When the big day arrives -- All the details you need to get to the hospital

The big day is nearing, and it's time to begin all the final preparations.  Mike keeps pointing out that we really need to pack our "go bag."  He has mastered the route to the hospital and has a few back-ups as well, just in case.  

While we make all our final preparations, I thought I'd share details for all of you as well.  For those who are hoping to be able to come meet the baby soon after his arrival, I want to make sure you're equipped with the information you need.

We're giving birth at: 

Caritas Norwood Hospital

800 Washington Street

Norwood, MA 02062

The entrance to the parking for the hospital is actually on East Hoyle Street, so if you're mapping directions to the hospital, you might want to use the intersection of Washington and East Hoyle as your destination.  After turning into the hospital, you'll pass the emergency ambulance parking and see the entrance for general parking (a ticketing arm) on your right.  Once you're parked, you'll enter the hospital through the main entrance (not the emergency entrance, which is just to the left of the main entrance).  Walk down the hallway to the end and turn right.  Then, take an immediate left.  You'll see the elevators on your right.  Maternity is located on the 2nd floor.  It's the only thing on the floor, so it's very easy to find.  The unit is locked, so you'll have to wait for a nurse to let you in and then they can help you.

Visiting hours are 1pm to 8pm each day.  They try to stick to these hours as much as possible, though if someone must visit in the morning they can try to work it out.  They do have a waiting room if people are there during the labor (only two people are allowed into the labor room, and those must be the same two people throughout - no switching someone in for someone else). That said, the waiting room is small -- only about 6 , maybe 8, people could fit in there comfortably.  If you're in the waiting room at 8pm and the baby isn't born yet, you're welcome to stay as long as you're quiet and respectful, but the only real pay-off you'll get is being able to see the baby through the nursery window.  You won't be able to see me or the baby in person until the next day at 1pm.  

They emphasized that they aren't mean but they do try to keep a very quiet, peaceful enviornment for all of the moms in labor.  If it's a quiet day and we're the ony ones there, then they're much more flexible.  That said, they said people should try to just plan to come between 1pm and 8pm if possible.  

Mike and I should both have our cell phones, so feel free to give us a call to plan your visit.  

If Daddy gets his way...

Mike's already decided the destiny of our son. Part of his birthday gift to me was the shirt shown below, which I'm sporting after one of my yoga classes. When I opened the gift, he smirked and said, "It's really not for your. It's more for me." He's already trying to coax the baby to follow in his footsteps!

Place Your Bets!

Danielle's side of the family has created a 50-50 pool on guessing the baby's arrival date.  Each day is broken into AM (12:00:00am - 11:59:59am) and PM (12:00:00pm - 11:59:59pm).  Each block is $10.  The person who guesses the correct day and AM/PM will get half of the pot, with the other half going to the baby.  The time is when the baby is officially born.  I've posted the official picks here [http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pfpCAxEPPfTgJW3JrrKA4bA].  Let me know if there are any mistakes or questions on the rules.

If anyone else would like to start a pot or join this one, let me know!

34 Weeks: Happy Holidays!

It's amazing how quickly time is flying. Christmas has officially passed and we're currently looking at 5 weeks and 5 days until the predicted big day. I've continued working on the nursery slowly but surely. The latest addition was all the clothing. I washed things that I think we'll need in the early weeks and organized all the rest and stashed it away in drawers. I ended up not washing any of the newborn sized clothes, which fit 5-8 lb babies. If the early ultrasounds are accurate, our little (or not-so-little) guy may never fit into those! We're keeping them on hand just in case he decides to make an early arrive, but hopefully that won't be the case. If all goes as planned, we'll just exchange them down the line for some larger clothes once we're no longer so fully stocked from all the generous gifts we've been given.

Our classes continue to go well, and I'm taking full advantage of being able to ask any questions we have. I keep asking Mike if I'm dominating too much, but he says absolutely not. That's why we're there after all - to ask all the questions! One week, we learned about non-medicated pain management techniques such as breathing and positions. Then, this past week, we learned about our medicated options. I must say, the idea of an epidural terrifies me far more than any possible amount of pain. For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm fairly controlling. I don't deal well with a lack of control, particularly when it comes to my own body. The idea that I would not be able to even feel the contractions, much less get up and go to the bathroom (up to a whole 6 to 8 hours after the epidural is removed!), almost makes me want to cry. When I was little and my brother wanted to torture me (which was quite often), he would sit on my legs. I would panic when I couldn't move them on my own free will. Even today, Mike knows never to put his leg over mine in bed or anything like that. I don't know why, but I simply freak out whenever I can't move my legs, so I don't think that I'd do well with being unable to move them for hours upon hours. Therefore, we're hoping that we'll be able to use all of our non-medicated management techniques to bring the little guy into the world. This is actually not very common any more. At our hospital, 80% of women have epidurals, 15% have c-sections, and only a mere 5% deliver without any medication. Women have certainly embraced the medical revolution of epidurals, but we're going to try to be old school. Both Mom and Liz, who delivered both Mike and me without any medication, have assured me that birth is a natural process that your body is built to handle and that it's really quite manageable with some support and knowledge about techniques to keep you focused and calm.

