I’m going to write a series of journal entries regarding my experiences with all of these classes that Wendi has me taking. From newborn care and prepared birthing to lactation, some of the things I have learned are so etched in my mind I feel the only way I can ever sleep again at night is by writing them down and sharing some of the humour I was able to find throughout.

Journal #1
Infant Care Class

“How hard can be honey, You pop the critter out and we do what comes naturally?” Those were the famous last words of the mortal idiot that is me.

The class was at the hospital, just outside the doors of the maternity ward in a cold dingy conference room that smelt of gauze and sterility. There were about 6 couples in the room and one jolly nurse leading the bunch. Maternity nurses are eternally jolly aren’t they? Maybe something about seeing new life all day makes you have hope or not think about your own eventual demise…who knows, back to the story. We were late, I know, surprise! We seem to be late often now that my wife has to pee twice everytime we need to leave the house.

We walked in at the perfect time, BATH TIME!

Who the hell knew that there was so much involved in bathing a newborn? If you did, thanks for not telling me, I may have reconsidered the whole deal. So the jolly nurse lady is pretend bathing the plastic newborn doll when all of the sudden she mentions the umbilical cord. What?

I said, “Wait, I thought we already cut that thing off???”
Jolly nurse lady replies, “oh, you have so much to learn!” and has a chuckle at my expense.

So from her explanation, my child will have this tree limb looking extension coming out of the mid-belly for a week…um, bucket please, I need to hurl. What’s even better is that you have to clean the thing with particular precision and alcohol swabs around the base where it meets the belly skin. Once again, puke is at the base of my tongue knocking on the doors of my lips to open up.

As she describes bathing the newborn my mind suddenly snaps back to reality and the fact that my wife can’t even see blood without gagging so I have no clue how she is going to handle this. I slowly turn my head to gauge her facial expression. Too late, her eyes are LOCKED on mine and she leans in to whisper in my ear, “You are in charge of bath time, Daddy”. Shit! Are you serious? I’ve been with Wendi long enough to know when she’s serious and when she’s just temporarily insane (happens often), and she was serious with this one. I ask no questions, I just accept it and I start taking notes cause this just got officially added to my job title – “Bath Time Director”

She hit 33 weeks the last week of December, here’s a few new shots

we got a great response from doing this setup last month, we wanted to see if there was any change

bella likes to use Wendi’s belly as a resting place

barefoot, pregnant and still in the kitchen…I love that apron

I’ve been posting belly photos and telling you all about the preperations being made to welcome Baby Love into the world, but I have to be honest. This whole thing didn’t become real until this past weekend. Friday to be exact.

You see the nursery furniture arrived, and sure I’ve spent a dozen hours in that room painting, cleaning, and getting it ready, but it wasn’t complete until that furniture hit the walls and everything came together. WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A BABY! Wendi and I washed the 4 or 5 dozen baby outfits we have accumulated with our two amazing baby showers and as we sat there folding the tiny outifts I just stared at her. It was a moment that I’ll never forget. Everything was real, the crib is made, the clothes are washed an waiting for the little boy or girl to come and call this place home. It’s insanely exciting and I truely look forward to this year with the new family member.

Thanks everyone for being a part of it. Your questions, well wishes and comments have been great and we could never do the things we do without the support of our fantastic network of family and friends.

I guess it’s what to expect this time of year. We got about 10″ on Friday night and another 4″ or so today. It’s the perfect light and fluffy stuff that gets me excited to go snowboarding! Here’s some shots from outside the front door today.

***I lied, this one is from Friday night when I headed out to clean off Wendi’s car***