(no subject)
Still here, still pregnant!
I honestly meant to be updating at least once a week through my pregnancy, but I fell behind. So here's what's been going on, in no particular order:
We had our last appointment with our current midwife yesterday. She's 37 (38?) weeks pregnant herself and going on maternity leave. If we time things right though (pay attention, Sprout), I might be able to see her again for my 6 wk postpartum checkup because it will be right around the time she'll be coming back. So now we see a different midwife at the same practice, who I have seen once before when I was sick and had to go in while my regular midwife was attending a birth. The new midwife is really nice and sweet so I'm not too worried, but I know she is a bit more medically-focused than the midwife I'm used to seeing, so that makes me a bit cautious. But I'm far enough along in the pregnancy now to where I'll only have to see her for a month, and we already have our birth plan cleared by the midwife who just left for maternity leave, so I don't think there will be any problems. We won't know until I go into labor who is actually going to be on call for the delivery, but I've met all the other midwives and feel pretty comfortable with them.
While we were at the hospital yesterday, we went up to Labor & Delivery and got copies of the paperwork that I'll need to sign when I show up to pop the kid out. Because I figured it would be good to be able to read & comprehend that stuff when I'm, you know, NOT in labor? They seemed to think it was a pretty odd request, but humored me with it anyway, which I appreciated. It's all fairly clear and straightforward, so I'm feeling good about that. Now when I show up in the throes of agony, I won't have to try to focus on understanding what it is that I'm being asked to sign.
Tonight is our second-to-last birth class. It's an eight week series with 2.5 hours each week of class so that's... a lot of hours! It has definitely been worth the investment. At the same time though, I'm kind of freaking out that it's almost over because I feel like now I should know everything I need to know to be prepared... and even though I hate to admit it, I'm still feeling a bit freaked out. I don't think it's anything that reading more books or taking more classes is going to fix, though. No matter how much you learn about it, birth is unpredictable, and I have a hard time mentally preparing for that, especially because I've never done it before. But for the most part, I am super excited and really looking forward to it! And I'm definitely glad that Sheila has taken the class with me, because she hadn't been doing even a fraction of the reading that I had prior to the class, so she's way more prepared now as far as being a good birth partner goes and having some sense of what to expect, what to do, and what not to do.
Sheila and I spent a little while playing with a friend's baby the other day and it dawned on me that Sprout is going to be so much MORE work once she's out than she is now! I mean, I know babies are a lot of work. But being pregnant doesn't really prepare you for that as much as spending time with an actual little person who is totally dependent on you. I'm holding out hope that the physical pain of my SPD will subside fairly quickly after birth so that it will be easier to take care of little Danica, but my physical therapist is preparing me for the possibility of it lingering several more months. She says the hormones that cause the majority of the SPD pain take a while to leave your system, especially if you're breastfeeding, so I guess we'll see.
Speaking of breastfeeding, my mom found a nice little manual breast pump for me at a garage sale the other day and I tried it out (as you are probably well aware, my boobs have been leaking for SEVENTEEN WEEKS now). I actually got two full ounces out of my boobs. I posted about it on a fb thread in a community dedicated to leaky tits, and I got the obligatory, "omg careful, you might trigger labor!" Yes, nipple stimulation can be used to enhance labor that is already underway, it can cause uterine contractions, and it may even help to jump start impending labor, but my baby is not going to fall out six weeks early on account of nipple stimulation alone. Can you imagine how many premature babies would be born to breastfeeding women ALL THE TIME if that were the case? Chillax, thank you. I guess I can add this to my collection of unsolicited pregnancy/baby advice (right up there with "you're going to cook your baby by soaking your feet in the hot tub" and "your cats could suck the breath out of your baby").
Friday will be fun! I'm getting a haircut and a pedicure and, if the weather cooperates, having a maternity photo shoot with the lovely & talented Ellen Dykstra. She was thrilled when I suggested doing it outside, as she's been wanting to do that for a while but hasn't been able to find anyone willing. We'll be going to Asylum Lake around sunset, where I'll be parading around with my naked belly sticking out and getting photographed. Should be fun! She'll also be doing a newborn photo shoot for our birth announcements shortly after Sprout arrives.
So the midwife confirmed yesterday that little Sprouty is head-down now, and that is indeed a foot that I feel periodically lodging in my ribcage. She should stay more or less in this position (minus the foot part, I hope) until birth. So now the breech baby issue is one less thing to worry about and I can cross it off my list of Things That I Worry About in the Back of My Mind Even Though They're Pretty Unlikely to Happen. Probably my second most pressing concern is that I will go over 42 weeks and have to make some tough decisions there, but that's also unlikely, especially since there is no question about our conception date.
A week from Sunday is our baby shower. That'll be good times. I sort of feel like once that's over, there's not much else standing between us and having the baby. The shower will be done, birth class will be over... just once a week midwife appointments until Sprout decides it's time to come out and meet us. June is going to be a long month for me, I think. She's not even due until the 27th, so it could easily be early July by the time she shows up. I have my birthday on the 25th, so that will provide a bit of distraction, but other than that I'm going to have to come up with some other things to keep myself busy or I'll probably go crazy!
