It's a sunny Sunday, and I'm in a very pleasant mood even though poor Dan is sick in bed. I'm being lazy, accompanied by the dog, and enjoying a banana while Lego squirms around. She's been getting more and more active, it's crazy fun! The other day we saw my belly changing shape a little while she was doing her wiggly thing. Then a few days later she was poking at the top of my belly and nudging me at the bottom and side at the same time! Hard! I think she must have been having herself a disco party in there. When she becomes mobile she's going to keep us on our toes for sure.
My pregnancy has been pretty easy so far, and I have been really enjoying it. While I'm super excited to meet her and hold her and see what she looks like (I think she's going to look just like Dan), I'm going to be a little tiny bit sad not to be pregnant anymore after she arrives. I'm just a couple weeks away from my 3rd trimester- the home stretch! I like my belly and for the most part have been enjoying observing the changes in my body as Lego grows. I feel pretty and confident, and am still stretch-mark free for the time being! My belly has started getting in the way a little, but mostly it's not inconvenient and doesn't interfere with my daily activities. I like feeling her in there at random times throughout the day, having the constant reminder that she's with me. I feel close to her, and I love when Dan puts his hand on my belly to feel her too. It's been wonderful seeing him be excited for our baby. It's so sweet when he talks to her, and I love the look of awe on his face when he feels a particularly hard kick. He's been great about putting up with all my weird little changes brought on by pregnancy (gas, fatigue, tears at the drop of a hat), and he has been loving the random food I have been bringing home after work and insisting on making at 10:00 at night.
I know having a baby will more than make up for it, but I really think I'm going to miss this special time. The day by day of pregnancy sometimes feels endless and there are days I would trade my elbows for a glass of wine, but overall this time is so very, very short. We will never have this experience again of being pregnant for the first time, with all the wonder, excitement, and anticipation that goes along with it. I wish I could package up these feelings to revisit over the years, to make them last just little longer, or to remind me about how much I really do love this poopy, fussy, headstrong child.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
It's coming out of WHERE?! Begun 2/8/2012, 20 weeks 2 days
Childbirth is a somewhat controversial topic, with a lot of people who have a lot of strong opinions about it. I'm writing about this topic not to preach or stir up controversy, but because childbirth has been on my mind quite a lot lately. My intention is to share my thoughts and desires, not to claim that there is a right or wrong way to give birth. What's best for me isn't best for everyone, and many women don't want the birthing experience I want. That's fine. This is my blog about what I want for me. For anyone keeping track, this post is the result of a couple weeks of thought and reflection, and wasn't all originally written in one day. I'm now 23 weeks and 6 days.
First, a little about me. I'm the kind of person who avoids taking medicine, all kinds. I never take anything unless a particular malady is bad enough to interfere with my daily life, and if I have an option I will always try a non-medicinal cure first. When I have a headache I chug water or maybe try something caffeinated. If that doesn't work I give myself a neck rub, or if I have time I take a nap. I'm not anti-medicine. I always have over the counter pain killers of some kind in the house, and often some half used cold remedy (if it hasn't expired yet) as well. If my pounding headache will not lighten up and I have no time to nap I will gladly pop a couple pills to help me focus and get through the day. My attitude is more about need. If I don't feel I need the pain dulled or the cold symptoms lessened, I will tough it out. I am lucky; I do not suffer migraines or chronic headaches and get sick rarely enough that my cold and flu medicine keeps expiring on me. Not everyone has the luxury of feeling the need for medication as seldom as I do, and many people prefer the convenience of feeling better and lack my stubborn inner voice insisting that I don't really need to take anything.
As you may guess, one of my initial reasons for wanting to go for a natural childbirth is my aversion to using unnecessary pain medication. Another reason is curiosity; I want to see what it's like, to find out if I'm as tough as I think I am, if labor is really as unbearable as society would have me believe. I trust my body and I want to find out what it can do. There is evidence that epidurals can cause infants to be born sleepy and sluggish, which interferes with their immediate ability to begin breastfeeding. Since I intend to breastfeed and have been warned that my mother and grandmother both found it difficult to do so, I want as little interference as possible when it comes to establishing successful breastfeeding with my newborn. I will have at least an hour with my baby before they will want to weigh and measure her, and I want her functioning at her very best during that time.
