Hypno-Babies Masters

Tonight was our last Hypno-babies class, which means we are Hypno-Masters (almost as cool as becoming a Pokemon Master)! It was a bittersweet evening-I have come to enjoy Thursdays as a day I would definitely be learning something new about pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood. It would never disappoint. But having Thursday nights back isn’t anything to gripe about.

My take on Hypno-babies: I really have loved how I have come to not feel like birth is some mysterious experience I will know nothing about and can’t properly prepare for, to something I have come to understand and even look forward to. Now childbirth isn’t something just to endure, get through or survive in order to get to hold my baby. It is a learning and growing experience where I get to actively participate. I love the confidence that comes from the preparation and using the tools that you learn on a regular basis. That is pretty impressive transformation for a six week course.

Something I didn’t love about it was that it takes awhile to feel natural. At first as I listened to the scripts, I was very wary because it sounds like they will brainwash you the minute you put your guard down. Some of the things that they are adamant about, I understand where they are coming from, but it feels a little bit much. Also, they always emphasize that this will make childbirth easy. More under control and more relaxed I understand, but easy? There is a fine line between being positive and being outright unrealistic. I almost feel like if they say it will be easy and then you don’t feel like it was easy, you will believe you were a failure. I think either way, when you are holding your baby, it was a success! But I guess I can’t be a true judge of this until I try it, and overall, I am very glad we are going this route. I definitely feel the best about this when compared to anything else I learned about.

Pathetic Burritos and a Clean Apartment

We had ward temple night soon after work, so for dinner we tried to use leftovers from the fridge before they went bad. We had a half can of refried beans that had to be used, so we decided to make burritos. Come to find out in the cooking process that we had no corn, black beans, sour cream, salsa, NOTHING that would supplement our meal. So we grimly spread the meager amount of refried beans on the tortillas and ate them while trying to not draw attention that the Mexican food we were eating was a disgrace to all things Mexican.

We silently both resolved that this would be first dinner, and second dinner was a definite must after our temple trip.

The temple trip was awesome, like it always is. After the temple we wore ourselves out running errands and resolved when we got home that rest was more important than cleaning, so we would clean another day.

But once making a decision like that, fate always itches to intervene.

This situation was no different.

Soon before retiring to bed, I got a call from a friend asking if she could sleep on our couch that night, and our pigsty of a house became spic-n-span in a matter of 15 minutes.

Fate: 1      Chris and Kimber: 0

34 Weeks

 

Compromise

We were in a debate if we should go on a walk or have dinner first, ...so obviously we compromised and decided to have a date night! We went to Jimmy Johns (they are freaky fast!), but parked in the dollar theatre parking lot so we had to walk a bit to get to our food (how is that for exercise, huh? Take that!) For dessert Chris had the fantastic idea of going to The Chocolate (we HAD to go there at least once before leaving Provo) and had a Cazookie that was delectable. The goofy, lovey glances and conversations were reminiscent of the good ole days when we were dating oh so long ago ;)

 

Cahokia from The Chocolate

Lastly, we took another bout of exercise as we walked around the mall, trying to find a maternity swimsuit so we could go to the community pool. Epic fail. You would think Provo would be the place to find these things, people! But alas- no.

Colonoscopy

We got up early to get to the hospital. We loitered around the house preparing things for the day, avoiding the elephant in the room with false light-heartedness to prepare us for what today inevitably held. It felt like we were going to a funeral!

We got checked in at the hospital and were soon brought to the room to prepare for the procedure. Chris got all dressed up and in the bed before the nurse finished the preparations and he was wheeled out. 

Semi-glare from the hospital bed

I read a pregnancy book while waiting for his return. He came back much sooner than I expected. He was dozing peacefully and I was told he would come around in about 15 minutes. After taking note of how cute he is when he sleeps, I continued to pass the time by reading until he woke up. The peaceful tranquility was disrupted when Chris’ arm pressure cuff went off and he startled awake. He swung his arms around wildly and said something undiscernible in deep, slurred speech, and as if on cue, the doctor came in to report the findings. Everything looked great, and we got some sweet pictures of Chris’ colon! Chris was quite conversational, despite people having a difficult time knowing what he was saying. We had been excited to see his reaction to coming out of anesthesia, since hearing about his reaction the last time he was under to get his wisdom teeth out. But he was disappointingly cool and collected, if not a little more kind and conversational (he was thanking the nurses/doctors for EVERYTHING multiple times and telling them everything from animation stuff to how we were expecting our first child). He insisted that his meal of choice after the long 24+ hours of fasting was: hashbrowns from McDonalds. Hard to please, this guy! Besides recovering from a bit of drowsiness, he was completely normal by the time lunch rolled around.  So we had to go to work and go about our normal day when we had prepared for it being a completely out of the ordinary type of day.

And so the day of the long-awaited, anxiety-causing colonoscopy passed without much more excitement

Elizabeth and Laxative

It is so interesting how when you are in the grind of ‘regular days’ working, you dream of a vacation so you can rest. Then, when you go on vacation, you completely wear yourself out so you good and worn out by the time work starts up again. Oh the irony.

