In the Dark

This weekend we took our birthing class which turned out to be an adventure in its own right. We took the class right at Fairview Riverside, which is the hospital that we will be delivering at. There is a considerable amount of construction going on at FV right now, so we were prepared to find our way to the class via re-routed paths and red and yellow arrows. This took a little longer than we suspected, but overall, a good first few minutes. Then we arrived. No sooner had we sat down for 10 minutes than the entire power for the room (lights etc.) and powerpoint presentation were blacked out. There we are, 13 couples sitting in complete darkness as one of the presenter profusely apologizes while the other uses a handheld pamphlet and a flashlight to start the class. By pointing at the pamphlet with her 50 watt light bulb flashlight she was able to reflect at least the color of the paper to the larger group. We were already learning so much (insert sarcasm here).
The other presenter then went on a hunt for another room. Once one was located, and it appeared all of our problems were behind us, we took a tour of the hospital including labor and delivery and recovery. This was a bit eerie as the hallways were exceptionally quiet on the baby floor. As in you could nearly hear the clock ticking quiet. Were the women who delivered here all Scientologists? Where were the labor pain yells and all the 'family commotions"? Are we supposed to be this quiet? I spend a few minutes pondering what it would take to keep me this quiet and arrived at a) a serious amount of narcotics, resulting in a pleasant case of perma-grin plastered to my face and an inability to recognize I've even had a baby b) a series of dense pillows placed directly over my face, or c) incredibly soundproof walls. I'm not sure which will be the case, or if I'll be the first to break the sound barrier in the FV hospital.

So after our tour, which otherwise was nice, we found ourselves in another room, on a different floor, ready to learn more about birthing! We were in this room for about an hour and surprise, surprise, the whole room goes black. Back to the flashlights. I'm thinking we're jinxed, which can't be good when you are trying to learn about labor and delivery.
At this point our lovely presenters decided we all should get a refund, which was nice, but still we were at a loss for information, and with the busy-ness of our schedule, we really didn't have time to reschedule this fun event, so we asked many questions about how much we could learn from the teachers without electricity, Amish style,--turned out, not so much. The teachers didn't seem to think it was worth it to stay if the power was out and gave us permission to leave if we wanted to. But, we persisted on! We were anxious to learn some magic secrets about giving birth.

We were then off to lunch to bide some afternoon time, and when we came back our original first room was magically in working order. This was a pleasant surprise, but unfortunately the magic ended there.

When hearing about birthing classes I've always had a sense of the unknown, like it was the place you went to 'REALLY' find out what giving birth was all about. Where they revealed the secret of the breathing technique that magically relieves the mom of all labor pains. Turns out there is no such secret and their main message was, "do what works for you". We did learn some interesting facts about babies in general though. For instance, I learned that Drew has changed all of 5 diapers in his life. hmmm. Practice needed. I also learned that babies are sometimes hungry when you see their eyes moving around under their eyelids during REM. Don't ask me why, but apparently its true. We also learned that most people have very little recollection of delivering the placenta or being sewn up in there were tears, which makes me put a lot of faith in adrenaline. Oh, and not to forget the actual size of the needle used for epidurals- all 2 inches.

By the end of the classes I felt only a tiny bit more confident about how things will go and what will happen in the depths of the labor and delivery rooms. Even though things were a bit scary to learn about, it didn't make me any less anxious to meet our little guy.

So as it turns out, we remain in the dark, at least proverbially, about much of the birthing process. I suppose its something that comes with experience. At least we weren't literally in the dark all weekend long, because navigating how to have a baby sans lights would be quite a bit more intimidating.

Mexico! Mexico! Mexico!

Hola Amigos! We've returned from Mexico and couldn't have had a better babymoon! The sun was shining the whole time, with a warm 85 degrees surrounding us with warmth. We were so happy to enjoy the amazing beaches, food and sites. We visited Chichen Itza, Tulum and went snorkeling and all were fantastic experiences!

