Baby Blues

No, I'm not sad and I don't have the blues... what I do have is a birthing play list.

If you are making a funny face at my blog right now, I don't blame you. It may sound a little strange to make a soundtrack to one of the most painful experiences of your life, but here's the kicker: it's supposed to help you relax.

For the past 12 weeks, Bobby and I have been attending classes for The Bradley Method of child birth. They advocate for a completely natural, unmedicated childbirth experience, along with healthy nutrition during pregnancy, and breastfeeding after pregnancy. All good things, right? We chose this method for several reasons (I mainly chose it since I'm the one who has to actually give birth!), but the main reason was because they also advocate their methods to be "husband-coached," meaning Bobby has to attend classes, help me with the exercises, and be my support during labor. We got into this pregnancy together, and I'll be darned if we're going to get out of this pregnancy together!

I could sing songs about these classes... even if you are not planning on an unmedicated childbirth, the information alone has been SO helpful. A lot of my fear of childbirth was a result of not knowing what my body was doing and how labor would go. I'm so thankful for these classes, which have calmed my nerves about a non-medicated birth. It has also made me realize more and more that women's bodies were MADE for childbirth. We don't have big hips for nothing!!! In the bible, Jesus also promises us that he won't give us anything more than we can handle. Equipped with this promise and the techniques we've learned in class, I feel hopeful and confident.

Back to the point: the play list. The crux of the Bradley Method is relaxation. Sounds good, right? I don't know about you, but music is a big contributor to my relaxation in general. When I've had a bad day at work, I listen to some calming music. When I'm running or walking, I listen to more upbeat music. When I'm trying to go to sleep or on an airplane, I listen to classical music. So my goal for creating a play list to help me relax during labor was to come up with (several hours worth of) calming music. Emphasis on "several hours worth."

Just for kicks and giggles, I thought I'd share my top song selections with you to give you an idea. Perhaps if you're looking for some calming music yourself, you can plug into iTunes and get them for yourself. Some of the couples in the class chose only classical music, but that's not something I normally listen to, so I chose songs of different genres to settle my nerves.

Enjoy!

"Your Love is Extravagant" - The Almost
"Clair de Lune" - From the Twilight Soundtrack
"You and Me" - Dave Matthews Band
"How He Loves" - Jared Anderson
"Penelope's Theme" - The Brothers Bloom Soundtrack
"For the Summer" - Ray LaMontagne
"Here Comes the Sun" - Beatles
"The Wind Cries Mary" - Jimi Hendrix
"Raining in Baltimore" - Counting Crows
"Disco" - Howie Day
"If I Fell in Love With You" - Beatles
"Bruised" - The Bens
"She's got a Way" - Billy Joel
"Desperado" - The Eagles
"Lay Baby Lay" - Bob Dylan
"Tupelo Honey" - Van Morrison
"One for my Baby" - Frank Sinatra
"Landslide" - Stevie Nicks
"She's Only Happy in the Sun" - Ben Harper
"Breathe" - Taylor Swift
"Carolina on my Mind" - James Taylor
"Stir it Up" - Bob Marley
"Sherpa" - Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
"Pitseleh" - Elliott Smith
"Sweet Afton" - Nickel Creek
"Kingdom Come" - Coldplay
"Sail Away" - David Gray
"Please, Please, Please" - The Smiths

That's a pretty good summary. I have about 5 hours worth of music on my play list, but I'm still adding to it. We've been going to sleep to the list every night so I can get used to the songs being soothing. So far, so good! Now if only I didn't have to get up every other hour to use the bathroom, I'd be all set :)

Any suggestions for more soothing songs? I'm all ears and have a few more iTunes gift cards to burn through!

40 Weeks!

Why yes! I'm still here...pregnant. With child. Knocked up. Smuggling a watermelon. Whatever clever or witty phrase you can come up with to say or mean "still pregnant."

