Eating for Two . . . Again

Josiah's Birth Story

2008-04-29T17:07:00.002-05:00

Well, it's taken me a little longer than I planned to post the birth story . . . but I've been getting lots of good rest and bonding time with my new little guy, which has been wonderful. :) Anyway, here's the story, for those who enjoy all the details!

Mid-afternoon on Thursday, I started having a few mild contractions. Nothing all that painful, and not close enough together to bother timing them, but thinking back on it I realize that they were different from normal "Braxton-Hicks" contractions. Jim was home that day (it's really neat how God has worked it out that he's always been home when each of my labors started!) and we decided to go grocery shopping that evening. I was feeling pretty tired and had no clue what to make for supper, so we planned a quick stop at Burger King before going to Hannaford and Walmart. On our way to town, Jim gave me a funny look and asked me if I was in labor. I said, "Not that I know of!" and asked him why he thought that. He said I just looked a little funny and he wondered why I had my hand on my belly. I explained that it had been bouncing around too much on our bumpy road, so I just had my hand there to keep it still. But I added that I was having contractions now and then, but I still didn't think I was in labor. He appeared unconvinced and continued to give me some funny looks. :)

After a quick stop at the bank, we headed to BK. As we were standing in line, I realized that the contrax. were starting to get a little more uncomfortable, as well as being closer together. We got our food and headed outside to eat at a picnic table (it was a gorgeous evening), and all during supper I was getting more uncomfortable. By the time we finished eating, I decided it would be a good idea to see if we could get ahold of my parents and see if they could take the kids, just in case this was the real thing. They weren't home, but knowing that they always do their grocery shopping on Thursday nights, we figured we could probably track them down easily. We headed to Walmart and sure enough, they were there. My mom was pretty surprised when we came up to her and asked if she would like to have a couple kids for the evening! After leaving the kids with them, we went back to our truck and Jim switched the carseats over to their car. At this point (this was around 7 pm), I was having to pause and concentrate through the contractions, which were coming ever closer together. I decided to start timing them, so I would have accurate details to tell my midwife when I called her. They were coming about every 3-5 minutes and lasting 30-45 seconds. I knew at this point that I was definitely in labor; I just wasn't sure whether to call Sherry on the way home, or wait till we got there. In the end, I decided to wait and make sure things didn't slow down when we got home.

As we walked in the door, I knew I'd better call her, pronto. :) After all, she barely made it to Julia's birth, and this labor was acting awfully similar to Julia's! I tried her home phone first and got the answering machine, so I called her cell and got her immediately. (She was working one of her other jobs that night--she waitresses part-time.) Knowing she was on the way made me feel better. This was around 7:20 pm. Jim and I set to work getting things ready. Well, I should say that Jim set to work. I gave him instructions between contractions. :) He put the towels in the oven to warm them, changed the sheets, got out other labor supplies, and ran the bath for me. I got into the bath quickly. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not--I knew I was in active labor, but the contractions were still about 3 mins. apart or so, and I've heard that sometimes the water can slow them down if you haven't progressed enough. But I really wanted to be in the water, so I decided to chance it, and if things slowed down I could always get out again. I'm not sure exactly what time I got in the tub. Maybe around 7:45-ish. Thankfully things didn't slow down, instead I could feel that the contractions were coming closer together and getting more intense. By the time Sherry and the other midwife, Cindy, arrived, around 8:22 pm, I was definitely in transition. Jim was hanging out by the tub, holding my hand and encouraging me, telling me what a great job I was doing. (He's gotta be one of the best labor coaching hubbies in the world. :) He lets me squeeze his hand as hard as I want, rubs my back if I want him to, and breathes on my face to help me focus on my slow breathing through each contraction.) Sherry and Cindy got to work setting up their gear and Sherry checked the baby's heartbeat now and then with the Doppler. Everything was looking good. Before too long, I was feeling the need to bear down with the contractions. This is one of the reasons I LOVE homebirth. There's no one standing there telling you to push in some crazy position (such as on your back, legs up in the air), telling you how long to push, etc . . . just a midwife encouraging you to listen to your body and work with it. I would never say that labor is fun . . . but it is so much easier to work with your body than against it. :) (By the way, Sherry did give me helpful ideas for positioning, etc. but she's very "hands-off" and lets me do what comes naturally and feels most comfortable, and I really appreciate that.)

As I started to push, Sherry checked to see where the baby was at and the head was moving well down the birth canal. There was still a little lip of cervix there, so Sherry held it back to help the baby get past it. She had asked Jim if he wanted to catch the baby, and he said sure. We had talked about this a bit ahead of time, and he had thought it might be neat to do that. As the baby's head started to emerge, I heard her ask Cindy for scissors, and was trying to figure out why in the world she would need them. It turned out that the baby was born "in the cull" which means the bag of waters hadn't broken and his head was coming out inside the bag. Jim caught his head and then the bag ended up breaking on its own, at which point everything burst into the water, including the rest of the baby. :) Sherry got him up onto my chest right away and Jim said "It's a boy!" He took his first breath and let out a holler, and continued to yell very loudly for a good long time. They didn't even have to suction his nose or mouth, and he cleared his own lungs out very well. :) That was one thing that was totally different from Julia's birth--she was very calm and relaxed after being born. Not Josiah! He seemed plenty mad about his fast trip into the world! Start to finish, the active labor part was probably about 2 hours--we were at BK around 6:30 and Josiah was born at 8:40 pm.

I cuddled him there in the tub for a while, as we waited for the cord to stop beating. That seemed to take forever! It finally stopped and Sherry clamped it, and Jim cut it. The placenta was born a few minutes later. In the meantime, Josiah had gotten nice and pink (actually red--probably from all the screaming :)), and received 10s on both his Apgar scores. I handed him over to his Daddy and got up and took a shower (which is another great thing about having a tub birth). After that, I climbed into bed and attempted to nurse the baby. (I'd actually already tried to get him to nurse right after birth, but he wasn't having any of it, being too upset. He never really did catch onto it that night, so I was a bit worried about that. But later on in the early morning, he began to "get it" and by now he is doing very well with it, so I'm very thankful.) It was at this point that we started trying to figure out what to name him. We had considered a bunch of names, but none really stuck out to us as "this is the ONE." Josiah was the one we both liked the most, so that's what we ended up with, and now I'm really liking it. And the "Charles" is after Jim's grandfather.

Sherry did Josiah's newborn exam and also checked me out at some point. I had a very small tear, but nothing that needed stitching. Jim started calling our families, and we decided to have my parents bring Sam and Julia back so they could meet their new brother and sleep in their own beds. Sam was very excited about the baby! Julia was unsure at first, but she hasn't shown too much jealousy and is definitely getting used to having him around now. My parents took the kids again on Friday for us, which was a great blessing, and Jim has been able to be home this week, which has also been wonderful. :) I'm getting lots of rest and the kids are getting lots of good Daddy time. But poor Jim--I think he'll feel more rested when he goes back to work. :)
So that is the story! It was another great experience and I am so thankful for another precious, healthy little guy to love and enjoy. He's starting to squawk a bit right now, so I'd better go nurse him. I'll try to update more in the next few days! Thanks for all the sweet comments on my last post--you guys are the best! :)

Introducing . . .

2008-04-25T15:44:00.003-05:00

Josiah Charles!!

Baby Josiah arrived last night at 8:40 pm, after another quick and intense labor that was very much like Julia's. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21" long. More pictures and birth story to come in a day or so . . . right now I'm not really supposed to be out of bed. :) But I just wanted to let you all know that our little one is here and that we are all doing well. Thanks for your prayers!!

Question of the Week

2008-04-21T07:58:00.002-05:00

My friend Jenny asked a question on her blog last week and I thought it would make a great question of the week for all my readers also, so I asked if I could copy her. :) I know some of you have already answered this on her blog, so don't feel you have to answer here if you don't want to--but if you do, go for it!

Anyway, her question was: "What things, looking back on your birthing experiences, do you WISH you had known before going into birth? What things would you advise a brand new mom-to-be to be cautious of?"

Before having Sam, I did a lot of reading and researching both in books and online, and found the subject of birth to be very fascinating. I knew from the start that I desired a natural birth with as few interventions and drugs as possible. I chose a hospital that had a large midwifery practice because I felt that would give the best chance of having that kind of birth. (Midwives tend to be more "natural-minded" than most OBs.) I really enjoyed the midwives in the practice, and thankfully I was able to have a great birth experience (I realize now that that is not necessarily "normal" for a hospital delivery). Anyway, after thinking and praying about it, researching some more, and talking to friends who had delivered at home, I chose to go with a homebirth for my second (and hopefully all future children). Where my first birth had been a great experience, my second birth was an excellent experience. Sometimes I wish I had considered homebirth as an option for my first . . . but since I just didn't feel brave enough to do that, I'm glad I was able to have a good hospital birth. I guess I said all that, to say that I feel it's very important for moms-to-be to really research and study about birth, and have an idea in mind of what their hopes and desires for birth are. Some people do not desire to go "all natural" and that's fine--but it's important to understand the risks of various medications, interventions, etc. I also think it's important for women to realize that it's their pregnancy and for the most part, they are in charge, not the OB or the midwife. Obviously there are times when a medical professional has to call the shots due to warning signs in a pregnancy or delivery. But as the mommy, you have the right to speak up if you're not comfortable with something. It's OK to question your health care provider--yes, they have credentials, but they are not all-knowing and can make mistakes.

Obviously, I have become a big fan of homebirthing, and would highly encourage women to look into it as an option. At the same time, though, I don't ever want to come across as pushy about it, because I realize that a lot of women (or their husbands) wouldn't be comfortable with the idea. I am blessed to have a husband that is as enthusiastic about homebirth as I am, and I think that's very cool. :) So anyway, while I try not to push homebirth on other people, I am more than happy to share my positive experiences if someone asks. And I'm more likely to recommend Ina May's Guide to Childbirth over What to Expect When You're Expecting, and "The Business of Being Born" over "A Baby Story. " :)

Another area I think moms-to-be should study up on, is breastfeeding. If you want to make it work, it's important to realize that it doesn't always come naturally, for both the mom and baby! An excellent book that a friend gave me when I had Sam is So That's What They're For! by Janet Tamaro. It's fun and easy to read, and was very helpful. It's also super important, if you have your baby in a hospital, that you make sure the nurses are on the same page with your desire to breastfeed. I know a couple of ladies who wanted to breastfeed, yet before they could even start trying, the hospital nurses were already giving their babies a bottle of formula! Thankfully that was not the case in the hospital where I had Sam . . . there was one nurse in particular who I appreciated SO much, because she literally spent several hours with me, helping me get Sam latched on and figure out the whole process. She and the other nurses also told me right from the start that I needed to nurse him as often as he wanted to--that it was a supply and demand principle. I was happy to have such good info. and support and I believe that helped us get off to a great start with breastfeeding.

One more thing and I promise I'll stop jabbering and let the rest of you comment. :) At my baby shower before Sam was born, the ladies all wrote down a bit of advice for me on a recipe card. I still have all those cards and read them over from time to time! I loved getting advice from older, more experienced moms. One thing that has especially stuck with me is this comment from one of my friends. She said, "Trust God! Don't read a lot of parenting books! The baby will be unique and will develop at their own rate. Raise them in the most Godly way that works for both of you." As I'm sure you can tell, I'm one who likes to read and learn, and I do think there are plenty of good things we can glean from books. But first and foremost, we need to trust God and use HIS Book for wisdom in parenting.

Well, sorry to have gotten so long-winded in this post! I guess I got a little carried away. :) I look forward to reading what the rest of you have to say! Oh, and no sign of baby coming yet . . . my midwife will be back sometime today or at least by tomorrow, so I'm hopeful that baby is waiting for her, and will arrive sometime later this week. We'll see! :)

38 Weeks

2008-04-15T14:35:00.004-05:00

Getting closer and closer!! I had my 38 week checkup yesterday. My weight was up 1 more lb, and my b/p wasn't too good when Sherry first checked it (130/88). However, when she checked it again a little later (while I was lying down) it was completely normal. So it seems that position makes a difference. Obviously we'll still keep an eye on it, but I was relieved that it was fine while I was lying down. Baby's heart rate was in the 130s-140s again; he or she was being very calm and not jumping around a lot as usually seems to happen while she's checking the heart rate. I was measuring smaller again this week, so I guess the baby wasn't sticking his bum up as much or something. :)

I'm praying that baby decides to arrive by Friday morning, or waits till next Tuesday, because Sherry will be away for a long weekend. There are two backup midwives whom I can call on if I do go into labor, but of course I'd be most comfortable if my "own" midwife was able to deliver. :) So if you think about it, please pray about that for me! I suppose if things go like my last labor, Jim could end up delivering anyway . . . :)

If I don't have the baby early, my next appt. will be next Weds. (23rd). I'm definitely feeling ready to go anytime, but baby appears to be very comfy and cozy in there, and is taking his time about coming out. :) I'm not super uncomfortable (most of the time) but the pregnancy hormones are really getting to me. I seem to cry about anything and everything! Ugh. I'm thankful for a patient and understanding husband. :) I'm also thankful that it probably won't be more than a few weeks and then I'll just have the postpartum hormones to deal with, LOL. :)

Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments and prayers . . . I love being able to share my pregnancy journey in this way and I'm thankful to all of you for your encouragement!