Along our trip I had my first run in with a case of the cankles. holy cow. In mn my ankles never swelled at all, but in Mexico, especially after walking all day at Chichen Itza I couldn't tell my calf from my ankle. I was so disgusted. Thank Goodness they went away! I couldn't believe how I swelled up like a balloon.

While we were in mexico my back pain totally disappeared, which made me think we should just spend the rest of the pregnancy in Mexico! Unfortunately it didn't work out so that we could stay :(

We couldn't believe how fantastic the El Dorado Royale was! We were catered to in every way, from daily ice cream, to lunch served beach side on our palapa beds to a 'pillow menu' in our room to suit all of my pillow needs. We also were able to use our new waterproof digital camera, which turned out to be a fantastic purchase. We were able to use it during our snorkeling trip to take pictures of the fish and coral reef.

We've added lots of pregnant pictures so you can see how huge I'm looking at 31 weeks. We're looking forward to meeting baby Hollman in just 8.5 more short weeks!

Rebels without a cause...

Well our lives have been pretty boring, but as it turns out, lots of friends around us are having fantastic events occurring. From Juniper's birth to Susie matching for a neurology residency in Las Vegas, we are feeling especially blessed to have so many blessings in life around us. While we are disappointed that Susie won't be coming here, we are excited that she matched and that it is somewhere warm, so we predict one of baby hollman's first vacations will be to Las Vegas and then to the grand canyon! Yippee for UNLV. Susie is officially a Rebel (insert without a cause comments here).


Back home in cold Minnesota, as it turns out baby Hollman is also a rebel. He has been adding on the ounces, and I've suffered with some fairly severe back pain (so his rebellious behavior does have a purpose). After hearing about my friend Leah's success with the chiropractors at Langford Chiropractic I decided it was worth a shot as I was only sleeping 2 to 3 hours a night because baby hollman had decided that my body was more appropriately positioned to his needs with pinched nerves, strained muscles and shifted vertebrae. Oh, the joys of parenthood are upon us already! So, I made an appointment to see Dr. Karls and, while I'll admit I was a bit speculative about the successfulness of such procedures, I figured it couldn't hurt. It turns out the first time it did hurt, because my back was so completely screwed up, but since then its been like a little slice of heaven to get readjustments. I always look forward to sleeping the day of the adjustment because it means it will be a complete night of rest! So, here's to you Dr. Karls and your fantastic chiropractic techniques.

Other fun things are happening around our house too! We received our first baby gifts, which was tons of fun. Since I've told all of my babysitting families that I can no longer keep up with their kids, they had a 'last babysitting' event and bought us the highchair and feeding accessories! What fantastic families! So thanks to the Burns', Mogck's and Birds'. You have fantastic families and I'll miss them a ton! We also put up the quilt rack that Drew made in the baby room and are now just waiting on two more pieces for the walls and the hanging airplanes that Drew is making, then the nursery will be finished (sans the baby of course)!
On Friday we went to yet another baby appointment and found that I'm continuing to gain weight steadily and the baby is doing well! I had to do the glucose test, which is drinking a gross orange-flavored drink super quick and then reading every possible waiting room book for an hour before they draw your blood. I learned quite a bit from the many pieces of reading material in the University of Minnesota's lab waiting area. Baby Hollman is measuring perfectly and we're on track for a perfect healthy delivery. In a week we'll be heading to Mexico, and we can't wait for our babymoon! Hopefully, our next post will be of all our adventures in Mexico!

Juniper is Here!

Congratulations to our friends Melanie and Brent back in Kalamazoo, who welcomed a sweet baby girl this weekend, Juniper Alice Dideriksen coming in a little more than 7 pounds. I know Melanie was so excited to have the baby and was wishing for an early delivery. I think her patience was really tested when Juniper came a day late, but I'm sure she's now thinking the wait was worth it! Congrats to them again! We can't to see Juniper grow and because she's only a few months older than our little guy we hope they grow up to be great friends.