Bean is Moving Along!

Week 39

For over a week now, we've been advised for me to do some exercises to help Bean shift a little in his/her positioning.  Currently Bean is head down and sideways facing my upper-tummy right (so his back is a little too much towards my back) and we eventually want him facing my back with her back to my tummy.  It is not a bad position and it is very common for babies to roll into good position right before being born.  However, they might not and it's not the most comfortable thing to have your midwife or OB help them roll so I've heard.  My girlfriend down the street had the exact same positioning and highly recommended I do my exercises to hopefully avoid needing assistance.  Again, not the end of the world, but why wouldn't I want to avoid any extra discomfort?? So I've been having Josh massage the tight muscles and ligaments on my left hip and thigh area before laying at an upside down angle once or twice a day and also doing "cat-cow" movements once a day.  At first, being upside down on the plank was really not comfortable.  The pressure on my low back and shoulders was intense as well as having all of Bean's weight shifted right under my ribs and on my lungs.  I usually lasted about 5 minutes and was not very relaxed.  With a few tweaks from Josh, the angle adjusted and some pillow work we found a very pleasant position and I can now breath normal, relax and hang out for quite a while.  I usually only do about 10-12 minutes.  We think Bean twists a bit more, but definitely moves back to his favorite spot.  Hoping this means he's got the wiggle room and isn't stuck, just prefers her little spot.

My weekly midwife visit was Tuesday and uneventful, lol.  I'm doing and feeling pretty great, Bean's heart rate is good, my blood pressure is good, no swelling, no Braxton-Hicks, sleeping well for the most part and taking it easy these days.   Josh has tentative plans to go on a beer tasting tour with his mentor next Wednesday.  I told him that's when Bean will come.  ha!  I told Bean he/she should come Saturday.  We'll see!

OBGYN appointment was today (Wednesday) and much of the same except he gives me a quick dilation check while I'm there, which means nothing since women walk around up to 4cm for a few weeks sometimes, but it's fun to find out and also good to know my body is doing what it needs to do.  So last visit, 2 weeks ago I was just 1.5cm dilated.  Today I am 2cm dilated plus 50% effaced and Bean is at 0-station.  I am completely content with this process of no contractions and no discomfort all while dilating and effacing, ha!  What all that means for those who haven't gone through this already:

Effacement:  While you are pregnant, your cervix is usually around 2 to 3 cm long. In late pregnancy or early labor, Braxton Hicks' practice contractions start to shorten the cervix, a process known as effacement. Most women have a cervix that has shortened to 1 cm during the very early stages of labor. This is also referred to as 50 percent effaced. As the cervix continues to shorten, the cervix is gradually drawn up by the uterus, and by the time it is 100 percent effaced, the cervix will have started to open.

Dilation: Once your cervix is stretched and softened, it begins to open, or dilate, so that your baby can pass through into the vagina to be born. Regular contractions cause the cervix to dilate, and in first labors the cervix dilates at an average of 1 cm per hour; this rate is often faster for subsequent labors. Here, at 2 cm dilation, the cervix has shortened and is beginning to open. Contractions may still be irregular.  Once you reach 6cm you are in active labor and at 10cm are fully dilated and ready to push.

The Station: The "station" refers to the position of your baby's head in relation to your pelvis. This is recorded as a number between -5 and +5. Zero station means the head is "engaged" and has entered the vaginal canal within the pelvic bones. A negative number (-5 to 0) means that the head isn't engaged in the pelvis. A positive number (0 to +4) means that your baby's head is moving down the pelvis and +5 means your baby is crowning (being born). Ideally, you should not push until the head is engaged in the pelvis, even if you're fully dilated.

