Lamaze - Part 4

Today was all about labor positions and the breathing (or lack there of) during pushing. We also did an exercise where our instructor gave us about 20 cards w/ opposing delivery options on either side. We laid out all the cards with our ideal options facing up. So for example, we got to choose between epidural/no epidural, vaginal birth/C-section, multiple support people/one support person, etc. Then when we were finished, we had to imagine that a couple things didn't go the way we wanted and to turn over a couple of cards. Then a couple more. And then a couple more. It was amazing how quickly I ran out of things I was willing to give up easily. That made me realize how odd it is to spend so much time preparing for an event you have so little control over. But in any case, it's better to be informed than not. I mean, I can't imagine learning about forceps delivery for the first time while in the middle of actually delivering a child. We also watched a rather unpleasant video on C-section deliveries. I think that was actually more disturbing than watching the vaginal births. The main thing we learned is that dads should not look over the curtain during surgery! ;o) On a happy note, we have our next ultrasound scheduled in a couple days. If she is upside down, I think this will be our last ultrasound. If not, we may be in for several more between now and delivery until she does flip over. I'm mostly looking forward to figuring out exactly where she is and where she's facing so that I can figure out if she's been punching or kicking the same place on my stomach for the last week. :o) I'll post new baby pictures soon!

Lamaze - Part 3

Our third night of Lamaze was all about pain relief options, and I felt miserable about all of them. Essentially, there are two main categories of pain relievers. Approximately 30% of women go with an injection of some sort of narcotic (like Demerol) to help "take the edge off". It apparently doesn't do a whole lot for the pain itself, but it makes you less aware of the pain. In other words, you're out of it. But the downside is that you're less aware of what is going on in general, which makes some women feel totally out of control. On top of that, the narcotics can make baby drowsy and less able/willing to breastfeed in the short window during which they are alert after birth. Then, of course, there is the ever-popular epidural, which about 65% of women go with. So, lets start with my loathing of needles... And this is the mother of all needles. They actually inject a catheter between two vertebrae in your back so that you get a steady stream of medicine directly to your spine, which blocks pain below the chest. That already terrifies me. And the bonus is that when you get an epidural, you automatically get all of the following prizes:

• bound to bed for the rest of labor b/c you have so little strength in or control over your legs.
• an IV for the rest of labor b/c an extremely common side effect of the epidural is a massive drop in blood pressure (for mom & baby), so they have to keep you very well hydrated.
• an internal fetal monitor for the rest of labor, which is essentially a "screw" attached to the baby's scalp to monitor baby's heart rate and a separate catheter into the uterus to monitor contractions more accurately.
• a urinary catheter for the rest of delivery b/c you can't walk to the bathroom anymore and probably can't tell if you need to go either.

This all sounds miserable to me. Not to say that labor itself doesn't sound miserable, but I think I would go crazy with all those tubes and the fact that I'd have to lay flat on my back for however many hours... Ugh.

Why don't we have better options for this stuff yet??

28 weeks!

We're about twelve weeks to go!! I am officially in the third trimester now, and all of the really fun symptoms are kicking in. My back still feels like it belongs to someone three times my age... I've given up walking as exercise b/c it's just too painful. After 20 minutes, I want to fall over & I feel terrible for at least the rest of the day. So I have been swimming for the last couple of weeks, and that is sooo much better. The only time I don't feel pregnant is when I'm in the pool. And my back almost feels normal when I get out of the pool. There's definitely something to be said about being weightless when you're pregnant!! My ankles are also swollen most days, and it doesn't seem to matter too much what I do during the day. Sitting seems to be worse than standing or reclining. My sister and I joke that that I have one bad ankle and one "control" ankle... The left one swells at will and the right one doesn't seem too bad. The effect is that if someone looks at my left leg and says, "That doesn't look too bad", I can show them the right ankle and get instant sympathy. ;o) Otherwise, I'm still doing pretty well. I'm *really* excited that we got our crib today. (Thanks, Pat!!) It's all set up in what will soon be the nursery. It trips me out every time I walk passed it because, well...because there is a crib in my house!! I can't believe we're actually going to have a baby in three months... I will definitely post pictures once the room is put together. :o)

