Weekend Update

Well, Charley turned out to be a bit of a bust for us, thankfully. To be on the safe side, I cleared out the gutters on Friday night, but we mostly had a bit of a drizzle late on Saturday and into the night.

Saturday morning was spent in the "Baby, Birth and Beyond" class at the birthing center. One thing that's left me concerned about birthing there instead of at a hospital is that since we decided to go this route without a formal orientation/introduction to the place I've had no clue what we're supposed to do when the baby comes. Evelin and I asked some questions about that at the last midwife's appointment and it turns out this "Baby, Birth and Beyond" class (which they normally remind you about at the 36-week or so checkup) is where the answers are.

All in all, I think the class answered most of the basics. We now know (or at least are supposed to know) when to call the midwife and when to start driving to the birthing center, as well as some of the basics of post-partum care. (We also got an as-it-happens demonstration of what arriving at the birth center is like: A slightly harried looking guy interrupted the class trying to find the midwife. She hadn't arrived yet (she got there about five minutes later), so the nurse who was teaching the class got the couple settled in one of the birthing rooms upstairs.)

We also got a tour of the two unoccupied birthing rooms (and were told about the two backup rooms -- I have this fear that all five rooms are going to be in use when Evelin goes into labor, but I was told that has never happened ... yet). They all have B&B-style "themes" (the Santa Fe Room, the Victorian Room, etc.), which is a little odd, but everything looked comfortable and in order.

After the class, we spent some time trawling Bed, Bath & Beyond, The Container Store, and a few other places looking for somesort of "floating shelf" that could be put above the dresser in the nursery. In the end, nothing looked right so we decided to give Ikea a try on Sunday morning.

The next morning, after going back and forth over various shelf options, we ended up getting two Funkis wall basket things. The top baskets will probably be too high for Evelin to use effectively, but they should help keep diapers, baby powder, etc., in easy reach. Plus they were pretty cheap. Now I just have to install them.