On that note, thanks for the musical selection suggestions. Mike took a few of them as Christmas gift ideas, so now I have to take the time to listen to them and see which ones seem to have the right "vibe." That said, they say women in labor are very indecisive -- one minute they're saying to turn the music on and literally a minute later they're saying to turn it off.

Most recently, we've been enjoying the holiday season. It kind of came upon us unexpectedly. Since our house is all torn apart for the floors, we weren't able to put a tree or decorations up this year, which definitely took away from my usual holiday build-up. However, we weren't actually at our house for Christmas, so it's OK. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with the Princeton Papes, and then spent the night with Mike's family and were able to enjoy Christmas morning with them around the tree. We then headed over to my Aunt Cindy's house for Christmas afternoon, where we had a great day with my family, minus Mom, Dad, Jimmy, and Leah, who at least made their presence by phone. The festivities continue, as tomorrow we head over to Aunt Carol's for the Ribeiro Christmas. The baby has made out quite well this holiday season, being showered with gifts from all sides before he's even made his arrival! It's clear that he's going to be one much-loved little guy.

On the development front, the baby continues to pack on the pounds. This week, he's about the size of a cantelope. I'm now to the point where I visit the doctor every week. This week, she checked his position on the ultrasound, and he's right where he should be - head down. At this point, she said there's little chance that he'll turn breech, since there's so little room in there.

I'm continuing to search for child care, but the woman who coordinates the network of providers I was calling suggested I wait until early January after the holidays, so I put the brakes on that operation. She assured me that I wouldn't be hurting my chances at all by waiting a couple more weeks but in fact helping them since no one really wants to (or has the time or sanity to) talk about openings at this point. Hopefully, she's right!

Finally, while Christmas was yesterday, the holiday season still continues through the New Year, so hopefully I'm not too late to send my wishes your way. Here's to wishing you and your families all the best. We're greatly looking forward to 2009 and are hoping that it brings blessings all around. Please stay safe this holiday season and take a moment to enjoy all it's joys, wherever it may find you.

Looks very cute, right? The Pape brothers up on Christmas morning, sitting at the piano, filling the house with their soft notes of music. The truth? They're really playing the Halloween theme song. So much for the Christmas spirit.

The Pape kids (Rob, Chrissy, and Jen) dive into their presents.

Liz and John (Jen's fiance) watch the happy gift recipients.

Larry sports all of his gifts at once, including the warm fleece vest we gave him. We'll see if he's actually brave enough to wear the Yankees cap down the slopes.


Mike received a car washing kit from the car wash master, Uncle Dan, to help him care for his sporty new Subaru. Included with the kit was a set of directions, authored by Uncle Dan himself. In true Uncle Dan style, every other step was to drink a beer and admire your work. Needless to say, the kit included a six pack of Sam. I don't think that will make it to the first warm weather car wash, though!


Aunt Dee and Uncle Dan


Aunt Cindy showing off the cordless screw driver we gave her.


Uncle Jim and Uncle Dan in typical form.


Aunt Linda and Aunt Dee


Chelsea, Nicole, and me -- the Bancroft girls

Dad's Corner: Place Your Bets

We want to let people put their guesses down for when the baby will be born.  I'm not good at this stuff, but what I was thinking of doing was sharing a spreadsheet that everyone can fill out.  For those that don't have internet access (what is this, the 80s?), you will need to tell someone to fill out your information.  I'm thinking of three different categories, date/time, weight, and length.  The spreadsheet will be easy to use, just your name and your guess.  I'll put instructions on how to use it in case there is any confusion.  Does this sound ok to everyone?  Do we want prizes?  What should they be?

Things have been pretty busy around here.  The floors are coming along slowly but surely.  It's a good thing I don't get paid by the hour because this would be getting expensive.  Our classes are going well.  We got to watch some movies in the last one to prepare us for what will come.  The day is fast approaching, so we're doing as much preparing as we can.

I'm sure I'll see most of you during the holidays, but Happy Holidays to those that I don't.

Baby's Words of Wisdom: "Blagojevich ain't got nothin' on me.  If the price is right, I'll come out yesterday!"