Lamaze - Part 2

We had our second week of Lamaze, and we started breathing! ;o) The focus was actually on several different labor positions to try during the first phase of labor, which lasts something like 6 -10 hours. This is before you need to get to the hospital, and they want you to do anything besides laying flat on your back, which is great b/c that's the last thing I think I'll want to do. We tried out at least a half dozen labor positions, and I found that really helpful. Our instructor also snuck in another labor & delivery video, and my favorite part was that our task was to watch the woman's husband and to make note of what things he did well and what he did that was just...annoying. We all decided to that it is "annoying" to repeatedly pat a laboring woman on the head, even with a cool washcloth. It is also "annoying" to sing She'll Be Coming around the Mountain when She Comes to a woman in labor. It's apparently also a bad idea to remind a woman in labor of the Philly cheese-steak sandwich she had for dinner the night before. ;o) We also talked about what to pack in the hospital bag. Our instructor always plays relaxing music in the background when we are practicing the breathing exercises or labor positions, and one thing that Jeff and I agree on is that we won't be packing a copy of Elton John's greatest hits to listen to during my labor! I don't care how appropriate "The Circle of Life" is for bringing a new person into the world, I just don't think I could tolerate it! I think I might get out an old pre-race CD to listen to and try to treat this like a marathon. That would at least give me some delusion that I know what I'm doing!

Lamaze - Part 1

Jeff and I went to our first night of Lamaze class this week. Each class session is 2 1/2 hours long, and we meet once per week for six weeks. Jeff was worried that it was going to be 15 hours of nothing but breathing exercises: "hee - hee - whoo". But we actually didn't do any breathing exercises at all on the first night. Instead, we talked about all the stages of labor, what happens in each stage, and how long each stage lasts. I alternated all night between thinking "holy crap..." and "okay, I can do this". I think my favorite part of the video we watched was the real earthy couple who went on a hike when she first went into labor, and her husband said, "We had a really nice day out on our hike while she was in the first stage of labor." And I was wondering if she'd had as nice a day as he had... All I can say is that I'm not going hiking when I go into labor.

 

The rest of the video was actually really good...and, of course, graphic. I was expecting something made in the 1970's, but it was pretty recent and the computer graphics did an excellent job of explaining what happens at each stage. (Maybe, too well...) Next week we start the actual breathing exercises, so I'll let you all know how that goes. ;o)

Save the date!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

We celebrated my mom's 50th birthday yesterday!! This is a picture of the two of us on her patio during the party. (I'm at about 25 weeks.) At least one of us can enjoy a good martini!!

The belly ring stays!

I get to keep my belly ring!! I found a retainer that replaces the jewelry you would normally wear, and instead of a metal bar, it's made out of medical-grade plastic that bends and stretches (up to 2 inches!). I got it in the mail today, and I am so happy. :o)

24 weeks

We are 24 weeks in now, and this update is for women who have never been pregnant: You will read that the second trimester is the golden stage of pregnancy. You're showing, which is exciting, but you still feel really good. This is mostly true... You will also read that that around 20 weeks or so your body starts producing a hormone called "relaxin" (I'm not making this up). Relaxin lives up to its name and starts relaxing the ligaments that hold your joints together so that your hips can start to prepare for delivery. I had braced myself for this inevitable truth of pregnancy: your hips widen. What you won't read (and what all other mom's have apparently forgotten since they delivered their little bundles of joy): this process hurts like hell! For the last couple of weeks I have had what I would describe as excruciating pain in my lower back and in the pelvic bone itself. I can't say that I've ever really been aware of where exactly my leg bones attach to my pelvic bone, or where exactly the center point of my pelvic bone is. Now I am. And consistent with pregnancy's normal 1-2 punch, you can't take anything like ibuprofen to deal with joint pain. You just get to enjoy it. And since this hormone travels throughout your body, it isn't just your hips & lower back that get this pleasure. My wrist ached and felt weak to the point I couldn't support my weight on it for a couple of days. This may not sound like a big deal until your center of gravity changes daily and you find yourself constantly trying to catch your balance on something until you locate your feet. I'm happy to report that this seems to have finally passed in the last couple of days, but I still find that walking for more than 20 or 30 minutes at a time aggravates my lower back now. I didn't realize I would appreciate benches this much before I hit my gold years! ;o)

Hiccups!

I was working on an expense report today (exciting stuff) when Mia got her second bout of hiccups! It's definitely an odd sensation to feel hiccups coming from your abdomen!! ;o)

Kicking Milestones

We hit a couple of milestones yesterday. First, Mia is kicking hard enough now that she actually woke me up from a nap yesterday. I laid there for a second as she continued to kick the same spot with vigor. This lead to the second milestone when I realized that if she kept it up long enough for me to walk downstairs, Jeff might be able to feel her moving. And she did! So she finally said hi to her daddy yesterday. :o)

How to make a pregnant woman's day

I am 22 weeks in this picture. Mia is kicking pretty consistently, and I've felt a couple of her kicks with my hand. I can't wait until Jeff is able to feel her move, and I don't think it'll be too much longer at this point. I've been getting to the gym about 3-5 days per week, which makes me feel really good and seems to help keep my ankles at a normal size... As I was leaving the gym after my workout today, I walked passed a girl who looked at my belly and said, "You're so cute!" I wanted to hug her.

