The week has been full of productivity and learning!
Mike and I began the week by attending our first (of five) childbirth and baby classes. The classes are conducted by our care provider and held for two hours each Monday night. I think that Mike believes I am torturing him by making him go, but we both did learn some facts the first night. Plus, it was fun to gather with about ten other couples to talk baby shop, most of whom are first-timers like us. The class is taught by a registered nurse and covers many basics from the anatomy of a pregnant woman to postpartum care for mom and baby. This past week we spent time doing ice breakers, talking pregnancy body changes and watching a short film of a woman delivering a baby. Both Mike and I concluded that the placenta looks more like The Blob than we expected.
I attended my first prenatal yoga class this week, which was interesting. I have taken a couple yoga classes, but never a prenatal one. I believe the class will be beneficial in terms of learning breathing and relaxation techniques. Although, I'm not sure how great of a student I am. At the end of the class, each of us got into a "relaxing" position in which we were supposed to just let our minds relax and kind of "center" ourselves. We did this for about 12-15 minutes. About five minutes in I was wondering how much longer I had to lie there and if it would be weird of me to start packing up my stuff. I guess I still have much to learn!
Mike and I are still laying down hardwood floors in our house. Our project is about halfway done; the whole upstairs is complete and we began the main (and final) level this week. When it's the two of us, I help by picking out and laying down the boards while he goes behind me with the stapler or nail gun. This weekend I learned how to operate the chop saw which was pretty exciting. It was kind of intimidating, but I learned that it's actually a safer saw to use (compared to some others). This week the two of us laid down the floors in our dining room and are creeping into the living room domain with the boards now.
On Saturday, Mike shot and killed a buck with his bow for the first time. That was very exciting!! He's been bow hunting for years, but has never gotten one until this weekend. So, needless to say we celebrated with some venison filets for dinner that night! Tonight he showed me how to butcher the deer, so we've spent the majority of our evening slicing, grinding and packing venison for our freezer. It's a lot of work, but very worth it to have fresh, organic meat that's free. Sure beats spending money at the grocery store for a similar-in-quality product.
This afternoon after church we spent a couple hours in the yard, which had been seriously ignored since the beginning of our flooring project. Mike mowed the grass and trimmed the bushes. I picked up the trimmings and collected the ripe Thai chilies off our seven plants. I think there were hundreds of them. Mike dries and grinds them so we can put them in shakers for use through the year.
In terms of my pregnancy, I've competed 33 weeks and launched into week 34 two days ago. It's hard to believe that we are less than seven weeks from the ideal full term time of 40 weeks. Considering babies are called "full term" at week 38, we are almost just a month away from that. Kind of crazy!! I am beginning to feel more of the not-so-fun feelings of the third trimester. It doesn't take much for my back to be sore (just standing too long these days seems to do it) and I have given up any hope of sleeping comfortably on my back. I'm now just a side-sleeper and even then I have to change sides at least twice an hour. Poor Mike... I don't think he's sleeping as good these days either just because I'm moving so much in the night. I get short-winded pretty easily and am generally feeling like this baby is not a good sharer anymore. We are each fighting for space in my mid section and baby (as small as s/he is) seems to be winning. Dolp! Still, I'm thankful for every moment of this journey.