32 Weeks: Demolition and Creation

As we near one of the biggest possible upheavals in our lives, we're surrounding ourselves with plenty of other commotion. As Mike mentioned, he's in the process of ripping all of the flooring out of our entire first floor, the stairs up to the second floor, and the second floor landing. All of that will soon be hardwood. Ever since we moved into the house over a year and a half ago, we'd been saying that the carpet and tile that covered all of this area needed to go. All of it was original to the house (and therefore, 15 years old), well-worn, and harboring its fair share of grime, dust, and who knows what else. However, given that all we ever did was walk on the floor, it wasn't near the top of our priority list. Thinking about a baby crawling around on these floors, though, well that was a different story. We finally had the reason we needed to go ahead and replace it all. Needless to say, this is a huge project. Our house has been torn apart for two weeks now, and I think it will be several more until all is said and done. The ultimate deadline is the arrival of the baby, but Mike's hoping to finish before then. However, with all the holiday festivities over the next few weekends, his work time is being limited. So far, the new flooring has been laid in the main hallway on the first floor, the dining room, and the kitchen. It looks fabulous -- so clean and bright! -- thanks to the hard work of Mike, his dad, and his brother, Rob. Currently, the carpet is ripped up from half of our living room and plywood is being laid down on top of the subfloor to bring it to the same level as the kitchen floor. As soon as that is done, they'll be onward and upward, literally, as they take on the stairs.

While Mike tackles floors, I've been tackling the nursery. It's really starting to look like a real bedroom. The laundry machine has been working overtime getting all of the sheets ready for the crib, towels and wash cloths ready for cleaning, and so on. It's exciting seeing everything come together and be able to envision a little baby in there soon.

Another big thing we're in the midst of now is our childbirth education class. We had our first class this past Monday and will continue every Monday night for the next several weeks. It's a small class - only us and two other couples - so we get to ask plenty of questions and really get the information we want. Mike was not looking forward to the classes at all, but after the first one, he was so excited. We learned the first signs of labor and the entire labor process on Monday night, and he came out ready to tackle the beast. It's very fun to watch his excitement, and I'm sure it will be invaluable once the big day comes. One thing the instructor talked about was the role of music in labor and ensuring that you have good music to help you through the process. I'm not a huge music person; I don't own an iPod or even very many CDs. I enjoy music, but it's not something that consumes me. So I had to stop and think about what music I would want in the birthing room to help calm and focus me. I'm thinking something acoustic and smooth - perhaps like a John Mayer or Norah Jones. But I'm curious and open to ideas -- what would you recommend?

And so we find ourselves having completed 32 weeks of this pregnancy and working our well steadily through the 33rd week. This week, the baby is about 4 1/2 pounds, or about the size of a large jicama. (Does anyone actually know what that is??) He has real fingernails, toenails, and hair, and his skin is becoming soft as he plumps up and packs on the pounds. I'm feeling good, overall. I'm starting to get tired again more easily and, conveniently, am finding it more difficult to sleep due to having problems getting comfortable, the dry air that makes it hard to breathe, and the frequent need to visit the bathroom. However, for the most part, I still feel great and am enjoying all the little twists and turns of this exciting journey!

Dad's Corner: Change Is in the Air

Last weekend we received the crib and bureau.  The crib is now set up in our room and the bureau in the baby's room.  Along with those changes, last weekend, I started ripping up our first floor.  We're replacing the tile and carpet on the first floor, stairs, and upstairs landing with hardwood.  It's a big project, so I'm enlisting the help of my Dad and brother, and kicking Danielle out while we work.  It should look very nice when we're done and be more baby-safe.  However, if anyone comes over and finds a squeak in the floor, you stepped in the wrong spot and don't need to bring it to my attention.  Ignorance is bliss!

Hopefully you saw my "mobile" post.  I'm hoping that for those that can't come to the hospital right away, we can keep you in the loop with some quick pictures and posts.  Don't worry though, I know that not everyone wants to know where babies come from.

The baby is still active and kicking and moving away.  They don't all feel like kicks now though.  I think because he's closer to the walls of his bachelor pad, you can feel even more movement.  He's getting so big you can actually see Danielle's belly move and, I'm not gonna lie, it's a little gross.  It looks like something slimy slithering silently, so slowly shifting shapes supplant smooth sections (that's alliteration to the 11th degree.  Beat that!  Oh, I can rhyme too: Danielle's got a big belly, her feet are quite smelly, but that's ok with me, cuz she's makin a baby!  I'm a poet and I didn't even know it, but my feet show it because they're long fellows.  Aw snap!).

Baby's Words of Wisdom: "Enjoy the empty, silent crib while it lasts.  When I get there, if that cribs a rockin', you better come feed me!"