There's also the idea that mother nature knows best, and if childbirth has been (mostly) successful done the old fashioned way since our species has existed, who am I to argue? Doctors used to bleed sick people, mercury was used topically and ingested to treat all kinds of illnesses and injuries, and heroin was taken as cough medicine. At the time, these practices were cutting edge medicine! Obviously we have much higher standards for testing new treatments and technologies these days, and a much better understanding of the human body and how it works. But that doesn't mean that doctors always know best. Just because a practice has become mainstream and doesn't result in death or injury the vast majority of the time, doesn't mean it's always the best way to go. I'm lucky to live in a time when we have lifesaving technology and doctors with the years of training and knowledge to help in the small chance that something could go catastrophically wrong, but I have every reason to believe my birth will be normal and healthy.
I should mention that I know I may not get the birth experience that I want. I have been warned that it is important to be flexible when it comes to giving birth, because things happen to the healthiest women with the least complicated pregnancies and there is no way to see the future. If I don't go into labor on my own by 42 weeks as counted from my last menstrual cycle, steps will be taken to get the baby out ready or not. Lego was breech during the last ultrasound, and there is a small chance she won't flip to be head down. I know I will be disappointed, but of course the most important thing is ending up with a healthy baby. I also have no way of knowing how I will cope with labor, or if I will change my mind in the midst of it. So I guess a natural birth is more of a birth preference than a birth plan.
I got a book from the library. It's called "Birth Matters, A Midwife's Manifesta" By Ina May Gaskin. I also have on hold a few other books about childbirth including her much more famous book, "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth", and have been waiting for several weeks to get it. Anyway, "Birth Matters" is the first book I have been able to read on the subject of childbirth since I've been pregnant, and in one day I was almost halfway through. The first part discusses childbirth as being natural, normal, and healthy, especially when attended by knowledgeable and sensitive women who know how to put the laboring woman at ease and give her confidence in her body's innate ability to give birth.
The author discusses hormones released during labor and how adrenaline, a fight or flight stress hormone, interferes with the process of labor and increases pain response, while oxytocin produced by the woman's body (not artificial oxytocin used to speed up or induce labor) not only aids labor but also reduces pain, helps her body open, and sends feelings of love and joy through the mother promoting bonding between her and her newborn. Oxytocin and adrenaline are produced inversely to each other; as levels of one go up, levels of the other go down.
The book describes how joyful birth can be, and painless. Yes, painless. Not for everyone (dang!), but even those who feel pain don't have to fear it or experience it as unbearable. A woman who feels safe and supported in a comfortable environment will produce little to no adrenaline, while a woman who has strangers coming unannounced in and out of her hospital room to take measurements and who discourage her from getting out of bed or eating or drinking will feel much more out of control and vulnerable, and will be more likely to experience pain and fear brought on by adrenaline.
The book includes birth stories, and the first one is by a woman who moved into a cabin next door to a midwife in a rural farming community, a few weeks before giving birth. While waiting for labor to begin she was visited daily by the midwife and spent the rest of her time walking and exploring, getting to know to locals, and just relaxing and reading. No stress, no worry, and no rush to get the baby out by a 42 week deadline. When she did go into labor the midwife stayed with her the whole time (no shift changes), helped her find ways to get her labor to progress, and encouraged her to follow her body's cues to eat or drink or move around and help the baby on it's way. After 26 hours (I think) of labor she gave birth to a healthy baby, with very minimal amounts of tearing. She stayed in the cabin another few weeks, visited daily by the midwife who made sure she was recovering physically and gave her emotional support and advice about caring for her newborn. I hope my birth experience can be half as pleasant.
Confession time. I was very tired after a long busy day, and full of pregnancy hormones while I was reading about all this. The feelings of relief and validation that came over me when the author described how good giving birth can be had me literally bawling. I felt like the author saw the tiny, terrified part I didn't even know was buried inside of me, and soothed it. She knows I can give birth the way I want to. My body was made to give birth. It was made to do so without need of medical interventions. I felt so empowered.