"Sleepy Dust"

I ran across this natural sleep remedy and though of many of my friends who complain about having trouble sleeping or waking in the middle of the night.  Josh sometimes goes through phases where he will wake for an hour or two and I was hoping to get him or someone to try this!  The article explains why it works and sounds pretty interesting so I've been curious.  Finally, my friend Andrea gave it a try and posted on Facebook that it worked!
I've never had much trouble with sleep, sometimes falling asleep can take me a bit, but once I'm out, I can get up and go to the bathroom, have some water and go right back to sleep.  Until my third trimester...  Around 8 months I found I couldn't just go back to sleep after a bathroom break, my mind would start thinking about stuff.  This started right after Andrea had successfully tried my sleep dust solution which I had yet to use myself.  LOVE!  What a super cheap, easy and healthy option to help get back to sleep!  I keep a little saki cup on my night stand and just dip my finger in and place a bit under my tongue before I lay down again from one of my bathroom breaks and switching positions.  I have no more trouble going back to sleep, it's wonderful!  Also, rapadura sugar is easy to find in stores like Whole Foods, not sure where to find the other kind listed in this recipe.  Andrea noted she just used all regular sugar and said it worked too, so feel free to give that a try!  Who doesn't have salt and sugar on hand?

 

http://butterbeliever.com/how-to-fall-back-asleep/

Getting Prepared for Our Home Birth

The Tuesday after my baby shower was our home visit and check up with Pearl and Ellen her apprentice.  We gave them the tour and they said our home was a lovely place for a birth :)  We reviewed the supplies and talked about when to call her and then they did my usual check up.   I had just inquired whether Pearl thought it was still ok for me to go up to Sacramento for our cousin Abi's baby shower and she thought it should be but we'd talk and see how I felt later that week just to be sure... then she felt Bean's head quite a bit lower than last week and also noted my slightly increased blood pressure (normal once baby drops) and changed her mind.  She wasn't super concerned that Bean would arrive this early, but with Josh unable to go with me I did not want to risk being 2 hours away from my midwife AND Josh so I had to call and let Abi know I'd be missing her shower.
Pearl is loaning us the birth tub so we just needed to buy a hose, shower attachment, tub liner and some other minor supplies.  Before Mom left she helped me get everything checked off the birth supply list, things like 12 receiving blankets, 6 towels,  12 wash cloths (or cloth diapers), bath mat, zip lock bags, garbage bags, paper towels, hydrogen peroxide, witch hazel, etc.  Josh also tested the tub to be sure it didn't have leaks and fit well in our room and I made a Birth Plan sheet with phone numbers, signs of early & active labor, when to call Pearl, things to do once early labor starts, etc. and it's on the fridge so anyone who is home with me at the time can have the info handy.  I think we are ready... on the supply and info front that is!  I'm still feeling pretty surreal about the whole giving birth thing.

More Baby Shower Pictures

Courtesy of my cousin-in-law Amy!

Diaper Cake from Amy - SO CUTE!

Custom Made for Bean!

I'm so proud of the Banner I made ;)

Representing East Bay!

Neighbor Wallace introducing himself to Britt's son Nate

"Oakland Population add 1" :)

Our friend's shop - James & The Giant Cupcake!  I was in heaven.

Practical and wonderful gifts from everyone!

Itty bitty Old Navy Socks and some cute onsies

The Poms were one of my favorite decorations, but WAY prettier in person

Baby Shower!

My favorite outfit!

Me 37 weeks, Abi 35 weeks?