That's all for now :)
I honestly meant to be updating at least once a week through my pregnancy, but I fell behind. So here's what's been going on, in no particular order:
We had our last appointment with our current midwife yesterday. She's 37 (38?) weeks pregnant herself and going on maternity leave. If we time things right though (pay attention, Sprout), I might be able to see her again for my 6 wk postpartum checkup because it will be right around the time she'll be coming back. So now we see a different midwife at the same practice, who I have seen once before when I was sick and had to go in while my regular midwife was attending a birth. The new midwife is really nice and sweet so I'm not too worried, but I know she is a bit more medically-focused than the midwife I'm used to seeing, so that makes me a bit cautious. But I'm far enough along in the pregnancy now to where I'll only have to see her for a month, and we already have our birth plan cleared by the midwife who just left for maternity leave, so I don't think there will be any problems. We won't know until I go into labor who is actually going to be on call for the delivery, but I've met all the other midwives and feel pretty comfortable with them.
While we were at the hospital yesterday, we went up to Labor & Delivery and got copies of the paperwork that I'll need to sign when I show up to pop the kid out. Because I figured it would be good to be able to read & comprehend that stuff when I'm, you know, NOT in labor? They seemed to think it was a pretty odd request, but humored me with it anyway, which I appreciated. It's all fairly clear and straightforward, so I'm feeling good about that. Now when I show up in the throes of agony, I won't have to try to focus on understanding what it is that I'm being asked to sign.
Tonight is our second-to-last birth class. It's an eight week series with 2.5 hours each week of class so that's... a lot of hours! It has definitely been worth the investment. At the same time though, I'm kind of freaking out that it's almost over because I feel like now I should know everything I need to know to be prepared... and even though I hate to admit it, I'm still feeling a bit freaked out. I don't think it's anything that reading more books or taking more classes is going to fix, though. No matter how much you learn about it, birth is unpredictable, and I have a hard time mentally preparing for that, especially because I've never done it before. But for the most part, I am super excited and really looking forward to it! And I'm definitely glad that Sheila has taken the class with me, because she hadn't been doing even a fraction of the reading that I had prior to the class, so she's way more prepared now as far as being a good birth partner goes and having some sense of what to expect, what to do, and what not to do.
Sheila and I spent a little while playing with a friend's baby the other day and it dawned on me that Sprout is going to be so much MORE work once she's out than she is now! I mean, I know babies are a lot of work. But being pregnant doesn't really prepare you for that as much as spending time with an actual little person who is totally dependent on you. I'm holding out hope that the physical pain of my SPD will subside fairly quickly after birth so that it will be easier to take care of little Danica, but my physical therapist is preparing me for the possibility of it lingering several more months. She says the hormones that cause the majority of the SPD pain take a while to leave your system, especially if you're breastfeeding, so I guess we'll see.
Speaking of breastfeeding, my mom found a nice little manual breast pump for me at a garage sale the other day and I tried it out (as you are probably well aware, my boobs have been leaking for SEVENTEEN WEEKS now). I actually got two full ounces out of my boobs. I posted about it on a fb thread in a community dedicated to leaky tits, and I got the obligatory, "omg careful, you might trigger labor!" Yes, nipple stimulation can be used to enhance labor that is already underway, it can cause uterine contractions, and it may even help to jump start impending labor, but my baby is not going to fall out six weeks early on account of nipple stimulation alone. Can you imagine how many premature babies would be born to breastfeeding women ALL THE TIME if that were the case? Chillax, thank you. I guess I can add this to my collection of unsolicited pregnancy/baby advice (right up there with "you're going to cook your baby by soaking your feet in the hot tub" and "your cats could suck the breath out of your baby").
Friday will be fun! I'm getting a haircut and a pedicure and, if the weather cooperates, having a maternity photo shoot with the lovely & talented Ellen Dykstra. She was thrilled when I suggested doing it outside, as she's been wanting to do that for a while but hasn't been able to find anyone willing. We'll be going to Asylum Lake around sunset, where I'll be parading around with my naked belly sticking out and getting photographed. Should be fun! She'll also be doing a newborn photo shoot for our birth announcements shortly after Sprout arrives.
So the midwife confirmed yesterday that little Sprouty is head-down now, and that is indeed a foot that I feel periodically lodging in my ribcage. She should stay more or less in this position (minus the foot part, I hope) until birth. So now the breech baby issue is one less thing to worry about and I can cross it off my list of Things That I Worry About in the Back of My Mind Even Though They're Pretty Unlikely to Happen. Probably my second most pressing concern is that I will go over 42 weeks and have to make some tough decisions there, but that's also unlikely, especially since there is no question about our conception date.
A week from Sunday is our baby shower. That'll be good times. I sort of feel like once that's over, there's not much else standing between us and having the baby. The shower will be done, birth class will be over... just once a week midwife appointments until Sprout decides it's time to come out and meet us. June is going to be a long month for me, I think. She's not even due until the 27th, so it could easily be early July by the time she shows up. I have my birthday on the 25th, so that will provide a bit of distraction, but other than that I'm going to have to come up with some other things to keep myself busy or I'll probably go crazy!
That's all for now :)