36/37 Weeks

2008-04-09T11:53:00.002-05:00

Sorry it has been a while between updates! Things have been busy and I just haven’t had as much blogging time as I would like.

Anyway, here I am at 37 weeks. I feel that I have officially started to look like a whale. :) This is the maternity jumper that I started while pregnant with Julia, and finally finished a few weeks ago. I’m not as happy with it as I’d hoped, but I decided to wear it to church Sunday so I would at least get a tiny bit of use out of it before packing it away.

My last two appts. (on the past 2 Mondays) have been good. At my 36 week visit, my b/p was up a bit, at 120/85. Not a really scary number, but higher than I’d like. (For those who don’t know, my b/p has a history of jumping at the end of pregnancy.) At my 37 week visit, it was back down to 120/82. Yay! At 36 weeks, baby’s heart rate was all over the place, and at 37 weeks, it was in the 130s-140s, nice and strong. At 36 weeks, I was still measuring small--around 32 cm. At 37 weeks, that had changed dramatically and I was measuring 38 cm! As I recall, a similar thing happened with Julia. Either baby had a major growth spurt, or just changed position enough to give me the extra 6 cm. :) I’ve gained 30 lbs. total, which is pretty normal by this point in my pregnancies. Baby is in a great position, definitely head down and putting more pressure on my pelvis all the time. :) All in all, everything looks great and I’m gearing up for the birth--hopefully not too much longer to wait before we get to meet this little one!!

We’ve been nesting like crazy around here. Even Jim is getting into the act. He has gotten up on his big ladder and vacuumed/dusted the ceiling fans for me, scrubbed the tub, and rearranged all kinds of furniture. All the newborn clothes are washed and put away, the birth supplies are ready, and I’ve ordered my new nursing bras and Lana wool nursing pads (which I’m really excited to try!). And I’ve been drinking huge amounts of pregnancy tea. :)

A couple neat blessings: I’ve been wanting to try a pouch style sling for the new baby. My sister called last week and offered to let me try the one she used for her first baby, as she had just been given a new one by some friends. I’m so excited, because this way I can give it a try and find out if I like it, without spending any money to do so! Thanks Jo, for your generosity!!

Another thing that was on my “wish list” was a nursing cover from Peekaboo Baby. Not a necessity, but I really liked the look of them and thought they might work better than a blanket. However, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to spend $30+ on one. I thought I had seen some free instructions online somewhere for making your own, so I went searching to see if I could find them again. Sure enough, I came up with this link.
Now I just need to find some cute fabric and I can make my own, at a fraction of the cost! As if I needed another sewing project, right? :) Still, I am looking forward to trying it. If it turns out nicely, I could make more in the future for gifts for new moms.

I’m having trouble coming up with a good question for this week. Any ideas? For anyone who hasn’t placed a guess as to the birth date and stats on my 34/35 week post, feel free to do so--or you can make your guess on this post instead. Hopefully sometime within the next few weeks I’ll be posting a birth announcement here! I’m so looking forward to that!! :) Hope you are all having a great week!

"The Business of Being Born"

2008-03-23T13:51:00.004-05:00

This week I got to watch “The Business of Being Born,” courtesy of Netflix. :) I thought it would be fun to write down my impressions and share some of what I learned from the film.

First, for a little background, this film is a documentary about the maternity care system in the US. The point of the film was to expose some of the problems with the current system, as well as to give women some good information on the alternatives (midwifery care--homebirth or birthing centers). Overall, I felt the film was very eye-opening in a lot of ways. And it did a good job highlighting the positive things about OBs/hospital birth while at the same time exposing the not-so-good things. I didn’t come away with the feeling that they were completely knocking hospitals, but rather trying to show women that there are good alternatives, and that there is a lot more chance of receiving unwanted (and often unneeded) interventions in a hospital than there is with the midwifery model of care. Here are some of the statistics I jotted down as I watched the film:

~ Midwives attend 70% of births in Europe and Japan, and less than 8% of births in the US.
~The US has the 2nd worst newborn death rate in the developed world (that’s pretty scary).
~In 1900, 95% of US births took place at home. In 1938, half of the US births took place at home. By 1955, less than 1% of US births took place at home, and it remains the same percentage today.
~Since 1996, the rate of c-sections has risen by 46%. In 2005, one out of every 3 births in the US was a c-section. (There is something very wrong with this picture!)
~The US spends 2 times as much money per birth as any other country.
~People in our culture are likely to spend more time researching a major purchase such as a car, TV, camera, etc. than they do on researching their birth options.

I think one of the scariest things to me was the huge increase in c-sections. There is no way that that many c-sections are necessary. At least one of the OBs interviewed for the film admitted that there is a definite link between inductions and c-sections, which I found very interesting.

There were a few OBs that they interviewed who were very cool with homebirth and midwifery, and a couple others who had quite a negative attitude to the whole idea. One of them even said something to the effect that telling someone it was OK to have a homebirth was like telling them it is OK to not wear their seatbelt.

It was neat to see the interviews with midwives (particularly Ina May Gaskin, one of America’s most famous midwives) and to see their compassion and dedication to helping women have the kind of birth they want.

There is no way I can sum up the whole film in this post (since I would probably put you all to sleep anyway!), but I was really glad to have the opportunity to see it and I definitely recommend it. Even if you are not the least bit interested in homebirth, I think you would benefit from the information presented. A quick “disclaimer” just because: This was not at all a Christian film, and there is a bit of language scattered throughout (disappointing but not surprising). Also, there are several real births shown on the film, so it’s not something you would likely want to watch when your kids were around, and some husbands (like mine) may not be comfortable watching those parts, as well. These are not the “G-rated” vantage points of birth that you will see on “A Baby Story.” :)

I was glad to be able to see this at this point in my pregnancy, because it helped me get even more excited about my next birth. No, I don’t love the pain of labor . . . but I do find birth so interesting, and I love the end feeling of having just “conquered the world.” :) I really love watching births and reading/hearing others’ birth stories, too--maybe I’m weird, but it helps me as I gear up for my next labor and I just find the whole process so fascinating. It is so amazing how God designed us to take part in the miracle of bringing new life into the world!!

For more info, you can check out The Business of Being Born website, or this movie review from the NY Times.

34/35 Week Update

2008-03-23T13:45:00.004-05:00

I had my 34 week checkup with Sherry last Monday, and am now at about 35 weeks. So here is an update for both. :) At my checkup, my weight was up one more pound, my blood pressure was normal, and baby’s heart rate was in the 130s-150s. I was measuring around 31 weeks. Baby has been hanging out on my right side for the past week or two; I often feel an elbow or knee or something poking out of my side. I remember Sam used to do that too, I’m not sure about Julia. Sherry felt for the baby’s position and he/she appears to be heading down, with the bottom up under my ribs. I’m feeling more pelvic pressure but I don’t think baby has dropped yet. I also have to use the bathroom a lot more . . . ah, the joys of those last weeks. :) I’ve been having more swelling in my fingers, feet and ankles, which is typical for me in the last month or two. I’ve given up trying to wear my wedding and engagement rings for the duration. I’m still guzzling the red rasp. leaf tea and water, and I can definitely see a difference in the swelling on the days when I drink the most. Heartburn has been off and on . . . sometimes I’ll hardly have any for several days, then it will be bad again for a few days. The sciatica has eased up some, as long as I don’t accidentally sleep on my back.

I did a bunch of cleaning in various parts of the house this week, but I still have a lot more I hope to do before baby’s arrival! I also want to make some more freezer meals, and I need to dig the newborn clothes out of storage and wash them. I also have some more birth supplies to get ready, which needs to happen by the end of this week. I feel like the due date is really sneaking up on me this time . . . I’m ready to have the baby out, but I don’t feel quite ready for his/her arrival yet, if that makes sense. :) And if I go early like I have both other times . . . then I may only have 2-3 weeks left to get things ready!

Thanks to all of you who left comments about going from two to three kiddos (or more)--it was helpful and encouraging to read all your responses. I know we’ll adjust, and I may just not try to go out grocery shopping with all 3 kiddos for a little while. :) I do plan to use a baby carrier or sling, though, which should help when I do take them all out together.

I think we’ve finally narrowed our name choices down, to 3 possible girl names and 2 or 3 possible boy names. It will be interesting to see what we end up with. :)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: OK, it’s time to start making your guesses! Take a guess as to the baby’s birth date, gender, weight & length. It’ll be fun to see who comes the closest. :) For a point of reference, Sam was born at 37 weeks and Julia at 37.5 weeks. My estimated due date is April 26th. And my first 2 kids were 5 lbs. 14 oz., and 6 lbs. 8 oz. at birth. Guess away!

32 Weeks

2008-03-04T16:54:00.000-05:00

I had another appt. yesterday--can't believe how fast the time is flying! Sherry did the finger prick to test my glucose and hemoglobin, and both numbers were fine, so I was happy to hear that. My b/p is still fine, at 100/80. Baby's heartbeat was anywhere from the high 120s- high 140s, so plenty of good variety there. I'm measuring somewhere around 30+ weeks, and my weight gain is up to 25 lbs. total.

Baby has been VERY active lately. I *think* he/she is headed down, but Sherry couldn't tell for sure yet. I'm just thinking that because all the hiccups I feel are way down low. :)

I can have a homebirth anytime from 37 weeks on, so less than 5 weeks to go till I reach that point, which will be early April. I doubt this baby will arrive quite that early, but I wouldn't mind mid-April!

I've definitely got the nesting urge now, but I haven't had quite as much energy as I'd like. Hopefully I'll get a fresh burst soon, because there is so much I want to get cleaned and organized in the next month or two!

Well, I need to go make supper, so I'll close with the question of the week, which is:

For those of you with at least 3 kids, did you find it harder to adjust from having 1 to 2 kids, or from having 2 to 3 kids? I hear varying reports on this, so I was just curious! I felt like going from 1 to 2 was no big deal, but I admit I'm a bit nervous about adding a third! At least Sam is doing a lot of things independently now, and is old enough to be a good helper. :)

31 Weeks

2008-02-25T19:55:00.003-05:00

Here's my latest belly pic, taken on Saturday night. Getting bigger and bigger! Everything is going great. Sherry and Elinn came by for a checkup last Weds. night, since they were already in the area doing another home visit. My b/p was 120/80, weight was up 2 more lbs. since last time (which I think makes 21 lbs. total), and baby's heart rate was in the 140s-150s. I'm still measuring small, as usual, even though I don't feel small. :) My next checkup is supposed to be on March 3, but we'll see . . . Sherry has several clients due around now, so she may be at a birth. Anyway, my next visit will include a finger prick to test my blood sugar and hemoglobin (I think). I haven't ever had sugar problems so I'm not concerned about that. I'm working on collecting birth supplies and already have quite a bit of what I need. It's exciting to think that I probably have less than 10 weeks to go. Hopefully more like 8!

There is still a lot I want to get done before baby arrives, though. I'd like to make a bunch of freezer meals, maybe one each week, so I won't have to cook much for a little while after the birth. I need to get out some newborn clothes, and wash them and find space to store them. And we still need to decide on names! I also hope to do some deep cleaning in the house, but we'll see how that goes. And I need to work on drinking more pregnancy tea or red raspberry leaf tea! I give RRL tea a lot of credit for my 2 quick and easy labors, and am hoping for similar results this time around. :)

I've started having some swelling in my fingers over the past few weeks, and now it's spread to my ankles . . . what fun. I've always had swelling at the end of my pregnancies, but with 2 little ones to keep up with, it is harder to find time to put my feet up. My goal is to drink tons of water, at least 64-96 oz. a day, and hopefully that will help. My sciatica has been pretty bad off and on, but as long as I don't stay sitting or lying in one position for too long, it's manageable. One huge blessing is that the heartburn has eased up! I don't know if the baby changed position or what, but it hasn't been bad at all for the past week or so. And even though the end of pregnancy isn't very comfortable, it's so encouraging to know that the discomforts will disappear when the baby's born. :)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: I have to say I am more scared of the afterpains than I am of the labor pains. They were horrible after Julia, and I've heard they just keep getting worse with each baby. I'm not against taking painkillers (Advil, etc.) to help, but I'm considering getting some herbal tinctures that are supposed to help also. Does anyone have any experience with these or any other helpful advice to offer in regards to dealing with the pain? Thanks!

28 Weeks

2008-02-04T19:52:00.000-05:00

Third trimester, here we come! It's exciting to realize that I'm 2/3 of the way done . . . or maybe more, seeing as I've never made it to 40 weeks yet. :)

Is it just me, or is everyone really clutzy in the last few months of pregnancy? It's been really bad in the past week or two. In just one night, I broke a bowl and a ceramic tart pan, spilled oats all over the counter, knocked a couple other things on the floor, and managed to accidentally scratch Julia's face with my engagement ring--twice. Thankfully not every day is that bad, but I feel like I am constantly doing something clutzy!

I've been making a postpartum/new baby "wish list" recently. I honestly don't really need anything for this baby (except diapers and things of that sort), nor do I really need anything for myself, except some new nursing bras. But I keep coming across things that I would love to try, so I'm making a list in case I'm able to earn some extra money in the next few months. Here's what's on my list so far:

~Nursing bras--2 (YES! bra--$14/apiece on Ebay)
~LANA nursing pads (wool, supposed to be super nice--approx. $20/pair--I'd want 2 sets)
~Peekaboobaby nursing cover (not a need--blankets work fine--but these look so nice, and are so cute, too!--$32)
~Kangaroo Korner pouch (still debating between fleece or cotton--approx. $62)
~New medium-size diaper bag (I'd love a Ju-Ju-Be, but only if I can win one!)

