Yes, I'm blogging! Don't get used to it, though.... this is a one-time thing.
So, a LONG story made very short....
We had to start supplementing baby's diet with pumped breastmilk due to dropping weight. Breastfeeding still didn't improve. We found out that baby had tongue-tie and got that corrected, but it was done so late that baby was already good and hooked on the bottle and stayed exclusively-bottlefed. I have thus been tied to the breastpump for the past seven weeks - it's hard work!! Not only is it really hard to work breastpumping around a toddler's schedule, but it's a big time commitment and also rough on one's social schedule (not that we have one at the moment!). If anyone out there is considering bottle-feeding as a "convenient alternative" - DON'T DO IT!!! It's a pain in the neck!!! More details later.
Anyhow, here we are. We've had two appointments with lactation consultants, spent a fortune in breastfeeding paraphernalia (pump rental, bottles, etc.), and are really no closer to getting back to breastfeeding. So today, on our pediatrician's advice, we are going cold turkey. No pumping, no bottle-feeding, no nothing - only breastfeeding. Needless to say, baby is NOT happy! (And neither am I, for that matter - engorgement like this is quite unpleasant!) But I have hopes that he will see the light and convert back. He needs to, or I shall go insane from this breast-pump schedule.
So today is the day, and hubbie and son are out running errands. I've taken a break from nursing-attempts to blog, and I need to get back to it. So... that's all for now! Too bad, because I have lots to write about - but it'll have to wait (for another month or so, most likely). Much love to all, and I'll check in when I can!!
Showing posts with label My Pregnancy Story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Pregnancy Story. Show all posts
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
5 weeks, 5 days postpartum: Too Discombobulated to Think of a Title
Hi, everyone!
This is the quickest of notes to let everyone know that yes, again, I'm still alive - just with no time to blog!! Seriously, my computer time has scaled off to almost zero. I'm either doing round-the-clock baby and child care, or they're napping and I can't use the computer because it often wakes up my preschooler. That, and I'm still tied to the breast pump every 2-3 hours during the day - something that I hope to quit soon, but only time will tell. We have an appointment on Tuesday to see about possibly getting baby's tongue-tie corrected, and after that baby may be able to get back on board with breastfeeding. However, if he has (as I suspect) gotten extremely lazy with his bottle-habit, we may have more work to do before we can kick that habit.
But otherwise, he is growing quite plump and is very healthy - hurray!!
My blogs and my correspondence are definitely suffering, though - I haven't been blogging, I haven't had time to read the blogs I subscribe to, and I have gotten months behind in answering email. If you've emailed me and not heard back, rest assured that everyone is getting the same treatment!
I've been really doing serious thinking about family dynamics and how I want to form our family. Having two children is really a cosmic shift for me, being that I was raised as an only child in a family of only-children. What do we want to do with our family? Do we want to have the boys share a room, or have rooms of their own? What philosophical methods do we want to use for training and discipline? Do we want to homeschool, private school, or charter school? What should our routines be? I'm trying to read, think, and research to get some direction. We've ordered "Shepherding a Child's Heart" to read, and I'm thinking about looking into the PEGS system and Doorposts Ministries (thanks, BreAnna!). There's a lot to determine, especially as parenting does not and never has come naturally to me (unlike most of my friends, who seem to take to it like ducks to water... *sigh*).
I've also made a few resolutions to improve my role as a mother. The first, and by FAR the most difficult, is to (aack! hyperventilating!) do my best to avoid stressing about a house that is less than perfect - in order to spend more time with my children (deep breathing....). I can never be comfortable with a messy house - I find it deeply, fundamentally disturbing. But the truth remains that I simply cannot have a house that is clean to my satisfaction while I have two young children. I just can't - it's not possible. So I'm trying to focus on essential routines (dishes, laundry, meals, pick-up) and allow myself no more than 20 minutes of other cleaning per day (and honestly, that only happens 2-3 times a week max).
Secondly, I'm going to do my best this year to create holiday traditions. I'm pretty hopeless with holidays. I never decorate, we rarely attend holiday events, and I generally forget about the holidays themselves until the night before. For our kidlets' sake, I want to do better with that (within the bounds of sanity) - I have very fond memories of the holidays, and I want our kids to have the same. So this year, I'm going to do my best to make sure we have at least some basic activities going for the holidays.
Well, while I've been writing about improving my family, I've been neglecting my family! So back to work. I'll do my best to check in occasionally... but life is quite hectic right now, so it won't be often. Love to all!!
This is the quickest of notes to let everyone know that yes, again, I'm still alive - just with no time to blog!! Seriously, my computer time has scaled off to almost zero. I'm either doing round-the-clock baby and child care, or they're napping and I can't use the computer because it often wakes up my preschooler. That, and I'm still tied to the breast pump every 2-3 hours during the day - something that I hope to quit soon, but only time will tell. We have an appointment on Tuesday to see about possibly getting baby's tongue-tie corrected, and after that baby may be able to get back on board with breastfeeding. However, if he has (as I suspect) gotten extremely lazy with his bottle-habit, we may have more work to do before we can kick that habit.
But otherwise, he is growing quite plump and is very healthy - hurray!!
My blogs and my correspondence are definitely suffering, though - I haven't been blogging, I haven't had time to read the blogs I subscribe to, and I have gotten months behind in answering email. If you've emailed me and not heard back, rest assured that everyone is getting the same treatment!
I've been really doing serious thinking about family dynamics and how I want to form our family. Having two children is really a cosmic shift for me, being that I was raised as an only child in a family of only-children. What do we want to do with our family? Do we want to have the boys share a room, or have rooms of their own? What philosophical methods do we want to use for training and discipline? Do we want to homeschool, private school, or charter school? What should our routines be? I'm trying to read, think, and research to get some direction. We've ordered "Shepherding a Child's Heart" to read, and I'm thinking about looking into the PEGS system and Doorposts Ministries (thanks, BreAnna!). There's a lot to determine, especially as parenting does not and never has come naturally to me (unlike most of my friends, who seem to take to it like ducks to water... *sigh*).
I've also made a few resolutions to improve my role as a mother. The first, and by FAR the most difficult, is to (aack! hyperventilating!) do my best to avoid stressing about a house that is less than perfect - in order to spend more time with my children (deep breathing....). I can never be comfortable with a messy house - I find it deeply, fundamentally disturbing. But the truth remains that I simply cannot have a house that is clean to my satisfaction while I have two young children. I just can't - it's not possible. So I'm trying to focus on essential routines (dishes, laundry, meals, pick-up) and allow myself no more than 20 minutes of other cleaning per day (and honestly, that only happens 2-3 times a week max).
Secondly, I'm going to do my best this year to create holiday traditions. I'm pretty hopeless with holidays. I never decorate, we rarely attend holiday events, and I generally forget about the holidays themselves until the night before. For our kidlets' sake, I want to do better with that (within the bounds of sanity) - I have very fond memories of the holidays, and I want our kids to have the same. So this year, I'm going to do my best to make sure we have at least some basic activities going for the holidays.
Well, while I've been writing about improving my family, I've been neglecting my family! So back to work. I'll do my best to check in occasionally... but life is quite hectic right now, so it won't be often. Love to all!!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
At Long Last: Birth Story!!!
Tomorrow night is baby’s week birthday, so here goes!! Birth story!!!
(I have to admit that even during the worst labor pains, I was busily writing my birth story. I have a bad habit of writing – mentally – about things even while they’re happening, and there were no exceptions here.)
I know that I’ll be coming back to add/improve/clarify this birth story for at least a month, so this will have to serve as a rough draft at best.
I had a ton of long-lasting pre-labor symptoms that had me living on edge for about 2 weeks before baby actually arrived – a week and a half of an upset tummy, a week of menstrual-type cramps, and 48 hours of blood-tinged mucous. Completely unlike last time (when labor set in suddenly). It was kind of like waiting for the other shoe to drop… and it took its time to do so!
On Monday night (August 31st) we had a terrific electrical storm – thunder, lightning and lots of rain. I wondered briefly if “tonight would be the night.” Thankfully we were ready! (We found out later that the storm brought not only our baby, but two more – our midwives had three births that night!! One of our midwives arrived at our labor straight from another birth, and our other midwife arrived at our labor only to have to leave ten minutes later to attend another birth - you can read that birth story here.)
I went to bed sometime around 10:30 p.m. and woke up at 11:36 p.m. to use the restroom. When I sat up, my water broke! But unlike last time, when there was enough fluid to drench several counties (thus making it quite obvious what had happened), this time there was only a small amount of fluid – making me unsure if my water had really broken or not. However, by the time I had made a quick trip to the bathroom to clean up, I had already had one good, strong contraction – and so I knew that this was the real thing.
I went to bed sometime around 10:30 p.m. and woke up at 11:36 p.m. to use the restroom. When I sat up, my water broke! But unlike last time, when there was enough fluid to drench several counties (thus making it quite obvious what had happened), this time there was only a small amount of fluid – making me unsure if my water had really broken or not. However, by the time I had made a quick trip to the bathroom to clean up, I had already had one good, strong contraction – and so I knew that this was the real thing.
I let my husband, Joe, know what had happened and went back to bed in hopes that labor would hold off long enough to get some sleep, as I was quite tired. However, it was not to be. Two strong contractions later I was resigned to the inevitable – so I hopped out of bed and started moving our birth supplies out to the kitchen table and posting the informational signs I had made for our birth team, and generally getting things ready. I was quite nervous.
Sometime around 1:00 a.m., Joe went ahead and called our midwife. I hesitated on letting him do this, as I didn’t want to wake her (not knowing she was already at another birth!), but things were really moving quickly and he thought it would be best. She told him to go ahead and get our doulas, Rose and Nikki, to come over, so he called them and they said that they would be on their way. I was really embarrassed when Joe told me that he had called them already, as I thought that they wouldn’t be needed for several hours and shouldn’t be bothered. However, our midwife was really on-target with that one (surprise, surprise!) – by the time they arrived, I was completely ready to have them there.
When our doulas arrived, I was still able to deal with contractions by closing my eyes and focusing, but within a short time of their arrival I felt the need to start moaning with each contraction. I asked them how soon they thought I could get in the tub, and they said that any time would be good! So they went to start getting things ready in there.
When our doulas arrived, I was still able to deal with contractions by closing my eyes and focusing, but within a short time of their arrival I felt the need to start moaning with each contraction. I asked them how soon they thought I could get in the tub, and they said that any time would be good! So they went to start getting things ready in there.
I should say that despite the hours of research I have put into the subject, the only method of pain management I have found that works for me is making massive amounts of noise – moaning, groaning, shouting, yelling, whatever. Sad, but true! I trust that our birth team is recovering well from their client-induced hearing loss, because I was quite loud – just like last time, but this time I didn’t bother trying to suppress or control it.