Mainstream society discourages women who want a natural childbirth: It will hurt too much, you will change your mind. Giving birth is dangerous, think of everything that can go wrong, think of your innocent baby. Why would anyone want to endure all that pain if they don't have to? Doctors know what you need better than you do, don't tell them how to do their job. It felt so wonderful to read confirmation of my own intuition; that in the animal kingdom, human women are not uniquely incapable of safe and healthy reproduction. Our pelvis may be one of a kind, but human women are just as good at giving birth as are monkeys, dogs, lions, elephants, and any other mammal. Our brains are what gets in the way, not our bodies.
One of the reasons I opted for the birth center and Nurse-Midwives at Swedish-Ballard is that I want care that approaches pregnancy and birth from a viewpoint of wellness and normalcy. Pregnancy is not a disease, and birth is a normal and natural biological function- not a pathological condition in need of curing. OB-Gyns may cognitively know that pregnancy and birth are normal and healthy, but in the US their training does not expose them to natural, uncomplicated childbirth that is allowed to progress as long as it takes. Most doctors and nurses never witness a birth that is not subjected to routine interventions like artificial oxytocin to speed things up, epidurals, and episiotomies. More likely than not the woman will be confined to bed, increasing the likelihood of a forceps or vacuum delivery, which increases the chances of damage to both mother and baby.
I'm not trying to knock OBs. They don't spend all that time and effort in school for nothing and they can and do save lives. But OBs are surgeons, and their training exposes them to situations that often require surgery. They are trained to treat problems, not how to recognize the difference between what is part of a normal birth (a lot of variety can be considered normal in childbirth, just like in every other aspect of human health) and what truly requires intervention. OBs also have to fear malpractice lawsuits in a society that increasingly demands medical and surgical intervention, and OBs get paid more by insurance companies for C-section deliveries than for vaginal deliveries. C-sections have the convenience of being predictably scheduled in a non-emergency and even in an emergency (or "emergency") they take a predictable amount of time, allowing the OB to know they will make it home for dinner.
The C-section rate in the US is up around 33% of births, when the World Health Organization recommends a 10-15% C-section rate. Disproportional numbers of babies are now born on weekdays between 9 and 5, and weekend births have dropped dramatically. People, not just doctors, like to know when their baby will come so they can make plans and stay on schedule. C-sections are portrayed as easy surgeries, much quicker, cleaner, and more painless than vaginal deliveries. The recovery time of a C-section, which is a major abdominal surgery complete with risk of the list of complications that comes with any major surgery, is downplayed, even though it is longer and more painful than recovery from vaginal birth (unless there was severe tearing, which can happen if an infant is pulled out too quickly by vacuum or forceps, among other reasons).
I recently watched the documentary "Pregnant in America". It came out around the same time as "Business of Being Born", but had a much lower budget and much less experienced and influential director. Many of the same experts were interviewed in both films. The thing that stuck out to me about "Pregnant in America" was near the end, in an interview with a male doctor. He talked about one particular woman who, after hours of labor warned everyone in the room to get back, because she was having her baby NOW. She proceeded to give birth, and the doctor said that despite his having witnessed many other natural births, this was the first time he had ever seen a woman in her full power. He said it scared him, badly.
Ina May Gaskin talks about how she tells women to "let their monkey do it", meaning that women shouldn't try to think about how they will get their baby out, and instead let go and allow their inner wild animal to take over. She mentioned that when she gave birth she pictured herself as a lioness, powerful and beautiful.
When it comes time, that's what I want. I want to unleash my inner warrior princess and give birth like a goddess in all her glory. I want to calmly bring forth my child in an act of strength and beauty. I want my inner lioness-monkey to take command and give birth with a roar of triumph. I want to be savage, strong, and serene. I want to frighten the male doctor who won't actually be in the room to witness my power. Me and my baby were made for this, and I want to do it our way.