Have any of you tried any of these things (or something similar)? I am having fun dreaming, whether or not I actually end up buying anything! :)

We are tossing around more baby name ideas, but haven't come up with anything definite yet. Well, we're pretty much settled on a girl name (I think) but we like to keep the names secret till after the baby's born, so I won't share it here. For boy names, we're still very much undecided. One thing is for sure, it won't be Aiden, Jaden, Hayden, Braden, or Kaden. (No offense intended if someone has a boy with one of those names. :)) But Jim detests all such popular names; he's much more of a traditionalist when it comes to names. I was recently looking at a website that listed the most popular boy and girl names from 2007. I cracked up when I saw that Aiden, Braden and Kaden were in the top 3 spots for boys. And Jaden was number 7, I think. Just think how funny it's going to be when they all hit school age, and the classes are full of boys whose names sound alike. :) So . . . we're trying to come up with something a bit less popular; we'll see how it goes. Some of the names we're considering are actually quite common, but not used as much nowadays. Feel free to leave any name suggestions, but I can't promise we'll use them--still, you never know. :)

Sherry came and did a home visit this evening, so that was fun. She and another midwife were in the area doing some other home visits, so instead of us going to her house, they stopped in here. Everything is continuing to go well. I'm measuring small, but that's normal for me. I forgot to ask what my b/p was, but I think it must have been fine, as she didn't mention it being abnormal. Baby's heart rate was about 140-145 this time. My weight is up 9 lbs. (yikes!) since last time. I couldn't believe it when I weighed in this morning. I definitely need to cut back on the cookies. :) Actually, I've only gained 19 lbs. total which is fine; I was just surprised to see it jump so much in a month. I don't really look that much fatter, so I'm hoping it's mostly baby. :)
I am working really hard at drinking a lot of water, and so far I've had barely any swelling, and hopefully that'll help with my weight gain, too. I've been dealing with more frequent heartburn and sciatica, but I'm thankful that those are pretty much my only inconveniences. I have it so easy compared to a lot of women!

From here on out, I'll be having appts. every two weeks! So you can expect more frequent updates. :) I don't have a new belly pic for this week, but there's one from last week on my regular blog, which you've probably all seen anyway. Hasn't changed much since then!

Question(s) of the Week: What is/was some of your favorite baby or mama gear? Did you go through a clutzy time during pregnancy? Any baby names to suggest? Share away!

24 Weeks

2008-01-08T16:53:00.000-05:00

I had a checkup yesterday afternoon, and everything is looking good! My blood pressure was normal at 120/82, my weight is up by about 10 lbs. total, and baby's heart rate was in the 140s to 160s. We all got a good laugh when baby kicked the doppler and made it go "boop" quite loudly. :) Like he or she was saying, "Stop poking me with that thing!" We talked a bit about my hopes for the birth (I'd like to have another waterbirth) and Sherry's assistant thought that would be neat, as she hasn't gotten to see a waterbirth yet.

After the appt. Jim spoiled me greatly by taking me out to Chili's! I hadn't eaten there for ages, so that was fun. Then we did a little shopping, and finished up with Frosties from Wendy's. We so enjoyed our date night without the kiddos--thanks Mom & Dad!!

So far this pregnancy has been very much like my others. The heartburn kicked in around 20 weeks, but thankfully I haven't been had more than a few really bad episodes. I am trying to drink more water which should not only help my digestion, but also should keep me from swelling as much. I usually get a lot of swelling in the last couple months, so I am really hoping to avoid that. I am measuring a bit small, as always. That is likely to change near the end, though, as the baby grows and changes position. Sciatica is still bothering some, but mostly just when I accidentally sleep on my back, or sit in a funny position or something.

Well, I'm sitting here listening to the primary results, so I'm a little distracted right now and haven't come up with any good question of the week. Feel free to comment anyway, though!

Over Halfway!

2007-12-11T20:21:00.000-05:00

20 weeks--and I'm happy to be over the halfway mark! :) I had an appt. yesterday and all is well. Sherry found the baby's heartbeat with no problem, and it was loud and clear, about 153 beats per minute. Hooray! I forgot to ask her what my b/p was, but I'm assuming it was normal since she didn't say anything about it. My weight is up about 5 lbs. total, which is I think about what I'd gained at this point with Julia. I'm going to try to keep from bingeing over the holidays. :)

My sciatica is giving me fits tonight. I think I need to go to bed and hopefully it will straighten out overnight. I have a ton to do tomorrow because we are leaving for Ohio on Thursday. Heartburn has also started up already. I told Jim the baby is probably a boy, because the heartburn started earlier like it did with Sam. But then the heart rate was high, so it could be a girl. I don't think either way is a foolproof method of predicting. :)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: I am curious if the "heart rate prediction" held true for any of your kids (if you remember). For my two so far, it has been accurate. According to the "old wive's tale" (as I suppose it is) boys' heart rates are lower and girls' are higher. Sam's was usually in the 130s-140s and Julia's was in the 140s-150s. But I've heard of plenty of babies that are opposite (higher boys, lower girls).

18+ weeks

2007-11-29T10:06:00.000-05:00

I'm almost 19 weeks now, and everything seems to be going well. I had a checkup at about 17 weeks (about 1 1/2 weeks ago). I was a little disappointed because we still couldn't hear the baby's heartbeat. Sherry said she "needs" to hear it by 20 weeks, but "likes" to hear it earlier. I sure wanted to hear it earlier, too! But, I'm pretty sure everything is OK with baby, because I have been feeling movements off and on over the past week or so. Definite baby flutters! So I am excited about that. Hopefully the baby won't be playing hide-and-seek at my next appt. and we will be able to get the heartbeat right away. My next appt. is Dec. 10th--I'll keep you all posted.

I've been skimming through Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin, one of America's best known midwives. I borrowed it from Sherry. Even though I've already had two babies, I'm learning some new stuff from this book. It's very interesting and easy to read. I wish I'd read it before I had my first!

I'm really hoping and praying for a quick and easy labor like I had with Julia. From most of the things I've heard and read, third babies are a law unto themselves, though. :) One book (by another midwife) said that normally first labors are slow, second labors are fast, and third labors can be totally different from either of the first two. So here's my . . .

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: For those of you who've had three kids or more, what was the length/difficulty of each one? (Of course anyone can share their labor experience, but I'm especially interested in seeing the comparison between those with at least 3 kids!) My own labors so far were 5 1/2 hours (Sam) and between 2 to 2 1/2 hours (Julia).

16-ish weeks :)

2007-11-12T14:02:00.000-05:00

Not a whole lot of news to report, but I just wanted to post something! I've officially said good-bye to all my pants and jeans with button waistbands. They were starting to get really annoying. Jim graciously said I could buy some new pants for this "transition" time--actually, I'm hoping the ones I got may last me for the duration of the pregnancy. I got a couple pairs of comfy black pants with elastic waistbands (I have to exchange one because I got the wrong size, though), and another pair of khaki pants with an elastic/drawstring waist. I had been admiring some that my sister was wearing when she was here, and she said she found them at Target for about $20. I checked Target and was thrilled to find them on sale for about $14!! Hip hip hooray! :) So now I should be all set for a while. I'm not quite ready to get into maternity clothes yet, but it won't be long before I'll need to start wearing some of them--especially shirts.

I checked my weight today and so far I've still only gained about 2-3 lbs. total. I'm happy about that, because I have definitely not cut back on calories. :) I still haven't felt movement yet, but that doesn't worry me. I never felt Sam or Julia move until 18-20 weeks. Sherry said I may feel this one earlier (because I know what to expect), but then again, I may not.

I normally try to avoid having much caffeine while pregnant, but last night and today I've been guzzling Coke because I have a cold/sore throat, and it feels so good. I think it was a mistake to drink it last night, though. It took forever to get to sleep!

Sherry's assistant called today to let me know about a film they're going to be showing at a local high school. I'm not sure yet if I'll be going, but I checked out the film website and it sounds really interesting. It's called The Business of Being Born. Just for the record, I am NOT anti-hospital (and neither is my midwife). If someone prefers to have their babies in a hospital, fine! I am very thankful that hospitals and modern medical options are there if I should need to use them. But I do think it's sad that in America, birth interventions have become more and more standard, when they aren't truly necessary. I hope that I can see this film sometime, even if it's not this week--it looks like it could be quite an eye-opener.

I realized that I didn't have comment moderation turned on for this blog, which means I didn't notice that I had a couple new comments on my last post. I plan to go turn on that feature now, so I won't miss them anymore. Thanks for all the name suggestions--they were fun to read! I can't think of a new question for this week, but feel free to comment anyway. :) Hopefully I'll have a better update next week after my next appt. (on the 19th). Have a great week, everyone!

Here we go again!

2007-10-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

Well, I've started up this blog again to chronicle the milestones of my third pregnancy! Today I had my second visit with Sherry, my midwife. I had hoped we could hear the heartbeat at this appt., but she couldn't find it. Baby is still really little and gets away from the Doppler easily. We could hear the placenta loud and clear, though. :) I'm somewhere between 12-14 weeks. My own calculations put me at around 12-ish; Sherry's wheel thingy puts me at about 13 weeks, 5 days. So I guess for clarity's sake we'll just go with her dates unless we find out differently later in the pregnancy.

The rest of the visit was good. My b/p is fine so far, right on normal numbers. My blood work came back fine. I haven't gained any weight yet (yay!) but I'm sure I will start packing it on before long.

Some of our good friends who live nearby watched our kids while Jim and I went to the appt. It was a blessing to have some alone time and a pizza date afterwards!

I guess that's about all the pregnancy news I have to report so far! Not too much exciting stuff yet. :)

Question of the Week: I am starting to think a little bit about names. One interesting thing (that we didn't plan) is that Sam and Julia's names both contain the letters A, U, and L. I am curious if any of you can think of other names that contain those 3 letters? Not that we are set on using those letters in every kid's name or anything, I just thought it would be neat to see what names you all could think of. Who knows, maybe we'll end up using one of them. I have a couple that I have come up with so far. But basically we don't have any idea yet what we will name this new little one! I'm sure we'll come up with some good choices in time, though. :)

2 1/2 Weeks Post-Partum

2006-05-16T12:53:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! I think this will be my final entry on my pregnancy blog. I'm sad to end it, but it makes more sense at this point to update about both kiddos on my regular blog. :) I have had such a blast doing this, though, and especially enjoyed all the interaction with my readers on the "Questions of the Week." I am definitely going to print this blog out, including all the comments, and put it into a binder to keep forever.

Julia is on her 17th day of life now, and doing wonderfully. She had her 2 week checkup today and it all went really well. We saw a new lady (a nurse practitioner, I believe) and liked her very much. It turns out she is a friend of Sherry's and used to be her neighbor! I have really appreciated the attitudes of both this lady and our favorite pediatrician there, regarding homebirth. Some drs. will really give you a skeptical look and attitude when you mention homebirthing, but both of these have been very accepting and supportive of it, which is so nice. Anyway, back to the checkup . . . :) Julia is up to 7 lbs. now, which was encouraging and shows that she is eating very well. They like to see babies back up to their birthweight by their 2 week checkup, so she is well past that! She has also grown a half inch, bringing her up to 19". She still has a touch of jaundice, but I think it is almost gone. Maybe someday we will get to see sunshine around here again, and then I can give her some more sun baths and get rid of it completely! :)

I was looking back over the guesses that everyone made about the baby to see what the results were. Here's who came the closest:

Gender: I think everyone guessed a girl, although a couple people put guesses for both a boy and girl. So everyone's a winner on this one!

Date: No one guessed an April date. Mrs. T (my mom) came the closest, with her guess of May 2nd.

Weight: Joanne was right on with her guess of 6.5 lbs!

Length: Anne and Joanne were the closest, guessing 20" . . . Julia was a shortie, in fact, at 18.5".

It was fun to see how close you all came! Thanks for guessing. :)

Big congratulations go out to Shyla, who had her baby boy on Mother's Day!! It's funny to realize that her newborn is heavier and longer than my 2 week old. :) She was due a week before me, though!

Today is my official due date, LOL! I'm so glad I didn't have to wait this long to meet baby Julia. As for me, I am feeling so good and I think I am just about all healed up from the birth. I've lost about 20 lbs. of my pregnancy weight, leaving about 14 lbs. to go. I know those are going to come off a bit slower than the first 20! I've only had a few attacks of the baby blues, and I've been feeling quite energetic, but trying not to overdo it. Now . . . just got to work on shedding the baby belly so I can fit into my summer clothes. You would think that would be all the motivation I need to get down and do some crunches, but it hasn't happened yet! :D

I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on this blog; it helped make this whole pregnancy and birth even more enjoyable to be able to share the experience with others. I have had so much fun writing about it. I know most of you also read my other blog, so I'm sure I will keep hearing from you all now and then. :) Take care, and thanks so much for sharing this journey with me!

Julia's Birth Story

2006-05-01T12:20:00.001-05:00

Baby Julia--1 day old

Here's the full story, at least as much as I can remember of it! Some of the details regarding time, etc. are fuzzy because everything happened so fast.