I got in the tub sometime around 2:00 a.m., and stayed there for the rest of the labor and birth. Things really moved along quickly. Contractions got more and more and more painful, and I got louder and louder and louder! That about sums it up. Having our doulas there was a wonderful godsend – their coaching, encouragement and physical help were lovely. It didn’t reduce the pain, but it made it less of a panic-stricken ordeal and more of a journey with companions who had been there before. If you don’t have a doula, get one!!!
Our midwife arrived at 4:00-something, and our second midwife arrived shortly thereafter – however, she had to leave for another birth within a short time, so one of their students was called to help out. We were sorry to lose our other midwife, but their student did a terrific job as well.
I found it super-interesting to notice changes between my first and second labors. For one thing, it didn’t get as painful or as terrifying. It was still hard and extremely painful, but it never reached the level of labor #1. My estimate is that it got to about 70% of labor #1, plus or minus about 15%.
Additionally, I stayed much more cognizant of my surroundings. With my first labor, I was really out of it. I didn’t notice most of what was going on or being said, I didn’t notice anything that was being brought in or done around me, and I completely lost the ability to communicate verbally with anyone (I spent about 2 hours trying to say hello to my midwives – never managed it.) With this labor, I noticed most of what was going on (people arriving, equipment being brought in, etc.) and was able to hold a conversation throughout my entire labor (though I refrained through most of active labor due to fatigue and the need to focus – but I was always able to communicate when I wanted to). I even managed to greet all three of our midwives and hold (extremely) brief conversations with each of them. Fascinating! That fact alone made me think that I was a lot less further along than I really was.
Our three-year-old woke up at 5:00 a.m., and Joe got him started with some toys, which kept him happy. He wandered in and out of the bathroom at various intervals, always pausing to spout some of his birth knowledge (“Mommy has to make noise to get the baby out”) and adding a tag about Winnie the Pooh (“And Tiggers don’t like honey!”). He was completely unphased throughout the whole thing. According to my best memory, he was present during the entire pushing phase and the birth, as intense as it got, and dealt with it perfectly. We had set up a babysitting team who ended up being unable to be there for the birth, but thankfully he didn’t even need much supervision – our preparation definitely paid off! He was just fine.
We tried counterpressure duing one contraction, and it was very powerful – unfortunately, it made the contraction much worse! Also, for some reason I felt really uneasy facing the back of the tub. So after half of a contraction, we gave that up.
During what I guess was transition I had my one big throwing-up spell, just like last time. I was worried that it might be earlier (I’d recently heard a midwife say that some moms throw up at 4 cm and then again at 8 cm, or some such thing), but it was actually pretty close to the end.
Second stage was fascinating. Last time I had no idea when the dilation phase edged into the pushing stage – it was a gradual and hazy transition that I never noticed. This time, the change was instantaneous and noticeable. After one contraction, the lights in my head switched back on, and I opened my eyes and looked around – “Hello, everyone! I’m back!” It was amazing! What a complete switch! One of our doulas said that she noticed the switch actually happening in the middle of a contraction – it started as a dilation contraction and ended as a pushing contraction. Wow!
Pushing contractions started immediately. Now, I must say… I hate pushing. I really hate pushing. I often hear women say that pushing is a relief for them, but for me… no. Pushing is just as bad or worse than dilation, even though the contractions themselves are less painful. So with the beginning of pushing, I was pleased to find out that I could control the urge to push – and not push! (Heh, heh, heh… I’m supposed to be pushing, but I’m NOT!!! Mwa ha ha ha!) It was great.
Unfortunately, that lasted for only 3-5 contractions. At that point (and this gets a bit hazy, so don’t quote me on the order of things), I had a forebag emerging (where the bag of waters emerges intact in front of the head) – I’m not sure what I thought it was, but when it burst…. Well, with apologies for the profanity, all hell broke loose as far as I was concerned. My body started pushing violently, completely apart from my own willpower, and so I was dealing with tremendous pain. Pushing had started in earnest!
I checked his head to see how far he was descending, and it was encouraging – quite low, with just the thinnest rim of cervix (which wasn’t a problem at all) - though in between contractions his head would shoot all the way back up out of reach (our midwife said that this is typical of multip labors – unlike primip labors, in which progress tends to be a steadier 2-forward-1-back progress).
Then our midwife came over to check heart tones (which she’d been doing all along), and things got even more intense because baby was having some serious heart decels – down into the 80’s with bad recoveries. She immediately said, “Okay, this baby needs to come out NOW,” and started helping to coach some pretty intense pushing. I pretty much lost all control at this point and was screaming my head off! Pushing was bad enough, but sustained and hurried pushing was worse. However, as before, I reached a point where I finally gave in and thought, “Well, if I really have to push out a bowling ball covered in broken glass shards, I may as well get on with the job” – and started pushing like a maniac. Once we got his head out, our midwife helped to deliver the rest of the body (thank goodness!) to help hurry that part along. Baby was born at 6:47 a.m., and Joe was able to catch.
(Apparently something similar happened with our first son, though in a much more minor way, but I was too out of it to notice – I hadn’t known anything was wrong until after the birth when my husband told me about it. However, our first son was crying almost on the perineum and was completely fine immediately (additionally, his decels hadn’t gone so low and had a better recovery in between contractions. This baby didn’t have good recovery between contractions and was a much slower and harder starter.)
When baby came out, his color was not too great (grey-purple) and he was none too anxious to start breathing/crying. We stimulated him on my chest and our midwife suctioned him repeatedly with her DeLee (first time I’d seen a DeLee in action – very cool). I have no conception of time, but it definitely took a while to get him going.
For some reason, I was not worried at all during the time it took to get baby started. I'd been paranoid about him for the entire pregnancy, but now I really felt that everything was going to be just fine - and it was.
Meanwhile, I was getting really uncomfortable from third-stage contractions. Eventually (quite a while later, actually) I got out of the pool to try to deliver the placenta, and it fell out as soon as I squatted down. Hurray! I had specifically requested no cord traction unless an emergency occurred, and that was just lovely. It took longer, but what a relief!
I moved onto the bed, but unfortunately (as with my first birth) I was immediately hit with rather yucky afterpains that made the immediate postpartum extremely unpleasant and completely prevented nursing for several hours. However, this gave Joe some great time with the baby, which he very much enjoyed.
We had decided to utilize placenta medicine, but for those with weak stomachs, I will not detail that here. You can read about our escapades with that here.
Last time we had the distinction of having a super-long umbilical cord… This time we had a super-large placenta!! Fun!!!
Upon examination of our placenta, it was confirmed that our water did break twice, just as I’d thought.
I loved looking at the placenta – so fascinating!! Last time I didn’t even really give it a glance. Mamas of the world, check out your placentas! They’re beautiful things!
Our birth team got going about three hours after the birth (when they were all ready to drop), and we were left with our beautiful newborn!
I can’t say I’m left with an immediate “Let’s do it again!” feeling…. But I loved being at home, I adored our lovely birth team, and I had a great experience of being respected, loved and treated with the utmost care. All in all, a great birth! Thank you, birth team!!
Baby Glenn Matthew
Born at home on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 6:47 a.m.
7 pounds, 15.5 ounces, 21 inches long
Saturday, September 5, 2009
39 weeks, 5 days.... Plus 5 days: Baby is Here!
I'm sorry to have been so remiss! Baby arrived Tuesday morning at 6:47 a.m. following a lightning-fast labor (~7 hours) that started with my water breaking at 11:36 p.m. on Monday night. Against all expectations baby was a BOY whom we have named Glenn, and whose feeding and care are the reasons that my blogs have been ignored! I have about a 5-page birth story manuscript brewing in my head (I have so much to write about!!), so it'll probably be a while before I get that published - hopefully sometime next week before DH goes back to work. Anyhow, I just wanted to get that announcement out - I'll write more later, hopefully! Love to all!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
38 weeks, 6 days: Waiting!
Greetings, all ye in bloggerland!
This week I find myself in an odd circumstance - that of (mentally, at least) sitting around and waiting for labor to start. Weird! Last time I didn't really even think about it - labor took me by surprise. But this time, I find myself doing a bit of clock-watching. Not that I'm anxious for this pregnancy to end, but I am curious about labor and excited to meet baby - and it will be nice to be able to walk comfortably again!
A week ago this past Sunday, three separate people told me, "Oh, you've dropped!" I hadn't noticed anything (didn't notice last time either), but the fact that non-first-time moms aren't supposed to drop until labor has already started put me into a frenzy of baby preparation - a frenzy which, though unfounded, proved extremely useful in that it helped me to finally pound through the last main items on my pre-baby to-do list. Hurray!
So as of this past weekend, our birth supplies are finally ready, our baby things are cleaned and set up, and I'm pretty much ready to go. The house isn't completely unpacked, cleaned, or organized, but it's not bad - and I've given up on any idea of EVER having the house cleaned to my level of perfect satisfaction - at least until all the kids are out of the house, LOL! For me, at least, "perfect" baby preparation was possible only for baby #1 (when there wasn't another ex-baby running about making messes as I cleaned!). But considering that all of my baby preparation from last time went down the tubes as soon as baby was born (i.e. the perfectly clean house, etc.), I don't mind too much!
I have been having minor pre-labor symptoms for the past 5 days or so (upset tummy, mild menstrual-type cramps), and that again convinced me that labor was imminent - but upon research, I discovered that these types of things can mean that labor is either hours away - or weeks away! So we may have a post-due-date baby after all.
Anyhow, having everything at least semi-ready has meant that I can relax a bit and get some much needed sleep - what a relief! So I've been indulging in super-long naps and trying to get some extra rest - anything to build up a buffer for when little one arrives and destroys any semblance of long sleep-stretches!
A quick note - Upon randomly surfing one of my blogs a while ago, I discovered that I have been receiving email notification of only some blog comments. Some are emailed to me, and some are not! I have no idea why - but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not receiving all blog comments, though I do my best to review entries manually to find the lost comments.
And to close (as starving hubbie is home and wanting dinner), I wanted to share this fun video! (Facebook friends have already seen this... sorry for the repetition.) This is purely personal - nothing to do with HG, pregnancy, birth, etc. - this is my sister-in-law (she's the dark-haired one) doing a commercial with Fred Willard, and it's fun! My SIL has been working with Mr. Willard for several years now, but being that we haven't been able to make it out to California for their shows, this is the first time we've gotten to see them act together. So fun!!
Love to all!
This week I find myself in an odd circumstance - that of (mentally, at least) sitting around and waiting for labor to start. Weird! Last time I didn't really even think about it - labor took me by surprise. But this time, I find myself doing a bit of clock-watching. Not that I'm anxious for this pregnancy to end, but I am curious about labor and excited to meet baby - and it will be nice to be able to walk comfortably again!
A week ago this past Sunday, three separate people told me, "Oh, you've dropped!" I hadn't noticed anything (didn't notice last time either), but the fact that non-first-time moms aren't supposed to drop until labor has already started put me into a frenzy of baby preparation - a frenzy which, though unfounded, proved extremely useful in that it helped me to finally pound through the last main items on my pre-baby to-do list. Hurray!
