37 weeks

I'm 37 weeks! Wow! Time is just flying by! Really, where has this month of February gone?? It feels like my birthday (Jan 31) was just the other day!! On my countdown for week 37 was to get my hair done by my awesome cousin! :) So here's my "after" hair pic and my big tummy!

So last Wednesday we had our home visit with Sherri! She came with her helpers, Roxanna who is also a midwife, and Hannah who is an apprentice. So one of the main goals is to make sure they know how to get to my house so we can check that off!! :) We talked about where to put the birth tub (in the living room) and how we'd fill it up (she brings a big garden hose and you get a special attachment for your sink to connect it to that). It was just exciting to have them in our home and feel like this is really gonna happen!

Sherri did my prenatal there at the house and my blood pressure was a little high and my urine analysis showed I was spilling some protein so she said I really needed to watch my nutrition and eat lots and lots of protein! And she said NO SUGAR. Yikes. Can't say I'm doing perfect there but at least her saying NO sugar means I'm sure eating a lot LESS than I probably normally would! That's good, right?

So during the past week I've tired to get 100 grams of protein a day - this may or may not have been accomplished by eating a double quarter pounder or some days one or two McDoubles... may or may not... I've also eaten a lot of eggs, even steak and eggs for breakfast, fish and chicken, cheese sticks, almonds... just lots and lots of protein. Lindsay gave me some protein bars to try that were yummy! Lots of greek yogurt too! Love that stuff!

I've also been trying to drink tons and tons of water.... with all this water drinking and baby's head dropping lower and lower I am going to the bathroom kind of all the time. Super fun!

Ok so something that is kind of hard is the fact that I had Robby at 38 weeks last time I am so much more.... on edge? I don't know if that's the right word... it's just that when Robby came early I was not expecting it AT ALL and I just went into labor and it was the first time I'd ever had contractions, they just came, kept coming closer and closer so I figured it was time and we went to the hospital and had the baby. Great. Now, I keep thinking she COULD come early and I'm having Braxton Hicks ALL THE TIME and now I'm feeling the period like crampy feelings too which is what my contractions with Robby felt like and so it keeps making me stop and wonder.... like this morning laying in bed they kept coming but I laid there wondering and paying attention to them for a while... then I figured I'd get up and just go make breakfast and I guess they went away or now I'm not paying attention to them at least... But it's just hard knowing it COULD happen and have so many little feelings/twinges - I'm just going to try to ignore them until I can't any longer but at the same time I could have ignored my contractions with Robby for a lot longer but then it would have gone too fast... does that make sense? I am concerned that it could go too quick so I don't want to ignore them too long! I want my midwife and my team to be here when she comes!

So there has to be some balance! I'm just trying to be as prepared as I can be, try not to expect it, but just go with the flow. And those who know me know how well I am at going with the flow! ;) I think my hypnobabies scripts help with that though. I feel like I'm still feeling really positive about everything... I got all my birth supply stuff gathered together in the laundry room! See:

 Some of the stuff is just where it goes in the house but here's a good chunk of it... ready and waiting!

At my appointment with Sherri this week everything was looking good - protein levels were good, blood pressure good, baby's heart rate was good. She said I was measuring a little smaller than I usually am (I'm normally measuring ahead like 2 weeks - this time I was 36 cm when I was 37 weeks) but that probably means the baby's dropped some! We talked about how I was feeling pretty good and how I wondered if I'd need to get miserable before the baby comes out - she said maybe not miserable but that I'll probably start noticing more pressure down there. Maybe she said the magic words because after that visit, mostly yesterday and this morning, I am certainly noticing more pressure and like I said a lot more crampy feelings. So that's good!

I just have this church dinner groups thing I'm in charge of tomorrow so I keep saying any time after that she can come! Wouldn't that be fun if she came tonight just to throw that off? I wouldn't really complain...

35 weeks

35 weeks!

As my hypnobabies affirmations cd says, "I love my pregnant body and I accept it every day... more and more every day." :) I just want to remember it! 

Ok so I'm 5 weeks away from my due date - Robby came at 38 weeks so I've got 3 weeks till I feel like I need to be READY but then am still trying hard to not expect her to come early and be ok with going late if I need to. I've got my little "countdown" (things planned for each week through 42) and am trying to keep the days busy along the way as well!