I had hoped that my water would break so that I would KNOW when it was the real thing, but that didn't happen this time around. But on Saturday morning, I started wondering if something was starting, because of a few physical signs that I noticed. Throughout the day, I was having quite a lot of swelling in my ankles again, causing me to decide to rest and elevate my feet that afternoon. Jim pulled out the "hide a bed" from the couch, and I laid there and watched "Roman Holiday" while Jim and Sam did things outside. When the movie was almost over, I paused it to go to the bathroom. At that time, I noticed that I was having some "bloody show" which is one of the signs that labor may be starting soon. I kept checking it for a little while, and the bleeding was increasing over the next half hour or so, so I decided to call Sherry and let her know that something was happening. We agreed that I would call her again when and if things picked up. I also called my mom, to put her on the alert that we might need them to come and get Sam before the evening was over. At this point, I wasn't yet having any contractions, just a very little bit of a crampy feeling. I can't remember what time all this was happening, but I think it was around 4:30 or 5 pm, or maybe a little later.

Within what seemed like only a few minutes, but may have been a half hour or so, contractions had started. At first, they weren't very bad, and I could walk and talk through them with no problem. I zoomed around, straightening up the house, and getting out some of the birth supplies. Jim helped make up the bed with the labor sheets, and fed Sam some supper. I called my mom again and told her that it would be good if they could come get Sam as soon as possible, since labor had definitely started. We got all of Sam's stuff ready to go, and my dad arrived to get him around 6:20 or 6:30 (just guessing here). Before this, I had also called Sherry again (around 6 pm, I think) and told her that I was having contractions that were about 3 minutes apart, and lasting about 30 seconds. I was still talking through them, but it was getting harder to do so. She asked if I would like her and Amy (the assisting midwife) to get ready and come up. I thought I may be jumping the gun a bit, but told her that I would like them to, because I just thought I would be more comfortable knowing they were here. It was nice to know that Sherry was on the way!

As soon as Sam had left, Jim got some more stuff ready while I tried to get myself comfortable when each contraction hit. I tried curling up on the bed with a rice bag, sitting on the toilet, and standing up leaning over and holding onto the bed or the hope chest, and breathing through them. Jim then took a quick shower. As he was finishing up, I was having a really strong contraction, which I was groaning through, and he asked me, "So, do you think you're heading into transition?" At which point I "lost it" a little and said that I really didn't know, and for him to please not ask me questions because I did NOT want to talk right then! Then I felt so bad and apologized for getting upset . . . but he wasn't hurt--he just figured that I had answered his question with a big "yes" by the way I responded. :) He asked if I would like him to run a bath for me. At first I said no, and then I changed my mind, thinking that the warm water would probably feel good and might dull the pain. At this point, the contractions were definitely closer together than 3 minutes--probably more like 1 1/2-2 minutes.

Once I got into the bath (I'm guessing this was around 6:45), I did feel better. The hot water felt wonderful. I had several more contractions, and though the pain wasn't really dulled, I just felt a bit more relaxed being in the water. I yelled to Jim that I needed him, so he came in and I grabbed his hand through the contractions. Now that they were coming so close together, I started to get nervous that Sherry might not make it in time, but I thought I was crazy to even be thinking that. But I told Jim that I thought he should get out the paper she gave us called "When Baby Arrives before the Midwife," and look it over. He did so, while I sat in the bath and groaned some more. At one point I remember saying, "I hope Sherry gets here soon!" and just about that time, Jim jumped up and went out of the bathroom, and then I heard him talking to someone, so I assumed that she had just arrived. Jim and Sherry came back into the bathroom, and she asked how I was doing. I'm not sure how I responded, but I think I said I was OK (I was between contractions at that point). She went back into the bedroom to set up her supplies, and I grabbed Jim's hand again as another contraction hit, this time with a lot more pressure. There was this sort of "explosion" (that's really how it felt, like a big balloon popping!) and we realized that my water had broken, and the bath was now filled with all kinds of icky stuff. But there was no getting out now, because after my water broke, I had a sudden overwhelming urge to push! I said to Jim, "I think I have to push!" and I heard Sherry call from the bedroom, "What did she just say?" To which Jim yelled, "She thinks she has to push!" Sherry said, "That's what I thought I heard!" and came right back in the bathroom. She said she usually wouldn't do an internal exam so soon, but she'd better just check and see what was going on. As she checked me, she said that the head was right there! I was almost starting to panic because of how fast everything was happening. Sherry stayed very calm and helped me focus on her, and slow down my breathing as I pushed. The baby's head was crowning after probably 1 or 2 pushes (again, I can't remember for sure); it was unbelievable to me that I would be holding my baby in a few more seconds. Sherry asked Jim if he wanted to catch the baby, but I interrupted that he couldn't because I needed to squeeze his hand! Fortunately he didn't mind; I think he would rather have her do the catching, anyway, since she's experienced at it. :) I think I had about 2 more pushes, which brought out the baby's head, then I had to hold back for a minute while Sherry unwrapped the cord from around the baby's neck. It wasn't tight, but just looped around. Then I pushed the rest of the baby out into the water (the easy part), and then Sherry put her up on my chest and suctioned her nose and mouth. After a few seconds, we looked to see what we had, and were amazed to realize it was a baby girl!!! She was covered with white vernix, but was so beautiful to us. She only cried a tiny bit, but was mostly very calm--probably because of being born into the water. Sherry checked her heartbeat, and covered her up with towels, and then I just cuddled her there in the tub for a while, with Jim kneeling beside us. In the meantime, Sherry called the other midwife, to let her know she didn't need to come after all. Then she took a cord blood sample to test and find out the baby's blood type, and then when the cord stopped beating, she clamped it and Jim cut it. By this time, we had decided for sure to name her Julia Anne. We had two possible girl names picked out, but we decided she looked like a Julia. :)

Jim took her from me and cuddled her while I got up and took a shower. That was another really nice part about giving birth in the tub--it was so easy for me to clean up afterwards! Then I got into bed and Sherry checked me for tears (I had only minimal tearing in the birth canal, and no perineal tears at all!), and then she did the Apgar tests on Julia, and declared her to be a perfect 10. Her color was nice and pink (under the vernix) and her reflexes and all that they check for were great. She also checked my blood pressure, which was around 140/85. It's so funny to me how God worked that out--there was no time for the b/p to even be an issue, since Sherry had no time to check it before the baby was born! She didn't even have time to check the fetal heartbeat with her Doppler, either. All the checking had to be done after the fact! Thankfully both mommy and baby came through the birth just fine, and were perfectly healthy. :)

So that is the birth story. Julia was born literally only 5 minutes or less after Sherry arrived! Jim ALMOST had his first experience delivering a baby. I am so very thankful that we did a homebirth, as we would never have made it to the hospital in time (we could have made it to our local hospital, but if I had been doing a hospital birth, it would have been at another hospital which is an hour away). And I definitely loved the whole homebirth experience. Of course it was still painful and all, but it was so nice to be in my own home, and crawl into my own bed afterwards. Everything felt much, much more relaxing.

Sherry with Julia and me, at our checkup yesterday

Well, I may think of more things to add to this later, but right now I need to go change Julia's diaper and nurse her. She is a sleepyhead, but she does nurse well when she finally wakes up enough to do so. She will have a checkup tomorrow with her pediatrician, so we will see how that goes. We are definitely enjoying our sweet little baby girl. God is good, and we are blessed!

Announcing the Arrival of . . .

2006-04-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

Julia Anne!!!! Yes, it's a girl!!! I can still hardly believe it. She arrived last night after an unbelievably short labor (approx. 2 hours) and about 4 or 5 pushes. She was 6 1/2 lbs. exactly and about 18.5" long. She's beautiful! Thank you all so much for your prayers . . . I will try and post the longer version of the birth story pretty soon. :)

37 Weeks

2006-04-25T14:30:00.000-05:00

I had my 37 week appt. yesterday . . . good news and bad news! The good news is, I'm now in safe territory for a homebirth. The not-so-good news is that my b/p jumped this week, to 130/90. :( So please, please keep praying that I won't have it skyrocketing during labor. I'm definitely hoping to see it come back down before my next appt. or before I go into labor, whichever comes first. I don't recall the numbers, but I know that at my last one or two appts. before Sam was born, that my b/p had also increased. I just don't want a repeat of last time, and I'd definitely rather not have to transfer to a hospital. Sherry will definitely be keeping a very close eye on it during the whole labor, and I feel comfortable knowing that she is not one to take risks, and if I need to be in a hospital, she will transfer me. However, I'm just disappointed to have it go up at all . . . it had been staying so consistent, and to have it jump that much in a week kind of floored me. I'm working on upping the protein/fiber intake again, as well as drinking as much water as I can. The problem is, that lately the baby has really been pressing on my bladder, which makes me have to go all the time anyway . . . add a bunch of extra water, and it makes for uncomfortable days!!

Other than the b/p, everything looked great at my checkup. Baby has moved over a bit and is taking up more room in the center of my tummy, rather than being off to the side as it has been. It was funny; last week I was measuring at around 33 weeks due to baby's position, but now that it changed position, I'm measuring 36 weeks! Besides the bladder pressure, I've also had more heartburn again, due to the baby's bottom being squished up under my ribs. :) We went over a little childbirth refresher stuff with Sherry, and talked about pushing positions, etc. She sent us home with a couple birth videos, which I watched last night and today. It helped get me geared up for the birth in some ways, although a little more nervous at the thought of going through all that again, too!
One of the videos had footage of Brazilian women giving birth in a squatting position, which is really aided by gravity. It was interesting to watch, although definitely very graphic . . . and I decided after watching it that a lot of us American women are pretty wimpy about pain compared to the Brazilians! Or maybe I should not say wimpy, but they just handle it differently. They're just sitting there, hardly making any sound or even grimacing . . . whereas in the videos of American women, they often make a LOT of noise and scrunch their faces up tremendously! It will be interesting to see how I handle labor this time around. With Sam, I didn't make a whole lot of noise (not that I'm all stoic or anything--I just handled things better with grunting or something). I guess everyone handles pain in very different ways. For some women, it must be relieving to let out a yell. :)

Baby's heartbeat was in the high 160s this time; it sure has jumped around a lot! I'm definitely hoping to go into labor soon, but I'm trying not to get too impatient, knowing it could still be a while.

I've had fun reading all the guesses on my question of the week from last time. If anyone else wants to guess, go for it!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: How did you feel upon seeing your baby for the first time?

ETA: I'm finally getting around to putting a picture up . . . it was taken this evening, so I'm at 37 weeks, 3 days. I had to tape down my belly button because it has really popped a LOT now! I figured I'd better take a picture, because you never know . . . I may have the baby in a day or two. (She said hopefully . . . :)) I had a "false alarm" on Weds. and really thought that would be the day, but though I started out with contractions in the morning, they stopped within a few hours. So we are still waiting! I'm really hoping my water breaks--it was nice to have that happen with my first labor, because that way I knew it was the real thing! I also wanted to mention that I took my blood pressure at Walmart tonight, on the free b/p thingy by the pharmacy. I don't know how accurate it is, but my result was 143/87. Since the second number is the main one to be concerned about, I was very happy to see that it was down a bit since Monday. Looks like my dietary changes and water intake is helping. :)

The big question: How much longer??

2006-04-19T20:56:00.000-05:00

Here I am at 36 weeks. I've been counting down for weeks now, but I guess now I'm REALLY counting down! I feel so ready to have the baby, but I know it could be anywhere from a few days to 4 weeks or more from now.

Sherry came yesterday for the home visit, and everything went well. My b/p was lower (118/82); thanks for all your prayers! Keep 'em coming! :) Baby's position is still great. Sherry could feel the head really well, as could I when she was pushing on it! Jim missed this appointment, but my mom was here, along with Sam, so it was neat to have them both get to be in on it. Baby's heartbeat was in the mid-high 130s. My results from the Group B strep test were negative, praise the Lord! My weight was up another couple pounds, so about 34 lbs. total.

Lately I've been daydreaming about my regular summer clothes . . . I can't wait to fit back into them! I hope it won't take too long to fit back into my regular capris. :)

ETA: I just thought of a good question of the week! I'd love to hear your guesses as to 3 things: Date I will have the baby, baby's gender, and baby's weight/length. I can't promise a prize to the person with the closest guess, but it will be fun to see if anyone does come close. Guess away!!

35 week update

2006-04-11T15:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo taken yesterday--getting bigger and bigger!!
I had my 35 week appt. yesterday and all went well. I do have one prayer request--my b/p is up a bit, at 110/86--not a really bad number, but still higher than it has been all along. Please pray that it will stay low and I won't have the hypertension issues in labor like I did with Sam. I had some really bad swelling in my ankles Sunday, as well. After putting my feet up for several hours and drinking plenty of water, the swelling went down and hasn't returned. I'm working specifically on drinking lots, eating more protein and fiber, and trying to rest a little more--which is challenging when I want to clean, clean, clean to get everything ship-shape before baby arrives! I've gained 32 lbs. so far--hoping I don't pack on too many more in the next few weeks, but Sherry says the weight gain is just fine. Baby's heartrate was in the 140s. From what Sherry could tell, the baby hasn't yet dropped, but that's quite normal for a second baby--sometimes they don't drop till you go into labor. I had thought that it might have dropped some, since I was getting a bit more pressure down toward my pelvis, but apparently not.