Going to work was the worst today. Everyone who passed by my desk asked me "Oh, you're still here?!" or "I wasn't expecting to see you today!" And for the record, it's not all that encouraging to tell me that your wife's baby arrived 2 weeks late. Take a good look at my swollen feet (which, by the way, have outgrown even my largest shoes) before you say things like that to me, mmmk??

So yes, 40 weeks and still going. No signs of labor yet. I think our sweet Little is just happy as can be in there. I don't blame him. It's supposed to rain for the next few days... I wouldn't want to come in to a thunderstorm either!

My one sister has called me every day for a week, just to make sure I'm not in labor yet. My Mom writes me e-mails once or twice a week with the words of the hymns she used to sing to us as kids (which I haven't been able to remember the words to). My other sister and I e-mail back and forth every day, exchanging ideas about child-reading (she only has 2 months left until HER little guy gets here!). Every time Bobby calls his parents, I can hear his Dad yelling, "Is she in labor?!?! We're on our way!!!!"

The most encouraging thing so far as been a bible verse that my Mom shared. She said she used to recite this to herself every pregnancy (she had 5 kids):

"You will keep in perfect peace

those whose trust in You,

all whose thoughts are fixed on you!" - Isaiah 26:3

I'm finding it extremely difficult to find peace when I have trouble sleeping, or when I get anxious about not knowing WHEN this little baby is going to arrive. I have to throw my hands up daily in submission to Christ and His will and just trust that He knows what He's doing.

You'll have to excuse my outfit here...and my hair. I have no explanation other than that I'm 40 weeks pregnant and I. just. don't. care.

Have a great week everyone!

If you want to follow Bobby and I real-time, follow us on Twitter: @MelissaBarrick or @RGBarrick. I'm sure one of us will be updating when we're en route to the hospital and when Baby Barrick arrives!

The Basement: Bathroom - Check!

It was a busy weekend here at the Barrick abode. Bobby and I spent every waking minute together, which was awesome and so much fun! At 8am on Friday morning when he suggested we get started on the basement, I looked at him... then looked at my belly... then looked at him... then got up and went to the ladies room.

After my doctors appointment that morning, we stopped into Lowes and were, of course, greeted by name and the obligatory comment, "Oh! When are you due?!" I waddled down the aisles after Bobby: plumbing, carpet, tile, paint. Then came home to Killian, who was jumping up and down at the front door, each time pulling down bits and pieces of my nice boxwood wreath. Awesome.

By noon, we finally rolled into the house and ate lunch. I stayed upstairs to clean up while Bobby started working in the basement. Really... not even 5 minutes after he mosied down the stairs, I was passed out on the couch for an afternoon nap. Every once in a while, I'd hear my name being called... but sleeping was more important. I am 40 weeks pregnant, you know.

2:00 rolled around and I went downstairs to check on things. I have to make sure I keep an orderly house, after all. Things looked in great shape, and it was time to paint. Yay! The previous week, I had recycled 2.5 gallons of half-used paint we had from the rest of the house. I took it on myself to be creative and mix my own color. Bobby had his doubts, but to my surprise (and his), the color I came up with turned out almost EXACTLY like the color I had originally picked from Pottery Barn! Yay for saving $45 a gallon on no-VOC Benjamin Moore paint! The bathroom was painted, and I was then named Queen of Cutting In and Baseboard Painting. Bobby did the rest. When I went back upstairs, this is how the bathroom looked:

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the house. I'd get distracted by one mess, then begin organizing something that belonged in another room, and get started cleaning up a mess in THAT room. A very inefficient way to clean, but my office and business files all got organized, my bedroom and bathroom got cleaned up, our "junk drawer" now has much less junk, and Killian has about 10 pounds less fur. By around 9:00pm, I went downstairs to find the bathroom in this condition:

WOW. Can I just say that I love having a husband that is a perfectionist and shares the same vision in home decorating as I do?? So, by 9:30, Homeboy could barely make it up the stairs because he was so exhausted. I almost had to pull him up with the Shop Vac just to get him in the shower. Don't worry... I let him sleep in the next morning...8am sure does come fast!