First, a little about me. I'm the kind of person who avoids taking medicine, all kinds. I never take anything unless a particular malady is bad enough to interfere with my daily life, and if I have an option I will always try a non-medicinal cure first. When I have a headache I chug water or maybe try something caffeinated. If that doesn't work I give myself a neck rub, or if I have time I take a nap. I'm not anti-medicine. I always have over the counter pain killers of some kind in the house, and often some half used cold remedy (if it hasn't expired yet) as well. If my pounding headache will not lighten up and I have no time to nap I will gladly pop a couple pills to help me focus and get through the day. My attitude is more about need. If I don't feel I need the pain dulled or the cold symptoms lessened, I will tough it out. I am lucky; I do not suffer migraines or chronic headaches and get sick rarely enough that my cold and flu medicine keeps expiring on me. Not everyone has the luxury of feeling the need for medication as seldom as I do, and many people prefer the convenience of feeling better and lack my stubborn inner voice insisting that I don't really need to take anything.
As you may guess, one of my initial reasons for wanting to go for a natural childbirth is my aversion to using unnecessary pain medication. Another reason is curiosity; I want to see what it's like, to find out if I'm as tough as I think I am, if labor is really as unbearable as society would have me believe. I trust my body and I want to find out what it can do. There is evidence that epidurals can cause infants to be born sleepy and sluggish, which interferes with their immediate ability to begin breastfeeding. Since I intend to breastfeed and have been warned that my mother and grandmother both found it difficult to do so, I want as little interference as possible when it comes to establishing successful breastfeeding with my newborn. I will have at least an hour with my baby before they will want to weigh and measure her, and I want her functioning at her very best during that time.
There's also the idea that mother nature knows best, and if childbirth has been (mostly) successful done the old fashioned way since our species has existed, who am I to argue? Doctors used to bleed sick people, mercury was used topically and ingested to treat all kinds of illnesses and injuries, and heroin was taken as cough medicine. At the time, these practices were cutting edge medicine! Obviously we have much higher standards for testing new treatments and technologies these days, and a much better understanding of the human body and how it works. But that doesn't mean that doctors always know best. Just because a practice has become mainstream and doesn't result in death or injury the vast majority of the time, doesn't mean it's always the best way to go. I'm lucky to live in a time when we have lifesaving technology and doctors with the years of training and knowledge to help in the small chance that something could go catastrophically wrong, but I have every reason to believe my birth will be normal and healthy.
I should mention that I know I may not get the birth experience that I want. I have been warned that it is important to be flexible when it comes to giving birth, because things happen to the healthiest women with the least complicated pregnancies and there is no way to see the future. If I don't go into labor on my own by 42 weeks as counted from my last menstrual cycle, steps will be taken to get the baby out ready or not. Lego was breech during the last ultrasound, and there is a small chance she won't flip to be head down. I know I will be disappointed, but of course the most important thing is ending up with a healthy baby. I also have no way of knowing how I will cope with labor, or if I will change my mind in the midst of it. So I guess a natural birth is more of a birth preference than a birth plan.
I got a book from the library. It's called "Birth Matters, A Midwife's Manifesta" By Ina May Gaskin. I also have on hold a few other books about childbirth including her much more famous book, "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth", and have been waiting for several weeks to get it. Anyway, "Birth Matters" is the first book I have been able to read on the subject of childbirth since I've been pregnant, and in one day I was almost halfway through. The first part discusses childbirth as being natural, normal, and healthy, especially when attended by knowledgeable and sensitive women who know how to put the laboring woman at ease and give her confidence in her body's innate ability to give birth.
The author discusses hormones released during labor and how adrenaline, a fight or flight stress hormone, interferes with the process of labor and increases pain response, while oxytocin produced by the woman's body (not artificial oxytocin used to speed up or induce labor) not only aids labor but also reduces pain, helps her body open, and sends feelings of love and joy through the mother promoting bonding between her and her newborn. Oxytocin and adrenaline are produced inversely to each other; as levels of one go up, levels of the other go down.