Such went Monday back at work. Although, looking forward to seeing family that evening was a nice little carrot to egg me on. We went over to Cindy’s soon after 5pm for dinner and visiting before Dad and the kids left the following day. Chris, who had been fasting all day for his colonoscopy the next morning, was immediately given Elizabeth to hold as Ray and Jon ate. While at first I had felt guilty about bringing Chris to a family gathering with food, I immediately turned to enviously watching him as he walked into the other room with Elizabeth completely to himself. As soon as I saw that Elizabeth was able to be held, the wonderful food on my plate instantaneously lost its savor, and I ate quickly and distractedly as I tried to catch glimpses of Chris and Elizabeth in the other room.  Finally (FINALLY!) I finished my food and went to join Chris in admiring our little niece. It’s amazing how someone sleeping can be so adorable that they hold you entranced for minutes on end. Too soon, we decided we could no longer delay Chris’ laxatives and headed home.

If the idea of a colonoscopy isn’t intimidating enough, I believe the laxative container is made to make intimidation complete. 

In fact, ‘container’ is too tame of a name for this thing- ‘gigantic jug of pure angst in liquid form’ may be more appropriate. 

Chris bravely began his consumption of laxative. An hour later, after multiple sluggish trips to the refrigerator for more, and mad dashes to the bathroom, I asked Chris if the container was almost empty. With the saddest, most pathetic look I have seen him give me, and with tears in his eyes, he replied, “I’m about halfway.” :(

Idaho Trip Day 2

I woke up early Sunday morning and waited until the continental breakfast opened up to sneak downstairs while everyone else slumbered. Waking up early has been the bane of my existence lately, but having a continental breakfast to look forward to made it feel like Christmas! The appeal of free food combined with it being BREAKFAST food (my favorite!) just made my craving-crazy pregnant body tingle with anticipation. I had hardly begun delightfully devouring my English muffin toast when I joined by none other than Mom! We enjoyed having the calm morning to ourselves as we talked, ate and put our feet in the pool. I have always cherished the times where I have gotten Mom to myself, to talk about whatever is on our minds. We were eventually joined in the breakfast room by the rest of the crew (SECOND BREAKFAST!) and planned the rest of our day.

M. Family DogPile. Do not be alarmed-this is an ordinary sight.

Our plans of walking around the beautiful temple were foiled when we saw the landscape construction, so we meandered around the visitor’s center until the nearby chapel sacrament begun.  

Idaho Halls Temple

Other than being distracted by guessing the bishop’s age (we found out later that he was called when he was 26 to be bishop!) the meetings went smoothly, and before we knew it we were back on the road. A rather uneventful drive ended with being dropped off at home, where we got into the apartment and promptly hit the sack.

Idaho Trip Day 1

 Saturday morning we were picked up by the M. fam and we headed up to Idaho. It was a fairly laid back drive-dad was our faithful driver as we  casually conversed and drifted in and out of naps.

Once we got to Rexburg, there was no hiding Meg’s excitement. The conversation took on a whole new dynamic as she sat up straight and said, “You see that restaurant? I went there for a date once. It was… interesting. Oh, look at that building! That is where…” We could only get a few phrases in, such as, “What is that building for?!”  or “Is this where…?” It was fun to see her be so reminiscent of a place she has called home for the last couple of years. 

We parked and walked around the campus, Meg acting as our tour guide as we found the buildings where Alexis would have her classes. I was impressed with the campus. It was also fun to hear Mom and Dad interject little tidbits from when they met-where mom used to work at four in the morning (?!) or the wild Passion Pit (Dad says they would kiss a lot there. Mom denied it). My favorite was the Gardens. It is well landscaped, and although you are between academic buildings smack dab in the middle of a college campus, it seems like you are truly in a little landscaped forest, complete with little ponds, Greek ruins and a vast array of flowers. So beautiful!

Yep-Those are my sisters!

The only thing that could convince us to leave such a neat place was hunger. Wendy’s called. So we grabbed some food, and ate in Jon’s lounge as we watched Turbo until it was time to go to Julie Rowe’s seminar at the tabernacle. Once we got there, it was CRAZY! So many people! And high-strung ushers! J It was amazing how many people they were able to fit on those wooden pews. I have been intrigued about Julie Rowe since Mom introduced me to her books, so I was interested in hearing what she had to say. But before she even began, I noticed I couldn’t seem to catch my breath as I sang. I don’t know it was because my back was pinched and I couldn’t get a full breath, or if it was feeling claustrophobic, hot and dehydrated… whatever did it, I was outta there in the first 15 minutes of Julie’s comments. I wasn’t out there long when Chris joined me, and helped me to settle down and breath properly. Just feeling the breeze did wonders, and after a few minutes I calmed down and felt much better. It was a pretty embarrassing experience, considering I was the ONLY ONE in that group of hundreds of people that seemed to be affected in that way. Plus I was disappointed that we had missed Julie’s comments. But it was nice to be so well taken care of by my dear, caring husband …and my spirit was consoled when we went to the nearby Taco Bell and got a Frito Burrito. There is just no way to feel too sad when you are munching on those things.     

Upon finding our hotel and settling in, Brooke and I immediately resumed our tradition of getting hot chocolate from the lounge (even though we had just eaten and it is mid-summer). It is very important. And I am glad Brooke agrees.