Like this week I have: acupuncture tomorrow and then planning on going swimming, Tuesday clean my house and then a homeschool Valentine's Day party; Wednesday go up to SLC to see my sister and then Sherri comes in the evening for our HOME VISIT!; Thursday probably go to the gym in the morning and then Robby has gymnastics; Friday.... I don't know yet. But we are just trying to stay busy! :)

It's been exciting getting ready for Sherri to come do our home visit. We'll talk about where to put the birth tub and any questions we have... I feel like I should have more questions but I don't really have many! I don't know if it's because I've already done a lot of preparing or if I'm missing something!

The other night I woke up about two hours after having gone to bed and was awake for a few hours with contractions - not just like the braxton hicks I'm having all the time every day (like several just in writing this post) but I could feel them in my lower back... I just laid there trying to go back to sleep... got up and had a cheese stick... some water... took forever but I finally fell back asleep. I was sure I wasn't really in labor because I'm only 35 weeks but my illogical middle of the night self was pretty confused...

Swollen! My feet are so swollen! Well, all of my church shoes are pretty much too small to start off with but they've always worked fine - today I could barely squeeze into one pair, the widest ones I have! And the "chubby" ring I had been wearing as a wedding ring isn't really fitting either... my blood pressure and urine and everything has been normal at my appointments and it's not the kind of swelling where if you push your finger in it it leaves a dent so it's nothing to worry about it's just not very helpful.

Tomorrow I have acupuncture and Dr. Dummar will also do an adjustment and I'm so looking forward to that... my back is kind of killing me.

I feel like there has been more stuff I wanted to share but I can't think of it now! I'll try to take more pictures and blog more often!

Postpartum thoughts...

Wow it's been forever since I posted! I have a lot of different things I want to post about and this is one I started earlier... 

I've been thinking a lot what's going to happen AFTER I have this baby... It will be a big adjustment going from one kid who can get himself out of bed, dressed, and get his own breakfast if he wants to being woken up all hours of the night to a baby who can't do a thing for herself! We have been spoiled - Saturdays Robby gets to watch cartoons while we sleep in, and the last few days he's woken up late and then just played in his room and let me sleep in til 9! Our lives are about to seriously change!

My recovery after I had Robby was pretty difficult... I had the most wonderful birth, had the sweetest new little baby, but I was a crazy person! Crying all the time... it didn't help that I had broken my tail bone in labor so I was in a lot of pain, couldn't get up and down easily, and just in general didn't know what I was doing! Just so emotional!!!!! It should have been the happiest time in my life and instead I was a wreck.

So! When we were at my midwife's forum the other day (she does monthly little classes with all of her clients together) and one of her helpers got up and started talking about placenta encapsulation. I'm just going to start by saying I've heard of people saving their placentas and cooking them up and the thought of it always seemed pretty crazy to me! I've even heard before of people putting it in capsules before but for some reason when Rachel was talking about it it was kind of like a little light went off and I thought, "I am doing that." I looked over at Rob who was probably thinking, "um, ew..." and I informed him we were doing this. :)

Ok, let me explain - when you are pregnant, especially at the end, you have three times the amount of normal hormones (I don't remember exactly which ones or the more techinical explanation) and then after you give birth those levels deplete below normal which is what causes those crazy baby blues and all that emotional-ness. So, when you encapsulate your placenta (or pay someone else to do it which is what we will be doing) you are able to regulate those hormones and give your body back what it was missing. Also do you know we are the only mammals who do not eat their placenta? I'm not ready to cook mine up but if it can be dehydrated and put into little capsules that look just like the herbs I've been taking this whole time then sure!

I'm not doing the process justice - you need to go here and read more about it. A summary of the benefits:
-balance your hormones
-enhance milk supply
-increase your energy
-can help you recover more quickly from birth
-shortens postpartum bleeding
-FYI - Rachel Talley will do it for $150 


All I'm saying is, if there are some natural "happy" pills that can be produced from something my body makes that can help me not be a crazy person after I have a baby then SIGN ME UP. Maybe I'm more open to this after going through this gamete of Chinese herbs, acupuncture, special herbal tea from my midwife... but for whatever reason this just is something that sounds like it could really help me. Some of Sherri's other clients have talked about the amazing difference it's made in their recovery and I am 100% sold.

If you're in Utah and are interested you can email Rachel Talley about it at rachel@livingmom.net or call 801-623-2559.