The book describes how joyful birth can be, and painless. Yes, painless. Not for everyone (dang!), but even those who feel pain don't have to fear it or experience it as unbearable. A woman who feels safe and supported in a comfortable environment will produce little to no adrenaline, while a woman who has strangers coming unannounced in and out of her hospital room to take measurements and who discourage her from getting out of bed or eating or drinking will feel much more out of control and vulnerable, and will be more likely to experience pain and fear brought on by adrenaline.
The book includes birth stories, and the first one is by a woman who moved into a cabin next door to a midwife in a rural farming community, a few weeks before giving birth. While waiting for labor to begin she was visited daily by the midwife and spent the rest of her time walking and exploring, getting to know to locals, and just relaxing and reading. No stress, no worry, and no rush to get the baby out by a 42 week deadline. When she did go into labor the midwife stayed with her the whole time (no shift changes), helped her find ways to get her labor to progress, and encouraged her to follow her body's cues to eat or drink or move around and help the baby on it's way. After 26 hours (I think) of labor she gave birth to a healthy baby, with very minimal amounts of tearing. She stayed in the cabin another few weeks, visited daily by the midwife who made sure she was recovering physically and gave her emotional support and advice about caring for her newborn. I hope my birth experience can be half as pleasant.
Confession time. I was very tired after a long busy day, and full of pregnancy hormones while I was reading about all this. The feelings of relief and validation that came over me when the author described how good giving birth can be had me literally bawling. I felt like the author saw the tiny, terrified part I didn't even know was buried inside of me, and soothed it. She knows I can give birth the way I want to. My body was made to give birth. It was made to do so without need of medical interventions. I felt so empowered.
Mainstream society discourages women who want a natural childbirth: It will hurt too much, you will change your mind. Giving birth is dangerous, think of everything that can go wrong, think of your innocent baby. Why would anyone want to endure all that pain if they don't have to? Doctors know what you need better than you do, don't tell them how to do their job. It felt so wonderful to read confirmation of my own intuition; that in the animal kingdom, human women are not uniquely incapable of safe and healthy reproduction. Our pelvis may be one of a kind, but human women are just as good at giving birth as are monkeys, dogs, lions, elephants, and any other mammal. Our brains are what gets in the way, not our bodies.
One of the reasons I opted for the birth center and Nurse-Midwives at Swedish-Ballard is that I want care that approaches pregnancy and birth from a viewpoint of wellness and normalcy. Pregnancy is not a disease, and birth is a normal and natural biological function- not a pathological condition in need of curing. OB-Gyns may cognitively know that pregnancy and birth are normal and healthy, but in the US their training does not expose them to natural, uncomplicated childbirth that is allowed to progress as long as it takes. Most doctors and nurses never witness a birth that is not subjected to routine interventions like artificial oxytocin to speed things up, epidurals, and episiotomies. More likely than not the woman will be confined to bed, increasing the likelihood of a forceps or vacuum delivery, which increases the chances of damage to both mother and baby.
I'm not trying to knock OBs. They don't spend all that time and effort in school for nothing and they can and do save lives. But OBs are surgeons, and their training exposes them to situations that often require surgery. They are trained to treat problems, not how to recognize the difference between what is part of a normal birth (a lot of variety can be considered normal in childbirth, just like in every other aspect of human health) and what truly requires intervention. OBs also have to fear malpractice lawsuits in a society that increasingly demands medical and surgical intervention, and OBs get paid more by insurance companies for C-section deliveries than for vaginal deliveries. C-sections have the convenience of being predictably scheduled in a non-emergency and even in an emergency (or "emergency") they take a predictable amount of time, allowing the OB to know they will make it home for dinner.
The C-section rate in the US is up around 33% of births, when the World Health Organization recommends a 10-15% C-section rate. Disproportional numbers of babies are now born on weekdays between 9 and 5, and weekend births have dropped dramatically. People, not just doctors, like to know when their baby will come so they can make plans and stay on schedule. C-sections are portrayed as easy surgeries, much quicker, cleaner, and more painless than vaginal deliveries. The recovery time of a C-section, which is a major abdominal surgery complete with risk of the list of complications that comes with any major surgery, is downplayed, even though it is longer and more painful than recovery from vaginal birth (unless there was severe tearing, which can happen if an infant is pulled out too quickly by vacuum or forceps, among other reasons).