21 Weeks

This picture was taken at a friend's wedding on April 30th, so I am at about 21 weeks here. I love the shirt I'm wearing, which was part of my anniversary present from Jeff.

Eyebrows

Mom, this one's for you: I made eyebrows this week! ;o)

Hello!

I had to add this little update on the kicking. I've been noticing that Mia has been getting stronger and stronger over the last week, but I mentioned to my mom last night that she'd been pretty quiet most of yesterday. Well, I think she was saving up her energy for today's crowning achievement... Jeff and I were at Target, and I had spaced out while the checker was ringing up our stuff. WHAM! She kicked me so hard I actually let an "ow!" escape, and then I just started laughing because she'd caught me so off guard. (The checker must have thought I was crazy.) I actually felt a little tender for a while after the impact, so I can't even image what she'll have in store for me in the coming months when she more than doubles in size!! (Erika - thanks for the heads up on the flashlight idea. I think I'm going to get a mini mag light to carry around with me if she starts targeting the same area with efforts similar to today's!)

Tae-Bo

So here is the first shot of the belly! I'm 20 weeks and 3 days in this photo. (That's 20w3d, for those of you who speak prego.) The exciting news, though, is that Mia officially made her presence known today. I'm pretty sure she set up a DVD player and has been practicing Tae-Bo since about 1pm today. Last time, she said hello once and I didn't heard anything else for about a week and a half. Today was a different story. Several times today I felt her dancing around on and off for about 10 minutes at a time. c-r-a-z-y.

Weighty Matters

I had my monthly OB visit today and was officially welcomed to the 2nd half of my pregnancy by my OB. I can't believe it's been four and a half months already. My doctor said that this is the "fun month" because I'm about to "double in size". My first thought was how rare that circumstance is considered fun. ;o) I remember not enjoying that aspect of my first semester in college so much... Along the same line of conversation, my OB mentioned that my weight gain was "beautiful". (Again, so rare that that is true!) I joked that my grandma has been giving me a really hard time about the weight issue because she gained 12.5 pounds with her first pregnancy, and she thinks the current 25-35 pound recommendation is dreadful. So, for those who may be interested, here's what I think is a very interesting breakdown of the gain associated with the current recommendation:

7.5 pounds - average baby's weight 7.0 pounds - extra stored nutrients like fat, protein, etc. 4.0 pounds - extra blood 4.0 pounds - extra body fluids 2.0 pounds - amniotic fluid surrounding the baby 2.0 pounds - breast enlargement 2.0 pounds - enlargement of uterus 1.5 pounds - placenta

P.S. I neglected to mention it last time, but Jeff and I have actually agreed on a name. Our little one will be Mia Sketeris. [Suggestions for a middle name are welcome!!]

It's a GIRL!!

We had our 20-week ultrasound today, and it looks like we are having a girl! (Or I guess it would be more accurate to say that it doesn't look like we're having a boy...) We have several new pictures posted below. The cutest part of the whole thing was getting to watch her tap her feet. (Mom, it looks like she takes after you!!) We also got to see her chubby little thighs. Sooo cute. And most importanly, all of her anatomy looks good and is in the right place, though Jeff was a little concerned that we didn't see any arms this time. They were there last time though!

Tap...

So...I think I felt my first tiny kick today! I'm not 100% confident, because it was the tiniest little tap. I felt it a couple of times inside of 20 minutes, and then nothing. So, maybe? If it was, I'm sure we'll be playing soccer soon and I'll post an affirmative update. :o)

Oh, the heartburn...

This has got to be my favorite* pregnancy symptom yet: I drank a 20-oz bottle of water a couple of days ago, and I got wicked heartburn about 2 minutes later. Heartburn from water?? This has to be some cruel joke. So I did some reading and found out that if you drink a lot of fluid after having eaten sort of recently, your stomach distends and causes heartburn instantly. So...I'm supposed to drink water like it's going out of style, but have to make sure that I haven't eaten and that I don't plan to eat soon. This is slightly problematic, considering that I get hungry every hour now!! On a happier note, Jeff and I have an appointment for our big ultrasound next Friday. If baby cooperates, we'll know whether we're having a boy or girl & we can stop referring to our offspring as "it". I'll post new pictures as soon as I can. *Please note sarcasm.