I don't know if I'll be right about this or not, but I do have the feeling that I won't go full-term with this baby. While a lot of this pregnancy has felt somewhat different than my first, the last few weeks have seemed almost identical to how I felt before Sam was born. It all makes me feel that the baby will be ready early, just like he was. But we'll see!

A friend of mine just had her baby boy last week, and he was born on her due date, but only weighed 5 lb. 12 oz. Looking at him, it was so hard to believe that Sam was that tiny (almost) when he was born--just 2 ounces heavier! He's grown into such a big boy now! He did the cutest thing last week . . . We always have a family Bible time before bedtime, and after that he gives me hugs and kisses, then Jim puts him to bed. One night we asked him if he wanted to hug the baby, so he hugged my tummy, then of his own accord said, "Love you, baby!" That just melted my heart! Now, if only he will still feel as loving when the baby is actually here . . . :)

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: For those of you who have more than one child, how did the older child(ren) adapt to having a new baby around? Did you do anything specific to prepare them for the change of having a new sibling?

My Favorite Baby Accessories

2006-04-04T12:42:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to do a post here on my favorite baby "stuff" and I would love to hear input from others on their favorite things, too. Contrary to what most of the baby magazines and TV commercials will tell you, you really don't need tons and tons of paraphernalia . . . that's why I didn't title this "My Favorite Baby Necessities," because most things are just accessories that are nice to have. Also, everyone is going to have different things that they love and use all the time. But anyway, here is a list of things that I have especially enjoyed using (and look forward to using again soon).

1. Boppy pillow--This has to be one of my top favorite things! My friend Mindee gave me hers when she was done with it, and I even bought another one later so I could have 2--one for in the car and one for in the house. This was so handy for nursing Sam, from the time he was tiny to when he was probably about 6 months old. It saved my back and was so comfy to use. It also is nice for propping a baby up when he's learning to sit.

2. Breast pump--I have an Avent Isis (manual, not electric) and it was really useful. I preferred not to use formula at all (personal preference; not criticizing anyone who does!), so it was nice to be able to pump bottles full of milk for when we were out sometimes, although I also didn't mind nursing him under a blanket out in public--till he got big enough to always try pulling the blanket off!

3. Snugli carrier--Another hand-me-down from Mindee, the Snugli front carrier was worth its weight in gold! It was such a nice way to transport Sam when he was small, and I wanted to go for a walk but not bother with the stroller, etc. I even used it sometimes in the house, when I was vacuuming or something. Jim also enjoyed using it--I think he probably used it as much as I did. Later on we got another one that could be a front or back pack, and we used that one quite a bit, as well. Sam took many naps in the Snugli--I think any kind of carrier like that (or a sling) is great because it helps baby feel so secure and close to mommy or daddy.

4. Portable swing--Since we lived in a tiny trailer, having a portable swing (rather than a full size one) was very helpful. The first one we had stopped working for some reason (not the batteries) when Sam got to about 10 lbs. I read reviews on that swing on Amazon and found that that was a common complaint with that particular model. I even wrote Graco a letter about it (complaining in a nice way) but unfortunately never got any response. We were able to borrow a Fisher Price swing after that, which worked really well. I'm definitely going to invest in another Fisher Price one for this baby!

5. Bouncy seat--This was also passed on to us, and Sam really liked it. I kept it at my mom's (no room in the trailer for both swing and bouncy seat), and it was very useful up there since I did laundry at her house several times a week.

6. Baby tub--Ours didn't have any bells and whistles such as some of them come with now (my cousin just got 2 of them at her baby shower which came complete with a shower handle, and one also was a "spa!"), but it works just great for bathing a little one. We would set the baby tub across the kitchen sink and use the sink sprayer for rinsing; it especially worked well for rinsing a soapy head.

7. Pack & Play--We were given a barely-used pack & play, and we didn't actually use it all that much with Sam. But with baby #2, I'm planning to use it as the baby's bed (placed next to our bed) for the first few weeks or months. The kids will eventually share a room, but we figure it will be less disturbing to Sam if we have the baby in our room to start with, for those all-too-frequent nighttime feedings! The pack & play we have has one of those "bassinet" thingys that attaches to the top, so the baby is higher up and easier to get in and out.

8. Onesies--AKA bodysuits :) I just love these for all ages--Sam still uses them even now. I don't think they make them a whole lot bigger than 24 mos. though . . . I especially love the Pampers brand (I think) that makes the newborn size with the umbilical cutout. So handy!!

9. Booster seat--This is for when the baby can sit up and start eating solid foods. We got a really nice one from Babies R Us for about $25 and it has been well worth it. It's handy for traveling, takes up little space in the house since it just straps onto a dining chair, and works well for babies from about 7 mos. or so, up to toddlers. Sam is still using his!

10. Stroller(s)--We have three so far: the Graco one that goes with the carseat/carrier, a jogging stroller that was given to us, and a small cheapie umbrella stroller that we got at Walmart. We've used and continue to use them all, although the Graco one doesn't see as much use since we got the jogger. We'll probably use it some again for the next baby, though, as it's very handy to put the carseat/carrier in when you're out and about. The umbrella stroller is great for outlet store shopping, or going in and out of stores that have small doorways and aisles, and the jogger is awesome for when you live on a dirt road, as we do.

I guess that's basically my "top ten" list. So, I'd love to hear others' favorite baby things, too! Share away!!

Oh, and pregnancy-wise, I don't have anything new to report--next appt. is on the 10th, so I'll try to update again after that.

33 Weeks . . . the end is in sight!

2006-03-27T20:30:00.000-05:00

I'm thankful to be approaching the 33 week mark in a couple days . . . it makes the time seem really close when I think that I had Sam at 37 weeks! However, I'm kind of hoping for this one to come a little later than that--38-39 weeks sounds good to me. :) Here's a picture of my continually growing belly--taken last week. It's not the best view of my belly, actually, but we'll try to get a better one soon.

I had a checkup today, and all is well with me and baby. My b/p was 110/80, still looking good, as it has been along. Baby's heartrate ranged from 150s down to 130s and then back up to 150s again. And baby's position is still fine, same as last time. We talked a bit about doing the Group B Strep test at 36 weeks--I had the option to decline, but I decided to go ahead and do it. If it happens to be positive (which is possible, but not all that likely) then I have to decide whether or not to do anything with the info. Just because a woman may have the Group B bacteria, doesn't necessarily mean that she will still have it at the time of delivery, or that the baby will be affected by it. There are options such as herbal remedies or getting antibiotics from a doctor to hopefully get rid of the bacteria. Anyway, I just would like to know if I test positive or not and then take it from there. At a regular dr., they automatically test for it at 36 weeks, and I guess it is common to give the mom IV antibiotics during labor if she is positive. I have no idea what my status was with Sam, since the test hadn't even come back yet, since he was born at 37 weeks. They may have given me IV antibiotics and I just didn't know it! We also talked about emergency procedures, such as what to do if the baby arrives before the midwife, etc. We also have a paper that tells all about that, and I'm sure Jim would do a fine job if need be--but I hope he won't have to!

We have started collecting some of the birth supplies, and I plan to have those all ready by 36 weeks at least. A lot of it is stuff I already have on hand. I'm really getting excited about our plans for a homebirth. It's so awesome to have Jim supporting me 100% in this, and I can tell he is looking forward to it, as well. I haven't really written much here yet about homebirthing, since I'm certainly no expert on the subject, and I feel that I after I actually do it, I will be able to write about it with a much more informed perspective. However, I have read up on it some and have talked exensively with several other homebirthers, and everything I've heard has been very positive. Some people don't think homebirthing is safe, but there have been plenty of studies done which show that it is just as safe as giving birth in a hospital, and sometimes more so--as long as a woman is not at high risk for any complications. Of course, things can still go wrong, but they can go wrong just as easily in a hospital. I appreciate Sherry because she is very dedicated to providing great care for mother and baby, and doing everything possible to ensure a safe birth. If any problems arise, she will immediately transfer mother and/or baby to a hospital. So I feel very comfortable, knowing that I most likely will be able to have a good birth experience in my own home, but should the need arise, that there is also a good hospital just 10 minutes away.

In other news . . . both Zan and Joey have had their babies within the past week and a half! Both ladies had baby boys that were 8+ lbs! Congratulations to both of you! I hope you and your families are all doing great.

QUESTION(s) OF THE WEEK: I would love to have any homebirthers share your experiences. I know that I have talked to some of you personally, but please feel free to share any thoughts and memories here for others to enjoy. Most people aren't very familiar with birth experiences outside of a hospital, so I'm sure it would be interesting for others to read!

Secondly, please share anything that helped you get through labor--I know for many women it is the epidural, but I won't have that option!--so I'm looking for relaxation techniques, massage, heat, concentrating on Scripture, etc. I know with my first, I was helped most by Jim breathing right on my face so I could follow along with him . . . I'm counting on that again, but I'm also hoping to try different positions, etc. for comfort. I would love to hear what worked for others!

Almost 31 Weeks

2006-03-13T21:48:00.000-05:00

I'm at nearly 31 one weeks now and had another appointment today. I can't believe how fast the weeks are flying by! Everything is going great. My b/p was 118/80, my weight was down a pound from last time (amazingly!), for a total of 22 lbs. gained so far, and I'm measuring around 29 weeks--again, I'm not really surprised, since I always measured small with Sam, too. I asked Sherry if she could tell the baby's position yet, so she felt around a bit and determined that she's quite sure the head is down (yay!). She could feel something big and round down there, anyway, and felt another lump higher up, above my belly button on the left side, which she thinks is baby's bottom. She also felt something high on the right side which moved away at her touch, which was likely a foot. So the baby's back is along my left side, as far as we can tell. It all makes sense because I feel movements both hight and low, but the lowest ones feel like hands/fingers (more of a crawly feeling), while the higher movements feel like kicks and rolls. I'm very happy to know that baby is headed the right directions and praying that he or she stays that way! There was a high school student observing Sherry for the day (she's doing a project on midwifery--pretty cool!), so she got to feel the baby's position as well. Baby's heartbeat was in the high 130s/low 140s this time.

I'm still having occasional sciatic twinges and heartburn, although the latter is nowhere near as bad as I had it with Sam. I've also had a bit of pain in my upper back, which is something I also experienced with Sam--same exact spot. None of these things are a big deal, though--just a part of late pregnancy and getting bigger and bigger. :)

Sam hung out with my parents during my appt. and then we ate supper with them afterwards, and Jim gave my dad a haircut. Now it's time to head for bed!

Let's all keep blog readers Zan and Joey in our prayers--they are both due to have babies any day now; hopefully all will go well for both of them when the time comes!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Share your 3rd trimester memories--what was the best part of late pregnancy? What was the worst part? Physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever . . . I find myself getting more and more emotional these days (not a good thing!). Poor Jim . . . Also, if anyone else has a good idea for topics for these weekly questions, please let me know! I find myself running short on ideas these days. :)

A quick update

2006-03-06T17:27:00.000-05:00

I had Jim take a couple belly pics for me yesterday--I wasn't thrilled with how I look in this one (I think I may have been blinking!), but it gives you an idea how much I've grown in 5-6 weeks.

Things seem to be going fine still--I have the occasional slight swelling in my fingers or ankles, but nothing major so far. I was feeling achy and a little crampy on Saturday, but I'm thinking it may have just been tiredness combined with indigestion. Over the past week, I've noticed that the baby gets the hiccups quite frequently. Sam used to get them all the time in utero, from 6 months on, so this one is a little later getting started. It's fun to feel, though it can get annoying when it keeps me from getting to sleep at night! Baby is very obliging at moving all over the place for Jim. We like to lie in bed with his hand on my belly for a little while before we go to sleep, and just enjoy feeling the rolls and kicks of the little one. This is also a special time when Jim gets to talk to the baby and "connect" with him or her for a little while.

Well, I better skedaddle for now and work on starting supper. Hope everyone is having a great week! I'll work on coming up with another question of the week for when I post about my next checkup (which will be a week from today).

The Nesting Urge Kicks In

2006-03-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

28+ weeks . . . I'm figuring I have anywhere between 9-12 weeks left (and hopefully no more than 12!). A few weeks ago, I noticed that I was getting more energetic and one day all I wanted to do was clean and organize. That evening I mentioned to Jim that I must be "nesting," and he answered, "Yup, that's what I was thinking earlier." I've found that the nesting urge continues, though it's not a daily occurence. :) Some days I just want to clean everything, and other days I just want to lie around and do nothing. I think Jim's caught the urge, too. Yesterday he got home from work early, so we decided to bring Sam's bunkbed upstairs and set it up. That led to moving his room all around, to make room for everything. Then we decided we needed to go buy a mattress for the bed, just in case he was interested in sleeping in it last night . . . then we had to get twin sheets, etc. He already had a comforter that his Grandma and Papa got him for Christmas, so we were all set with that. We finally got his room put back together and it looks really nice! Now if we could only get the walls and flooring finished pre-baby . . . :)

I had my 28 week appt. on Monday, which went well. Sherry did the finger prick blood test (I'm happy she doesn't make her clients drink the icky glucose drink except in rare cases!). My glucose and hemoglobin numbers were both very good--my iron level is actually at the high end for a pregnant woman, which is encouraging. After giving birth to Sam, I was a little bit anemic, but hopefully this time I can keep the iron right up there and not have any problem. My weight was up about 5 lbs. since last time (ackkk--5 lbs. in 2 weeks!), but she said it was fine and that my weight gain is on track. That means I've gained 23 lbs. total so far. I'm thankful to remember that I'll drop about 20 lbs. or so in the weeks immediately following the birth! I'm also not sure if my weight was totally accurate, seeing as we had a lot of salty food over the weekend, so I could be retaining water because of that. It'll be interesting to see what I weigh in 2 more weeks. My b/p is still doing fine--it was up a bit from last time, but still in the normal range--118/82. Baby's heart rate was in the high 120s/low 130s this time, which was a switch from the usual, but still fine. We also talked about whether or not I wanted to do the Rhogam shot now, or just wait till after the birth, which is what I decided to do. In most cases, it seems that there is not likely to be any problem that results from not having it in mid-pregnancy, so I would rather avoid it till afterwards, just in case the baby has a negative blood type as well, in which case he/she wouldn't need the shot. We also discussed birth preferences, such as when to cut the cord (she normally waits till it stops beating, which is fine with me--but she will of course take a cord blood sample as soon as possible in case the baby does have a positive blood type, so they can get the Rhogam going); whether we wanted to do the eyedrops and Vit. K for baby, etc. I don't see the eyedrops as a need unless baby has some kind of discharge from the eyes, or something, but I'm OK with the Vit. K. All in all it was helpful and informative, and I'm getting excited to be thinking so much about the birth already!!

