FYI – I think I’ve now made it so that you can leave blog comments. I’ve tested it a few different times and think I found the right settings. Sorry if it messed anyone up at first.

I’ve now started my 35 week in pregnancy, so we’re in the final countdown to Baby Mac. I’m trying not to get to excited about the end (still five weeks to go until my due date) – but I’ll be honest that I have my moments where I start to wonder if premature labor is really such a bad thing. I suspect that isn’t going to happen though – for whatever reason I have a feeling that Baby Mac is settled in and won’t be leaving any time soon. The kid seems to be quite comfortable.

I’ve decided the whole 9 months of pregnancy thing is to help the parents get prepared. Sure, Baby is growing and developing but J and I have had a chance to grow and develop from “seriously? We’re having a baby? What do you need for a baby?” to “OK, I think we’re ready.” Of course I suspect we’re not really ready, and won’t be until the baby is here, but at least we have some stuff and have taken some classes. I imagine it’s like driving, you can read the manual, watch videos of people driving, maybe even go and buy new tires, but you can’t really drive until you have a license and are in the car.

Oh the classes! J and I could be accused of being overeducated and, just maybe, nerdy. Our birth class experience is a case in point. I’ve always leaned toward natural childbirth (in theory at least), so I found midwife group who supports natural childbirth and started researching classes to take. Our friends David and Jennilyn recommended The Bradley Method, and after doing some research about the alternative birthing methods, we decided on Bradley. I guess we didn’t investigate Lamaze that closely, but other methods we looked at seemed a little to touchy-feely for us (J is an analytical engineer after all). Bradley isn’t overly touchy-feely (there isn’t any emphasis on creating ‘birth art’ as a way of exploring your feelings about birth, for example) and there’s a lot of time spent understanding what happens physically during labor and delivery so it isn’t as scary for Mom and Dad. It’s called ‘Husband Coached Birth,” which appealed to us. The Bradley Method gives him a specific role and I know he’ll be great at it. He’s a natural “coach.” (Funny story though – when I first told him about Husband Coached Birth he said “I can’t coach! I don’t even know the game!”) Bradley emphasizes relaxing during contractions and letting birth happen instead of fighting it. Like I said above, it’s all theory at this point but J and I have liked it and gotten a lot out of it. My favorite part so far is practicing the relaxation where my job is to breathe deeply and J’s job is to rub my back and whisper encouraging things in my ear J However, not to leave well-enough alone we’ve also taken the birth class through our hospital, a breast feeding class, a newborn care class, and a waterbirth class. I tell ya, if grades were given for parenting preparation I think J and I would at least be A- students. I don’t think I prepared this much for the GMATs or SATs!

As much as we’re getting all prepared for a natural, unmedicated waterbirth (a friend called it “an ethereal waterbirth” – ha!) I try to keep in mind that the main goal is to walk in our front door with a healthy baby. All of our big plans and desires are second to that. Besides, then the real work begins, the stuff they don’t have classes for and that we can’t really prepare for. Until then, however, I’m on the hunt for an Infant CPR class.