A Growing Family (and Belly): 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!