Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ok so here is the plan

Ok so we had our appointment with the OB today and MW is 1 cm dilated and 50% ephased (softening of the cervix) the plan moving forward is as follows.

We will continue to monitor MW at home for any changes/ if labor kicks in. If on Sunday the baby hasn't come we will go into the hospital and get a cervix softening gel put on. This gel further softens the cervix in preparation for delivery. MW's OB said that sometimes this gel causes woman to go into labor (about a 20% chance) After some monitoring we will go home and see if the gel does the trick. If not we are set up for an induction at 0700 on Tuesday!

All the while we will try and dodge the pending hurricane.

Its the final countdown!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Hurricane watch

So apparently the northeast has a possibility of being hit with what is left of Hurricane Irene when she comes up this way.... great great. Come on baby, lets get out before high winds and rain ok?

Monday, August 22, 2011

Week 40 update

We are almost at our due date! Saturday 27 August is the current due date for our little buddy, but at the moment he seems quite content to just hang out and relax.

The biggest thing I have noticed in the past week and a half is the fact that both MW and I are VERY ready for pregnancy to be over. Sure having a newborn brings a whole host of different stresses, but at least they will be different stresses!

The plan right now is to go until Monday and, if the baby doesn't come before then, have a meeting with the OB about the plan moving forward (ie induction)

Hopefully it will not come to that, but I will keep every one updated.

Also my buddy MC is back in the US which is awesome! Maybe our little buddy was just waiting for his Crazy Uncle Crawley to get back!

Monday, August 15, 2011

we're waiting for you, we're waiting for you

So we have been eagerly awaiting the coming of our little guy, but it seems the time is crawling by. Our due date isn't until August 27th ( its the 15 right now) but by the end of pregnancy all you want is the baby to come. Your partner is sick of being pregnant and probably really wants it to be done, but in my experience its slightly different for a dad to be.

My biggest issue has been the want to connect with the little guy. MW has been carrying him around for almost 9 months now. She feels him kick every time and feels him moving around in there. I can feel him kick (which is awesome) but feel slightly disjointed from the whole experience. For the dad there is a lot of hurry up and wait in the pregnancy process. I am excited to get to the part that I can be directly involved in the babies life!

Although waiting is a bit tedious, just keep on trucking. Eventually he will come and I expect there will be times where I will yearn for the quiet of pregnancy again.

Monday, August 8, 2011

the countdown has begun

At 37 weeks we are now considered full term! How crazy is that, really could happen at any time now! Hopefully he is in there for a couple more weeks (although MW may disagree with that at this point)

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Money part 2--Unemployment and getting overwhelmed

Throughout MW's pregnancy a recurring question I have heard from many of my guy friends is money. In all fairness I think that MW has heard quite a bit of that too, so it's not just a guy concern. Since MW lost her job and is trying to set up unemployment I figured another Money post would be good.

In this money post I want to touch on two things; Unemployment/losing your job and becoming overwhelmed.

First off lets talk about losing your job. Losing your job at any time can be a crushing thing, losing your job while 32 weeks pregnant is usually devestating. MW and I are lucky becuase I have a good job and because we had planned for her to stop working right after JW is born. That being said it was still a jolt to hear that her company had gone under. Unfortunaetly I was stuck behind an overturned milk truck on my way to board a ship in Montreal (a story for another post), but being stuck behind that milk truck did help me put together what I wish I could do.

The first thing would have been to go home and just chill for a second, let your mind catch up to everything that has happened. Then my next thought would be to not think about money and do something that you know you enjoy. I am not saying to go spend a ton of money going out to eat or something like that, but do something that you know will make you at least a little happy.

After some happy time it is time to sit down and figure out money. FIRST ON YOUR LIST IS FILE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT!! We found out that unemployment can take up to 4 weeks to take effect and a month without any income will be enough to make many people feel a bit sick! Then sit down and see where you can make cut Hopefully you have already put some thought into a budget for after the baby comes, I would use that as your starting point.

If you can make cuts to some of the entertainment and extra spending do it, but you need to remember to do fun things still or else depression can set in. Getting depressed is worse than being poor people so remember to treat yourself right! For MW and I the cuts will come from food. We love to go out to eat and that will just have to take a little break until unemployment kicks in and we can reassess our finances. Instead of a dinner at Sylvan Street Grill, we will just have to have a nice home cooked meal at home.

If you decide you want/need to go back to work then start looking immediately. Collect unemployment as you look and start sending out resumes, as often and as many as you can. Get your name out there, if there is a get together/networking event go to it!

The fundamental fear of losing your job is the lack of money, however that fear is not reserved for those who loose their job. For MW and I one of the two biggest worries/issues during pregnancy (and life for that matter) has been money.

Money is terrifying and that's ok! I really want everyone to know that. Lots of guys take money as their issue, but it's both of your issues guys. Talk to your partner and make sure that expectations are correct for what you can afford, that is the most important thing.

Make sure to support each other as you tackle money issues. If you have a couple trusted friends/family members that you can vent to that is also a plus. Venting to an outside party is always better than blowing up at your partner because of something like money.

Remember you are in this together, just like you are with pregnancy!!