Seventh Month

June 1st marked the beginning of our seventh month – with an expanding belly to prove it. I traveled to Dallas to visit my mom for a long Memorial Day weekend, where we had a mini baby-shower BBQ with some of Chris and my friends. Our friends Sarah and Matt came; they were married the January before us and are expecting a little girl August 4th. It was great to be able to compare notes with someone who is on the same page as me regarding birth plans and whatnot.

I started a prenatal yoga class on Friday evenings. Tomorrow will be my second class and I’m really looking forward to it – the first class was great, even though I’d never done yoga before. It’s an hour long; we do modified poses, breathing exercises, and relaxation at the end (although baby likes to move around like crazy during the relaxation part). There are three other women in the class, all with due dates after mine. One is due the week after me, so we have plenty to talk about!

Chris and I signed up for a birth class, “Comfort Measures,” which will be held on a Tuesday evening in July. It’s taught by a doula (who we might possibly use) at Waddle n Swaddle, this neat local maternity store. The class will give us tools to help during labor and birth, including relaxation and breathing techniques, massage, positioning, etc. It’ll also be good for Chris, because it will talk about the stages of labor and ways that he can be a great support during labor and birth. That’s important, because he hasn’t been reading all of the books I’ve been reading! We decided this class would be better for us than the hospital’s multi-week “how to be a patient” class.

Right now, Chris is studying for a practical on everything that he’s learned since starting at the CIA. The test is tomorrow afternoon and includes 10 verbal questions plus cooking. It sounds pretty intense – he will have to cook two courses in 2 hours and 15 minutes for himself and a randomly chosen chef (and he won’t know what he has to make until he walks in the door) and then answer the questions. He’s not really worried about the cooking – although it sounds a lot like iron chef to me – but has been studying all week to prepare for the questions. Tomorrow is also the last day for his table service (I.e. waiter) class in st. Andrews. And, on top of it all, he had two job interviews this week (with the same restaurant). The position is a sous chef position at Painter’s Tavern, in Cornwall, NY (about 30 minutes south of us). He was there last night to observe in the kitchen and cook the executive chef dinner; and is pretty sure he’ll get an offer. Keep your fingers crossed!