Busy, busy, busy...

This has been a busy week for us and the little Sprout. We had our baby class on Monday, where we got a tour of the 4^th floor. That is where the delivery will take place. I have experience with this floor, which brought back painful memories, which I will talk about later. During our class, we also did some practice breathing and things like that. I think Shannon will be just fine.

We were going to watch a video, but again, the video components were messed up, and the sound wouldn’t work. Our instructor called tech support, but they never came. She was somewhat frazzled by the whole thing. I think everyone in the class was actually ok that it didn’t work, so we didn’t have to watch any more videos about placentas and c-sections and stuff like that.

She gave us enough details about it, as it was. Our class also got all the details about what happens when the “bag of waters” breaks and what happens if the doctor has to break it. It’s with this device that looks like a giant crochet hook. It isn’t really the most pleasant looking thing in the world. Hopefully Shannon won’t have to have that used, but it is there if needed.

We talked more about birthing positions and practiced more breathing techniques and things like that, and then we went on the tour. The birthing rooms are on the 4^th floor of the hospital. I have been there before, when I was 27. No, I haven’t given birth. I had a hysterectomy, and that is where I was sent for my recovery. Yes, I was sent to the 4^th floor, surrounded by rooms with little babies and happy families, enjoying the new lives, while I was recovering from my surgery, groggy and in pain, throwing up, feeling awful. Being 27, the prime of baby-making years, it was incredibly irresponsible of the staff at the hospital to put me in that part of that floor. It was insensitive, and beyond comprehension. For my part, I was at a point that I had accepted the fact that I wouldn’t have kids of my own, even when I was 15. It was hard for me, of course, but the thing that was the worst was being in my room, trying to rest and recover from my surgery, and hearing the little babies, crying all night, hearing family members asking for things for the new moms or new babies at the nurses’ station, while I was trying to hold down water, or trying to get up and walk around.

To make matters worse, after I got home from said adventure in the “baby ward” when I was 27, I started to get flyers in the mail congratulating me on being a new mom. I also got diapers, formula, wipes, and other related baby samples. It got frustrating and started to sting every time I would get something in the mail. I wrote a generic letter to mail to all of these companies that said there was a mistake at the hospital and that I was there for a hysterectomy, not a baby, and to remove me from their mailing lists. I also wrote a letter to the hospital explaining the situation and how it made me feel and everything that it had caused. Needless to say I got many apology letters.

Anyway, on our tour we saw the rooms and learned a lot about the birth process in the rooms. We learned where all the “stuff” is, like the birthing ball, and the stool and the bar and the tub and all that good stuff. So now we are all set and know what to do and where to go.

On Tuesday, we were up at the hospital keeping my mom company while my dad had a little procedure, so we went and got pre-registered for our little Finnian to come. It was the fastest pre-registration that I have ever done. We just had to turn in the form and that was it. It was brilliant.

On Wednesday, we had our 36 week appointment with Angie C, a wonderful midwife with the Samaritan group that we see. She is great. She went over our ultrasound from last week. Finny is in the 30^th percentile for size, and she is apparently a “perfect little girl”. We have another appointment next week, since we are at the weekly appointment stage.

We are down to 24 days and counting now. We can’t wait until we get to meet our little baby girl. She can stay cooking for a little while longer…but we will be here and waiting for her to make her grand entrance to the universe.

Profile of our Neno...

We have come to refer to our donor as Neno, because of the number he was given as the sperm donor. We have grown quite fond of this man we don't even know, because of the gift he has given us in helping us make our little family a little bigger with our new addition. We can't wait to meet Finnian and see what she looks like and see how much she looks like Shannon. The interesting part will be to see how much she doesn't. These will be the characteristics that she will have inherited from Neno. 

When we chose our donor, we were looking at the OHSU donor site. We were looking at the page in separate locations, and we both had decided to pick someone most similar to me, in all characteristics that we possibly could. We each picked three of them. All three that we picked were the same. My second choice was her third, and her second choice was my third. Our first choices were Neno, having been independent of each other when we were looking at it, but we were both happy that it worked out that way!

A few things that really stood out for us were his back ground, which is a mix of European and native ethnicities like mine. We are both a good Heinz 57 mix, so that was perfect. We also both have brown hair and eyes. He is a lot taller than I am, but that is ok. We are both athletic, nerdy, have strong visuo-spacial thinking, into music and art, love to read, are both right handed, have good eye sight, and many other things. He probably has a bit more arm and chest hair than I do, and his beard grows a bit more than mine. He is a non-smoker and has dimples and potters thumb. He finds himself thoughtful, caring, self-reliant, helpful, likable, and funny.

He describes himself a lot like I would describe me, in that he enjoys being with friends and family, but also enjoys his down time. He likes being in social situations with his friends where it is comfortable for him. He is very outgoing to people around him. He enjoys cooking and trying new things. People are easily drawn to him. He did very well on the Taylor Johnson Temperament Analysis which tests personality characteristics, as well. He does tend to be a little impulsive, but who isn't.

Another thing that I really liked about him was that he included a poem by Khilil Gibran in his profile.

And a woman held a babe against her bosom and said, "Speak to us of Children."

And He said:

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house for tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that

His arrow may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The last thing that I really liked about Neno's profile was the "Kid Page" that he filled out. This guy was a lot like me when I was little. Playing outside, playing with Legos, running around until the street lights came on to signal it was time to home. His favorite vegetable was green beans! He played with Legos because of the infinite possibilities. I remember being a little one and playing with them all the time. Building everything I could imagine, tying yarn on them to make electric wires for my cities, or gondolas for the mountains. I would build bunkers for my G.I.Joes. It was awesome. Neno also played soccer, and chess. He read the book White Fang. He remembers his dad watching TV late at night, like mine did (does), and playing with grasshoppers in the yard, and tunneling in the blackberry bushes. He has a lot of good childhood memories, and reading his kid section made me remember a lot of similar experiences I had as a kid. I can't wait to share them with Finn

It's because of Neno we will get to share those experiences. I will be forever thankful to him for being a donor and giving us this opportunity to be parents to our little one. He said he only did it for financial reasons, and that is ok. He may never know the gift he has given us, and that is ok, too. But he really has made a remarkable difference in our lives, and I am sure the lives of some other people, as well. We have a family because of him.

Thank you, Neno, whoever you are.