So now, we can officially check off the biggest hurdle in the basement: the bathroom. Done and DONE.

The Basement: Flooring

It's. almost. there.

I sit here writing to you from my bright red couch and jammies while my husband has been slaving away in the basement all weekend long. My dear, sweet in-laws have been down here for the past 3 weekends to furiously help him since I'm pretty much out of commission when it comes to fumes of any kind, dust or bending over. (You guys are incredible, thank you!)

I've been told to cross my legs for one more week until Bobby can get the plumbing and bedroom squared away! Just kidding....but not really. It's *this close* to being livable and completely functional. And for that, I am so excited.

You see, our guest room is now inhabited by a crib, lots of little clothes, and a very lazy cat who likes to sleep UNDER the crib. My mom is coming to stay with us for a week after our sweet Little gets here, so it would be great if we could have somewhere for her to stay! Apart from that, we're expecting other out-of-town guests overnight (like Peanut's Aunt Christina and Uncle AJ, who are carrying Peanut's cousin) soon after, so we want to have a place for them to stay and feel welcome.

Anyway, there's a lot to do this week still and thankfully I'll finally be able to help out a little. I get to let the carpet installer guy in the door. Go me!

So here are some pictures of the progress from this weekend - the flooring! Sorry for the quality. Some were from my iPhone and others from our little Point and Shoot, which I still haven't figured out!

Have a great week, everyone!

The stairs are still pretty scary, but they will soon be covered with pretty carpet!

Bobby is spending the day doing grout on the tiles in the bathroom - yay! Then we can paint and do final plumbing. And when I say "we," I mean "Bobby."

Please excuse the mess... and the little belly in the picture. I can't help it these days. In case you can't tell, the shower surround is white subway tile and the floor is gray, slate-colored porcelain tile. The bathroom vanity will be going where the blank space is... duh.

Ta-Da!! This is looking back into the basement.

The Time Bomb

If one more person tells me I'm going to pop, I'm going to give them a little pop in the eye.

I've crossed the line from "feelin' good" to "all-I-want-to-do-is-have-this-baby-or-not-move-from-the-couch." In a matter of weeks, it's been like a light bulb has switched and I don't like it. I love being pregnant, but now I know what people are talking about when they say "just wait." At this point in pregnancy, I feel like a ticking time bomb. I could "go" at any moment and I reallllyy don't like that uncertainty. It made for a pretty funny April Fool's Day joke on my sister though...

We're ready for you, Peanut. Let's get the show on the road! But alas... I still have 2 more weeks (or more) until our official due date of April 18th.

No new improvements or cravings. Our hospital bag is all packed, all of the clothes are washed, his crib and bassinet are ready to go, I've deep cleaned every inch of our house (except the basement), and vacuumed the life out of our carpets. Oh, and I've drank about a gallon of milk this week. By myself. So I guess you could say that I'm craving milk!

One thing about this week that is exciting is that Baby Barrick's nursery has been featured on a cool blog, called Buy Modern Baby. They feature all kinds of modern baby gear and Real Rooms from other people all over the country. I'm flattered to be on there with the other fabulous nursery decorators! You can check out the feature by clicking HERE.

Now, because we're all fun and games over here at the Barrick Times, I thought it would be fun to compare my belly over the past 10 weeks. WOW, is all I can say. I would never have imagined that my belly could grow that fast in that amount of time. I have a few notes about the following series of pictures:

1) I do not photograph well.

2) My outfit in picture #2 is atrocious.

2) Picture #2 is why I now belt everything at the "waist" or wear shirt that are cut with some sort of shape.

3) Help me, Rhonda, Picture #2 is so sad.

4) I love yoga pants. Amen.

5) I chopped off all my hair yesterday, thanks to the help of my sweet friend, Candice.

6) I didn't do it for the sake of it being easier to take care of. Jennifer Aniston cut off her locks and I gotta keep up with what that woman is doing. She hasn't aged in 10 years. Amen.

So there you have it! 38 Weeks and counting!