Midwife appointment, 38+3
Kate came by last night for our appointment. Connie has the flu, so she stayed at home.
Little Bee is doing swimmingly well and is just perfect for this stage of gestation. Position is LOA (YES, STAY THAT WAY PLEASE), heart rate was 136 because baby was just chilling out in there. My blood pressure was its usual low 90/62, I was dehydrated (again) and spilling leukocytes. Kate thinks I might be successfully fighting something off that I'm not even aware of, about to get sick, or have the beginnings of a bladder infection/UTI. Boo. I'm stopping by the store to get some cranberry juice tonight after picking up Ben to hopefully stave that off.
We talked about how I've been up and down to pee when heading to bed (like every 10 minutes for an hour). She suggested I can gently lift up on my belly to allow the whole bladder to empty so that I don't go through the motions of hauling myself out of bed over and over. We also talked about how my stretch marks are getting bigger/more of them this time around and how that might actually be a 'good' thing. Posterior babies (like Ben) present with their limbs forward and don't put as much pressure on the skin of the abdomen. Anterior babies (like Little Bee) are pushing their whole back/spine against the curve of my belly so it is stretched taut and may be causing the stretch marks to expand more rapidly this time around. They're my battle scars and I've earned them, so I really don't mind. Plus, they will hopefully shrink a bit as my stomach goes back down after birth and be less purple/angry-looking.
She went through our birth kit with us and *squee-d* at the 'Born @ Home' onesie that I had tucked in there. I have a t-shirt for Ben as well, because I am envisioning a beautiful photo-op with both babies in their 'Born at Home' shirts sometime in the very early days post-birth. We'll see if that happens.
We talked a lot about labor and how happy she is that the positioning and SpinningBabies techniques that I've employed throughout this pregnancy have worked. This baby has a 'good attitude' according to her and is in a really great position to start labor. This was hilarious as she said it because Ben (our 'poor attitude' baby) was jumping up and down on the bed, pushing Jake and shouting "Move Daddy!" lol. We talked about how this labor could be just as long as Ben's but hopefully would be less exhausting because my body won't have to work to turn him as I did with Ben. Or, the labor could proceed in a more textbook-like fashion where contractions get longer, stronger, and closer together (versus my last labor where they were always the same intensity and differing intervals). Or, she cautioned me that I might have a fast, strong labor that hits me by surprise. I am good with anything so long as it's less than 30 hours of active labor, less than 3 hours of pushing, and ends with all of us healthy and safe.
The last thing we spoke about was our contingency plans for Ben. Jake and I need to sit down and work out all of the details for each scenario we can think of, but Kate threw us a curveball last night. She said "What if it's the middle of the night and we have to drop everything and run?" It's definitely something Jake and I should have thought of beforehand, and we were stumped. We have plans set in place for if the birth happens on a weekend, or if Ben needs to be taken home from daycare by someone else and our provider is fine with that. However, Jake spoke with her this morning and got the impression that she wasn't so on board with coming to get Ben at a moment's notice in the middle of the night (she lives only 3 miles away, so it wouldn't be that long). So we're stumped and kicking ourselves for not having thought this through and planned things better. Jake was pretty grumpy on the phone this morning when he told me, but I'm not sure that his grouchiness was due entirely to this situation.
Still, it's something to think about. What should we do? Do we call in my MIL to come stay with us in/around my due date so that someone is there specifically for Ben? Do we ask our neighbors, with whom we're not particularly close, if Ben can go spend the night at their house during labor? Do we call in Jake's co-worker who lives a 20+ min drive away to come collect Ben for an overnight labor?
We've forgotten that Kate explicitly recommends that any siblings have a caregiver if they're staying in the home during the birth. This makes complete sense, as I'm not going to be in any position to take care of him and Jake's attention is going to be on me. It's also not feasible to ask the midwife or midwife's apprentice to watch him, as their job is to care for me and the new baby.
We don't have any family in the area that could just come to our home, nor would I truly be comfortable having my MIL hanging around while in the throes of labor. My mother cannot come out to visit until her Spring break in the middle of April (we should probably have the baby by then). I don't think my sister has the vacation time saved up to come stay with us, nor would she be particularly gung-ho about hanging around potentially for days and then being present for labor. I don't know. It's such a sticky situation.