So as of this past weekend, our birth supplies are finally ready, our baby things are cleaned and set up, and I'm pretty much ready to go. The house isn't completely unpacked, cleaned, or organized, but it's not bad - and I've given up on any idea of EVER having the house cleaned to my level of perfect satisfaction - at least until all the kids are out of the house, LOL! For me, at least, "perfect" baby preparation was possible only for baby #1 (when there wasn't another ex-baby running about making messes as I cleaned!). But considering that all of my baby preparation from last time went down the tubes as soon as baby was born (i.e. the perfectly clean house, etc.), I don't mind too much!
I have been having minor pre-labor symptoms for the past 5 days or so (upset tummy, mild menstrual-type cramps), and that again convinced me that labor was imminent - but upon research, I discovered that these types of things can mean that labor is either hours away - or weeks away! So we may have a post-due-date baby after all.
Anyhow, having everything at least semi-ready has meant that I can relax a bit and get some much needed sleep - what a relief! So I've been indulging in super-long naps and trying to get some extra rest - anything to build up a buffer for when little one arrives and destroys any semblance of long sleep-stretches!
A quick note - Upon randomly surfing one of my blogs a while ago, I discovered that I have been receiving email notification of only some blog comments. Some are emailed to me, and some are not! I have no idea why - but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm not receiving all blog comments, though I do my best to review entries manually to find the lost comments.
And to close (as starving hubbie is home and wanting dinner), I wanted to share this fun video! (Facebook friends have already seen this... sorry for the repetition.) This is purely personal - nothing to do with HG, pregnancy, birth, etc. - this is my sister-in-law (she's the dark-haired one) doing a commercial with Fred Willard, and it's fun! My SIL has been working with Mr. Willard for several years now, but being that we haven't been able to make it out to California for their shows, this is the first time we've gotten to see them act together. So fun!!
Love to all!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Birth: Fears & Hopes
I recently read "Birthing From Within" - a great book! I couldn't write a review of it due to the fact that it was due back at the library about 15 minutes after I finished it, but I highly recommend it. (I had a hard time living through the artsy part at the beginning, but it was still great!)
Anyhow, part of her birth preparation is having mothers write out their fears about birth... and so I did! I thought I might as well share them, and I've added my "birth hopes" as well (though these are really birth fears re-written).
My Fears About Birth
Major
- Pain (I don't subscribe to the 'birth is really painless' model.... been there, done that, and it is NOT)
- Not being able to handle the pain
Minor
- Doing something that disgusts people (I won't give details... there are a lot of possibilities)
- Something happening to the baby (not that this would be minor, but I have complete trust in the competence of our midwives)
My Hopes For This Birth
- Having an easier time, pain-wise
- Being able to handle the pain better than I did last time
- Experiencing birth ecstasy/high - last time I totally missed out on this, bummer!!!
- Better bonding with baby - last time I was just in too much pain to care
- Easier start to breastfeeding
- Better connection to DH during the birth - last time I just wanted to strangle him, i.e. "You got me into this!"
- Better connection to doulas
- Easier postpartum period - I think that this will definitely happen, barring complications - last time I was so exhausted from the hyperemesis that I started out utterly exhausted pre-birth, and it just got worse from there
Anyhow, part of her birth preparation is having mothers write out their fears about birth... and so I did! I thought I might as well share them, and I've added my "birth hopes" as well (though these are really birth fears re-written).
My Fears About Birth
Major
- Pain (I don't subscribe to the 'birth is really painless' model.... been there, done that, and it is NOT)
- Not being able to handle the pain
Minor
- Doing something that disgusts people (I won't give details... there are a lot of possibilities)
- Something happening to the baby (not that this would be minor, but I have complete trust in the competence of our midwives)
My Hopes For This Birth
- Having an easier time, pain-wise
- Being able to handle the pain better than I did last time
- Experiencing birth ecstasy/high - last time I totally missed out on this, bummer!!!
- Better bonding with baby - last time I was just in too much pain to care
- Easier start to breastfeeding
- Better connection to DH during the birth - last time I just wanted to strangle him, i.e. "You got me into this!"
- Better connection to doulas
- Easier postpartum period - I think that this will definitely happen, barring complications - last time I was so exhausted from the hyperemesis that I started out utterly exhausted pre-birth, and it just got worse from there
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Birth Plans
Thought I might as well post these in case anyone was interested! These are the final versions ("final" as in next-to-last-to-last-to-last-etc.) of my homebirth birth plan and my hospital-transport birth plan. Let me know if you think I've missed anything vital!
I find that writing a transport birth plan for a hospital birth was much easier than writing a planned-hospital-birth birth plan, simply because I know that if we end up in-hospital, I will most likely need any suggested interventions. Much simpler!
So here goes (with names/numbers obscured for privacy purposes) ......
Homebirth Birth Plan:
- All coaching is welcome. I could really use it!
- I’m really interested in the red line phenomenon, so if anyone has time, see if it occurs or snap a picture
- I’m really interested in the physiology of birth, so whenever I’m lucid I’d love to know what’s going on.
- BUT please do NOT tell me my dilation unless (1) I really need to know (i.e. it’s an emergency situation), or (2) It’s super encouraging, i.e. “complete.”
- If and when anyone has free time, I would LOVE all of the pictures/video footage that can be taken (of anything and everything).
- I would love a waterbirth, if at all possible.
- Hubby would love to catch, if possible (that is, if I let him!).
- We’d love to have our son around for as much of the birth as he’s capable of handling.
- Delayed cord clamping, please!
- Please, no cord traction unless really necessary!
- Last time I had horrible afterpains, so I would like to take some Advil/Ibuprofen as soon as the cord is cut to try to get a jump-start on preventing them. (If I forget to put Advil in the birth kit, it is in the master-bath over-sink cupboard.)
- The current plan is for placentophagy, both immediate and delayed (encapsulated). Remind me if I forget.
I find that writing a transport birth plan for a hospital birth was much easier than writing a planned-hospital-birth birth plan, simply because I know that if we end up in-hospital, I will most likely need any suggested interventions. Much simpler!
So here goes (with names/numbers obscured for privacy purposes) ......
Homebirth Birth Plan:
- All coaching is welcome. I could really use it!
- I’m really interested in the red line phenomenon, so if anyone has time, see if it occurs or snap a picture
- I’m really interested in the physiology of birth, so whenever I’m lucid I’d love to know what’s going on.
- BUT please do NOT tell me my dilation unless (1) I really need to know (i.e. it’s an emergency situation), or (2) It’s super encouraging, i.e. “complete.”
- If and when anyone has free time, I would LOVE all of the pictures/video footage that can be taken (of anything and everything).
- I would love a waterbirth, if at all possible.
- Hubby would love to catch, if possible (that is, if I let him!).
- We’d love to have our son around for as much of the birth as he’s capable of handling.
- Delayed cord clamping, please!
- Please, no cord traction unless really necessary!
- Last time I had horrible afterpains, so I would like to take some Advil/Ibuprofen as soon as the cord is cut to try to get a jump-start on preventing them. (If I forget to put Advil in the birth kit, it is in the master-bath over-sink cupboard.)
- The current plan is for placentophagy, both immediate and delayed (encapsulated). Remind me if I forget.
In Case of Transport: Hospital Birth Plan
- Parents: -------- & ---------
- To our hospital caregivers: Thank you for taking care of us!
- Our midwives are ----------- and ------------ of [Midwifery Business X] (000-000-0000). We ask that at least one of them be able to stay with us at all times.
- Depending on the reason for transport, we know that medical intervention to some degree will be necessary; however, we’d love to keep our birth as natural as possible (based on the circumstances)
- Please, no Cytotec for any reason
- If I need a non-emergency cesarean, remind me that I should consider a tubal ligation at that time
- For Baby: Please, no Hep B shot, eye ointment, formula or vitamin K (except in case of a physically traumatic birth). Please make sure in case of mother-baby separation that [hubby] stays with the baby.
- In a life-and-death emergency, please always prioritize the baby’s life over D’s
- If at all possible, we would like to take our placenta home with us.
- Thank you for your kindness, support, and care!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
37 weeks, 2 days: Life Lessons at the Fire Station
Today I would like to start off with a very important life lesson that I would like to impart to the public consciousness:
Don't push your already well-aged maternity pants too far.
Just don't. Really. I mean it.
Unless, for some reason, you relish that moment of exquisite humiliation when you realize that you have been walking around.... for at least 30 minutes.... in front of an entire battalion of firemen (albeit very well-mannered, gentlemanly firemen).... with all the bending, squatting and reaching that accompanies the care of an excited preschooler.... with a very revealing rip across the entire rear-end of said maternity pants! (Only finding out about said rip when DH sidles up to me and says, "Um, honey, let me get you a sweatshirt to tie around your waist... right now.")
Enough said.
Though I have no doubt that our local firemen are currently laughing themselves sick (who wouldn't?)... And the maternity pants are on their way to the trash - pronto.
But at least our car seats are installed properly! Yet another item to check off the to-do list.
Moving on....
We are moving ever closer and closer to D-day! Things are getting done, baby things are getting washed - I can't believe it's so close!
This is SUCH a different experience from last time! As I've mentioned before, last time I was just so sick that the thought of having a baby was a bit of an afterthought. I didn't think about the baby, the baby's gender, anything - I was too tired and sick to care! This time I'm curious about the gender and anxious to meet him or her! So fun!!
I must admit that this has been quite a stressful summer. Trying to move in and get unpacked and baby-ready, dealing with the stress of losing my paycheck as of next week (we've decided that it's time for me to be a full-time SAHM), dealing with the sticker shock of home-ownership and trying to set up a budget on a very small salary. Additionally, I am dealing with a family decision that DH is in the process of making, the initial conclusion of which has proven extremely unpopular with his constituency (i.e. me), and which decision has provoked full-out rebellion amongst said constituency, which has a tendency to be too pig-headed to submit to family leadership with any type of grace. *Sigh.* Anyhow, I'll be glad when things settle down (like when all kids leave home and we're retired).
Sometime when I have extra time, I plan to write "The Art & Science of the Vomiting of Pregnancy, A Complete Guide in Three Volumes." Honestly, I now know so much about throwing up! But seriously, I need to take my own knowledge seriously first... This morning I was so busy when I got up that I forgot to eat and then had to interrupt DH mid-sentence in order to run to the bathroom for a rather lengthy seance with the porcelain fixture installed therein - you'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you?
Well, I have tons more to write - but housework and family call! Have a lovely weekend, everyone - and don't forget my hard-earned wisdom on the fallacy of aged maternity clothing! :)
Love to all,
Diana
Don't push your already well-aged maternity pants too far.
Just don't. Really. I mean it.
Unless, for some reason, you relish that moment of exquisite humiliation when you realize that you have been walking around.... for at least 30 minutes.... in front of an entire battalion of firemen (albeit very well-mannered, gentlemanly firemen).... with all the bending, squatting and reaching that accompanies the care of an excited preschooler.... with a very revealing rip across the entire rear-end of said maternity pants! (Only finding out about said rip when DH sidles up to me and says, "Um, honey, let me get you a sweatshirt to tie around your waist... right now.")
