn't have jaundice and that will help, but whether she does or doesn't -- my life is going to revolve around breastfeeding, probably for as long as I do it. . .but the hard work will pay off. Once my body gets a good milk supply going and once the baby becomes an expert, then it can be less often.

I'm also trying to eqip myself with everything I can this time to make it easier. I had one tiny little wrap last time and hardly any nursing shirts. I think I nursed Logan in public once in the 9 months! This time I want to buy everything I can so that I will be comfortable nursing in public because I don't want to just keep Logan home all day, I'll still want to participate in our activities!

I also will have the hands-free pump this time which should make it easier to pump. I'll probably pump right away but not try the bottle for awhile (Logan had his first bottle in his first week because it was the only way to cure him of jaundice -- but I think that made him realize he wouldn't starve if he grew tired of nursing) and so that should help Baby Girl get used to it all easier.

Of course there could be another issue that comes up that I didn't have last time, so it's nice to know I have a friend who is a lactation consultant. Also, just having had experience this time gives me more confidence.

As for my only other area that was challenging last time was the shoulder dystocia thing, of course. One day I was thinking how it would be a shame if I ended up with a c-section after switching doctors just for that reason, but then I was like, no, because at least I can go these 9 months being relaxed and knowing that my doctor is striving for what I want first. Even if I have one it will be my decision and not one that was made for me when I was only 7 weeks pregnant.

My parents took a tour of Lakeside Hospital after I wrote about Joe & my tour in Movement Already?! They were very impressed, too. Especially when the nurse who gave them the tour said that my doctor is the best out of all of the doctors who deliver there as far as letting patients have the birth that they want. That is another great sign!

At my appt. last Thursday I asked her about the epidural -- I didn't have it last time but after two hours of pushing I was given it to see if there would be any progress before a c-section -- and there was! Logan still took two more hours to come out, but he began moving for the first time after the epidural and did come out vaginally. So, I said I was confused because everything I read and hear says that it slows things down. She said it is a controversial subject -- if you take a group of doctors, half will say that because an epidural makes you numb, your body rests and therefore stops doing the necessary work. The other group says that because an epidural relaxes the pelvis, then a baby who isn't progressing can move better. She said therefore I should do what I want to do and I can always change my mind if the circumstances seem like I should. (There are women who had the epidural first and then have trouble pushing, so doctors let the epidural wear off.) I agree that's a good way to do it. I'm going to not get it again during labor and hope that I dilate fast like last time and that this time Baby will come right out, but if I start pushing and nothing happens again then I will ask for the epidural before a c-section.

One day I was with some people and they all told me I was crazy for not planning to get an epidural. They kept looking at me like I was an alien and saying things like "would you get your teeth pulled without novicane?!" I explained that I'd done it once before and it wasn't that bad. To which they just shook their head and insisted that no, I should definitely get the epidural.

I didn't say anything at the time because I know they weren't meaning anything personally negative toward me, but when I got home I was kind of upset. I mean, I wasn't complaining or saying "woe is me, I didn't have an epidural last time and was in so much pain and I'm going to have to do it again, poor me." No, I said that I believe everyone has a different experience and that some are worse/better than others. Heck, I watch TV and see women who literally act like they are dying and I think, okay I clearly didn't have it as bad as them. Then I also study my hypnobirthing stuff and read all of the women say it was no pain at all and I think, well I wouldn't go that far! Yes, there was pain but it was not uncontrollable, it was not untollerable. With my first pregnancy, the thought of an epidural was scarier to me than natural childbirth and so I studied up on what I could do to get through it and it worked. Even though I still had the epidural two hours after pushing, it wasn't for the pain. This time I'm not as scared of the epidural since it worked perfectly last time without any problems, but I'm wanting natural again because it's less likely to end up in a c-section. I want to be able to know/feel what is going on so I can do what I can do to get the baby out. I won't have to just lay in bed, I can walk around, do different positions and squat, etc. I have several friends who have had natural childbirths and say the same things as me, and all strive to do it again. Only time and circumstances will tell whether it will happen or not, but I am not crazy for hoping so!