It's funny to think back to what was happening exactly 2 years ago today. I had the first of my weekly midwife appts. during my pregnancy with Sam. (My due date was March 25 and I was excited to be at the point of going in once a week!) At that appt. I saw a midwife I hadn't met before, and she was a bit concerned because I was measuring small for my due date, so she ordered an ultrasound to check that my dates were on track. I had had a morning appt. and the ultrasound wasn't scheduled till afternoon, so we had a little time to kill, and went shopping, and probably out for lunch, though I don't remember for sure. I do know that after much deliberation, we bit the bullet and went to Best Buy, where we splurged on a digital camera! Anyway, I went back for the ultrasound, everything was fine, and we got a nice profile picture of the baby. We went home, where we ate a quick supper, and then I picked up my mom and headed over to my sister-in-law's house, where I THOUGHT we were going for a Tupperware party. Turned out that I was the only one who got a Tupperware invitation (yes, my SIL was VERY sneaky!!), and everyone else got invited to a surprise baby shower for me! The house was filled with friends from church, as well as relatives. It was such a fun and exciting evening and a very special time. We were blessed with so many lovely gifts, I was overwhelmed. Late that week, Weds. and Thurs. to be exact, the nesting urge kicked in big-time. I washed little sleepers and onesies, we set up the crib, and I cleaned the kitchen like a madwoman and cooked a chicken dinner on Thurs. night. Woke up Friday morning at 6, when my water broke. :) And of course you know the rest of the story! Were we ever glad that we had bought the dig. camera on Monday, since we had a very good reason to use it on Friday!!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Do you have any "nesting" stories? When did the nesting urge hit you (or did it)?

27-ish Weeks

2006-02-15T13:35:00.000-05:00

I had my most recent appointment with Sherry on Monday. She was using her little wheel thingy to calculate how far along I am, coming up with 26 weeks, 4 days . . . which seems off to me, since I figure that my "changeover day" (when I hit a new pregnancy week) is Tuesday--therefore, I think I hit 27 weeks yesterday. Whatever . . . it's only 2 or 3 days difference anyway. Just as long as that 2 or 3 day difference doesn't cause any problems if the baby decides to come right at 37 weeks (by my calculations). Any earlier than that, and I can't do a homebirth. I think Sherry would take that into account, though--since my due date is actually a Tuesday, and if you figure back from May 16, I would hit 37 weeks a little sooner than her wheel calculator says. Hmmm, reading back over this paragraph, I have no idea if it'll make any sense to my readers. :) Anyway, it is weird to think that this baby could show up anywhere from 10-14 weeks from now! We're starting to get close!

Everything went well at my appointment. My b/p was still good, around 102/80. Urine sample looked a lot better this time, too, now that I got rid of the UTI. Baby's heart rate is still in the 140s, with the occasional dip into the 130s. It's amazing how loud and strong it is now, and easy to find, compared with those first appointments. I'm measuring about a week behind, but that doesn't worry me because I consistently measured about a week behind with Sam, enough so that one of the midwives got concerned at my 36+ week checkup and ordered an ultrasound, to make sure everything was on track and they didn't have to push my due date back. However, he came along 4 days later, and was just fine--he was small, but healthy! So maybe I'm just the type to measure small with all my pregnancies. I asked Sherry if she could tell what position the baby's in yet, but it was a little early to tell for sure. She thought from the way I'm carrying, that the baby may be transverse right now, but there is still plenty of time for him/her to move around and get headed the right way. :) And as active as this one is, I bet the position changes several times a day! We also talked a bit about birth supplies--I had considered buying a birth kit online, but all the ones I've found seem to include a lot of stuff that I don't need (things that Sherry will already have with her, such as gloves, gauze, etc.), so I've decided to just buy the things I need locally. That way I don't end up with a bunch of stuff that won't get used. I'm still going back and forth on renting a birth tub . . . I THINK I would like to use one, but I'd hate to spend the money and then find out I don't like it . . . Since my only birth experience thus far was completely in a lying/half sitting position on a bed, I just don't know for sure what comfort positions, etc. I'm going to want to use this time around.

My weight gain is pretty good--18 lbs. thus far. I know that I'll probably pack on a lot more during the last trimester, though!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: (a silly one)--Did/does your belly button pop out while you were pregnant? With my first, it did pop out a little, mostly just the top of it. So far it looks like it will do the same this time around. It's one of those things that makes me laugh to look at it!

I want a Bella Band!!

2006-02-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

My Old Navy jeans are giving me fits--I thought they would stay up better as my tummy expanded, but instead, they are falling down more and more! I have been really wanting to get a Bella Band. Have any of you ever used one? I think it would be worth the $$ in the long run, as it would save my hems from getting any more trodden on, plus I could use it for future pregnancies.

As far as baby goes, everything seems fine at 26+ weeks. I have my next appt. coming up on Monday, so I'll update again then.

25 Weeks--Here comes the heartburn

2006-02-03T15:35:00.000-05:00

I had high hopes that I was going to avoid having heartburn with this pregnancy, since I had pretty much sailed through up to this point without experiencing much. But this week, as if right on cue, I started having problems with it. Thankfully, though, it isn't continual (so far) and I haven't had much trouble with it at night, thanks to my wonderful wedge-shaped foam pillow! Other than that, the pregnancy continues to progress without much discomfort.

It's hard to remember for sure, but it seems that this little one is more active than Sam was at this age. He or she is quite the wiggleworm! I'm feeling bigger and bigger, and am definitely continuing to gain weight, but a lot of people that I've seen lately have commented on how small I am for being this far along. I can't say as I mind--I will start to pop out and get huge all too soon! Sometimes it seems that May is ages and ages away, and then at other times it seems that it's right around the corner. I am very excited to meet the baby, but there is also a lot that I would like to get done before he/she makes an appearance! The main thing being to finish the kids' room! Jim is currently in the process of making a bunk bed for Sam, so we can hopefully get him used to it before the baby takes over his crib. :) It's coming along really well, and should be done before long. At this point, I plan to keep the baby in our room for a little while to start with, probably in the pack-and-play beside our bed. I think that will make it a lot easier for nighttime nursings, and also not be as distracting for Sam. When Sam was a newborn, that wasn't an option for us because there was no place in our room to squeeze him in, unless it was in bed with us, which made us a little more nervous. Now that I've had a little experience with a baby in our bed from time to time, I wouldn't mind doing it sometimes, but we also like our space, and I think having the baby right by the bed will work out best. Then in a few months, we can move him or her into Sam's room, which will then become their room!

My UTI is gone now, thanks to the amoxycillin, and I'm feeling a lot more energetic. Hooray! Having Jim home for the past 2 weeks has also been helpful, as he has graciously let me sleep in a lot while he gets up with Sam. The bad part is, I could get spoiled to this!

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: For those of you who have more than one child, did your different pregnancies "feel" different? I mean, did you seem to carry different ones differently, get sick with some and not with others, have heartburn, back pain, or whatever with different ones? Some people I've heard say they feel different with boys or girls--while some say they felt the same with each pregnancy. I have to say there are a few things that feel different this time around--heartburn definitely didn't start as early, and for some reason I feel prettier than I did while pregnant with Sam. That's probably just a mental thing, though. :) But overall, most things feel similar this time around. I'd love to hear others' experiences!

A little off-topic--children's rooms

2006-01-25T14:32:00.000-05:00

I just couldn’t resist writing another post this week, dealing with the topic of “nursery” decor! On another blog I’ve been reading lately, the mommy-to-be is trying to decide how to decorate the baby’s room. This was something we didn’t actually put a whole lot of thought into before having Sam, mainly because his crib was going to be in the living room to start with. :) Eventually, we did move him into his own room--sort of--it was also where Jim’s desk, a bookcase, and huge file cabinet resided, though, so it still wasn’t really just Sam’s room. Plus, since we knew we would be leaving the trailer soon and moving into our house, there wasn’t a lot of point in putting work into decorating there. We did buy a crib set, however--that was one of the first things we bought for the baby, early in my pregnancy. We didn’t have a lot of money to spend, and ended up with a very cute Raggedy Ann and Andy set in primary colors, which was on clearance at Walmart for about $40. Later on, other family members contributed matching accessories, and a good friend made a beautiful matching quilt. We figured this would be pretty much a “gender-neutral” theme that we could use through all our children, and we still plan to. After all, the baby only stays a baby for so long, and then will be moving into a bigger bed, and probably then you will be picking out all different things anyway!

This brings me to the even more fun topic of children’s rooms--moving beyond the nursery stuff. I want to decorate my children’s rooms (or room, at this point) in a way that will grow with them and be appropriate for a good while. For Sam, I have decided to do a cowboy theme. I think that is so cute for a little boy, and I have already collected a lot of things to go in his room--many have been gifts. He now has a twin-size comforter (to go on a bed that Jim hasn’t built yet :D), a growth chart from Olive Kids in the "Ride 'Em" theme, a bunch of cowboy themed picture frames, shelf brackets, and some other little wall hangings with his name, etc. We are still going back and forth on how to do the walls in the room . . . we may do them in all wood, or we may do wood wainscoting (natural color) and paint on on the top half of the walls. If we go that route, I’m thinking a medium blue paint would be nice. I want to keep the walls in a color scheme (if we use color) that will go with both a cowboy theme as well as the Raggedy Ann and Andy things, since both kids will be in the same room, at least for a while. If we have another boy, that will make things easy anyway, since I can just do cowboy stuff for him, too, when he gets bigger. Having a girl would present more challenges, but I’m sure we could come up with something fun!

Eventually, of course, a girl would need to be in her own room . . . and I have all kinds of ideas for what I would LOVE to do to decorate. I so hope that we are blessed with a girl eventually!! Anyway, here’s what I would like to do in a girl’s room: Make it a storybook theme. Copy pictures (or find calendar pictures, etc.--I already have some) from my favorite girls’ books, and frame them. I’m thinking of “Anne of Green Gables,” “Betsy-Tacy,” “Little Women,” etc. Maybe even some Little House. I would want to decorate the walls with either old fashioned looking wallpaper, or old-fashioned, delicate colored paint. Maybe a pale sage green and cream stripe, or something like that. I don’t want all pink, though! Probably paint would be the way to go, because then if she wants to redecorate as she gets older, it would be easier to paint over that than change wallpaper. I’m not sure what would be nicest for bed coverings--maybe a simple cream colored spread, or maybe a toile pattern of some kind--but I would definitely want to get this afghan as a part of the decor! Maybe to drape over a rocking chair. It would also be nice to have an old-fashioned looking mirror and dried flower arrangements here and there. Oh, wouldn’t that be the most fun room ever! Now, hopefully my daughter would enjoy it as much as I would!! :)

So here’s another QUESTION FOR THIS WEEK: How are your children’s rooms decorated? Specific themes, or just well-loved accessories? How would you like to decorate as they get older? Anyone can chime in here, not just moms--because some of you will be moms in the future and may already have ideas! I would love to hear them.

