Intro to Fatherhood and Hook-Loop Tape

After all our doctors appointments and a nice meeting with the Parents of Multiples' New and Expecting Parents group, it was time for Joe's "Intro to Fatherhood" class at Kaiser.  When I registered him for it (and paid the $50), there was no mention of it being a "boys only" class.  All the other classes I'd attended, intended for the expecting mama, were replete with male escorts, so I thought nothing of tagging along to watch and learn as Joe was taught to bathe, feed, diaper, and swaddle an infant.

Only it wasn't that kind of class.

All the women's classes are fact and practical application based - here's what you're likely to experience in labor, who you should call, and when you should come see us - this is how you should expect your baby to attach to your breast, what it should feel like, and when you should contact us if it doesn't work - etc.  This was a "men's group" meeting.  And I, apparently, was the first woman in the two and a half years the facilitator had been running the class who thought it was my place to join.  But I was welcomed in.

One of the first "agreements" in the class was that what was shared be kept confidential, and I will not violate it.  But suffice it to say that during the three hours of the class the men did a lot of talking about their hopes and fears about becoming a father and very little hands-on training in what to do.  And that's not a bad thing - I think I probably get that kind of support out of the POM meetings (though with a lot of practical sprinkled in).  I just don't think it was the class either of us were expecting, and I don't think it was really  my place to sit in.

This is me accepting my award, as seen on the big screen.

On Thursday I went to my last Giants game (again).  It's like that Godfather line - they keep pulling me back in.  This time it was for an on-the-field ceremony recognizing employees who have been with the team for 20-24 years.  There were a handful of front-office type folks (the ones who don't have to wear uniforms) and then about ten or fifteen ushers, and some maintenance, ticket office, and security workers.  We each got individually introduced and shown on the big screen, and we were gifted pins to recognize our years of service - one each that says "5 years", "10 years", "15 years", and "20 years".  I'm quite glad they decided to institute this practice this year - I would've been a bit disappointed if I had missed out on the recognition after my 22 seasons with the team.  And the best part was that I didn't have to wear my uniform!

Before the game I hung out in the press box, where people were quite kind asking how the babies were doing and wishing us the best.  Fans walked by in front and waved in to me too.  We went upstairs to the press dining room for breakfast (the plan HAD been to walk out to the Java House, but halfway through the access tunnel I realized what a foolhardy goal THAT had been...my ankles were not up to that walk).  As we walked out of the dining room, I stopped to say hello to Dave Fleming, who has twin daughters and whose wife had recently led one of our POM meetings.  He was sitting with Duane Kuiper (who had previously found out about the Salvateenies), and Mike Krukow (who obviously could tell I was pregnant, but apparently wasn't "up" on the news).  "Kruk"asked one of those pregnant lady questions, like, "Do you know what it is?" and I answered, "Yes - two boys and a girl."  He nearly choked on his breakfast and looked at us in disbelief as I confirmed that we were having triplets.  His response? "Well, sweet Jesus in a dump truck! How about that?"  Someone walked by and pointed out that we'd already decided on names - Dave, Duane, and Mike.  I got a laugh out of the table by saying, "Yeah, poor girl gets to be named Duane..."

Friday my brother came over to build the "twins bassinet pack 'n play" - a play pen with a double bassinet on top that we'd heard about from one of the POM moms.  Since we had already been hand-me-down gifted one bassinet, having this covers the other two kids AND saves space (and we have an extra play pen for when they're not sleeping.  This will live in the living room where the night doula will stay with the babies.

We were excited to find that the play pen construction instructions were printed ON the mattress, so we needn't worry about losing them.  However, the instructions for the bassinet were in a booklet and were a tad confusing.  First off, they started with number 16.  Numbers 1-8 described how to build the play pen, and 9-15 described how to disassemble it.  The directions for the bassinet system, I repeat, BEGIN with #16, which reads, "repeat on second side".  Luckily there was a picture to show what that missing step might be.  The next step indicated that we should open the "hook loop tape" and slide a board in between the two bassinets.  I was looking in vain for a piece of material that would hook through a loop somewhere.  Luckily Nathanael deciphered that "hook loop tape" means "velcro".  Once we'd gotten through that step (and realized that we had to remove the mattress from the bottom of the play pen and use it as the base of the bassinets) it was pretty much smooth sailing.    I just wish we'd thought to hide stuff underneath the bassinets before we put it all together.  But now that we've figured it out, it shouldn't be so hard next time.