Wow...

...time flies! Our little girl is growing so fast! And I have just had no time to blog - any time that I'm not nursing or holding or helping her sleep I'm cleaning, cooking, or playing with Robby or hanging out with Rob... also now that it's not about infertility or IVF I'm not sure what to post on our family blog or on this blog...

Little Sarah is a way better night sleeper than Robby was! She goes to bed around 8:30 or 9, then I do a "dream feed" at around 11 before I go to sleep, then she wakes up around 5:30 and I nurse her, and then she sleeps til like 8:30... except the last few days since I've moved her to her crib in her room - she wakes up around 5 still but then has a hard time staying asleep until the 8 am eat time.... I don't know if she's just used to my dark closet or what. I know some people use blackout curtains so I've thought about that...

Day sleep is a different story... She only sleeps for 30 or 45 minutes before she wakes up - I can usually get her back to sleep but it generally takes a lot of work. For example, she just slept for 45 minutes and then I went in to try to get her back to sleep and I spent the last hour standing over her crib shushing her or putting her binky back in when it would fall out as she turned her head (and I've tried lots of different binkies!) and she'd cry... anyways! I like to follow the baby whisperer's routine of Eat, Awake, Sleep... so she nurses, I try to keep her awake as long as I can which used to be only an hour and now she can do almost an hour and a half - then I try to get her to sleep til the next Eat and we do this every 3-4 hours. Sometimes it seems by the time the 3 hour mark rolls around she's finally in a deep sleep and will sleep til 4 hours!

Baby whisperer recommends something called Sleep to wake where if they are waking up after 45 minutes instead you wake them up just a little bit at 30 minutes to break that cycle... I haven't had much luck with it yet but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right!

And binkies...  oh dear... Robby didn't take one so I didn't go through this with him... the replugging during naps is ridiculous... :/ They do seem to help her fall asleep quickly though which is good... I think I'd rather she just sucked her thumb - even though I'm sure I'd regret that later... she is definitely sucking on her hands more and more so maybe??

Anyone have any experience with the 45 minute nap deal? I know I shouldn't even complain since she sleeps great at night and maybe she'll just outgrow it but when you're in the moment and you spend all day just trying to get her to sleep... just thought I'd put it out there!

Birth Story...

Hello anyone who is following this blog!!! My sweet little baby girl is 8 weeks old now! Can't believe I've been such a bad blogger. :(

There are things I want to add to my birth story but for now you can read my version on our personal blog.

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.

30 weeks

Ok some more not great belly pics but that's all I've got! :) I can't believe I'm this far along!

So overall I'm doing great and feeling good! I'm grateful for the chance to have worked so hard for this - it sure makes the annoying stuff easier. :)

That weird muscle, possibly hernia thing, I have had felt better before my appointment last week so I didn't make a big deal out of it to Sherri but lately it is KILLING me. It's worse when I'm doing lots of lifting and cleaning or something so I'm trying to be careful but it's hard to slow down when things just have to get done! I have tried some BFNC on it but it didn't seem to do anything... I'm gonna see if she has any other ideas when I go in next week.

Last appointment baby girl was sideways, transverse. This time she seems head down and her bum was to the side. She still has lots of time to wiggle into a good solid head down bum in the middle position. Sherri suggested doing some crawling around on my hands and knees to jostle her around so I've been doing that as well as trying to spend time bouncing around on my birth ball (exercise ball) instead of laying back in bed.

Braxton hicks are here... a lot... my tummy just feels like a bag of rocks sometimes for like an hour straight... such a weird feeling!! These don't feel anything like the actual labor cramps I had with Robby but just like this crazy rock hard tummy feeling.

We have the crib and dresser all set up in our 3rd bedroom - it has been our office so we are trying to combine the two functions which will be interesting! It's been so fun to go through the girl clothes hand me downs from my sister in law and sister! These clothes are all so adorable! I can't believe I'm gonna have a baby girl to put in them!!!! Even Robby has been so excited looking at the little hats he used to wear or baby shoes... "can we do more baby stuff??" he asked me.

My next appointment is next Tuesday! I'll be 32 weeks! So crazy it's going so fast!

28 week appointment

Had a great visit with my wonderful midwife Sherri today!

So I'm almost 28 weeks along and again I'm measuring +3, so a little bigger. I'm not worried about having a big baby though since I was a 10 lb baby. :) Baby was lying transverse (sideways) but there's plenty of time to for her to get her head pointed down. It explains the kicks/movements I feel on both sides of my stomach all the time!

I have this weird sore spot on my left side and higher than my belly button... she said it could be sore from baby kicking/being in one spot but I don't feel like she's sitting in this spot all the time. Another option is it could be a hernia - the muscle and tissue stretching in that spot... I don't really know much about them but sounds like if that's it there's nothing I can do and we'll just see if it goes away after baby is born. Anyone have any experience with this? It just really hurts... I carried Robby inside today from the car (which I NEVER do anymore) and it made it so much worse. Later tonight I tried to lift him up to show him something and I almost fell over it hurt so bad! So, not very fun but it doesn't hurt that bad all the time. Maybe just no heavy lifting??

All my other vitals and stuff were good - perfect blood pressure, no protein in the urine, even perfect pH levels she said! Woo hoo!

I have officially gained 30 lbs so far. Seeing numbers on the scale I've never seen. Ahh... it's probably not going to get much better with Christmas coming up! We have delicious goodies dropped off at our door almost every day! Nice neighbors, huh? :) I need to keep up with stretching and walking - got a bad cold last week and that's made me slack off really bad but I want my body to be as ready as possible for labor!

My appointments will now be every 2 weeks! Makes it feel like it's getting closer!! :) So fun!