I should probably be documenting more of The Hubby throughout this pregnancy because it's been a trip. He's been rather adorable about all things baby, if not a little lacking in the "hey, my wife is actually pregnant" department. He's been so excited to do the nursery (he's done practically the entire thing himself), he loves to go baby shopping. With me, he's very into telling me what I should and shouldn't be eating, that I should be working out more. But, he does rub my feet rather frequently and has some big moments of trying to help - they could just stand to be a bit more frequent.
As we inch closer to the big day, I, of course, become a bit more anxious and frantic about planning. I've started a list for a hospital bag; really, I've just jotted down a few things I've seen here or there that I've though were good ideas and things I hadn't really thought about.
One of my biggest concerns, as I've mentioned before, has always been what to do about the four-legged babies when the time comes. I want a plan. I want to talk to people. I want to know, generally speaking, what is going to happen. I've been tabling the discussion for awhile, but I'm really ready to set this into motion.
So, I mention it to The Hubby.
His response, in a nutshell? "It'll all just work out. People do this all the time."
Ummmm.....
While this isn't an entirely untrue statement, there is a little more to it, dear. Most people do, in fact, have a plan, but we have a particularly sticky situation in that our munchkins are NOT used to being without both of us for any extended period of time (it's actually never happened), they are not used to being around a lot of other people, and we have spoiled them royally.
To back up his statement, he has given me a basic scenario of "you'll go into labor, we'll feed them and take them out if it's the right time, and we'll go the hospital; if we have to stay, we'll just see what happens; I can run home and take them out again depending on how long . . . " You can see where this is heading
Ummmm......
So, we're going to leave our wife in labor to run home and take care of the dogs? Sure, that's a good plan. Yes, we only live about 20 minutes from the hospital, but under what circumstances does he think it's okay to leave me? And while "take out and feed the dogs" seems like a quick little errand, it wouldn't be. He spends at least 5 minutes greeting them every day and about that long trying to leave them (I'm not joking; he's so bad leaving them that I have already said he will never be the one to do drop off at whatever child care option we end up with). So, we'd be looking at at least an hour.
And, really, you would be okay with leaving the children locked up in their crate for an unknown, likely long, amount of time when this is absolutely not the norm for them BEFORE we bring a new, tiny, screaming person into their home.
Yeah, good plan.
At this point, I'm considering drawing up some scenarios for him about exactly how labor/delivery might go. Because even though I know we will work through the dog-taking-care-of issue, this has shown me that I don't think he has a real sense of what exactly it's going to be like.
So, thinking I might give hims some scenarios for an induced birth, a short labor, a long labor, an unplanned C-section. I think he just needs to understand that it's not like on TV where "oh, honey, I'm having contractions/my water just broke, let's go the hospital" and magically a few hours later, you have a baby.
I know he's prepared himself for the actual delivery portion of the event, but I don't think he realizes everything else that happens between "go time" and main event.
If anybody has any good stories they'd like to share or point me to, feel free. I have a couple already, including my mother's long labor with me (and her MUCH shorter ones with my brothers).
As we inch closer to the big day, I, of course, become a bit more anxious and frantic about planning. I've started a list for a hospital bag; really, I've just jotted down a few things I've seen here or there that I've though were good ideas and things I hadn't really thought about.
One of my biggest concerns, as I've mentioned before, has always been what to do about the four-legged babies when the time comes. I want a plan. I want to talk to people. I want to know, generally speaking, what is going to happen. I've been tabling the discussion for awhile, but I'm really ready to set this into motion.
So, I mention it to The Hubby.
His response, in a nutshell? "It'll all just work out. People do this all the time."
Ummmm.....
While this isn't an entirely untrue statement, there is a little more to it, dear. Most people do, in fact, have a plan, but we have a particularly sticky situation in that our munchkins are NOT used to being without both of us for any extended period of time (it's actually never happened), they are not used to being around a lot of other people, and we have spoiled them royally.
To back up his statement, he has given me a basic scenario of "you'll go into labor, we'll feed them and take them out if it's the right time, and we'll go the hospital; if we have to stay, we'll just see what happens; I can run home and take them out again depending on how long . . . " You can see where this is heading
Ummmm......
So, we're going to leave our wife in labor to run home and take care of the dogs? Sure, that's a good plan. Yes, we only live about 20 minutes from the hospital, but under what circumstances does he think it's okay to leave me? And while "take out and feed the dogs" seems like a quick little errand, it wouldn't be. He spends at least 5 minutes greeting them every day and about that long trying to leave them (I'm not joking; he's so bad leaving them that I have already said he will never be the one to do drop off at whatever child care option we end up with). So, we'd be looking at at least an hour.
And, really, you would be okay with leaving the children locked up in their crate for an unknown, likely long, amount of time when this is absolutely not the norm for them BEFORE we bring a new, tiny, screaming person into their home.
Yeah, good plan.
At this point, I'm considering drawing up some scenarios for him about exactly how labor/delivery might go. Because even though I know we will work through the dog-taking-care-of issue, this has shown me that I don't think he has a real sense of what exactly it's going to be like.
So, thinking I might give hims some scenarios for an induced birth, a short labor, a long labor, an unplanned C-section. I think he just needs to understand that it's not like on TV where "oh, honey, I'm having contractions/my water just broke, let's go the hospital" and magically a few hours later, you have a baby.
I know he's prepared himself for the actual delivery portion of the event, but I don't think he realizes everything else that happens between "go time" and main event.
If anybody has any good stories they'd like to share or point me to, feel free. I have a couple already, including my mother's long labor with me (and her MUCH shorter ones with my brothers).
1 comment:
I have been really negligent in my blog reading since starting my new job, and you have crossed my mind recently and I wondered if you had a baby yet! Which I realize at this point...the odds are good you either have or will be any day! I hope you are well :)
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