C-You Soon

I think you know that tomorrow is going to be your birthday...you're awake, swinging around in my stomach like a wild thing.

In just a few hours you will be born.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, I am actually tired and wish I could get some sleep.  There are a lot of friends and family praying over us tonight that I'd get some rest before our big day. 

But you've started your birthday party early I think...

Week 38

The word for Week 38 is UNCOMFORTABLE.  This little baby is taking up every inch of my insides.  Sleeping is near impossible, my belly is so heavy and Im waking up anywhere between 4-6 times a night to potty.  The heartburn is nearly constant.  

Week 38 is also the unexpected early end of my pregnancy!

At Week 36 we found out baby is breech, Week 38 we confirmed  again via ultrasound that baby was not turning on his own.   

I received a lot of advice from friends and family hoping to help me avoid a c-section.  Funny thing about it all was that from the minute my doctor said the "C" word I was at peace.  What I knew was that God was orchestrating the perfect way in which my baby was supposed to enter into this world and if surgery was that way, that was OK by me.

I think once we confirmed he was breech I realized he'd been sitting that way in me for several weeks.  I just hope his head doesn't have any weird smushed parts seeing as I've been poking at it thinking erroneously it was his baby butt!  

I guess this is nature's way...make it so icky for mommy at the end that all she wants to get.this.baby.out!  I cannot imagine if he came at 41 weeks, I would have been one hot mess.

So...here we are, Week 38... 6 days until our baby will make his debut!

August Adventures

#august adventures

Saturday morning Corey and I were sitting in the back yard enjoying some sun & Starbucks (his: hazelnut latte, hers: coconut milk vanilla latte).  We started talking about what we were going to do with our day (his: go to his parents and pick up some stuff hers: go to the barn and read People magazine).

It was shaping up to be Saturday just like any other.  Yet, one of our last kid-less Saturdays ever.

I felt like we needed to go have an adventure, as much of an adventure as a couple can have at 37 weeks pregnant.  I wanted to see the ocean, put my feet in the sand.  This is where living on a coast comes in real handy.

Within the span of 20 minutes, we decided to take 2 of our 3 dogs with us and head to Fort Funston, a dog beach that some friends of ours love to take their dog to.  Funston is about an hour away from us, near San Francisco.  

Co-pilots

We arrived and it was overcast but surprisingly pleasant out.  

Where are we?  Lou looks like he's still waking up...

So turns out one thing we didn't know about Fort Funston is you have to hike about a mile and a half in the sand to get to the beach.  Hmm...

I've been doing morning walks daily, some days I get further than others and some I definitely hit the 2-3 mile mark no problem.  I waddled along the sandy man made trail through the ice plants like a seal flopping along on land, stopping every few minutes to catch my breath.

Me in my current spirit animal form stopping to rest every 5 minutes...this baby seal is infinitely more adorable tho ;)

We saw the ocean up ahead, we also saw the last quarter mile of the path to the beach...it was straight, steep and 100% downhill.  Getting down it, not so hard...coming back up it...well, I was fairly certain it was going to put me into labor.

Once we got to the beach the dogs played like crazy.  The interesting thing about this place is that although there were literally tons of dogs, everyone was so friendly!  I didn't hear one snap or snarl the entire time.  Everyone was off-leash and loving life with tennis balls flying, games of chase and sticks being buried for safe-keeping.  I'm not sure if it was just because people knew well enough to only bring nice doggies to the beach, or that when left off-leash and uninhibited with PLENTY of room to run around dogs just naturally figure it out and play fair.  Whatever it was, it was seriously fun.

Louie watching Gunner in the water, you can see Gun's black ears in that giant splash of water to the left....

Gunner having the best day of his life

Lou shaking off the sand

Me and Gun Gun

Wet and happy

Fetching the tennis ball in the ocean

The belly at the beach

I did make it through 1.5 mile uphill hike back to the car...barely.  The views on the way back were so pretty.  I ended the last 100 steps of our trek with a crazy stitch in my side that wouldn't quit.  I joked with Corey that if I went into labor on the way home I wouldn't be one bit surprised.  But, here we are a day later and Baby B is still snug inside, not even so much as a Braxton Hicks contraction.

Those views!   You can see the Golden Gate bridge off to the right side.

Exhausted pups.

Week 36

Week 36 marked the official enjoyment of maternity leave.  It took me a solid week to unwind and unplug from work.  I felt stressed the entire first week of leave even though the only commitments or things I had to do were (generally really fun) things I voluntarily scheduled all on my own accord.

Week 36's word is...TIRED.  I've found myself just really ridiculously exhausted.  I think what actually happened was that now that I am out of my regular routine, I've had a minute to realize how completely tiring being a full-time, commuting, preggo, wife, friend, daughter, sister and mom to four fur-kids actually is.  

Week 36 also brought with it some unexpected news from my Dr. at my (now weekly) checkup.  The Dr. came in and took my vitals, asked about baby's movements, how I was feeling, any questions...everything was good, good, good.  Then he put the fetal doppler on me and swirled it around for a bit trying to find the heartbeat.  

Well...he found the heartbeat.  It was strong, but it was in the wrong place.  The Dr. rushed me out of the exam room and into a new room equipped with an ultrasound.  From there he showed me baby's head (apparently hairy!) and baby's butt announcing that Baby Boy is breech. 

So, I'm scheduled for a c-section on August 11th at 7:30am.  We'll of course check a few more times to see if he turns and I'm going to an acupuncturist next week as well to see if that does anything.  Baby is still moving a lot and his little feet are dancing on my bladder all day, every day.    

Overall, I am calm about it all.  I think in the grand scheme of things a few things come to my mind...