I recently watched the documentary "Pregnant in America". It came out around the same time as "Business of Being Born", but had a much lower budget and much less experienced and influential director. Many of the same experts were interviewed in both films. The thing that stuck out to me about "Pregnant in America" was near the end, in an interview with a male doctor. He talked about one particular woman who, after hours of labor warned everyone in the room to get back, because she was having her baby NOW. She proceeded to give birth, and the doctor said that despite his having witnessed many other natural births, this was the first time he had ever seen a woman in her full power. He said it scared him, badly.
Ina May Gaskin talks about how she tells women to "let their monkey do it", meaning that women shouldn't try to think about how they will get their baby out, and instead let go and allow their inner wild animal to take over. She mentioned that when she gave birth she pictured herself as a lioness, powerful and beautiful.
When it comes time, that's what I want. I want to unleash my inner warrior princess and give birth like a goddess in all her glory. I want to calmly bring forth my child in an act of strength and beauty. I want my inner lioness-monkey to take command and give birth with a roar of triumph. I want to be savage, strong, and serene. I want to frighten the male doctor who won't actually be in the room to witness my power. Me and my baby were made for this, and I want to do it our way.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Pregnancy is an excuse that works for anything, 22 weeks 2 days
Last night after preparing myself an indulgent bowl of ice cream with chocolate fudge melted on top, I put the ice cream away in the fridge and the fudge into the freezer. This came to light when Dan opened the fridge about 40 minutes later and asked me why there was ice cream in there. Oops.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
It's so moving, 2/6/2012 20 weeks
Over the last several weeks, Lego's movement has been getting stronger
and more obvious. It's been a while since I have had to sit still and pay
attention in order to notice the little twinges. In fact, they no longer
feel like twinges. It's hard to say what the movements feel like now,
other than that it feels like what it is; something poking and nudging
me from the inside.
Does it make me a bad future mom if I confess to not always being glad about the movements? Mostly I really do love that I can feel her in there. This time of gestation is special. It's something she and I can only do with each other right now, and after she is born we will never again be together quite like this. It's nice feeling her in there and knowing it's an indication that she is healthy and growing just like she should be. Sometimes though, I get tired and grumpy and stressed. Sometimes I really just want to be left alone. I need my quiet time just like anyone else, and I'm not used to having to share my body all the time like this! It's frustrating to finally get all settled with a treat and my entertainment of choice, all set to relax and recharge, only to have that insistent nudging demand my attention. It's distracting! At least she doesn't move violently enough to wake me up at night so far. If that starts happening, we might have a problem.
Speaking of distracting! During our last group appointment with the nurse-midwives we did a short meditation exercise for relaxation. Turns out Lego got her mom's inability to sit still and behave. Taking a cue from my sisters and I pestering and poking each other every Sunday during the pastor's sermons, Lego picked this quiet time to start pestering me. I almost burst out laughing a couple times when a particularly hard jab surprised me and made me catch my breath. I couldn't pay attention to the midwife's verbal guidance at all, so much for relaxation! I'm only just over half way through this pregnancy, that means this is going to get worse. Lego, have mercy!
I have a sweet story from last week:
Dan usually wakes up earlier than me, even on days when we don't have to set the alarm clock for anything. Sometimes he gets restless and gets up to let me sleep, but a lot of times he likes to stay in bed and slowly snuggle me awake. On one snuggly morning last week, as I was slowly rejoining the world of the living, he asked if I'd been asleep up til that point. He told me the baby had been moving while I slept, and he was really happy to have been able to have some alone time with her. It made me warm inside to know he treasures her as much as I do. He's going to be such a great daddy!