Enough said.
Though I have no doubt that our local firemen are currently laughing themselves sick (who wouldn't?)... And the maternity pants are on their way to the trash - pronto.
But at least our car seats are installed properly! Yet another item to check off the to-do list.
Moving on....
We are moving ever closer and closer to D-day! Things are getting done, baby things are getting washed - I can't believe it's so close!
This is SUCH a different experience from last time! As I've mentioned before, last time I was just so sick that the thought of having a baby was a bit of an afterthought. I didn't think about the baby, the baby's gender, anything - I was too tired and sick to care! This time I'm curious about the gender and anxious to meet him or her! So fun!!
I must admit that this has been quite a stressful summer. Trying to move in and get unpacked and baby-ready, dealing with the stress of losing my paycheck as of next week (we've decided that it's time for me to be a full-time SAHM), dealing with the sticker shock of home-ownership and trying to set up a budget on a very small salary. Additionally, I am dealing with a family decision that DH is in the process of making, the initial conclusion of which has proven extremely unpopular with his constituency (i.e. me), and which decision has provoked full-out rebellion amongst said constituency, which has a tendency to be too pig-headed to submit to family leadership with any type of grace. *Sigh.* Anyhow, I'll be glad when things settle down (like when all kids leave home and we're retired).
Sometime when I have extra time, I plan to write "The Art & Science of the Vomiting of Pregnancy, A Complete Guide in Three Volumes." Honestly, I now know so much about throwing up! But seriously, I need to take my own knowledge seriously first... This morning I was so busy when I got up that I forgot to eat and then had to interrupt DH mid-sentence in order to run to the bathroom for a rather lengthy seance with the porcelain fixture installed therein - you'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you?
Well, I have tons more to write - but housework and family call! Have a lovely weekend, everyone - and don't forget my hard-earned wisdom on the fallacy of aged maternity clothing! :)
Love to all,
Diana
Monday, August 10, 2009
36 weeks, 4 days: "In the Window".... Plus a Great Reunion Breakfast!
"In the window" is a phrase used by our midwife to denote a woman who is 36-42+ weeks and thus "term" and able to have a homebirth.... and that is now us! We are cleared for launch at any time now, though I'm hoping very much that it won't be for a while yet!
Last night, in honor of the break in the heat, I spent an enthusiastic hour attacking the weeds in our yard (our "lawn" is a conglomeration of tack stickers and a weird, fast-growing tree-like weed that can grow to a man's height in a matter of three weeks) - and paid for it! I spent the rest of the night crashed due to a nice combo of painful Braxton-Hicks and round ligament pain - not unusual, I just overdid it! So my body seems to be saying, "It's time to slow down. Now!" I think it's about time! I've been nesting maniacally for too long.
So now I'm just trying to focus on getting my birth supplies gathered and my main to-do items finished, but without the frantic haste that has accompanied the past few months. No matter how hard I try, my house is not going to be perfectly clean or organized pre-baby (and wouldn't stay that way even if it was!). I'm going to do my best to be satisfied with "good enough."
I forgot to tell an amusing story that happened a couple of months ago, and which illustrates why pregnant women shouldn't be trusted with anything riskier than cold oatmeal.....
I was working at church (where I do secretarial work) and decided to send a quick email to a good friend of mine... from the church account. (I used to do this all the time... no more.) The email was mostly information about our new Phoenix birth center, and I threw in a link to a now-famous Spanish mattress commercial which features a homebirth and is one of my very very favorite videos. And then, not thinking.... I sent it out to the entire church. That's right... the pastor, elder board, deacons, congregation - everyone. How mortifying was that???
In all honesty, I was really glad in the end that the email just didn't contain any gossip, criticism, personal information, etc. That would have been oodles worse. But people have been teasing me about mattress commercials ever since!
Two weeks ago I went and did it again (sent an email out to the whole church by accident), but thankfully it was only a rough draft of the bulletin. Phew. I'll be thankful when I hand the reigns over to my successor in two weeks and don't have to worry about such idiotic adventures!
Moving on....
This past Saturday was a very special high point in my summer - it was the second annual reunion-breakfast that I've had with two special hyperemesis friends of mine: Sarah, who is a fellow-client of my midwife and whom I met at our midwife's annual picnic, and Jenna, who met Sarah over the web (Jenna is also the author of "Body Mutiny," an internationally famous book on hyperemesis). I am the junior member of our trio, having had an experience which some would call hyperemesis and some would not (had to live on a liquid diet - yes; hospitalized - no, though this was more an insurance thing than anything). But whether or not I am a true member of the HG (hyperemesis gravidarum) club, I'm still only the junior member - my HG/morning sickness merely made my life a living hell - both Sarah and Jenna nearly died, besides spending a majority of their pregnancies in the hospital on just about every drug you can name. Yikes!!!
We had an absolutely lovely time getting caught up, chatting randomly, and having lots of good "HG talk," something that is always absolutely refreshing in a world that often thinks that all morning sickness can be resolved by ginger pills and brisk walks, LOL!! I really need to get more hyperemesis articles on this blog... this is a condition that is so drastically underestimated and misunderstood - I would love to get more public awareness out there in any way that I possibly can. Hopefully soon!
Well, I have tons more to write, but life calls. Thus, I'll try to catch up more later! We are well, are having a very busy week, and are looking forward with our next appointment with our midwife, which is tomorrow. I'll be doing the GBS test (something I don't really agree with, for many reasons, but which I have elected to do so that I don't have to fight any antibiotic-happy hospital staff in case of a transport), so I'm hoping for a nice fat negative on that one. Then a friend of mine is going to do some pregnancy photography for us this weekend, so I'll try to post that after we finish.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Last night, in honor of the break in the heat, I spent an enthusiastic hour attacking the weeds in our yard (our "lawn" is a conglomeration of tack stickers and a weird, fast-growing tree-like weed that can grow to a man's height in a matter of three weeks) - and paid for it! I spent the rest of the night crashed due to a nice combo of painful Braxton-Hicks and round ligament pain - not unusual, I just overdid it! So my body seems to be saying, "It's time to slow down. Now!" I think it's about time! I've been nesting maniacally for too long.
So now I'm just trying to focus on getting my birth supplies gathered and my main to-do items finished, but without the frantic haste that has accompanied the past few months. No matter how hard I try, my house is not going to be perfectly clean or organized pre-baby (and wouldn't stay that way even if it was!). I'm going to do my best to be satisfied with "good enough."
I forgot to tell an amusing story that happened a couple of months ago, and which illustrates why pregnant women shouldn't be trusted with anything riskier than cold oatmeal.....
I was working at church (where I do secretarial work) and decided to send a quick email to a good friend of mine... from the church account. (I used to do this all the time... no more.) The email was mostly information about our new Phoenix birth center, and I threw in a link to a now-famous Spanish mattress commercial which features a homebirth and is one of my very very favorite videos. And then, not thinking.... I sent it out to the entire church. That's right... the pastor, elder board, deacons, congregation - everyone. How mortifying was that???
In all honesty, I was really glad in the end that the email just didn't contain any gossip, criticism, personal information, etc. That would have been oodles worse. But people have been teasing me about mattress commercials ever since!
Two weeks ago I went and did it again (sent an email out to the whole church by accident), but thankfully it was only a rough draft of the bulletin. Phew. I'll be thankful when I hand the reigns over to my successor in two weeks and don't have to worry about such idiotic adventures!
Moving on....
This past Saturday was a very special high point in my summer - it was the second annual reunion-breakfast that I've had with two special hyperemesis friends of mine: Sarah, who is a fellow-client of my midwife and whom I met at our midwife's annual picnic, and Jenna, who met Sarah over the web (Jenna is also the author of "Body Mutiny," an internationally famous book on hyperemesis). I am the junior member of our trio, having had an experience which some would call hyperemesis and some would not (had to live on a liquid diet - yes; hospitalized - no, though this was more an insurance thing than anything). But whether or not I am a true member of the HG (hyperemesis gravidarum) club, I'm still only the junior member - my HG/morning sickness merely made my life a living hell - both Sarah and Jenna nearly died, besides spending a majority of their pregnancies in the hospital on just about every drug you can name. Yikes!!!
We had an absolutely lovely time getting caught up, chatting randomly, and having lots of good "HG talk," something that is always absolutely refreshing in a world that often thinks that all morning sickness can be resolved by ginger pills and brisk walks, LOL!! I really need to get more hyperemesis articles on this blog... this is a condition that is so drastically underestimated and misunderstood - I would love to get more public awareness out there in any way that I possibly can. Hopefully soon!
Well, I have tons more to write, but life calls. Thus, I'll try to catch up more later! We are well, are having a very busy week, and are looking forward with our next appointment with our midwife, which is tomorrow. I'll be doing the GBS test (something I don't really agree with, for many reasons, but which I have elected to do so that I don't have to fight any antibiotic-happy hospital staff in case of a transport), so I'm hoping for a nice fat negative on that one. Then a friend of mine is going to do some pregnancy photography for us this weekend, so I'll try to post that after we finish.
Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
34 weeks, 2 days: Time is Still Racing!
I have come to realize lately that, like it or not, both of my blogs are going to be neglected for a while. I really regret that. Not only do I adore blogging, but I spend a lot of my time "mentally blogging" - writing out entries in my head which, unfortunately, never make into onto the computer. What a pity! I have at least three articles waiting to be written onto each blog, and countless news items for my birth blog which have had to be ignored.
Why am I so ridiculously busy?
Mostly because I'm working against the clock in getting ready for baby. Because we just moved into our house in January and I have only recently felt well enough to really dig in, there's quite a bit of stuff left to do. Unpacking, organizing, cleaning, getting baby things out, learning about home ownership, working on home/yard/car projects - and that's only the beginning!
A more difficult task is regaining my life post-morning sickness, something that I've had to do with each pregnancy (though not this time nearly like last time!). This means regaining routines, cleaning habits, shopping, meal plans, getting back into cooking, etc. - it's harder than it looks! And when you add in a very active preschooler, it makes it all the more interesting.
Additionally, we are seriously considering jumping onto the homeschooling wagon - meaning that homeschool "preschool" begins this year. Yikes!! I won't say that I'm not seriously conflicted on this issue, but the current plan is to go ahead with it. So I am trying to get plugged into the homeschool community and attempting to corral my thoughts in that direction.
Also, I know that my blogging life will be seriously slowed once baby does arrive next month. So this may last for a while!
While I'm thinking of it, I wanted to say a quick thank you to those of you who sent in the idea of the hormone-free IUD as a birth control method. You all are so sweet to take the time to do that! As a matter of fact I had already considered the IUD and decided against it (for multiple reasons), but I forgot to mention that in my post. Thank you, dear friends, for your thoughtfulness!
