Birthing Class

Al and I went to our first (of 12) birthing class last night. It is held in the house of the teacher, just down Columbia Pike from us. I decided I wanted to do the Bradley Method, and after much polling of friends and family who've had children I'm doing so with some caution. My sister-in-law had wonderful success with it. That along with the idea that it is "husband coached birthing" made me take the plunge. I know I'm going to need someone I trust to be the strong one for me during the most pain I'll hopefully ever experience in my life. Who better than Al?
I was thankfully for-warned that the medical field still isn't really on board with the Bradley Method and often if you show up to the hospital touting that you will not have meds they either snicker and then take bets on how long before you ask for the epidural or they sigh realizing it could be a long and difficult delivery, especially if complications come up and the mother just can't let go of her ideal birth dream.
But I was put a little at ease last night during our first class. Our instructor basically said she just wants us to be informed (which is really what I want) so that in the midst of it all we can make good decisions. The other two positive notes were that the Bradley Method course has two main focuses: Exercise and Nutrition. Two things I really believe are always important, whether I practice them with good measure or not. But it seems this will be a great group of couples that can encourage each other as we prepare to deliver. Most of them are right around the same date as us, although I think I'm probably in the running for biggest belly there. Ugh!
So last night we had introductions, a little nutrious snack, some exercises that we practiced and then my favorite part was relaxation. It was so wonderful to have Al there to participate with me. Hopefully it will be the same come delivery time!

Catching up on Snowmagedon

I'm so far behind posting that I never showed you pictures of the couple big snows we had. Unfortunately now I can't remember which pictures were with which storms, but you'll get the idea!

more of these to come later off the other camera, maybe even a video!

Latest Embarrassing Belly Shot

Here is what the belly is looking like now (our February pic I suppose):

The Flood

Last week on Wednesday Feb. 24th I woke up and thought to myself, "The house seems super cold, I wonder if Al has decided we need to save more on the heating bill and turned the heat down." I didn't think much more of it, and got myself off to work in a hurry. Al called me at work later that morning and said we had 3-4 inches of standing water in the basement! Our sump pump had somehow shut off. He had already gone down there and was able to restart the sump pump which slowly drained the water, but it had gotten high enough to flood the furnace electronics board. We spent the next few nights in our hats, coats, scarfs, and gloves until we were able to get approval from the insurance company to cover a new furnace. The heating guys were awesome we must say! We didn't call them with the approval until about 4:00 on Friday afternoon, but because we told them it was a brisk 48 degrees in the house and would remain so all weekend if they didn't come help, they did the overtime and brought 3 or four vans of tools and workers to retrofit our new furnace to our old pipes. The next day is was a steamy 75 degrees in our house all day until we finally realized our new thermostat was somehow also on the fritz. So they came out again on Sunday afternoon to give us a temporary thermostat, which we are still using at this point. And happy to say our house now stays at a decent 69 degrees.
Thankfully we don't keep much in the basement, we mostly use it for storage. Also most of it is on shelves or in plastic bags or totes, since there can be small water streams after lots and lots of rain. But we did still have some rugs, luggage, a TV, some paintings and odds and ends that are now ruined or mildewy. Thankfully the insurance company said they can have the washable stuff sent to a company that specializes in removing mold and mildew from clothes, etc. I think the one thing I'm most bummed about being ruined was a limited print lithograph of historic Rockville that my mom passed down to me:
Its probably actually a blessing that the furnace went out, otherwise we might not have found the water until it reached the second floor, or it could have sat there and stewed for a week, until we decided to go do some laundry. Plus it was an old furnace (maybe 10-15yrs old).