24 week update

2006-01-23T16:58:00.000-05:00

Here we are at 24 weeks already! Yes, I know that the baby belly isn't showing up too good yet . . . but I"ll try to take more pics in the same shirt later in the pregnancy to compare. It will definitely pop out more in the weeks to come! :)

Front view:

Side view:

First of all, I should report on my midwife appointment last week. I had been scheduled to see Sherry on Monday, but as she was at a birth that day, I got rescheduled for Friday. Everything is continuting to go well with the pregnancy. My blood pressure was lower than usual this time--102/80, whereas it's normally right around 120/80. So that was fine with me! Baby's heartbeat was find-able right away, now that the little one has moved up a bit and is growing bigger. The heart rate was in the high 140s/low 150s this time. We talked a bit about a few questions I had--such as, what happens to the placenta after the birth? Do I dispose of it, or does she? She told me that often people will bury it and plant a tree over it, which I think might be a neat idea. Otherwise we can double bag it and throw it away, or we can donate it to a midwifery school for study. :) She told us about this one guy who flushed it down his toilet!!! Can you imagine? Then later he was on some tour or the local water treatment plant, and they were telling about strange things that they had found that wouldn't go through the grate . . . "Yeah, one time we found a placenta!" He didn't say anything, but he knew it had to be the one from his kid! I don't think the average person would come up with that method of disposing of it. :)

Last week I was fighting off a urinary tract infection and thought I had it beat a few times. But after doing the urine test at my appt, it was evident there was still something going on in there, by the higher than normal count of leucocytes, etc. Sherry recommended that I watch it closely and go see a dr. if it didn't clear up soon. I decided to give it till today and see if it got better over the weekend, but I could tell by last night that it was still there. In fact, we ended up skipping church again because by the time we got all ready to go, I was really dragging, and all I wanted to do was lie down. Standing up, and even continual sitting, made me feel like I had to go to the bathroom all the time. Jim told me to go take a nap, which was definitely the best thing for me right then. I later got up for a few hours, then went back to bed and slept well all night. This morning I called a dr. and got right in to get the UTI checked out. Sure enough, it was still hanging on, so it was a good thing I went in. I got a prescription for amoxycillin and have started taking them 3x a day. So I should be feeling a lot better soon. I'm the type that hates to take meds. while pregnant, but sometimes it's just a necessary thing to prevent a more serious problem.

Of course, the baby's constant activity in utero this week hasn't helped my feeling of needing to go all the time! :) A few times it's felt like he or she is using my bladder for a trampoline. And I still have 16 +/- weeks to go!

Jim was reading over some of my posts here a while back and commented that I should clarify something I had written in Sam's birth story. Right at the end of it, I wrote this: I never even got to use the labor tub, as I had hoped, but in the end, I didn't even care! I was just so focused on getting him out, it didn't really matter what means were used to accomplish it! My dear hubby thought that last sentence made it sound like I didn't care how he came out, whether it was all natural (as planned) or via c-section, or with the use of suction, or having to have an episiotomy, etc. What I really meant was that I didn't care that I didn't get to use the tub for labor. :) Now just to clarify a little more, of course the most important thing of all to me, was having a healthy baby. If the means of episiotomy, suction, c-section, etc. (in other words, less "natural" things) had to be used to accomplish this (as they occasionally are), then I would have been OK with that, even though I'm sure it would have been somewhat disappointing. And I'm not criticizing anyone who may not have been able to have an all natural birth, not at all! I know that totally depends on the individual mom, caregiver, and circumstances of the birth. I'm just very thankful that I was able to be blessed with a straightforward, med-free birth, as I had hoped. And I pray that the same will be true for this next time!!

Now, for the QUESTION OF THE WEEK: (I realized that "question" is a better term to use than "poll" since I'm not asking anyone to vote on anything!) I get a lot of people who ask if I know what I'm having, or if I'm planning to find out. Nope, I don't and I'm not--I like to be surprised. :) But I was wondering about the other moms who read this blog--did you/do you like to try and find out the gender of your baby ahead of time? Why or why not? Have fun sharing your tales!

The best things about pregnancy

2006-01-12T22:36:00.000-05:00

First of all, I was looking back over my posts and found a comment from my friend Elisha that I hadn't seen before--sorry about that Elisha!!! I just hadn't gone back and scanned the comments for a while. Anyway, thanks for commenting and feel free to visit often! :) Thanks for the recommendation about Old Navy pants, too--I actually just bought my first pair of jeans from there while we were in Ohio, and I really like them for the most part. The only problem is that I had to get a large (to get them to fit everywhere else) but the waistband is a little big still, because of that. So they tend to slide down--I know they're supposed to be low-rise, but I don't like feeling like they're always falling off! Other than that, though, they're very comfy. :)

I keep meaning to share the things I enjoy about being pregnant. Others have already mentioned many of them: knowing there is a precious baby growing inside me is probably the best thing! I love feeling the kicks and wiggles, and also I think it is so fun when the baby gets hiccups! I think I may have felt a few of those already. I love it when Jim is able to feel the movements, as well--seems to bring us closer together in regards to the baby, somehow. And I think it makes the whole thing more real for him, too. I love thinking about this new little one and wondering who he or she is, what his/her personality will be like, etc. As my friend Mindee mentioned, it is also fun to be able to eat all those good things "for the baby." I've been really bad about that over the holidays!!

Things that I'm not as crazy about: feeling tired most of the time, having to go to the bathroom more and more often, aches and pains, heartburn, and (this time around) not being able to jus take a nap whenever I feel like it, because I have another little one to look after! I have mixed feelings about seeing my tummy expand. On the one hand, it is neat to see and special because I know there is a good reason for it. Plus, it is fun to wear my maternity clothes again. On the other hand, I miss my waistline! I am not one of the women who feels beautiful during pregnancy--more just large and clumsy!

So those are some of my pros and cons. In the end, of course, the pregnancy experience is well worth it, in spite of the things I don't like so much. It also makes a fun bond with other moms because I've found that most of us enjoy sharing pregnancy-related tales, as well as birth stories. :)

POLL OF THE WEEK: BABY NAMES
No, I'm not asking you to help me decide on a name, but I'm curious if others have a hard time deciding on names with your hubby? Jim and I seem to have very few names that we both like. He likes very old fashioned names, some of which are ones I like OK, but others which I don't! I'm not all into trendy names, but I like a lot of names that he can't stand. I know we will end up with a good name, but the process seems to take a while. So, share your naming stories! I've heard of some couples that take turns picking out their kids' names, but I would be scared to do that! :)

22 Weeks--Over Halfway There!

2006-01-09T16:05:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted a pregnancy update. First, I must back up and fill you in on my 19 week appointment! Everything was good-- it took a while to find baby's heartbeat, just because he/she kept moving away from the doppler, but once Sherry found it, it was nice and strong. And fast, around the 150s this time. My weight is still good; I think I've gained about 7-10 lb. depending whose scale you go by. I think I'll go with my scale, which is the 7 lb. one! Sherry said 10 was just fine, though. My blood pressure is still staying very consistent, which I'm thankful for--right around 120/80. So far so good! We also talked about birthing tubs and she has done a lot of water births, and gave me a name of a lady in Maine that has a business of renting the Aquadoulas, and she even comes and sets it up for you, and then comes back and takes it down when you're done. Her price also sounded better than the one I found at the Aquadoula website. So we may look into that. She thinks waterbirths are great, but even if you just use the tub for parts of labor, that that is great too. Just whatever the individual mom is comfortable with. I've always been interested in the idea of a waterbirth, and having the option of using the tub would be nice, I think.

So it was a good appointment, and I'm looking forward to the next one, which will be next Monday! I'm NOT looking forward to getting on my scale and seeing how much I've gained over the holidays, though--too much sweet stuff!!

I'm definitely getting a bigger tummy all the time, and baby is also getting a lot more active, which is fun. :) The movements are strong enough for Jim to feel most of them, now. I've started to have a little heartburn now, but nothing too bad. Usually having one Tums will take care of it, if it gets bad enough for me to even bother with the Tums. I know it may get worse, the farther along I get, as it did with Sam, but I'm hoping not.

The other big news (not really pregnancy related, though) is that I was able to finally get Sam completely weaned around the beginning of December. We had been down to one nursing a day for quite a while, but even that was just starting to get to me, since I was already tired from being pregnant. We finally just stopped, and it was a lot easier and smoother than I expected. I guess we were both ready! It's a little bittersweet, but I am SO thankful to have a break before starting in with nursing the next baby. There is nothing more special than the sweet bond that nursing your child creates, and I'm happy that we were able to continue for so long, but I am also glad that I was able to accomplish my goal of weaning him before Christmastime.

I'll try to be more timely with my next update, which should be after my next appoinment. Thanks for reading!

Sam's Birth Story

2005-12-12T09:30:00.001-05:00

I was inspired by Crystal, who recently shared her daughter's birth story on her blog. I wrote Sam's story all out in an email to a friend soon after he was born, so here is the somewhat condensed and edited version. I thought it might make sense to share it on this blog rather than my regular one, since this one already has to do with pregnancy stuff. Be forewarned, though--it's still very long! It will be fun to compare our next birth story with this one in about 5 months or so.

My water broke at 6 am on Friday, March 5th, 2004. I called the midwives and was told to come in at 9 so they could confirm
that that's what had happened. At this point I wasn't having any noticeable contractions, just fluid gushing out and getting me all wet! So that was a little uncomfortable, but not all that bad. My appt. was with Katrina, which was nice since I was already familiar with her. One thing we noticed right away was that she was dressed in scrubs, so we figured she must be delivering that day. She confirmed that yes, my membranes had ruptured, and she didn't want to do an internal exam because after the membranes rupture they try to keep them to a minimum to reduce the chance of infection. But as far as she could see by just looking, I wasn't dilated yet, or at least only a tiny bit at the most. She put me on the monitors for about half an hour, during which I was having some contractions, but not painful ones. Some of them had a tiny bit of cramping, but mostly it was just a tightening feeling like all Braxton Hicks. They were about 7-8 min. apart at that point. She said we may as well go home, and get some rest, and if my contractions hadn't sped up at all by about 6 pm, to call in and then come in, because they would likely have to induce me. We made sure she knew that we lived an hour away from the hospital, and she was very casual about it--to the effect of, well, it's your first baby; you'll have plenty of time. :) All the way home, the contractions were still about 7-8 min. apart, and I started getting a little more cramping with them, but not much. The gushing fluid was still the most uncomfy thing. We stopped off at Walmart for a few minutes, then came home to have some lunch and pack any last minute things that we may have forgotten in our frenzied packing that morning.
(We took everything with us that we thought I may need for labor, etc., since we thought we might have been staying.) It wasn't more than half an hour after we got home, that my contractions really picked up--started getting very crampy and about 3-5 minutes apart! I called Katrina again and she was very surprised that they had sped up that much, but still not really thinking I needed to hurry back. She said not to rush over there since I still probably had a while to go, but to
come within an hour or 2. She said when I felt like I needed to be at the hospital and not at home anymore, that was the time to come. Well, that time arrived very rapidly! I was trying to eat some lunch, and was getting such terrible cramps that I kept having to rush to the bathroom between bites. I couldn't believe how fast this had all happened. I decided we needed to leave before too long, but wanted to take a shower first to see if that would relax me. It did help, and I didn't look forward to getting out and making the hour long drive back there, but I knew we had to leave!

All the way back to the hospital I kept having contractions about 3 minutes apart; some were extremely painful and I got a little cranky with Jim, who was trying to comfort me and remind me to breathe through them. :) Poor guy! I was SO relieved to arrive at the hospital; I think I was a little scared the baby might arrive on the way! At the door, they immediately got me a wheelchair and Jim grabbed our bags and pushed me in, leaving the Suburban for the valet guys to park. We flew to the elevator, up 2 floors, and then made a very quick trip down the halls to the birthing pavilion! They immediately put me into their triage room, along with another woman who was also in labor, to check me out. (There was a privacy curtain between, but we could still hear each other moaning. :)) In between contractions, I managed to get into one of those lovely hospital gowns and they hooked me up to a monitor to check the baby's heart rate. In a few minutes, Katrina came in to check on me, and this time she did check for dilation. I was very happy to hear that I was 7 centimeters already! We had only been at the hospital maybe 15 minutes at that point! She said, "I think you're going to have this baby sooner than later, very
likely before my shift ends at 8 tonight!"

After that, Jim and a nurse walked me to my own room. It was much nicer to be in a private room and be able to make whatever noise I wanted without being embarrassed! :) Actually, from what I could hear coming from other rooms, I didn't make too much noise at all. I guess different people handle labor lots of different ways. The 2 nurses I had, Debbie and Patty, were absolutely wonderful. And Jim was an incredible support, too! I discovered that what I most needed him to do was to breathe with me, breathing on my face so I could feel and hear it, and just do it with him. And I needed to hold his hand and be able to squeeze as hard as I could during the contractions! In between contractions, I felt pretty good and it was nice to be able to just rest. Of course, during all this the nurses were monitoring me, and taking blood pressure, etc. etc, which was a little frustrating because I just wanted to be able to concentrate on labor, but I know it's just what they have to do. And it ended up that my blood pressure was so high that they got concerned about possible pre-eclampsia, so they had to hook me up to an IV and give me magnesium sulfate for that. (The mag sulfate was probably the worst thing about
post-labor and delivery--I had to be on it for the next 24 hours, and it made me feel so weak and groggy that it was NOT fun.) Anyway, back to the story . . . it's all a bit fuzzy now in my mind, but I do remember Katrina coming back in and checking me again, and I was fully dilated at that point. All along I'd been having the urge to push, but it was getting stronger, and now I could push to my heart's content! She could feel that the baby's head was already well descended into the birth canal. I was amazed that I had come so far, so fast! The nurses were great on instructing me how to push, and they kept saying over and over how I was doing it so well and making good progress.