Anyhow, this isn't a real "update" post - it is just a "this is why I'm not around a lot" post, with my apologies. Hopefully at some point (perhaps soon!) I'll be able to jump back into active blogging. But for now, it's going to have to take a back seat to baby-prep. However, I'll try to post a proper "update on my life/pregnancy/etc." post soon just to check in, even if I can't write all those juicy and delicious articles that I've been pondering for so long.
Cheers, my friends! Have a wonderful weekend!
Why am I so ridiculously busy?
Mostly because I'm working against the clock in getting ready for baby. Because we just moved into our house in January and I have only recently felt well enough to really dig in, there's quite a bit of stuff left to do. Unpacking, organizing, cleaning, getting baby things out, learning about home ownership, working on home/yard/car projects - and that's only the beginning!
A more difficult task is regaining my life post-morning sickness, something that I've had to do with each pregnancy (though not this time nearly like last time!). This means regaining routines, cleaning habits, shopping, meal plans, getting back into cooking, etc. - it's harder than it looks! And when you add in a very active preschooler, it makes it all the more interesting.
Additionally, we are seriously considering jumping onto the homeschooling wagon - meaning that homeschool "preschool" begins this year. Yikes!! I won't say that I'm not seriously conflicted on this issue, but the current plan is to go ahead with it. So I am trying to get plugged into the homeschool community and attempting to corral my thoughts in that direction.
Also, I know that my blogging life will be seriously slowed once baby does arrive next month. So this may last for a while!
While I'm thinking of it, I wanted to say a quick thank you to those of you who sent in the idea of the hormone-free IUD as a birth control method. You all are so sweet to take the time to do that! As a matter of fact I had already considered the IUD and decided against it (for multiple reasons), but I forgot to mention that in my post. Thank you, dear friends, for your thoughtfulness!
Anyhow, this isn't a real "update" post - it is just a "this is why I'm not around a lot" post, with my apologies. Hopefully at some point (perhaps soon!) I'll be able to jump back into active blogging. But for now, it's going to have to take a back seat to baby-prep. However, I'll try to post a proper "update on my life/pregnancy/etc." post soon just to check in, even if I can't write all those juicy and delicious articles that I've been pondering for so long.
Cheers, my friends! Have a wonderful weekend!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
32 weeks, 0 days: Has Time Sped Up Lately?
I mean, my goodness! Every time I look at the calendar, another week has sped by! Why couldn't it do that when I was dealing with the serious nausea? Ah, well... Time flies when you're having fun... and it certainly doesn't fly when you're not!
This week I reached an exciting point in my unpacking - the point where I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The end is not here, but it's close! I MIGHT be able to finish pre-baby! That is immensely exciting. I still have a to-do list the size of Mt. Rushmore, but it is looking more doable. I've got two weeks before I need to start kicking into high gear with birth prep (ordering supplies, setting up the cradle, etc.), so if I can finish the house by then, I should be set. I want to get as much as possible done, because I know that my life is pretty much going to stop for a while when baby arrives! (Like for two years or so.) I felt like my existence terminated when our first arrived, and I know it is going to be beyond crazy with a newborn and a preschooler at once. How do you moms out there DO it? I definitely don't feel up to the challenge.
(TMI warning....)
I'm still grappling with the birth control issue. There's no easy answer, is there? Physical methods are a pain in the neck, chemical methods are no longer acceptable to us for a myriad of reasons, permanent sterilization has health ramifications for both sexes, and natural family planning requires a lot more self-control than we apparently have. So that leaves us.... where? I have no idea. I don't really want any more kidlets (at the moment - though that is purely an HG issue rather than a numbers issue), but I don't really want to permanently end my reproductive capacity either. So for the moment, I'm stuck.
One question that runs through my mind often is what I would choose to do if (God forbid!!) complications during labor necessitated transport to a hospital and ended up requiring a cesarean - which would be a perfect time for a tubal ligation (it would save a lot of trouble later!). Would I do it? Or would I wimp out? Only time would tell.... But hopefully the situation won't arise anyway!
But if I have any sense at all (something which I often doubt), this does need to be our last child. I can tell that the hyperemesis would have been much worse this time if it had not been suppressed with medication, due to the fact that the nausea hit much earlier this time (over a week before I could get a positive pregnancy test) and much harder (I was seriously nauseated by four weeks, whereas last time it didn't hit till sometime mid-five weeks). The trend with most HG mums (that I've seen) seems to be that HG tends to get worse with each pregnancy - not better. And it is almost unheard of for an HG mum to have a subsequent non-HG pregnancy (HG recurrence is well over 80%). So unless I want to risk going through the hell that some of my dear HG friends have endured, I should probably play it safe.
Well, I have run out of time! So I will have to post more later. We see our wonderful midwife team next week, something to which I am greatly looking forward, and we're off for a weekend spent up north with DH's parents. Should be fun! Next week is going to be crazy (doctors' appointments, midwife appointment, playdates, homeschool conference, houseguests, etc.), but I'll do my best to check in.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Diana
This week I reached an exciting point in my unpacking - the point where I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. The end is not here, but it's close! I MIGHT be able to finish pre-baby! That is immensely exciting. I still have a to-do list the size of Mt. Rushmore, but it is looking more doable. I've got two weeks before I need to start kicking into high gear with birth prep (ordering supplies, setting up the cradle, etc.), so if I can finish the house by then, I should be set. I want to get as much as possible done, because I know that my life is pretty much going to stop for a while when baby arrives! (Like for two years or so.) I felt like my existence terminated when our first arrived, and I know it is going to be beyond crazy with a newborn and a preschooler at once. How do you moms out there DO it? I definitely don't feel up to the challenge.
(TMI warning....)
I'm still grappling with the birth control issue. There's no easy answer, is there? Physical methods are a pain in the neck, chemical methods are no longer acceptable to us for a myriad of reasons, permanent sterilization has health ramifications for both sexes, and natural family planning requires a lot more self-control than we apparently have. So that leaves us.... where? I have no idea. I don't really want any more kidlets (at the moment - though that is purely an HG issue rather than a numbers issue), but I don't really want to permanently end my reproductive capacity either. So for the moment, I'm stuck.
One question that runs through my mind often is what I would choose to do if (God forbid!!) complications during labor necessitated transport to a hospital and ended up requiring a cesarean - which would be a perfect time for a tubal ligation (it would save a lot of trouble later!). Would I do it? Or would I wimp out? Only time would tell.... But hopefully the situation won't arise anyway!
But if I have any sense at all (something which I often doubt), this does need to be our last child. I can tell that the hyperemesis would have been much worse this time if it had not been suppressed with medication, due to the fact that the nausea hit much earlier this time (over a week before I could get a positive pregnancy test) and much harder (I was seriously nauseated by four weeks, whereas last time it didn't hit till sometime mid-five weeks). The trend with most HG mums (that I've seen) seems to be that HG tends to get worse with each pregnancy - not better. And it is almost unheard of for an HG mum to have a subsequent non-HG pregnancy (HG recurrence is well over 80%). So unless I want to risk going through the hell that some of my dear HG friends have endured, I should probably play it safe.
Well, I have run out of time! So I will have to post more later. We see our wonderful midwife team next week, something to which I am greatly looking forward, and we're off for a weekend spent up north with DH's parents. Should be fun! Next week is going to be crazy (doctors' appointments, midwife appointment, playdates, homeschool conference, houseguests, etc.), but I'll do my best to check in.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Diana
Saturday, June 27, 2009
30 weeks, 2 days: Checking In, Again
Hi, everyone!
I'm afraid that my blogging life has really gone on the backburner (for both blogs) over the past month or so. I really apologize for that, as I wanted these blogs to contain a good record of my pregnancy. However, not only is our schedule quite busy right now (MOMS club, finishing up loose ends at work, church, family visits, etc.), but I am still working maniacally to try to get our life "in order" before baby comes - i.e. house projects, unpacking (this goal seems further and further away all the time), getting organized, getting my mostly-post-morning-sickness self back to my normal routines, etc. - all while pregnant and chasing a preschooler! And that doesn't even go into our rebelling septic tank issue, our scorpion infestation problem (and now their eggs are hatching so we're getting baby scorpions), and in-process car repairs. So computer time has really been scaled back.
All seems to be well with baby; she is very active and getting bigger all the time. Her position is terrific - a nice LOA (left occiput anterior) which is optimum for birth, and a great heartbeat. My one grief is that I am so busy that I often forget that I am pregnant! I want to find a balance between getting things done and taking time to slow down and enjoy this pregnancy, so hopefully that can happen in the next month or so. But I don't want to leave things undone any more than possible - I know that they simply won't happen after the birth!
One lovely thing is that I can BREATHE during this pregnancy! Last time I had horrible breathlessness issues from about week 15 on. This time I feel great! Baby is carrying lower, and I'm showing a TON more (that's what happens when you've already stretched out your tummy with baby #1!!), so I guess that leaves more room for my lungs. Hurray!!!
In another month I'll have to start seriously preparing for the birth as well, in terms of gathering supplies, etc., so that will be something else to throw into the mix.
I forgot to say a few weeks ago that I had a simply lovely church baby shower in the beginning of June - it was terrific! Wonderful food, fellowship, games, gifts, and a lovely bead ceremony. It made my month - thank you, Jen!!
In HG (hyperemesis) news:
This week I had an interesting exchange on a birth group. A woman wrote in trying to get advice for her sister, who is in the middle of severe hyperemesis. I wrote back talking PICC lines, IV hydration, Zofran, etc. Other advice was given talking about herbal teas and high protein snacks and taking brisk walks (!!!!), and the like. I have to admit, I was so upset about the whole thing that it nearly brought me to tears.
I guess two points come to mind: (1) As always, there is the belief that what works for morning sickness will work for hyperemesis. IT WON'T. For most hyperemesis mamas, herbal teas or solid food will cause uncontrollable vomiting. Trying to force these things (which may work just fine for normal morning sickness) will just make the situation worse. (2) I guess that the one downside of being part of the natural living community is that sometimes intensive allopathic medicine is rejected when it is actually needed. I know that interventive practices in pregnancy and birth are harmful when overused - but they are sometimes very much needed. A PICC line can be a godsend to an HG mama, as can hard-core pharmaceuticals. Let's use them when they're needed.
The moral of the story: If you know a hyperemesis mama (that is, a pregnant mother who is experiencing severe, out-of-control nausea and vomiting), PLEASE observe the following:
(1) Do not urge her to eat and drink if she says she can't. If she can, she will. If she can't, she can't, and trying to do so will only make it worse. At that point, it's time to go for IV hydration or PICC nutrition.
(2) Please know that most morning sickness remedies do NOT work for hyperemesis. In fact, they usually make things much worse.
(3) Don't reject intensive pharmaceutical treatment when it is needed. It can be the difference between a hellish nightmare of hyperemesis misery and a tolerable pregnancy. Sometimes it can mean the difference between life or death (for mom or baby).
