Luckily, it ended with Spain winning the World Cup for the first time, making Paul the octopus right one last time.
I have to admit that I didn't enjoy the game too much, though. I was upset at the way that the Dutch team was "playing." They seemed determined to distract the Spanish team from playing soccer by playing rough and constantly whining to the ref.
I would have loved to have been able to take in the entire experience of living in the country that wins, especially one like Spain, where soccer is so important.
Being played on a Sunday, though, Mauri had to work at 4:30AM the next morning. I, also, affected by the pregnancy, do get more tired and so I wasn't too upset to watch the game calmly at home.
In Mauri's parents' neighborhood, where we had celebrated most of the week, they brought a big tv out in the street and everyone was painted in Spain's colors. We missed it, though. I would have loved to go down to town to see the celebration afterwards, too, but with the game ending so late at night, it ended up not being an option. Sadly, I also missed out on the free concert afterwards (by Rosana)in the port, and the fireworks that ended the week of fiestas.
Oh well.
The next morning, on monday (July 12th), I went in for my last hospital ultrasound.
I, once again, had the male doctor from last time, and he once again rested his arm on my leg and side throughout the ultrasound. It was a little unusual, but not a big deal. The room was adorned with a big Spanish flag, and the doctor had a Spanish flag scarf around his neck. There was also a soccer ball resting on the ultrasound monitor.
This doctor is a little bit rougher than the other female doctors, and he has no problems applying pressure to the sensor to be able to see what he wants. While it didn't really hurt, it seemed to have upset the baby, just like it did last time when we had the same doctor. Once again, the baby made angry faces in the pictures.
I don't know if it was also because it was a male doctor, but he seemed very focused on getting a good view of the baby's little boy parts, and had them on the screen for awhile before getting a picture for me. hmmm
The good thing about having this doctor, though, is that he also had no problems printing out a lot of pictures for me of the baby's face (and private parts). So, although the baby looks mad, and the images are a lot less clear than they are when I go to the private doctor's office (not sure why when it seems to be the same machine), I do have several to share with you.
They told me that everything looks good, and that the baby's estimated weight is now a little over 1.6 kg. He is also in cephalic presentation, so things look good for birth. Because everything looks good, they have no need to see me again at the hospital until my due date. If the baby decided to come first, I should go to the e.r., but if not, I should go to the hospital on my due date for monitoring.
On Tuesday, I hit the 31 week point, and I also had my first birth preparation class. The class was actually much better than I expected, and I have to admit that I like my midwife much better in the class setting. I didn't really know what to expect, so I brought a small notebook and pen, just in case, but it was all unnecessary. When I arrived, a few girls were in the room on mats with a wedge-shaped cushion and a cillinder-shaped cushion. So, I did what everybdy else did, and grabbed my own, and sat on the floor.
Right before the class was about to start, a friend of mine showed up, who is now around 37 weeks along. I was happy to see her there, despite not having a chance to talk to her much, because she arrived a little late, and was in a hurry after the class to leave. Hopefully, though, next week, if she doesn't have her baby girl before then, we'll be able to talk a bit more.
To start the class off, we talked about what contractions were, and how they hurt, but we shouldn't be scared of them. It was interesting to see the looks on the faces of some of the other girls. They seemed terrified by the whole prospect.
Most of the girls were much younger than my friend and I, and I have a feeling that it was everybody's first baby. It turns out that most of the 9 girls were in weeks 35-38, and there was only one other girl at 31 weeks like me.
Yes, things were pretty tight in the room, and I don't know what we would have done if someone else had arrived. Still, things went relatively well.
The midwife explained a little about how things go at this hospital, and what I was happiest to hear was that they tend to leave you alone to deal with your body by yourself, and let nature take its course. One of my biggest fears about this hospital was that things wouldn't be like that, because I don't know of anyone who has had a baby there without induction and epidural, and all, but one person I know, have ended up having c-sections. So, I'm hoping that that is all coincidence, and that the midwife is right. I'm hoping for things to be as natural as possible, and, while I haven't decisively discarded the idea of having an epidural, I'd much prefer to see how things are going beforehand, so that I can move around and change positions, and hopefully let my body do its own thing.
I asked the midwife if we had the freedom to move aroud if we decided not to have an epidural, and she responded that not only we could, but that we should!!
I liked that answer a lot.
She also said something else that really appealed to me:
I have always liked the idea of having a natural water birth, but here it really isn't much of an option, unless I wanted to go to Valencia, and pay a lot of money for a private clinic that allows it. On the other hand, this midwife said that in early labor we could experiment with things like getting into our bathtubs to help ease the pain of contractions. The fact that she seems to like the idea of natural births, and listening to ones' own body, makes me a lot more comfortable.
I still, though, am not sure who, exactly, is the person who delivers the baby.
One girl asked about positions for labor, and asked how the doctor could "catch" the baby in certain positions, and the midwife corrected her by saying "midwife, not doctor." So, it seems to me that the midwifes are there for the births, unless a doctor's intervention is needed, and I think that I'm actually more comfortable with that idea. Doctor's tend to be more likely to want to intervene, and use medications, do surgeries, etc.
After the conversation about contractions, about 20 minutes into the class, we started to do stretching exercises and relaxation techniques. She had us lie on the floor with the cylinder in between our legs, and press together, pretending it was a contraction. Meanwhile, we were supposed to relax the rest of our body, breathe slowly, and concentrate on our baby. We also did a few yoga-like stretches, like moving into the cat stretch position, and arching up our backs. With that, our class had ended.
So, although everyone seemed to want to warn me about how "stupid" these classes were, I actually liked mine much more that I thought I would.
Since then, I have been working on washing the baby's clothes, and organizing them. Now that I have the dresser in the closet, I can finally start to organize everything the way I want it to be.
While I was doing that, I decided to take pictures of the gifts I have receieved so far and of the clothes and things that we have bought for the baby. I have had people ask me what I have so far, to know what types of things I might still need, so I decided it would be a good idea to post the pictures here.
To finish off the post, I'll leave you with the 31 week update from my email:
How your baby's growing:
This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy.
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