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A Gathering of Friends...
Sep. 27th, 2004 11:39 pmTonight I got a few friends to come over and wish my wife a happy belated birthday. In the rush to prepare for the baby, I didn't have the time to organize any sort of event for her. Yes she did receive her gift in a timely fashion.
So, with a little help, we had cake and conversation last night to celebrate my wife turning 28. One of the key topics, since among the guests were my wife's pregnant sister and our friends who will be helping us through the labor process (taking care of the dog, making phone calls), was the upcoming labor process and how we want to handle it.
Here's the problem with labor, a person's mindset will change while they're in it. So what we, more specifically my wife since she's the one in the delicate position, want now may not be what we want then. But we don't want to leave people hanging without knowing what they're doing as well.
There was the possibility of, assuming that the induction is when the baby arrives, sending the dog to our friends' house. The problem with that, we realized afterwards, is that I need to bring the baby's hat home so the dog can get used to the scent.
Okay that last sentence sounded a little weird. The first hat the baby wears is largely clean, but does pick up the scent quickly since there's a bunch of stuff still kind of "on the baby". Giving the dog this scent beforehand will make it aware of, and help it accept, the new addition to the pack.
But, on the other hand, the dog is going to go stir crazy if we leave it at our house with no one to take care of it, except for take it on walks etc. So that doesn't work either.
But that still leaves the matter of labor. I know that I'm not going to be able to handle 24 hours of labor on my own, and I'm not the one even going through it, so we need help. But when do we call that help in, and who among our friends and family, is my wife comfortable having in the room, when potentially it could be some key or vulnerable moment.
Right now we've settled on my wife's sister and a close female friend of ours. But that could change, my wife could throw them out of the room five minutes into the active labor contractions. We don't know.
But it's good to know we'll have them should we need them.
So, with a little help, we had cake and conversation last night to celebrate my wife turning 28. One of the key topics, since among the guests were my wife's pregnant sister and our friends who will be helping us through the labor process (taking care of the dog, making phone calls), was the upcoming labor process and how we want to handle it.
Here's the problem with labor, a person's mindset will change while they're in it. So what we, more specifically my wife since she's the one in the delicate position, want now may not be what we want then. But we don't want to leave people hanging without knowing what they're doing as well.
There was the possibility of, assuming that the induction is when the baby arrives, sending the dog to our friends' house. The problem with that, we realized afterwards, is that I need to bring the baby's hat home so the dog can get used to the scent.
Okay that last sentence sounded a little weird. The first hat the baby wears is largely clean, but does pick up the scent quickly since there's a bunch of stuff still kind of "on the baby". Giving the dog this scent beforehand will make it aware of, and help it accept, the new addition to the pack.
But, on the other hand, the dog is going to go stir crazy if we leave it at our house with no one to take care of it, except for take it on walks etc. So that doesn't work either.
But that still leaves the matter of labor. I know that I'm not going to be able to handle 24 hours of labor on my own, and I'm not the one even going through it, so we need help. But when do we call that help in, and who among our friends and family, is my wife comfortable having in the room, when potentially it could be some key or vulnerable moment.
Right now we've settled on my wife's sister and a close female friend of ours. But that could change, my wife could throw them out of the room five minutes into the active labor contractions. We don't know.
But it's good to know we'll have them should we need them.