Enough said. I'd love to get comments on the above in case I am off-track in any way.
Well, as usual, I'm procrastinating on something I should be doing while I blog! And so farewell for now! I'll do my best to check in as often as I can.
I'm afraid that my blogging life has really gone on the backburner (for both blogs) over the past month or so. I really apologize for that, as I wanted these blogs to contain a good record of my pregnancy. However, not only is our schedule quite busy right now (MOMS club, finishing up loose ends at work, church, family visits, etc.), but I am still working maniacally to try to get our life "in order" before baby comes - i.e. house projects, unpacking (this goal seems further and further away all the time), getting organized, getting my mostly-post-morning-sickness self back to my normal routines, etc. - all while pregnant and chasing a preschooler! And that doesn't even go into our rebelling septic tank issue, our scorpion infestation problem (and now their eggs are hatching so we're getting baby scorpions), and in-process car repairs. So computer time has really been scaled back.
All seems to be well with baby; she is very active and getting bigger all the time. Her position is terrific - a nice LOA (left occiput anterior) which is optimum for birth, and a great heartbeat. My one grief is that I am so busy that I often forget that I am pregnant! I want to find a balance between getting things done and taking time to slow down and enjoy this pregnancy, so hopefully that can happen in the next month or so. But I don't want to leave things undone any more than possible - I know that they simply won't happen after the birth!
One lovely thing is that I can BREATHE during this pregnancy! Last time I had horrible breathlessness issues from about week 15 on. This time I feel great! Baby is carrying lower, and I'm showing a TON more (that's what happens when you've already stretched out your tummy with baby #1!!), so I guess that leaves more room for my lungs. Hurray!!!
In another month I'll have to start seriously preparing for the birth as well, in terms of gathering supplies, etc., so that will be something else to throw into the mix.
I forgot to say a few weeks ago that I had a simply lovely church baby shower in the beginning of June - it was terrific! Wonderful food, fellowship, games, gifts, and a lovely bead ceremony. It made my month - thank you, Jen!!
In HG (hyperemesis) news:
This week I had an interesting exchange on a birth group. A woman wrote in trying to get advice for her sister, who is in the middle of severe hyperemesis. I wrote back talking PICC lines, IV hydration, Zofran, etc. Other advice was given talking about herbal teas and high protein snacks and taking brisk walks (!!!!), and the like. I have to admit, I was so upset about the whole thing that it nearly brought me to tears.
I guess two points come to mind: (1) As always, there is the belief that what works for morning sickness will work for hyperemesis. IT WON'T. For most hyperemesis mamas, herbal teas or solid food will cause uncontrollable vomiting. Trying to force these things (which may work just fine for normal morning sickness) will just make the situation worse. (2) I guess that the one downside of being part of the natural living community is that sometimes intensive allopathic medicine is rejected when it is actually needed. I know that interventive practices in pregnancy and birth are harmful when overused - but they are sometimes very much needed. A PICC line can be a godsend to an HG mama, as can hard-core pharmaceuticals. Let's use them when they're needed.
The moral of the story: If you know a hyperemesis mama (that is, a pregnant mother who is experiencing severe, out-of-control nausea and vomiting), PLEASE observe the following:
(1) Do not urge her to eat and drink if she says she can't. If she can, she will. If she can't, she can't, and trying to do so will only make it worse. At that point, it's time to go for IV hydration or PICC nutrition.
(2) Please know that most morning sickness remedies do NOT work for hyperemesis. In fact, they usually make things much worse.
(3) Don't reject intensive pharmaceutical treatment when it is needed. It can be the difference between a hellish nightmare of hyperemesis misery and a tolerable pregnancy. Sometimes it can mean the difference between life or death (for mom or baby).
Enough said. I'd love to get comments on the above in case I am off-track in any way.
Well, as usual, I'm procrastinating on something I should be doing while I blog! And so farewell for now! I'll do my best to check in as often as I can.
Monday, June 15, 2009
28 weeks, 4 days: Time is Moving Too Quickly!
Hello, everyone! I just wanted to do the quickest of check-ins to say hi. My parents are coming in town tomorrow, so I will most likely be maintaining radio silence for the next week (my blogging life is something in which I do NOT want my parents involved - nothing against them, just a personal thing). We are gearing up for a housewarming party this weekend (all locals, consider yourselves invited) which will probably take up most of the week (trying to make the house look presentable, that is!).
We are keeping very busy... A summer class for DS, fixing our irrigation system, normal social/church engagements, and on my part, working madly to unpack/organize the house before baby arrives. For some reason I seem to work most days without any visible improvement (a small but over-energized three-year-old tearing around the house might have something to do with it), but I have hopes that my goal of unpacked-before-baby might be reached sometime this summer. As far as decorating, that can wait - for years, if necessary - I don't have time to dust pictures and knick-knacks anyway! (Last time we moved I was too sick with HG-remnants to decorate, and the luxury of halved-dusting time was so lovely that I never put them up! A bit bare, perhaps, but what a relief to be relieved from the chore of dusting china.)
We are now well into the 3rd trimester, and our visits with our midwives are down to 2-week intervals. Hurray! But rather nerve-wracking! I can't say that the thought of another natural birth doesn't frighten me - it's not the easiest thing in the world. I need to get busy practicing!
I notice that with this baby I have more time to actually think about the baby. Last time it was "Sick-sick-sick-sick, oh wow, here's a baby!" This time, not being so ill, I have had more time to fall in love and look forward to meeting her. A nice switch!
We're still vacillating on names. The problem is that all of our favorite girl names, planned since childhood, are (oh, curses!) on the list of top-ten baby names. In fact, our favorite name had to be jettisoned since it is currently the number one baby name - and we didn't want to do that to our little one. Several others have bitten the dust for the same reason. Thankfully, our current first-choice boy name is something like #694 on the list, so we don't have to worry about that one!!! (That'll leave you guessing!)
By the by, we have decided to keep our name a secret this time (not that we've settled for sure with either gender). This is not because we object to friends knowing, but simply because last time we had "the name wars" within our family - and we're going to avoid that by not announcing the name till it's on the birth certificate (and the birth certificate is signed and mailed, LOL!!!). But we will post as soon as that happens.
Well, I'd better get to doing something productive! Love to all!!
P.S. Both of my blogs have been neglected of late (probably because the sound of the keyboard wakes DS up from his naps, something to be avoided at all costs), but I hope to remedy that soon (not this week, though!). However, a commenter (Michelle, right?) left a great question on my birth blog about the daddy-doula dynamic, and I wanted to let her know that I am going to post on that very soon! (Or as soon as I can.) It's a great question, and I've been wanting to address it for some time. I am not ignoring you!!!!
Have a great week!!
We are keeping very busy... A summer class for DS, fixing our irrigation system, normal social/church engagements, and on my part, working madly to unpack/organize the house before baby arrives. For some reason I seem to work most days without any visible improvement (a small but over-energized three-year-old tearing around the house might have something to do with it), but I have hopes that my goal of unpacked-before-baby might be reached sometime this summer. As far as decorating, that can wait - for years, if necessary - I don't have time to dust pictures and knick-knacks anyway! (Last time we moved I was too sick with HG-remnants to decorate, and the luxury of halved-dusting time was so lovely that I never put them up! A bit bare, perhaps, but what a relief to be relieved from the chore of dusting china.)
We are now well into the 3rd trimester, and our visits with our midwives are down to 2-week intervals. Hurray! But rather nerve-wracking! I can't say that the thought of another natural birth doesn't frighten me - it's not the easiest thing in the world. I need to get busy practicing!
I notice that with this baby I have more time to actually think about the baby. Last time it was "Sick-sick-sick-sick, oh wow, here's a baby!" This time, not being so ill, I have had more time to fall in love and look forward to meeting her. A nice switch!
We're still vacillating on names. The problem is that all of our favorite girl names, planned since childhood, are (oh, curses!) on the list of top-ten baby names. In fact, our favorite name had to be jettisoned since it is currently the number one baby name - and we didn't want to do that to our little one. Several others have bitten the dust for the same reason. Thankfully, our current first-choice boy name is something like #694 on the list, so we don't have to worry about that one!!! (That'll leave you guessing!)
By the by, we have decided to keep our name a secret this time (not that we've settled for sure with either gender). This is not because we object to friends knowing, but simply because last time we had "the name wars" within our family - and we're going to avoid that by not announcing the name till it's on the birth certificate (and the birth certificate is signed and mailed, LOL!!!). But we will post as soon as that happens.
Well, I'd better get to doing something productive! Love to all!!
P.S. Both of my blogs have been neglected of late (probably because the sound of the keyboard wakes DS up from his naps, something to be avoided at all costs), but I hope to remedy that soon (not this week, though!). However, a commenter (Michelle, right?) left a great question on my birth blog about the daddy-doula dynamic, and I wanted to let her know that I am going to post on that very soon! (Or as soon as I can.) It's a great question, and I've been wanting to address it for some time. I am not ignoring you!!!!
Have a great week!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
27 weeks, 0 days: Inching Closer All the TIme!
This week I decided that it was time to face some demons from my past. That's right; you guessed it.... I opened my fridge's vegetable drawer and looked inside. Yikes!
Actually, it wasn't too bad, considering that I haven't really opened it since Christmas. This time I sensibly stopped buying vegetables when I got a positive pregnancy test, unlike last time, when I kept doggedly at it, thinking that "any day I'm going to feel well enough to eat this!" So the sum total wasn't nearly as bad as last time. Some celery gone over to the dark side, a bag of carrots covered in roots, something that used to be an orange, and a bag (thankfully Ziploc) of something (???) that was now entirely liquified. Not bad for a five-month sabbatical!
I'm still not buying any vegetables (except for premade salad mix), but hopefully that will come too in the next month or two.
My diet has taken exactly the same path with each pregnancy (just not as severely this time).... Degeneration into total junk food and/or prepared food (due to my inability to cook), followed by a gradual climb back out of the pit to my usual crazy health-food experiments, which seem like a far-off dream at this point (I can hardly believe that six months ago I was eating kale and making homemade yogurt!). Right now our diet is at the "Standard American Diet" level (a.k.a. "SAD"!!!), but I hope that it will continue to move upwards as the months progress.
I can hardly believe that I only have three months of pregnancy left! It is going by WAY too quickly!! I wish it could last another two years! (Now that I'm feeling better, that is! LOL!!)
I have noticed that I am having to fight a distinct tendency toward what I will term "second-time mom conceit," i.e. "I've done this whole labor thing before, so I don't need to practice relaxing/do labor exercises/etc." What a laugh! Several moms have told me about this phenomenon before, and how it actually made their second birth harder because they were then caught off-guard. And the truth is that not only did I not handle labor particularly well last time, but I am probably one of the biggest wimps around with regard to pain. I can't even have a mildly uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contraction without thinking, "Ack! Epidural, now!" So I really do have a long way to go.
However, I do have two lovely doulas signed up to help us out, so hopefully that will make a difference.