Does it make me a bad future mom if I confess to not always being glad about the movements? Mostly I really do love that I can feel her in there. This time of gestation is special. It's something she and I can only do with each other right now, and after she is born we will never again be together quite like this. It's nice feeling her in there and knowing it's an indication that she is healthy and growing just like she should be. Sometimes though, I get tired and grumpy and stressed. Sometimes I really just want to be left alone. I need my quiet time just like anyone else, and I'm not used to having to share my body all the time like this! It's frustrating to finally get all settled with a treat and my entertainment of choice, all set to relax and recharge, only to have that insistent nudging demand my attention. It's distracting! At least she doesn't move violently enough to wake me up at night so far. If that starts happening, we might have a problem.
Speaking of distracting! During our last group appointment with the nurse-midwives we did a short meditation exercise for relaxation. Turns out Lego got her mom's inability to sit still and behave. Taking a cue from my sisters and I pestering and poking each other every Sunday during the pastor's sermons, Lego picked this quiet time to start pestering me. I almost burst out laughing a couple times when a particularly hard jab surprised me and made me catch my breath. I couldn't pay attention to the midwife's verbal guidance at all, so much for relaxation! I'm only just over half way through this pregnancy, that means this is going to get worse. Lego, have mercy!
I have a sweet story from last week:
Dan usually wakes up earlier than me, even on days when we don't have to set the alarm clock for anything. Sometimes he gets restless and gets up to let me sleep, but a lot of times he likes to stay in bed and slowly snuggle me awake. On one snuggly morning last week, as I was slowly rejoining the world of the living, he asked if I'd been asleep up til that point. He told me the baby had been moving while I slept, and he was really happy to have been able to have some alone time with her. It made me warm inside to know he treasures her as much as I do. He's going to be such a great daddy!
Monday, February 6, 2012
You've been waiting for this...
About a week and a half ago at 20 weeks 4 days, we had the anatomy scan- AKA; the BIG ultrasound! Because I'm a terrible person, I have kept you all waiting on the edge of your seats (unless you're my friend on facebook, and you probably are) to learn what we now know.
It's always fun to get to see our baby wiggling around on screen, and I'm a little bummed that we will probably not be having any more ultrasounds from here on out. The nurse-midwives practice evidence based prenatal care, and apparently there isn't convincing evidence that repeated ultrasounds throughout pregnancy benefits mom's or baby's health. The only reason we would have another ultrasound is if they are unable to determine by feel if the baby is head down as I near my due date, in which case they would do a quick in-office scan. Oh well, that will make finally meeting little Lego even more special.
Lego was in a cooperative mood, mostly. The technician was able to get all the pictures and measurements she needed pretty easily, with one exception. She really wanted to get a shot of Lego's left hand while it was open, but every time she started getting the shot lined up Lego would make a fist again. The right hand was no problem, but Lego was teasing us with the left! The tech did finally get a semi decent picture.
The thing with anatomy scans is that they wait until the very last minute to tell you the big news, and they take their time getting there. Kind of like I'm doing now.
The tech started with the heart, which despite taking up most of the chest cavity (normal at this stage) was beating at a healthy rate and showed 4 good looking chambers. She moved on to the head and took measurements of the skull and of different areas of the brain. We learned that Lego is still measuring a little bigger than "normal" but closer to what they would expect than last time, and so my due date shall once again remain unchanged. Lego was also in the breech position, but at 20 weeks that isn't a concern. We had a look at the placenta, which is placed well away from my cervix as it should be. The umbilical cord has the right number of vessels providing my little parasite with all the nutrients it needs to grow big and strong. The stomach was full of fluid, indicating a functioning digestive system as Lego swallows amniotic fluid and then urinates it back out.
We looked at the arms and legs, and hands and feet- all good. We looked at the face, which showed an adorable profile but lacks enough soft tissue to show a cute front view. The good news is that Lego no longer looks like a frog or alien, and now looks definitely human! The less good news is that the face now looks a lot like Skeletor. We were able to see Lego's little mouth opening and closing (drinking?!) and the little tongue go in and out a couple times. Probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my entire life, though I understand I might be slightly biased.
