Pacifier Story & More

Tonight is our hospital tour! I am so excited!! I just called the hospital to confirm that they had both of our names on the list. We are set to go! It will start tonight at 7:15PM and go for about an hour. I'm pretty thrilled and I'm sure I'm annoying Kyle with text messages asking, "are you so excited for tonight???". Of course, he is a nice husband and says he is excited too.

I guess I am pretty thrilled to go on this tour because it will ease my mind. I will learn about the workings of the hospital and will feel less fear because at least I have seen the place. The whole experience won't be as frightening. I have a watermelon to push out of my body, I need as little stress and worry as possible!

I have been telling anyone who will listen about our upcoming milestone in my pregnancy. This tour means that this is really going to happen.. Duh, we knew that. But it's really going to happen, and within three months! I can't believe it. Part of me can't even remember what it must be like to not be pregnant. I can't even really remember being able to drink a beer or not worry about if my clothes will fit right. On the other hand, I feel like I have hardly been pregnant at all. This is going so fast! Oh, the complexities...

So, after telling my third person about my tour tonight, I got the "Pacifier Story".

You can tell first-time parents from second and third timers with a pacifier and how they handle it. A first time parent will boil it, boil everything, sterilize everything. If the pacifier falls out of the baby's mouth, it will be placed in a baggy and boiled first thing when they get home. A second child will get the "hot tap water treatment" on the pacifier and that is about it. The third child will get a quick pacifier swipe on the pants or the parent will put it in their mouth first, then it's back in the kid's mouth! It really is no wonder that the third child will probably have a healthier immune system than the first child. He actually had time to develop some defenses!!

I've been getting little tid bits and stories the bigger my belly gets. It's pretty fun, actually. I get sweet smiles at the mall and I get "are you okay in those shoes" questions a lot at work. It's really sweet. I got the pointer that after delivering my baby, I should stay at the hospital as long as my insurance will allow. I believe most allow 2 days for vaginal delivery and 3 for c-section. Moms recommend that I take advantage of having nurses and aids to help out with the newborn. I was told that most likely, we will want to hurry home and start our lives together. We will say we don't need any help. But then I was reminded that we will have the child in our home for 18 more years.... at least... and to take the help while we can. Heaven knows when the second child comes, there will be slightly fewer offers of help. Take it. So I might heed the advice... and watch myself and how I handle the pacifier!