Scary times

With just over 5 weeks left to go, things are starting to hot up in the Berry patch! This is the time when the fears emerge properly. Often disguised as irritations, it takes a fair bit of time, perhaps a raised voice and a tear or two, but they do eventually show themselves for what they actually are. Rational or not, they are real.
It starts with the "unimportant things" (they are important, but perhaps only in the mind) like how to organise that the correct stationery is available after returning from maternity leave...
I'm sure there are a few things happening between now and then like say...child birth??
And then eventually it moves onto the real fears...
"HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO FIT A 4KG BABY OUT OF MY VA-JAY-JAY?"
Clearly its my fault that this kid is going to not be a small baby, but she could have seen that from the day we first met... And measuring size while in the womb is not an exact science... And if he puts his head on his chin, then things will be fine...
My reassurances are not exactly that comforting as I haven't actually been through this myself and, of course, each birth is different...

So, the plan.
- I need to stop working such long hours so that I can be around more in order to get to the real fears sooner, perhaps before they become reasons for panic.
- with just over 5 weeks to go... pack the bags*
- buy the pram (this will somehow make things feel more under control)
- type up the birth plan (list of preferences)
- C needs to take the "How do you eat an elephant?"** approach to the Everest size mound of work she has to get done before she goes on maternity leave
- organise a massage for me and C
- fix the dimmer switch in the nursery

I think getting these things done will go a long way to getting us to a stage where we can say that we're almost ready. I don't believe you can ever truly be ready for something like this, but hey, we'll see how far we can get with it all.

On another note, some congratulations go out to J&J on the birth of their little girl Jordan. And to Gav & Julia on your little girl. And to Pete & Trish on your little boy Shaun! They're poppin out all over the place!!

*I can't believe how many bags its gonna take, 1 for labour, 1 for baby at hospital, 1 for daddy (cognac and cigars), 1 for mommy at hospital and 1 for the going home gear. Thats 5 different bags...
** One bite at a time

Hail Ceasar

Was it really named after Julius Ceasar? Well, thats what the midwife at Ante-natal classes said. Personally I think its named after the salad...

We watched a video of a lady going through the entire process. I was amazed that I didn't feel queezy and wasn't shocked at the images of the lady being opened up. The gush of amniotic fluid was a bit of a shock, but logical I suppose as her waters hadn't broken. Anyway, probably getting into too much detail so I'll try to get to the point.
The point is that we have now explored in detail most of the options available for birthing. I feel really empowered! Now we have knowledge to make a decision. Its friggin scary tho.
One of the ladies in our class was absolutely adament that she would be going natural. In fact, she didn't even want to entertain the thought of having a c-section...so much so, that she ended up having her baby before the class that dealt with it. Healthy happy and natural birth.

We have finally made some progress with sorting out the baby's room. Its been painted a lovely light blue colour. The compactum arrives (after being remade) this week, and we'll be able to start setting it up on the weekend. Quite a relief. I reckon C is visibly happier with the fact that things are moving fwd.
I think that things like decorating the baby's room and sorting out the house happen so that Dad can get used to lack of sleep and being tired... hehehe

7 weeks to go. Only 7 weeks. I can't wait to meet this little guy that has made my wife look so funny. I am so excited to meet him. This is going to be so cool.

We need to finally decide on a name for him now. I mailed Peas and asked her what she thought... she quoted Time's most popular names in the US for 2007 of which Michael was one. She also gave some good advice:
"One always need to test names out before one signs the birth certificate. Mike Hunt won't work. For example. Neither will Gaylord Focker."

How time flies

I can't believe that its already the 8th of Feb 2007. This year has just been whizzing by at the speed of light. I think its cos I have been so busy and not had a break since we went away in August last year.

Anyway, we went for our 32 week scan this morning. Everything is A-OK! It makes me SO happy to see this lil' guy inside C. He was moving around all over the place just before DR Z started scanning. Then it looked like he nodded off. So cute. He brought his feet up to his head and we got a good pic of the ankle. I'll post it when C gives me the DVD.

In the meantime, here's a cool shot of his foot from the last scan at 30 weeks.

We have finally got the renovations underway. Not doing too much, but it is chaos. C wants to be out the house after the painting has been done cos she doesn't like the thought of the fumes effecting baba. Perhaps its a bit of an overreaction, but whatever makes her feel good. So, we're moving back in with the folks! My mom is up in Joburg, so its just my dad there, and he is going away tomorrow night, so won't be overcrowded or anything.

Work is crazy at the moment. We're installing a new digital press called a Pressjet2. 24m of toxic solvent printing craziness. Quite a challenge really, but hey, a change is as good as a holiday.

Right, back to work.

Cheese.