Filed under: 7th month | Tags: Feeling the baby kick and move, preterm bonding with baby
I have to admit, this last month of pregnancy has been really fun. The baby is moving and stretching and kicking a lot. He has also been moving around for longer durations of time. Before, I would feel him move and then would try to get my husband’s hand on my stomach fast enough for him to feel something. We would wait and most of the time, the baby wouldn’t kick again. But, recently, I’ll feel some activity and my husband will put his hand on my belly and feel more kicks for at least a couple of minutes. Last night, I think the baby was trying to swim because he was moving and fluttering all over the place. My husband and I just sat there laughing. I had him move his hand to see if we could “see” the kicks. To our surprise, my stomach was rippling and moving. It was awesome. All we could do was smile and get even more excited about our son’s arrival. We both are so curious as to what he looks like!
I think that spending that time feeling and watching the baby move was a crucial time in the pregancy to formulate the bond between the baby and us parents. I already feel really attached to the baby since I feel him all of the time but to be able to feel and see him moving around in my “stomach” must be nature’s way for the whole family to be able to attach themselves to the baby before he/she is even born, for evolutionary purposes. If only our dog could understand that a new family member is on the way so he could start bonding with the baby! : )
Filed under: 7th month | Tags: birth, husband coached child birth, natural child birth, The Bradley Method
My husband and I will be attending our third Bradley Method class tonight. There are 8 other couples in the group and will meet for 6 more weeks. We have really enjoyed the classes and are learning so much about pregnancy and delivery. This class was recommended to us by a friend who also did a natural childbirth and I’m glad we signed up. It’s been really useful having other couples who are going through the same things that we are exchange stories and advice. So far, we have learned about exercise and nutrition for pregnancy. I have enjoyed that part because now I feel like I am training for the birth. I love training for things and will have some investment into the delivery process. Going to the classes has definitely made me less anxious about giving birth and I actually feel prepared. We often talk about the pain, which is nice because we all know it will be there, but really talking about it makes it more real.
The Bradley method is also called “husband-coached child birth” and I’m really really excited that my husband is going to be my partner throughout the momentous event. He’s going to be a fantastic coach and I’m really looking forward to going through it with him by my side. It’s exciting to know that this experience will bring us even closer together than we are now.
Filed under: 7th month | Tags: fundus measuring big, pregnant and anemic, pregnant hemorrhoids
The results are in: I don’t have gestational diabetes but I am slightly anemic. Baby G appears to taking all of my iron! The doctor recommended some over the counter Iron vitamins that I will soon add to my daily routine. Also on my daily pill list: Fiber. I am one of the many lucky pregnant patients with hemorrhoids. Thanks Baby G! I have been having this burning sensation right under my ribs and my doctor explained that my muscles are ripping and stretching. Again I ask, who are those people out there that LOVE being pregnant?
My uterus is still measuring 2 weeks bigger than it should be (30 weeks when I should be at 28 weeks)and there is no more room for my uterus to grow vertically. The top of it is butting up against my ribs so the only place left to grow is out. Yikes! I’m scared I may tip over or something if it grows too far out! So, 12 more weeks… I hope it goes by fast.
Here are the much anticipated belly shots. I felt weird putting my face up on the blog so I have just shown my torso.
Filed under: 7th month | Tags: big belly, lower back pain, pregnancy sleep, skin and hair changes in pregnancy, vaginal secretion
I should probably apologize for not writing these last couple of weeks. I’m on the last sprint towards my master’s degree and all of my blogging time has been spent working on my paper and presentation and all of my free time has been spent spring cleaning the house.
As my belly gets bigger, so do the small annoyances. I had to say goodbye to the snoogle pillow. It just wasn’t working out anymore. I am sleeping a little better but the nights that I go to sleep and don’t wake up through the whole night are long gone. I have just gotten used to tossing and turning and peeing and tossing again. I have increased my exercise time and try to stay up later so that my body is more tired when I lay down to sleep. Both of those strategies seem to be working.
My hair and skin have taken a turn for the worse. My skin is blotchy and I almost HAVE to put on makeup every day to feel good about my appearance. I have a lot of new hair growth which means a lot of “whispies” around the front of my face and the new hair is growing in kinky instead of straight. My hair now has frizzy fly-aways. Super!
My belly is now a stain magnet. When I pull into the garage and then walk passed the tight space between the garage door and my car, my belly takes off all of the dirt on the car in one clean swipe. The other night I was in a room full of crowded people and as I tried to squeeze by people, I keep hitting them with my belly. Clearly I am still not used to my new body. Cooking is also different as my options are to either stand farther away from the cutting board or clean the countertop as I go with my belly. My aprons are definitely getting more use! Hugging people now involves me bending over and I’m hoping that I don’t shut my belly into a door one of these days!
My lower back had been killing me at work because my 9 hour days involve sitting at a desk. Fed up with the achiness and pain, I came up with some solutions. I take an hour walk on my lunch break just to get up and use different muscles. I invested in a fitball chair because the lumbar support pillow just wasn’t hacking it. The chair has been AWESOME and my back doesn’t hurt anymore. I think it is also working my core while I sit which is an added bonus when it comes time to push. I’m looking into prenatal yoga and prenatal massage as well.
My boobs seem to still be growing because they are so heavy. It is painful when I take off my bra and now almost have to sleep in a sports bra. After talking to my mom about how her pregnancies went, all she said was that her boobs grew 3 sizes! She also said that while she was nursing, she couldn’t fit into any of her pre-pregnancy tops because her boobs were so big even though her pants fit. She also told me to get ready for not only the huge boobs, but the hard-as-a-rock boobs too (as she made a knocking gesture on her chest). Great. Just great. I’m only 5’2″. The LAST thing I need is huge boobs.
Then there’s the final annoyance. Jenny McCarthy refers to it as the “Snail Trail” in her book, “Belly Laughs” but I refer to it as the vaginal faucet. Let’s just say that even though I’m not getting my period, I’m still wearing thin maxi’s everyday. Couple that with the fact that my inner thighs seem to be “retaining fat” and the humid summer is approaching, and you’ve got one cranky pregnant lady. Don’t you just love when your fat moist thighs rub together? UGH!
3 more months….3 more months…
My husband and I took a tour of the hospital at which we think we are going to deliver. I still want to have a conversation with my OB to get his opinion but I’m pretty sure that the hospital we went to is where he does most of his deliveries. As we walked through the delivery hall, we didn’t hear any screams from laboring moms like I had envisioned and we really didn’t see anyone in labor. I guess it was a slow night or they have sound proof doors on all of the rooms….Or, everyone gets an epidural these days and sleeps through most of their contractions. The rooms were fine but I was a little disappointed. They are private but I think I was picturing more of a hotel room. I don’t know why I would considering it is still a HOSPITAL but we did see a birthing ball, laboring tub (not allowed to do a water birth) and squatting bar so that is good. I fully intend to use the squatting bar as I would like to be vertical as much as possible. The rooms were pretty small and I’m not sure how a team of nurses and doctors will fit, but I’m sure they make it work.
We also got to peek into the special care nursery and see all of the tiny babies that I assume came early. Those newborns were adorable and sooo little! It was certainly cute and my motherly instinct has definitely kicked in and I was smiling ear to ear.
The Dirt on Pregnancy Weblog 