| Dad's Diary |
| Archived Journal |
| Week 36 The Health Update At our now weekly midwives' appointments, this week, Erika was called the "model patient." Blood pressure, heartbeat, baby size, etc., all were right in the normal ranges. I must not be eating enough, however. I've lost 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks. I asked for instructions about when we are supposed to call the midwives when labor begins. Basically, when the contractions are about 5 minutes apart, or when Erika tells me it's time to call, whichever comes first, is when we're supposed to call and head on in. I've got the midwives pager numbers so we can reach them 24 hours a day. If labor happens at home, we're only about 5 minutes from the hospital. If it happens at work, we'll hopefully have a car handy (we're driving to work reasonably often now) or catch a cab. A cab should be easy to find unless we need it during afternoon rush hour or on a rainy day. Also, the University of Chicago hospital being a teaching hospital, we had a medical student along for this week's appointment. I wonder if there will be one in delivery. The more the merrier, right? We are still on track for May 15. Erika is doing OK otherwise, some leg cramps and fatigue not withstanding. She's half-asleep watching a Lifetime movie as I write this, bless her heart. If I make some typos forgive me, I'm distracted by this compelling movie on adultery starring Meredith Baxter. We celebrated Erika's birthday this weekend. Her parents came over and we had a grand time well into the night, ok, at least until 10:30 p.m. Two Thumbs Up for the Crash Course? We had our eight-hour marathon-like birth class--"Great Expectations"--at Northwestern Hospital last weekend. It was very educational. Our fellow students were an interesting group. Almost all white, and all married couples. I was surprised. I thought there would be some prospective mother-grandmother groupings, but not true. We started the day with some lessons on pregnancy, and then we went on to the stages of labor. After a tour of the maternity ward at Northwestern (all private rooms--very different than U of C where you have to pay extra for a private room and there are only a certain number of private rooms), we had the moment we had been waiting for: videos of live births. Whoo! The videos were more graphic than what you might see on The Learning Channel, but oddly more reassuring, too. We saw some women go through labor medication-free, with epidurals and other drugs, or through a C-section. The drug/non-drug women all seemed to make the right decisions for them. Seeing the crowning of the baby's head during the delivery was the most impressive part of labor to a novice like me. I was also surprised by how, uh, un-lifelike the babies seem when they first come out. They are kind of like a wet noodle when the first come out, until the medical professionals suction out their mouths and start patting them on the behind. I'm sure in the delivery room, however, they are the most beautiful things you've ever seen. We also practiced breathing exercises and learned about when and how to push and that sort of thing. After that, we received loaner dolls and practiced diaper changing, bathing, burping, swaddling, and so on. We brought Lucy along for this but it turned out her presence was not required. All the fathers in the room seemed very engaged and interested, and I was very impressed by that. Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard This week we also selected our pediatrician. We wanted one here in the neighborhood and we got a very good recommendation of one at the U of C hospital. However, she's on sabbatical until June, so we must find an interim pediatrician to see the baby in the hospital and immediately afterward. This was not-so-easy. I don't want to go into too much detail to avoid anyone potentially identifying this woman. However, our preferred doctor recommended this other doctor to us for the interim. She requires us to come in for a pre-natal consultation and basically told us we could only come in on Monday at 11 a.m. or we couldn't have her as our interim. Sheesh. Then, her secretary called us and told us that we couldn't meet with her until June. Hello?? We wouldn't need her in June, I told the secretary. Apparently, that call was a mistake and we're still on for Monday. Not the best experience so far. Traditions Thanks to Jake, Rachel, Carmen and others for a great get-together in St. Louis this weekend with some old friends at the Cardinals game. I was able to join them for about 5 hours thanks to Southwest Airlines and a gracious wife. Jake has added some great content to his web site at www.jakecowan.com, including information on his brother Nick's radio show. I highly recommend checking it out. Next time: Tick Tick Tick Remember, I'll send an update if necessary! |