- No one I know has had an uncomplicated birth story...well maybe I've heard 2 of them...like, ever.

- God knows what's best for us and how he's supposed to arrive.  I can do all things through Him, including a section.

- Wimpier girls than I have had sections and lived to tell the tale.

- Whatever attitude I choose to have about it all changes nothing about the situation other than my experience of it (believe me I am WELL AWARE getting cut open and the recovery from that is not lovely).

Bottom line...if that's how he has to arrive, that's how he has to arrive.  I have no control over it.  So, I can spend my next 11 days freaking out, being upset and/or bemoaning the inconvenience of it OR I can enjoy the last 11 days of life pregnant and choose to get excited that I might get to meet my baby 8 days sooner than we'd expected.   

Childbirth Preparation Class & Hospital Tour

It kind of blows my mind when I've heard (just a couple) of ladies talk about not really preparing for childbirth.  Yes, our bodies know what to do, but mentally do we know how to best deal with it?

I know what I do not know.

Mainly what I do know is women are quick to share how horrific their birth experience was.  But of course they ALL say, it's all worth it.

I wanted the facts and I wanted to be prepared. I wanted a birth plan and by that I mean knowing what the heck I was aiming to do once I went into labor.  Was I going to try natural, how about an epidural, what other interventions am I OK with?

What spooked me a little before going to class was that all of our other classes have been 2 hours and childbirth class was 8 hours long!  

But, I'm so glad we went and now I feel ready for it.

In learning about all the options and realities, I have a game plan of what I want to try for.  After seeing a couple natural labor/birth stories in class I know I do not want to try for that!

Here's what I came away with...let's compare in a month with what actually ends up happening since labor and birth doesn't like to stick to birth plans.

1. I really want to avoid induction

• Only 2-5% of babies are born on their guess date and around 40% in the 2 weeks after that...I know induction is out of my control largely, but to the extent I can do anything in advance...
• I'm doing this eating dates thing.  In a controlled trial it was concluded that the consumption of 6 date fruit/day  in the last 4 weeks before labor significantly reduced the need for induction and augmentation of labor, and produced a more favorable, but non-significant, delivery outcome.

2. I'd like to try to stay at home until we get to 4-1-1 or 5-1-1

• This kind of goes along with induction, but I want to avoid intervention and the nurse said once you get to the hospital they kind of just go-go-go to get the labor moving along like breaking the bag of waters, etc.
• Traditionally women have used the 5-1-1 rule; that is, when contractions come every 5 minutes, each lasting a full minute, and have been that way for an hour. More recent recommendations are 4-1-1 (four minutes apart) or even 3-1-1 (three minutes apart). However, listen to your body and trust your instincts.

3.  I'd like an epidural please.  

• Until I get that epidural I plan to manage contractions through walking, resting, showering and visualizing...interestingly enough when we practiced visualization what calmed me down the most was visualizing riding a cross country course - because...of course.  So, I'm thinking I'll be the horse girl watching Rolex and helmet cam videos in L&D to calm the heck down.

The Hospital Bag

I've been mulling over what to bring to the hospital once baby boy B arrives...I am a notorious over packer.

I'm sure packing for the hospital will be no exception!

Here's what I am planning to bring thus far...

Stuff for me to wear/use:
2 pairs of nursing PJs
1 maxi dress for going home
1 nursing bra
Robe
Slippers
Toiletries - including travel toiletries, hair dryer, round brush, hair ties
Velcro towel wrap
Flip flops
Chap stick
Grippy socks

Post Partum panties
Nursing pads & gel pads
Nipple cream
Soft throw blanket
Pillow from home

Stuff for baby to wear/use:
Going home outfit (NB and 0-3mo)
Onesies with cuffs (NB and 0-3mo)
Swaddle Sack
Mittens
Light swaddle blanket
Medium weight blanket
Burp rags
Pacis
For our hospital they provide diapers, wipes, etc. and baby stays in the room with you 24/7 unless baby is sick and needs to be in the nursery.

Other stuff:
Electrolyte Jelly Beans
Snacks
Colace
Witch Hazel Pads
Pump
Camera
Nursing pillow
Plastic bag for laundry
Folder for all the baby info/paperwork
Pediatrician info
Phone charger/phone

Week 32

Apparently Week TWENTY TWO was the last time I did a weekly update on how things were going?

TEN weeks ago!  Time has been flying with this pregnancy.

Week 32...officially feeling and looking BIG.  But, that's the deal when you're a short waisted 5'2" gal.  Fortunately, most people most people...are really sweet and encouraging about how I look right now, which I appreciate.  Everyone loves a nice compliment about their appearance, pregnant or not, right?  What I appreciate even more is when people don't comment specifically on my body, but for some reason when you're preggers it seems like there's a few that just cannot seem to help themselves.  Why?!  In serious though I'm trying to just taking it all in stride.

And that's the word for Week 32...In Stride.

This is a concept I understand really well!

This week Baby B's movements are more expressive.  It's easy to feel him shift around and even see him move from the outside of my belly.  He's facing head down, his butt is sort of up towards the middle of my belly and his feet like to hang out only on my right side.  I never feel him on my left side, he's found his little place and has been staying put as far as I can tell.

Heartburn has been a regular occurrence and Tums have been my BFF.  I'm also finding my appetite is much much less right now, which is encouraging since I don't want to gain too much more non-baby weight between now and the end of this whole thing.

This week also the way baby is positioned meant I could bend over again without feeling like I was crushing him.  That's been a nice change.  What's not been a nice change is the number of times a night I have to get up.  Last night I was up FOUR times and that is making work tough this morning.  Luckily, I'm  just a few short days away from maternity leave!

Week 32!