I have to say that pushing was such a relief compared to breathing through the contractions. I mean, the breathing really did help, but pushing was great because it felt so good to make progress on actually getting the baby out. And what they told me to do was take several good breaths, then give a nice long push, then another big breath, another push, and another. I tried to get 3 or 4 good strong pushes in on each contraction. Katrina had gone out of the room somewhere along the line,
and as I was pushing, the 2 nurses started saying how they might get to deliver the baby because it wouldn't be long! It was so encouraging to hear that!! They were anxious to get Katrina back in there, and she made it in plenty of time. They brought in a big mirror so I could look and see my progress. Part of the time I liked to look and part of the time I didn't want to! It was a little scary at that point, knowing I was so close to the actual delivery. But it was so incredible when I could look and see the top of the baby's head in the mirror. They asked if I wanted to feel it, so I did, and that was really neat too. Anyway, at one point as I was pushing, I asked Jim, "Do you really think I can do this?" And of course he assured me that I
could-- that I was almost there! And Katrina was telling me how wonderful I was doing, and that I had only been pushing for 35 minutes, and he was almost out! Then they said one more big push would do it, and I gathered all the courage I could, and gave it my best, and out he came! It was the most incredible relief and an awesome experience!! They got him up on my tummy very quickly so I could touch him, after they suctioned out his nose and mouth. He was crying, but not too bad . . . and then Jim got to cut the cord! I cuddled with him a little more and then they put him on the warmer thingy to do the various tests and stuff. He didn't like that one bit! As they did that, Katrina got me stitched up and cleaned up a little. Oh, another funny thing--as soon as he popped out, I asked Jim, "what did we have?" and he said, "it's a boy!" . . . ."Oh wait, no, that's just his umbilical cord . . ." But he was right after all, even though he wasn't looking at the right part to start with. :)

We named our precious baby Samuel James. He was just a little guy, being 3 weeks early . . . 5 lb., 14 oz. and 19.5" long.

Within a couple hours, I was all put back together, Sam was bathed and dressed, and we got to eat some supper and make phone calls to our families. And so that was my birth experience! I never even got to use the labor tub, as I had hoped, but in the end, I didn't even care! I was just so focused on getting him out, it didn't really matter what means were used to accomplish it!

So that's my birth story. For Sam's birth, at least, I was blessed to have a very short, easy labor and delivery. Though it was very intense at the time, I would much rather have it be that way and get it over with quickly! I had only 5 1/2 hours total of active labor; Sam was born about 3 hours after we arrived at the hospital. I hope all my babies will come that quickly and easily, and I'm also hoping that giving birth in the comfort of my own home will help me to relax more, so I won't be as likely to have the blood pressure issues that I did in the hospital. We will see!

Baby Flutters!

2005-12-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, right at 17 weeks, I felt the first little stirrings of someone in my tummy, letting me know he/she is there! I love feeling those first little flutters. Since then, I've felt some every day. As is typical, I've felt the most when I've been at rest, either sitting quietly or when I'm lying in bed at night. None of the movements are strong enough for Jim to feel yet. If I remember right, I felt Sam's first movements right around 18 weeks, so I'm a week earlier with this one. I've heard you're likely to feel them a bit earlier with subsequent pregnancies than with the first.

I'm definitely outgrowing my regular pants and jeans, and have been since Thanksgiving. I've been using the rubber band trick on my buttons to give myself a little more breathing room, but I think in another week or so I will have to give up on that and wear my elastic waist maternity pants full time. I am desperately in search of some decent transition/wide band maternity jeans, though. The only pair of jeans I had from my last pregnancy was the kind with the belly panel, which is fine for later, but I'm not big enough for that yet. I tried on a couple different types at Kohl's last weekend, but wasn't happy with the fit of any of them. I'm not sure when I'll have time to go shopping again, but I would really like to find some soon! Most of the maternity jeans I see these days are so trendy and almost like bell bottoms, too, which is frustrating. I don't mind a bit of a wider leg; in fact, I like it, but not the huge "boot cut" that is prevalent right now. I'll have to go in our local consignment shop again soon and check there, to see if they have anything new since last time I checked.

I keep telling Sam about the baby in my belly, and now he thinks there is one in his belly, too. :) He has this big fascination with his belly button lately, too--he's a nut!

My biggest pregnancy complaint is still sciatic nerve trouble. If I accidentally sleep on my back at night, then try to get up and go to the bathroom, I can barely walk. I had the same problem with my first pregnancy. I do my best to sleep on my side, and can even still sleep on my tummy some at this point, but once in a while I end up on my back, and then I pay for it later! I've also been having really vivid and intense dreams, which I know can be another pregnancy-related thing. I don't remember experiencing that with Sam, though. They're not usually bad dreams, just really vivid, and I wake up so tired from dreaming all night (or what seems like all night).

Well, I guess that is brings things up-to-date for now. :) My next appoinment will be Dec. 19th. It seems like the time is just flying by! Before we know it, Christmas will be here. I'm not ready!

POLL OF THE WEEK:
What is/was your favorite part about being pregnant? Least favorite part? Some people feel "their best" when pregnant, or so I've heard. Not me! But there are many things I like about it. Share away, and I'll try and share my answers later.

Hearing the Heartbeat

2005-11-22T16:17:00.000-05:00

I had my 15 week appointment with my midwife yesterday. Jim and I left Sam with my mom and headed off by ourselves, which was nice. We even went out for dinner afterwards, but I'll write more about that on my other blog. Anyway . . . Sherry checked all the usual stuff: blood pressure, pulse, etc., and then we got to the fun part, listening for the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler. I'm so glad that she has a Doppler, as I've heard some midwives use something called a fetoscope instead, which is harder for the average person (aka the parents!) to hear the heartbeat on. After moving the thingy around for a few minutes, she finally found the baby . . . way down low, so far. But with a nice, steady heartbeat! What a lovely sound. :)
Hearing that always helps the pregnancy seem much more real to me.

We visited with Sherry for a while longer, and it's nice to realize that every time, I get even more comfortable with her. I was commenting to Jim on the way home, how nice it is to build a relationship with just one midwife rather than meeting a whole bunch of them and not really getting to "connect" with any of them. As time goes by, I'm looking forward more and more to having a homebirth!

In other news . . . we received sad news this weekend, that my sister lost her baby at 11+ weeks. That put a damper on my own joy of hearing our baby's heartbeat, knowing that they won't get that privilege in a few more weeks, as they hoped. I am so sad for both of them; they were so excited and happy about this baby, but I know God will help them through this difficult time. I will sure miss being able to compare pregnancy notes with her! But maybe we will have the opportunity to go through pregnancy at the same time, one day in the future.

THIS WEEK'S POLL:
Another embarrassing one, so if you don't want to answer, that's OK! :) How did you other moms do with weight gain during your pregnancies? With Sam, I gained about 30-35 lbs., which was more than I had hoped. So far with this pregnancy, I've gained between 4-6 lbs., depending whose scale you go by. :) I don't think that's too bad for the first trimester. Hopefully I can just gain slow and steady and keep the total around 25 lbs. or so; we will see!

Did I scare everyone away?

2005-11-09T19:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, is the topic of stretch marks too embarrassing, or are there just not any moms reading this blog? :) You can always post anonymously, you know! :D

Here's another question, in case no one wants to answer the first poll:
At what point in your pregnancy(ies) did you start needing maternity clothes rather than your regular clothes? And to go along with that, what was/is your favorite source for maternity clothes?

Poll of the Week: Stretch Marks

2005-11-07T15:54:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine wrote me last week, congratulating me on my pregnancy. Along the way she happened to mention that she never got any stretch marks with either of her 2 pregnancies. Lucky duck! I certainly have plenty. :) I thought it would be fun to do a pregancy-related poll every week (if I can come up with enough topics), so here's the question for this week, for all of you mothers out there: Did you get stretch marks? Do you have any tried and true "remedies" to help to NOT get them, or to reduce their appearance? I've tried the cocoa butter cream, but it never seemed to make much of a difference. Oh well. As another friend told me, they are "battle scars!" :) And I definitely would prefer the stretch marks over C-section scars. Hopefully I'll never have to find out what THAT'S like!

There isn't a lot of pregnancy news to report yet. I'm about 13 weeks along now. So that means the baby is around 3" long or so. I'm still fitting into regular clothes, so far. Still feeling great, aside from the occasional sciatic twinges, and tiredness. I'll be heading into the 2nd trimester soon--yippee!!

Thanks . . .

2005-10-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

To all those who commented regarding this blog name. I think I'll stick with it. :) By the way, I don't mind when people say something about my "eating for two" when I'm pregnant--because it's true! It's just when people would teasingly say that, just because I took a little more food than usual at a church supper or something, that I would find it a little bit trying. :)

It is so amazing how one's appetite increases enormously even in the early days of pregnancy! Sometimes it feels like all Sam and I do is eat all day. :)

Prenatal Visit #1

2005-10-28T13:13:00.000-05:00

I had my first prenatal checkup on Tuesday. Everything went very well. I really like my midwife, Sherry. If anyone is interested, here is a link to a little info about her. She actually reminds me in many ways of a combination of two of my aunts.

This was likely one of the most time-consuming appointments, the one with all the paperwork and the physical exam, bloodwork, etc. I found out one of the only negative things about having a midwife draw your blood rather than having it done in the lab at a hospital . . . in the hospital, they do it all the time and are very fast and proficient, whereas midwives don't do it as often and therefore aren't quite as skilled. I had to get poked 3 times in order to get enough blood--Sherry was rather frustrated with herself for not getting it right the first time, so apparently she doesn't usually have much trouble with it. Maybe my veins were just being stubborn. So the inside of my elbows were pretty sore that night and the next day, and I have a nice blue bruise on one arm from that! But that's OK . . . having blood taken really doesn't bother me anymore, it's just nicer when it can be done fast! Anyway, she finally got the 4 full vials that she needed, so that part is over with for now. I'm not sure, but probably I'll have to have blood drawn at least once more during the pregnancy. I'm RH negative, which means I have to have a shot of Rhogam to ensure that the baby will be safe if he/she has a different blood type, so I think I'll have to have my blood taken to check for levels of something, before getting the shot. And I may need to do a sugar test partway through, too. I was happy to see that Sherry has a Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat, just like what is used at a hospital. We couldn't hear the heartbeat yet, though, which wasn't surprising. When you consider that the baby is only a couple inches long, and the little heart would be about the size of . . . hmmm, I can't think what it would be the size of! But very tiny, anyway!

Hopefully Jim will be able to go to my next appointment with me, and by that time we will likely be able to hear the heartbeat. My next one is scheduled for November 22, the week of Thanksgiving.

One cool thing happened the same evening. I had gone to a "Tastefully Simple" home party at a friend's house, and while there I got talking with another friend who I hadn't seen in a while. She was asking who I was going to for this pregnancy, and it turned out that she also had Sherry for a midwife a few years back when she had her 4th child at home! So it was neat to find out that I actually know someone who has worked with the same midwife. She told me that Sherry is a Christian, which was also neat to hear. I have liked the fact already that she has mentioned her belief that God created our bodies to perform the natural work of childbirth, which is of course what I believe as well. The midwives I saw at Dartmouth with my last pregnancy would say similar things, but they always left God out of it.

Well, I guess that is all that's new in baby-land! Thanks for reading. :) If there's anything that anyone has questions about, that I haven't thought of mentioning in my ramblings related to my pregnancy, please feel free to ask!

First Entry--11 Weeks

2005-10-24T11:35:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go with my first pregnancy journal! I'm excited about keeping a record of what goes on this time around, as I really didn't with Sam. I do remember quite a bit from my pregnancy with him, but probably not as much as if I had written it down.

One of the things people nearly always ask a pregnant woman is how she is feeling. I'm thankful to say that (so far anyway) I have very easy, "textbook" pregnancies. I've never had much morning sickness to speak of. With Sam, I think I felt nauseous for about a week. With this baby, I would say I had about 3 weeks of off and on not feeling well, but I never actually got sick. It was more just having a woozy tummy and not feeling like eating anything, even though I was hungry nearly all the time! Animal crackers tasted good, so I ate a lot of those. Also, I had a cold for about 1 1/2 to 2 of those weeks, which didn't help. The other thing that has been worse this time around is tiredness. I know this is because I now have a little one to keep up with, and I can't just sleep in or take a nap whenever I feel like I need extra sleep. I'm going to do my best to get to bed earlier, because Sam is an early riser (like 5-5:30 am) and the amount of sleep I'm getting right now just isn't cutting it.

With Sam, I had a lot of heartburn trouble, especially toward the end of the pregnancy. I'm hoping this one won't be as bad in that regard. So far, so good. But the baby isn't very big yet!

I have the feeling I may end up in maternity clothes sooner than I did with my first pregnancy, as I never quite lost the baby belly! I don't think I've gained any weight yet with this one, but I didn't lose all I wanted to after having Sam, either. I feel like my tummy is already expanding. I think with Sam, I made it to about 20 weeks or more before wearing any maternity clothes--we'll see how I do with this one. I'm wanting to dig out the tote where they're stored soon, anyway, just to see what I've got. I've recently bought 2 church dresses and 2 short-sleeved shirts (thinking ahead to spring) at the local second-hand store, so that will expand my wardrobe some. I don't think I'll need much new stuff, since I'll go through the majority of pregnancy at a similar time of year as before.

I won't need to buy any baby stuff this time around anyway, unless we end up with a girl, which is doubtful! And even if we did, to start with she could wear a lot of the "gender neutral" nighties and sleepers and stuff that I had for Sam. We didn't know ahead of time which he was, so we received a lot of greens and yellows. That's nice for starters, though. Assuming we do have a boy, I doubt we'll have to buy any clothes, since we have tons from Sam, and the seasons for them should line up pretty well.

I will close here for now and post this so I can check out how my new blog looks. :) I'll try to tweak it and add more stuff later.