Finally we worked our way down to the goods. The tech said she is 85% sure that Lego is a girl! The other 15%? That covers the hospital's legal butt if come June I deliver a little boy. But she scanned the area from a couple different angles, had me get up to use the bathroom and then took another look, and none of us saw any sign of boy parts.
We got another CD of pictures, this time a lot fewer than before. I am kind of kicking myself now for not asking for more pictures. The techs seem to think people are only interested in recognizable face pictures, but I wish I'd asked that some other other pictures be included as well. I like all the anatomy stuff and think it would be really fun to have pictures of the heart and spine and all that. Oh well. Maybe I will call the hospital and see if I can get another CD, or maybe I will be lazy and forget about it because it's not that big of a deal. I mean, I'm not going to be including ultrasound pictures of my baby's heart in Christmas cards or anything.
It's always fun to get to see our baby wiggling around on screen, and I'm a little bummed that we will probably not be having any more ultrasounds from here on out. The nurse-midwives practice evidence based prenatal care, and apparently there isn't convincing evidence that repeated ultrasounds throughout pregnancy benefits mom's or baby's health. The only reason we would have another ultrasound is if they are unable to determine by feel if the baby is head down as I near my due date, in which case they would do a quick in-office scan. Oh well, that will make finally meeting little Lego even more special.
Lego was in a cooperative mood, mostly. The technician was able to get all the pictures and measurements she needed pretty easily, with one exception. She really wanted to get a shot of Lego's left hand while it was open, but every time she started getting the shot lined up Lego would make a fist again. The right hand was no problem, but Lego was teasing us with the left! The tech did finally get a semi decent picture.
The thing with anatomy scans is that they wait until the very last minute to tell you the big news, and they take their time getting there. Kind of like I'm doing now.
The tech started with the heart, which despite taking up most of the chest cavity (normal at this stage) was beating at a healthy rate and showed 4 good looking chambers. She moved on to the head and took measurements of the skull and of different areas of the brain. We learned that Lego is still measuring a little bigger than "normal" but closer to what they would expect than last time, and so my due date shall once again remain unchanged. Lego was also in the breech position, but at 20 weeks that isn't a concern. We had a look at the placenta, which is placed well away from my cervix as it should be. The umbilical cord has the right number of vessels providing my little parasite with all the nutrients it needs to grow big and strong. The stomach was full of fluid, indicating a functioning digestive system as Lego swallows amniotic fluid and then urinates it back out.
We looked at the arms and legs, and hands and feet- all good. We looked at the face, which showed an adorable profile but lacks enough soft tissue to show a cute front view. The good news is that Lego no longer looks like a frog or alien, and now looks definitely human! The less good news is that the face now looks a lot like Skeletor. We were able to see Lego's little mouth opening and closing (drinking?!) and the little tongue go in and out a couple times. Probably the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my entire life, though I understand I might be slightly biased.
Finally we worked our way down to the goods. The tech said she is 85% sure that Lego is a girl! The other 15%? That covers the hospital's legal butt if come June I deliver a little boy. But she scanned the area from a couple different angles, had me get up to use the bathroom and then took another look, and none of us saw any sign of boy parts.
We got another CD of pictures, this time a lot fewer than before. I am kind of kicking myself now for not asking for more pictures. The techs seem to think people are only interested in recognizable face pictures, but I wish I'd asked that some other other pictures be included as well. I like all the anatomy stuff and think it would be really fun to have pictures of the heart and spine and all that. Oh well. Maybe I will call the hospital and see if I can get another CD, or maybe I will be lazy and forget about it because it's not that big of a deal. I mean, I'm not going to be including ultrasound pictures of my baby's heart in Christmas cards or anything.
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| Lovely profile |
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| Skeletor Lego |
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| The cooperative hand |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Halfway there belly shots!
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| 11/21/2011 11 weeks |
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| 1/9/2012 18 weeks |
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| 1/30/2012 21 weeks |
I feel so much bigger than these pictures look, they just don't do my belly justice. Most strangers still would probably not guess that I'm pregnant, but I'm pretty sure that everyone who sees me regularly has started to notice changes. And that shirt used to be a little loose!
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