Latest Baby Bump Photos

Below!!!

Video Education

We joined the NetFlix crowd last week for a free one month trial. There were a lot of DVD recommendations that people were telling us about so we decided to take the plunge. (We were reluctant because we pay Comcast monthly for On Demand - which we like). Yesterday, we received our 1st movie: The Business of Being Born. It is a documentary produced by Ricki Lake and discusses modern childbirth and misconceptions of doctors, mothers, soon to be parents, and others. It celebrates natural childbirth, midwifery, and shows positive examples of these practices as well as homebirth. It was educational and enlightening. By the end of the movie, both Paul and I reaffirmed our decision to have a natural birth. We really do believe that it is the best thing for us and best for little pooka.We recommend this movie for first time parents (or for 2nd time parents) to grasp a better understanding of midwives, our current birth system in America, and for a better understanding of natural childbirth.

Reflecting on Family and Friends

Amidst the joy of getting ready for Pooka's arrival, Erin and I have had some family and friends that we lost during the week. Early this week, Erin lost a good family friend who was a "second" grandfather to her. Growing up, their families were very close and attended the same church. She even got her first car from him! And early this morning, I learned that a great aunt very close to me passed away. I learned a lot from her during the times we shared and was always inspired from our conversations.

As we go through the various tasks and appointments this week, we are taking pause this week to reflect on the great families we have. Even more, we are humbled to know that Pooka will be surrounded by great family and friends who will provide support and guidance during his/her life. Erin and I look forward to sharing with Pooka the memories of those that have passed and instilling the values and principals they gave to us. Pooka, Erin and I thank Raymond Rhett and Elaine Swan for being in our lives and being a great inspiration to us.

Baby Registry!

Below are the links to our baby registries! Feel free to look around and let us know how our list is shaping up!

Amazon

Walmart

A New Midwife!

Today I had a consultation with a seasoned midwife in the Atlanta area as a candidate for replacement of my previous midwife. Paul and I were distraught when we found out that our previous midwife lost her hospital privileges and no longer would be able to oversee our baby's birth. Our old midwife had personality, was a great advocate, and had been around the block and knew what she was talking about. Our new midwife is experienced, personable, and has a similar outlook on birth and even life as Paul and I. She actually owns the practice and there is one other midwife and a doctor (OB) that work with her. I like that it is a small, family environment and they don't treat it like a 'baby (read: money) making factory. Thank the Lord! There was one too many suspect occurrences that was adding up at our old practice, so the switch is a welcome one. If I had to do it all over again, I would still make the same choice. We will still have a water birth at North Fulton hospital, just with a different midwife. Now, on to the next item on our Pooka to-do list. There's not much time left - I am 28 weeks now, third trimester!

Erin

Hospital Visit

Today, Erin and I went to the hospital to get a preview of what will go down in July. For just over an hour, we toured the hospital's maternity ward and showered our tour guide with several questions. It felt great walking around, as it built up another level of excitement and anticipation. From pulling up to the hospital during labor to the departure from the maternity ward post-labor, we covered every angle of the birthing process at the hospital. As usual, I felt like the odd man in the group, as I was the only one with a notepad and pen furiously writing down all the notes from the tour! Erin and I came away impressed from the tour, and we are now ready to sign-up for the waterbirth class, which is required for any mother wanting waterbirth at the hospital. We hope to begin that class in the next few weeks.

-Pooka's Dad

Latest Pics!

Latest pics of Erin/Pooka attached! We found some great baby clothing in Asheville, NC this weekend, thanks to the great people at Spiritex!

Getting Away

I'm sure many first-time parents have heard the expression, "life will change forever once the baby comes," or "get your rest in now because you will never sleep after the baby arrives." I'm sure that my first few months as a Dad will be filled with changing diapers late at night and rocking Pooka to sleep (while Tessa whines over a crying baby), so I decided to take Erin out of town on a few vacations to get some quality R&R. I must say, these vacations were very helpful, as the time off helped us de-stress from the baby prep, b-school interviews, and hectic work schedules. Not long ago, Erin and I had the opportunity to stay in Amelia Island and Reynolds Plantation. Both places gave us the opportunity to hangout together and enjoy some quality time with each other. In addition, spending time with each other helped us appreciate the progress we had made thus far in the pregnancy. If I had to recommend something to first-time Dads, I would certainly recommend taking the Mom-to-be away for a few days (or weeks if you work somewhere in Sweden). A few vacations prior to birth has certainly helped us as first-time parents to enjoy the moments we have with each other as we prepare to have many enjoyable moments with Pooka.

P.S. Baby registry coming soon!

Shopping...

Speaking of budgeting...it has taken me almost a week to get everything (or almost everything) onto our baby registries. We used a book entitled 'Baby Bargains' to guide us on what to buy and more importantly what not to buy. There are still a hefty handful of items that I chose not to put on the registry so that we could go shopping for them ourselves. Some of these items include diapers, stroller, some basic medicine cabinet items, and of course clothes for myself. Hopefully, we will have enough downtime in the next four to five weekends to purchase most of these items. Paul mentioned that we haven't done much shopping. To date, the only item that we have purchased for the baby is a jungle themed bedding set just after Thanksgiving. I guess it takes more to sustain little Pooka than that. My dad has now given us the Obama hat and baby t-shirt that he purchased (while in our presence) at the inauguration in anticipation of his grandchild - do you see what we had to deal with?