Mom arrived Thursday morning and after having lunch we got straight to work on our daily list of errands and to-do's to get ready for the baby shower on Sunday.  If it weren't for my swelling and achy feet I'm sure it wouldn't have taken every single day to get everything done.  Had she not come in time to help with the errands and some of the crafty, tiny details, I would have been so stressed and would have not had any fun trying to pull off the party.  Beth was a lifesaver as well.  The home projects she got accomplished helped pave the way for moving and organizing stuff around the house and she even sat down with my Mom and I for a few minutes and managed to tie all the thank you cards to my gift jars before going out with friends for the evening!  Poor Josh was a trooper as well, working SO much and during what little free time he had he helped with the things we needed him to, like moving furniture and plants and hanging paper poms from the ceiling, his favorite thing I'm sure.  Josh's Mom made several dishes for the party, came early to helps set up and my good friend and fabulous cook Andrea was in charge of 3 of the 4 mini sandwiches we served, all phenomenally good!  I was so grateful to have such teamwork help pull my baby shower together!  I haven't had a wedding or a bridal shower so this party was a first for me, something I was really looking forward too and I am so happy it came together so nicely!  Like any good event, the only downside was that it went too fast!!   And you would never believe... I forgot to take ANY pictures!!  Thank goodness for my cousin-in-law Amy who snapped a few of the decorations (not before people had dove into the food, but I don't care!) and some of me opening gifts.  She's going to email them to me as soon as she can.   My other cousin-in-law Abi came for the shower and we had a picture of us taken, the last one we took was at Christmas and now we are both getting so close to our due dates!   Here are just a few I got before and after:

Coconut-Lime Sugar Scrub Gifts

My favorite, but all the flowers were so lovely!

Banner I made for gift table

Need a few more special people to fill out!

36 weeks and all is well!

We are in our 36th week of the pregnancy and things are still pretty awesome.  My only complaint is not having enough stamina to get things done and not being able to run very many errands at a time because my feet will start to kill me!  I never thought my feet would bother me more than my back!

I've had to get up at least twice a night to go to the bathroom and then reposition myself, but once I'm back asleep, I've been sleeping fine so that's been nice.  Bean is not hopping and kicking around as much since he/she is running out of room, but he is still pretty active in rolling, stretching and repositioning.   Bean has been head down for weeks now, but hasn't "dropped" yet I guess... as I'm still carrying pretty high and don't feel major pressure yet.  As all this is new and everyone has a somewhat different experience it's a bit hard to know what's normal.  

Good news on the gestational diabetes front!  After meeting with the nutritionist and getting my glucometer, I did my food journal and tracked my glucose levels for 3 weeks and then went in for my check up yesterday.   A nurse took my blood pressure and weight and then a Dr. came in with my food journal commenting on how awesome everything looked and that he didn't see any need for me to come back in.  Then said Dr. asked where I was delivering and I said "home" and he proceeded to throw his opinion in my face that I should have a hospital birth.  I pointed out that we had a midwife, a back up hospital plan and an O.B. if needed so we were all set.  As he checked the size of my funds and Bean's heartbeat he mumbled something about "...higher rate of c-section..." and I had to grit my teeth to stop me from yelling "YOU are NOT my Dr. thank you very much!"  And he had just said I had my diet perfectly under control and I was not measuring too big or too small, but yet he needed to  mention c-section risks in a very unsolicited and very abrupt manner?  The "c-section risk" he unprofessionally referred to is if you do not have control over your gestational diabetes and run the risk of potentially having a larger baby.  All of which I know and have not only discussed with my midwife (whose delivered over 600 babies) in great detail, but again, I also have a very caring and experienced O.B. involved as well.  Ugh.  This Dr. was literally in the room with me for less than 2 minutes.  After he left one of the nutritionists came in to reiterate how well my 3 weeks of tracking had gone and just make sure I didn't have any questions and to remind me of the testing I'll need to do a few weeks after birth to confirm I'm back to normal pre-pregnancy insulin regulating.   I still have to check my blood sugar a few times a day to be aware of any spikes or drastic changes, but I don't have to fill out their food journal paper work (I do my own on my iPhone) and I won't have to go back to check in with them.  Yay!

Bean's First Photo Shoot

Josh's brother Jake recently proposed to Carli and we are so very excited to have her in the family!  I adore her and could not thank her enough for spending one of her afternoons off taking some amazing pregnancy photos of Josh and I.  He and I are both very uncomfortable posing for photos, but she managed to get some great shots despite our awkwardness and in between our giggle fits.  Check out the cute sign she made too!  Here are a few of our favorites (there were so many!):