We have some options to explore, but a decision needs to be made soon and I'm kicking myself over not thinking of this sooner. :-(
** Updated to add: I didn't finish this before lab meeting, and when I got down to the conference room they had set up a little party for me and the new baby! Everyone got something small (books and puzzles for Ben, new pacifiers, a hat and bootie set, and a nice picture frame with spaces for baby's photo at every month of their first year. It was super nice and thoughtful of all of them. :-)
Little Bee is doing swimmingly well and is just perfect for this stage of gestation. Position is LOA (YES, STAY THAT WAY PLEASE), heart rate was 136 because baby was just chilling out in there. My blood pressure was its usual low 90/62, I was dehydrated (again) and spilling leukocytes. Kate thinks I might be successfully fighting something off that I'm not even aware of, about to get sick, or have the beginnings of a bladder infection/UTI. Boo. I'm stopping by the store to get some cranberry juice tonight after picking up Ben to hopefully stave that off.
We talked about how I've been up and down to pee when heading to bed (like every 10 minutes for an hour). She suggested I can gently lift up on my belly to allow the whole bladder to empty so that I don't go through the motions of hauling myself out of bed over and over. We also talked about how my stretch marks are getting bigger/more of them this time around and how that might actually be a 'good' thing. Posterior babies (like Ben) present with their limbs forward and don't put as much pressure on the skin of the abdomen. Anterior babies (like Little Bee) are pushing their whole back/spine against the curve of my belly so it is stretched taut and may be causing the stretch marks to expand more rapidly this time around. They're my battle scars and I've earned them, so I really don't mind. Plus, they will hopefully shrink a bit as my stomach goes back down after birth and be less purple/angry-looking.
She went through our birth kit with us and *squee-d* at the 'Born @ Home' onesie that I had tucked in there. I have a t-shirt for Ben as well, because I am envisioning a beautiful photo-op with both babies in their 'Born at Home' shirts sometime in the very early days post-birth. We'll see if that happens.
We talked a lot about labor and how happy she is that the positioning and SpinningBabies techniques that I've employed throughout this pregnancy have worked. This baby has a 'good attitude' according to her and is in a really great position to start labor. This was hilarious as she said it because Ben (our 'poor attitude' baby) was jumping up and down on the bed, pushing Jake and shouting "Move Daddy!" lol. We talked about how this labor could be just as long as Ben's but hopefully would be less exhausting because my body won't have to work to turn him as I did with Ben. Or, the labor could proceed in a more textbook-like fashion where contractions get longer, stronger, and closer together (versus my last labor where they were always the same intensity and differing intervals). Or, she cautioned me that I might have a fast, strong labor that hits me by surprise. I am good with anything so long as it's less than 30 hours of active labor, less than 3 hours of pushing, and ends with all of us healthy and safe.
The last thing we spoke about was our contingency plans for Ben. Jake and I need to sit down and work out all of the details for each scenario we can think of, but Kate threw us a curveball last night. She said "What if it's the middle of the night and we have to drop everything and run?" It's definitely something Jake and I should have thought of beforehand, and we were stumped. We have plans set in place for if the birth happens on a weekend, or if Ben needs to be taken home from daycare by someone else and our provider is fine with that. However, Jake spoke with her this morning and got the impression that she wasn't so on board with coming to get Ben at a moment's notice in the middle of the night (she lives only 3 miles away, so it wouldn't be that long). So we're stumped and kicking ourselves for not having thought this through and planned things better. Jake was pretty grumpy on the phone this morning when he told me, but I'm not sure that his grouchiness was due entirely to this situation.
Still, it's something to think about. What should we do? Do we call in my MIL to come stay with us in/around my due date so that someone is there specifically for Ben? Do we ask our neighbors, with whom we're not particularly close, if Ben can go spend the night at their house during labor? Do we call in Jake's co-worker who lives a 20+ min drive away to come collect Ben for an overnight labor?
We've forgotten that Kate explicitly recommends that any siblings have a caregiver if they're staying in the home during the birth. This makes complete sense, as I'm not going to be in any position to take care of him and Jake's attention is going to be on me. It's also not feasible to ask the midwife or midwife's apprentice to watch him, as their job is to care for me and the new baby.
We don't have any family in the area that could just come to our home, nor would I truly be comfortable having my MIL hanging around while in the throes of labor. My mother cannot come out to visit until her Spring break in the middle of April (we should probably have the baby by then). I don't think my sister has the vacation time saved up to come stay with us, nor would she be particularly gung-ho about hanging around potentially for days and then being present for labor. I don't know. It's such a sticky situation.
We have some options to explore, but a decision needs to be made soon and I'm kicking myself over not thinking of this sooner. :-(
** Updated to add: I didn't finish this before lab meeting, and when I got down to the conference room they had set up a little party for me and the new baby! Everyone got something small (books and puzzles for Ben, new pacifiers, a hat and bootie set, and a nice picture frame with spaces for baby's photo at every month of their first year. It was super nice and thoughtful of all of them. :-)