"How ya doin’? Are you scared about the whole birth thing?
I don’t think there are many women that aren’t nervous about giving birth at one point or another. I mean you’re pushing a person out of you that is bigger than the exit. From everything that I’ve read, the biggest pain reliever from labour seems to be arming yourself with confidence. I know, that sounds completely stupid but bear with me.
If you go in to your birth feeling out of control and terrified, it’s going to exacerbate the pain, but if you arm yourself with the knowledge that this is what your body is supposed to do, you’re going to have a much easier time seeing past it.
I’ve been in labour twice and it hurt. Not unbearable pain, but “yeah, this fucking hurts, I’m going to take you up on that epidural now” pain. Plus, I have to be one of the most pain phobic people on the planet – I get drugged to have my teeth cleaned. And you know what? It was fine.
I have no idea why some women love to recount their horrible labours. I honestly don’t think it helps anyone, although, maybe it makes them feel better, dunno. Labours are like fingerprints and no two are alike. You’re going to have a great birth and you’re going to have a healthy, beautiful baby at the end of it all and there’s nothing to gain from thinking otherwise.
Even if you want to be drugged in the parking lot and have an elective c-section, my advice is to read up on everything. Read about water births, homebirths, hypno-births and everything in between. Watch Business of Being Born, More Business of Being Born and the movie Babies. Even if you absolutely know that none of it is for you, it will help that primal part of your brain to kick in and say, “Hell yeah, I can do this and me and my baby are going to rock this birth.”
Look, there is no easy way to get a kid out of you, but always keep in mind that your body is set up to do just that. You’re going to be amazing." -Pregnant Chicken
Size/Info: She is weighing in at a whopping 2lbs and about 15 in long. She is the size of a head of Cauliflower, Camp Lantern, Acorn Squash (a larger one), cucumber (another larger one), a bunch of Bananas or a Fennec fox. She can now open and close her eyes and she sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. She has started to develop muscle tone from all her kicking, rolling and punching. As the lungs continue to develop, hiccups may become more frequent (especially after spicy food!).There is some debate as to when the Third Trimester starts... some say week 27, others say week 28. Either way... we're close!
What is new this week? During my 26th week I had a lot of pressure in my pelvis and I was woken up by horrible cramping on the right side. I woke Jason up and considered calling the on-call doc or just going straight to the ER but we waited a bit and the cramping stopped after an hour or so. It was really scary and I called my midwife that next morning. I went in and she did a cervical check and had one of the docs next door come do a vaginal ultrasound to check my actual cervical length. She had a hard time finding it (weird?) but when she did it was just fine. I guess maybe I am use to the very experienced ultrasound tech over at Maternal Fetal Medicine... I have not had anything like that happen since. The baby was head down at that point but at night she's usually transverse. She won't be able to move around like that for much longer!
There has definitely been some weird sensations in my pelvis that are uncomfortable but not exactly painful. I think that she has been mostly head down with her back facing outwards - which would explain why her kick have been muffled. The feeling of the kicks and movements have changed and that freaked me out too... She feels more like a worm squirming around in there. I have actually been more anxious over the last 2 weeks than I have felt my whole pregnancy. I guess I feel like we are so close and I just want a healthy baby already... but alas, we have 91 days to go! So stay in there baby and keep growing.
I had a CBC (complete blood count) test this past week and everything was normal except my hemoglobin was a tad low - so I am slightly anemic. More green leafy vegetables and more beef. I am actually waiting for my midwife to call me and to let me know if there is anything I need to do about it. I see her next week for my 28 week appointment so we may talk about it then (and at that point, I will see her every two week until the last month when I'll see her every week!).
This past weekend my sister, Sylvia, was in Denver for a work conference so Jason and I went down for a visit. We really only got to spend Saturday together but it was worth it!! She got us a room where they were staying (Ritz Carlton!!) so we had a little weekend escape. It had been 3 years since I had seen her (in the Netherlands) and she is actually the first person in my family to meet Jason. Crazy! Here is a pic of us at the aquarium with Jason in the background trying to get a selfie with a shark. Lol.
Symptoms: The Braxton hicks have continued and I actually had to lay back down one morning while getting ready because they were so intense! I have tried to increase my water intake but that is hard when I am trying to give a buffer around meals to help with acid reflux. My acid reflux is better but still present. Back pain is ever present and I think I am starting to get Sciatica... it was pretty bad yesterday and today hasn't been so great either. I have yoga tonight so hopefully that will help! The boobs are growing and at times aching/on fire. I have had some tender spots on my belly - almost like a bruise but without the discoloration and my belly button is a little sore. Also, my legs feel like sausages.
Food Aversions: Mostly just undercooked onions.
Food Cravings: Just more food. I feel like I need to eat more often. Of course I still want sugar but also anything that I don't have to make sounds great too!
Fitness: Prenatal yoga at home and I actually found a prenatal yoga class in Fruita on Thursday's so I get to go tonight! Walking but not as much... I like to get out on the trails but the ones I am use to have quite a bit of elevation change and my midwife suggested staying on flat ground.
Bump: The comments keep on coming. I have had a few - you're big for 27 weeks comments. Great! Ha! Oh well! I want a nice and healthy baby and to have plenty of milk stores. So I guess I am big!
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| Squinty eyes! It was bright out at lunch. |
Here is a pic of my bare belly and the sweet husband giving peace fingers. I look like I might pop... and also not my best angle but whatever!
Medications: I went to see a new rheumatologist last week and we are starting to taper me off of the prednisone. Last week I was on 9mg and this week I am down to 8mg!! I will still need a steroid shot during labor to make sure my adrenals don't crap out on me.
7:30am: 8mg prednisone, 40mg Lovonox injection in the belly
9am: 1 Prenatal and 2 DHA
7:30pm: 40mg Lovonox injection in the belly
Baby Preparations: I figured out, with the help of Kim, that I am all set on cloth diapers covers so this helped me finalize our registry! I found this great registry site called Baby List that lets you put everything in one place (so all stores in one place). We have received SO many hand me downs - so I feel like the registry is small but here it is: https://www.babylist.com/katherine-hammitt Any suggestions for things we should add? There are a few luxury items - like the diaper bag and the Tula carrier but the rest is stuff that we'll need no matter what (I think?!).
This weekend Jason works on Saturday, so I plan on spending some time trying to get the room more organized. Right now it is so unorganized and it is driving me crazy. I also need to finish the cover for the chair. Jeannie finished covering this rocking floor bassinet and it is SO adorable! I don't have a pic of it but maybe next week I can post some pics of the nursery! I have started listening to my first HypnoBabies tracks and so far, I fall asleep. So I guess that means that I am relaxing?