We have a busy month ahead of us! My baby shower on Saturday (hurray!!!), DH's dad's birthday, my birthday, DS's birthday, our anniversary, a visit from my family and hopefully a housewarming party, and then a trip in early July to go camping and visit DH's family up north. Whew!! And we may or may not be going to California for a wedding (if it's in July, yes, if August, no - I'm not going to be that far away from our midwife once week 36 hits!).
We are going to see our midwife next week, which should be a blast, and we get to see her new office as well! She has just taken up residence in the same set of offices (which are actually an old farmhouse) as our CPA, so that is a fun coincidence and we're looking forward to checking it out. Her last office was actually where our pastor had his first office (before the church had a building), and that was a fun coincidence to find out too! We're looking forward to that, and also to the fact that our appointments will go to every two weeks at that point (hurray!). I've also badgered her into bringing along her model pelvis so that she can show us the cardinal movements, so that should be a lot of fun (I just can't figure them out from a book.... too dense, I guess).
So life is good! Busy, but good. Every week I get more and more back to normal, so hopefully life will be up and running again in another few months - just in time for the baby to bring it crashing back down again for the next year, LOL!!!! But it will be fun.
Love to all! Have a great weekend!!!
Actually, it wasn't too bad, considering that I haven't really opened it since Christmas. This time I sensibly stopped buying vegetables when I got a positive pregnancy test, unlike last time, when I kept doggedly at it, thinking that "any day I'm going to feel well enough to eat this!" So the sum total wasn't nearly as bad as last time. Some celery gone over to the dark side, a bag of carrots covered in roots, something that used to be an orange, and a bag (thankfully Ziploc) of something (???) that was now entirely liquified. Not bad for a five-month sabbatical!
I'm still not buying any vegetables (except for premade salad mix), but hopefully that will come too in the next month or two.
My diet has taken exactly the same path with each pregnancy (just not as severely this time).... Degeneration into total junk food and/or prepared food (due to my inability to cook), followed by a gradual climb back out of the pit to my usual crazy health-food experiments, which seem like a far-off dream at this point (I can hardly believe that six months ago I was eating kale and making homemade yogurt!). Right now our diet is at the "Standard American Diet" level (a.k.a. "SAD"!!!), but I hope that it will continue to move upwards as the months progress.
I can hardly believe that I only have three months of pregnancy left! It is going by WAY too quickly!! I wish it could last another two years! (Now that I'm feeling better, that is! LOL!!)
I have noticed that I am having to fight a distinct tendency toward what I will term "second-time mom conceit," i.e. "I've done this whole labor thing before, so I don't need to practice relaxing/do labor exercises/etc." What a laugh! Several moms have told me about this phenomenon before, and how it actually made their second birth harder because they were then caught off-guard. And the truth is that not only did I not handle labor particularly well last time, but I am probably one of the biggest wimps around with regard to pain. I can't even have a mildly uncomfortable Braxton-Hicks contraction without thinking, "Ack! Epidural, now!" So I really do have a long way to go.
However, I do have two lovely doulas signed up to help us out, so hopefully that will make a difference.
We have a busy month ahead of us! My baby shower on Saturday (hurray!!!), DH's dad's birthday, my birthday, DS's birthday, our anniversary, a visit from my family and hopefully a housewarming party, and then a trip in early July to go camping and visit DH's family up north. Whew!! And we may or may not be going to California for a wedding (if it's in July, yes, if August, no - I'm not going to be that far away from our midwife once week 36 hits!).
We are going to see our midwife next week, which should be a blast, and we get to see her new office as well! She has just taken up residence in the same set of offices (which are actually an old farmhouse) as our CPA, so that is a fun coincidence and we're looking forward to checking it out. Her last office was actually where our pastor had his first office (before the church had a building), and that was a fun coincidence to find out too! We're looking forward to that, and also to the fact that our appointments will go to every two weeks at that point (hurray!). I've also badgered her into bringing along her model pelvis so that she can show us the cardinal movements, so that should be a lot of fun (I just can't figure them out from a book.... too dense, I guess).
So life is good! Busy, but good. Every week I get more and more back to normal, so hopefully life will be up and running again in another few months - just in time for the baby to bring it crashing back down again for the next year, LOL!!!! But it will be fun.
Love to all! Have a great weekend!!!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
26 weeks, 0 days: A Somber Sort of Week
This has indeed been a somber sort of week. There have just been so many deaths with people I am either connected with or interested in! I suppose that every week is that way for someone.
Anyhow, it started on Sunday morning when I woke up to the news that a baby whose mama's blog I had been following and praying for, baby Faith Hope, had died on Saturday. Her death was not completely unexpected, as she had a severe birth defect (anencephaly) that is 100% fatal. In fact, her survival to the age of 93 days was nothing short of a miracle - most anencephalic babies are either stillborn or die within minutes or hours. I don't know if she set any records, but she must have been close. However, she had been doing really well.
What made this story painful was really not the baby's birth defect or short life... It was the fact that the baby's mother received cruel hate-mail from internet sickos who thought she should have aborted her baby or not given her the care she needed to survive. Because anencephalic babies are born missing part of their brain, some people think that they are "not human" and therefore not worthy of either love, life or care. (How having a complete brain is a definition of humanity and a ticket to worthiness is beyond me.) She had to remove her email address from her site, shut down her Facebook account, and have her friends check her email to delete the hate mail from her inbox.
Never before would I have guessed that unconditional love was a qualifying characteristic for deserving the most despicable treatment possible. Hopefully these people have learned something from Faith's mama.
Anyhow, after that, on Monday we learned that an east valley midwife's client had lost a baby at 32 weeks. We are going to hold a bead ceremony for her tonight at birth circle, and we are organizing meals for their family. What a horrible grief. The odd thing is that I know that I know this girl by sight, as we attend the same birth circle chapter, but I don't know exactly who she is - I'll find out next week when I take them lunch. I keep running the list of pregnant mamas through my mind and wondering which one it is - a yucky feeling.
Then on Tuesday we learned that our Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin's wife had died unexpectedly in childbirth on Monday night and that the baby was not doing well. Today, after three days of prayers, we learned that the baby died last night. What an utter tragedy - to go from planning a family birth to planning the funerals for one's entire family.
And we can add to all of that the death of Mike Tyson's little girl in the news - something that makes all parents shiver with the possibility of in-home accidents for children.
So all in all, a somber week! I'll post about us later, and hopefully the rest of the week will be a bit more cheerful.
Anyhow, it started on Sunday morning when I woke up to the news that a baby whose mama's blog I had been following and praying for, baby Faith Hope, had died on Saturday. Her death was not completely unexpected, as she had a severe birth defect (anencephaly) that is 100% fatal. In fact, her survival to the age of 93 days was nothing short of a miracle - most anencephalic babies are either stillborn or die within minutes or hours. I don't know if she set any records, but she must have been close. However, she had been doing really well.
What made this story painful was really not the baby's birth defect or short life... It was the fact that the baby's mother received cruel hate-mail from internet sickos who thought she should have aborted her baby or not given her the care she needed to survive. Because anencephalic babies are born missing part of their brain, some people think that they are "not human" and therefore not worthy of either love, life or care. (How having a complete brain is a definition of humanity and a ticket to worthiness is beyond me.) She had to remove her email address from her site, shut down her Facebook account, and have her friends check her email to delete the hate mail from her inbox.
Never before would I have guessed that unconditional love was a qualifying characteristic for deserving the most despicable treatment possible. Hopefully these people have learned something from Faith's mama.
Anyhow, after that, on Monday we learned that an east valley midwife's client had lost a baby at 32 weeks. We are going to hold a bead ceremony for her tonight at birth circle, and we are organizing meals for their family. What a horrible grief. The odd thing is that I know that I know this girl by sight, as we attend the same birth circle chapter, but I don't know exactly who she is - I'll find out next week when I take them lunch. I keep running the list of pregnant mamas through my mind and wondering which one it is - a yucky feeling.
Then on Tuesday we learned that our Arizona Treasurer Dean Martin's wife had died unexpectedly in childbirth on Monday night and that the baby was not doing well. Today, after three days of prayers, we learned that the baby died last night. What an utter tragedy - to go from planning a family birth to planning the funerals for one's entire family.
And we can add to all of that the death of Mike Tyson's little girl in the news - something that makes all parents shiver with the possibility of in-home accidents for children.
So all in all, a somber week! I'll post about us later, and hopefully the rest of the week will be a bit more cheerful.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
25 weeks, 3 days: Phoenix Summer Begins
I'm sitting at home right now while our toddler sleeps in (he's got a cold) and hubby is at church... what better time to update my blog?
We are all well, though the heat from the beginning of a loooonnnnggg Phoenix summer is somewhat depressing, and we're all getting ready to hibernate indoors for the next five months. (*Sigh*) Rather the reverse of most places, I suppose!
Yesterday we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around our local plant nursery, and had a bunch of fun looking at plants we'd like to buy eventually. At the very end, however, we stopped innocently at the front desk to ask the price of an unlabeled edible fig tree.... and were immediately sucked into an inescapable sales vortex by an enthusiastic young salesman and were not permitted to escape before listening to a half-hour talk on all of their programs, packages, and services! We did our valiant best to nod intelligently and look as if we perhaps did have $2,000 to pay offhand for trees at any given moment. I don't know if we succeeded.
We never did find out the price of the fig tree.
Moving on.... We are slowly learning the ins and outs of home-ownership, though I think it will be a long journey. I can tell that I am starting to feel better because I have started having my usual manic-decluttering moments, though in-miniature, in between bouts of fatigue/nausea. As usual, the hardest part is getting DH involved, but I have found that if I put a small box of "to be decluttered" stuff in front of the television, I can get him to look at it before bedtime. I love going through his computer stuff! Stick it in a box for a few years, and voila! It's useless and outdated! So whenever he goes through his computer boxes, we throw about half of it out. I love throwing stuff out! It's one of my main de-stressors in life.
I am beginning to understand why "country folk" can sometimes have more hardened attitudes toward animals and wildlife than us "soft city dwellers." Even though we're still in the city, just having a larger property seems to have translated into semi-country living - and there are so many things, to put it vulgarly, that need killing! Roaches, gophers, crickets, ants, scorpions, tumbleweeds - just to name a few. DH, to put it frankly, doesn't mind at all - it's bringing out his "hunter-man" nature. Lately he's been perfecting his technique of killing flies by snapping them with bath towels. Even I have become somewhat hardened to killing scorpions, though I don't like it - we just have too many to relocate them, as I used to do in our apartment.
One thing I can't get accustomed to, however, is the killing of gophers... those things are just so darned cute! I love them. But they can destroy one's property, for sure.
Baby is doing well; she is very active!! I find the difference between her and our DS in-utero to be utterly fascinating - who would have known that one could tell differences in babies pre-birth? She remains hiccup-less, which makes me laugh when I remember my pregnancy with DS, who had hiccups several times daily from conception onward. Fun stuff!
I am doing my best to wean myself off of Zofran. It's not that I'm running out, but that I really would like to have a small stash left at the end of this pregnancy. It's not that I'm planning another baby... but there are such things as surprises, and I don't want to be left at the mercy of our insurance company should another surprise hit before I get up the guts to make the final decision to end our reproductive life permanently. I find that I can go without Zofran for a day, but the nausea just starts building and I have to go back on it after that.
Well, I'd better go get DS before he sleeps the whole day away! Love to all! Enjoy the holiday!
We are all well, though the heat from the beginning of a loooonnnnggg Phoenix summer is somewhat depressing, and we're all getting ready to hibernate indoors for the next five months. (*Sigh*) Rather the reverse of most places, I suppose!
Yesterday we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering around our local plant nursery, and had a bunch of fun looking at plants we'd like to buy eventually. At the very end, however, we stopped innocently at the front desk to ask the price of an unlabeled edible fig tree.... and were immediately sucked into an inescapable sales vortex by an enthusiastic young salesman and were not permitted to escape before listening to a half-hour talk on all of their programs, packages, and services! We did our valiant best to nod intelligently and look as if we perhaps did have $2,000 to pay offhand for trees at any given moment. I don't know if we succeeded.
We never did find out the price of the fig tree.
Moving on.... We are slowly learning the ins and outs of home-ownership, though I think it will be a long journey. I can tell that I am starting to feel better because I have started having my usual manic-decluttering moments, though in-miniature, in between bouts of fatigue/nausea. As usual, the hardest part is getting DH involved, but I have found that if I put a small box of "to be decluttered" stuff in front of the television, I can get him to look at it before bedtime. I love going through his computer stuff! Stick it in a box for a few years, and voila! It's useless and outdated! So whenever he goes through his computer boxes, we throw about half of it out. I love throwing stuff out! It's one of my main de-stressors in life.
I am beginning to understand why "country folk" can sometimes have more hardened attitudes toward animals and wildlife than us "soft city dwellers." Even though we're still in the city, just having a larger property seems to have translated into semi-country living - and there are so many things, to put it vulgarly, that need killing! Roaches, gophers, crickets, ants, scorpions, tumbleweeds - just to name a few. DH, to put it frankly, doesn't mind at all - it's bringing out his "hunter-man" nature. Lately he's been perfecting his technique of killing flies by snapping them with bath towels. Even I have become somewhat hardened to killing scorpions, though I don't like it - we just have too many to relocate them, as I used to do in our apartment.
One thing I can't get accustomed to, however, is the killing of gophers... those things are just so darned cute! I love them. But they can destroy one's property, for sure.
Baby is doing well; she is very active!! I find the difference between her and our DS in-utero to be utterly fascinating - who would have known that one could tell differences in babies pre-birth? She remains hiccup-less, which makes me laugh when I remember my pregnancy with DS, who had hiccups several times daily from conception onward. Fun stuff!
I am doing my best to wean myself off of Zofran. It's not that I'm running out, but that I really would like to have a small stash left at the end of this pregnancy. It's not that I'm planning another baby... but there are such things as surprises, and I don't want to be left at the mercy of our insurance company should another surprise hit before I get up the guts to make the final decision to end our reproductive life permanently. I find that I can go without Zofran for a day, but the nausea just starts building and I have to go back on it after that.
Well, I'd better go get DS before he sleeps the whole day away! Love to all! Enjoy the holiday!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
25 weeks, 0 days: Checking In
Cross-posted from my morning sickness blog....
Wow, I didn't realize how long I'd neglected to update this blog! My other blog has been going through a flurry of activity lately, so I guess this one got shoved onto the back-burner.
Things are well! We saw our midwife (one of them, actually, as we have two) last Tuesday and had a ton of fun with her. This is the first time we've seen this midwife as a midwife - last time we saw her in-office (last pregnancy) she was still a student/apprentice midwife. Now she's licensed and out on her own! Pretty cool! And she does a great job. We're hoping that both midwives will be able to make it to our birth.
Speaking of birth, our birth team is finally shaping up! We have two doulas (tentatively, still working out details) who happen to be two of my very favorite people in the Phoenix birth community, and I am incredibly excited about that!! We also have a toddler-chaperone.... but only if the birth takes place on a night or weekend, LOL! So we'll hope for a due-date baby (which is a Saturday).
I have started doing my pregnancy exercises in earnest (tailor sitting, kegels, pelvic rocks, squatting) and am trying to get a walk in when possible (it's a lot harder with a toddler in tow!). I'm trying to practice the principles of optimal fetal positioning too, so I'm doing my best to sit on the floor or my birth ball and to lean forward while sitting. I do NOT want a posterior or breech baby birth!! I also dug out my Hypnobirthing CD and have started listening to it at bedtime. (This is on the principle of, "Since it didn't work last time, I guess I should do more of it!" LOL) Seriously, did relaxation really work for anyone out there during labor? I tried to practice relaxation during my last pregnancy, but it all went out the door with the first serious contraction. Well, maybe it will work better this time... I'll let you know. After all, I really do have a horribly hard time with meditation of any kind (my mind starts making grocery lists), so maybe it's just me.
I have been reading "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" and enjoying it. Oddly enough, I never got around to reading it last time. One interesting thing in it that has gotten me thinking is its emphasis on high protein intake. I've been contemplating the "protein vs. carbs" debate and thinking that quite possibly we Westerners have gotten it all wrong by focusing on a high-carb diet. If you look at it, most of our diets are extremely high-carb. I don't know how it got that way (possibly a combination of lobbying by the grain industry and the low-fat diet craze), but it seems to be true. However, I have noted the following:
- High protein seems to be much better for morning sickness. Even now, at 25 weeks, I get nauseated after eating a high-carb snack/meal (like waffles or fruit smoothies), but do not get nauseated after eating a high-protein snack/meal or a combination protein/carb meal.
- I feel better after eating a protein-heavy meal (eggs, cottage cheese) than a carb-heavy meal (cereal, waffles, toast, etc.). I have more energy and don't tend to crash and burn like I do with the other.
- My mom is using a low-carb-ish diet to control her high blood pressure.
- High protein intake is one of the key components of the Brewer Diet, which is used during pregnancy to prevent pre-eclampsia
Anyhow, this isn't a pitch for low-carb diets... After all, my DH made himself good and sick on a low-carb diet (apparently one's body can go through a really weird reaction if one eliminates carbs, which he did). And when I tried to do that diet with him, I lasted.... hmm, maybe 48 hours? I'm definitely not a no-carb or even super-low-carb person. It's just a thought that our incredibly and maybe overly-high-carb diets (focusing on processed grains to the exclusion of higher protein and/or fruit/vegetable intake) might not be the best idea after all. Thoughts, anyone?
Moving on from diet.... Other than that, I am doing well! My nausea improved once again after my chiropractor's appointment on Monday, so I am a believer in chiropractic treatment for nausea (I'll post about that soon). We are keeping busy with church and home improvement projects, as well as finishing our yard project. We are toying with the idea of throwing a "come see the house" party, which would be our first ever, and are also getting ready for a flock of family birthdays/anniversaries and more houseguests. June will be a busy month!
I hope that you are all doing well! I will do my best to check in more often. Have a great weekend, all!
Wow, I didn't realize how long I'd neglected to update this blog! My other blog has been going through a flurry of activity lately, so I guess this one got shoved onto the back-burner.
Things are well! We saw our midwife (one of them, actually, as we have two) last Tuesday and had a ton of fun with her. This is the first time we've seen this midwife as a midwife - last time we saw her in-office (last pregnancy) she was still a student/apprentice midwife. Now she's licensed and out on her own! Pretty cool! And she does a great job. We're hoping that both midwives will be able to make it to our birth.
Speaking of birth, our birth team is finally shaping up! We have two doulas (tentatively, still working out details) who happen to be two of my very favorite people in the Phoenix birth community, and I am incredibly excited about that!! We also have a toddler-chaperone.... but only if the birth takes place on a night or weekend, LOL! So we'll hope for a due-date baby (which is a Saturday).
I have started doing my pregnancy exercises in earnest (tailor sitting, kegels, pelvic rocks, squatting) and am trying to get a walk in when possible (it's a lot harder with a toddler in tow!). I'm trying to practice the principles of optimal fetal positioning too, so I'm doing my best to sit on the floor or my birth ball and to lean forward while sitting. I do NOT want a posterior or breech baby birth!! I also dug out my Hypnobirthing CD and have started listening to it at bedtime. (This is on the principle of, "Since it didn't work last time, I guess I should do more of it!" LOL) Seriously, did relaxation really work for anyone out there during labor? I tried to practice relaxation during my last pregnancy, but it all went out the door with the first serious contraction. Well, maybe it will work better this time... I'll let you know. After all, I really do have a horribly hard time with meditation of any kind (my mind starts making grocery lists), so maybe it's just me.
I have been reading "Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way" and enjoying it. Oddly enough, I never got around to reading it last time. One interesting thing in it that has gotten me thinking is its emphasis on high protein intake. I've been contemplating the "protein vs. carbs" debate and thinking that quite possibly we Westerners have gotten it all wrong by focusing on a high-carb diet. If you look at it, most of our diets are extremely high-carb. I don't know how it got that way (possibly a combination of lobbying by the grain industry and the low-fat diet craze), but it seems to be true. However, I have noted the following:
- High protein seems to be much better for morning sickness. Even now, at 25 weeks, I get nauseated after eating a high-carb snack/meal (like waffles or fruit smoothies), but do not get nauseated after eating a high-protein snack/meal or a combination protein/carb meal.
- I feel better after eating a protein-heavy meal (eggs, cottage cheese) than a carb-heavy meal (cereal, waffles, toast, etc.). I have more energy and don't tend to crash and burn like I do with the other.
- My mom is using a low-carb-ish diet to control her high blood pressure.
- High protein intake is one of the key components of the Brewer Diet, which is used during pregnancy to prevent pre-eclampsia
Anyhow, this isn't a pitch for low-carb diets... After all, my DH made himself good and sick on a low-carb diet (apparently one's body can go through a really weird reaction if one eliminates carbs, which he did). And when I tried to do that diet with him, I lasted.... hmm, maybe 48 hours? I'm definitely not a no-carb or even super-low-carb person. It's just a thought that our incredibly and maybe overly-high-carb diets (focusing on processed grains to the exclusion of higher protein and/or fruit/vegetable intake) might not be the best idea after all. Thoughts, anyone?
Moving on from diet.... Other than that, I am doing well! My nausea improved once again after my chiropractor's appointment on Monday, so I am a believer in chiropractic treatment for nausea (I'll post about that soon). We are keeping busy with church and home improvement projects, as well as finishing our yard project. We are toying with the idea of throwing a "come see the house" party, which would be our first ever, and are also getting ready for a flock of family birthdays/anniversaries and more houseguests. June will be a busy month!
I hope that you are all doing well! I will do my best to check in more often. Have a great weekend, all!
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