We were told on Monday at the OBGYN that this baby is BIG, quickly
replaced by the word ‘healthy’ but the doc put it out there and now that’s all
I can think about! Really there is nothing wrong with a big baby and maybe it
means the little one, if I can even describe him/her that way anymore, will be
ready to come out a little early on the timeline. Chris & I have just been
planning all along that we have until the end of May, since I am due June 10th, in terms of planning/scheduling
things. We figure treating the last few weeks as extra is a good way to
go, so if we are surprised early we will have all the preparation done.
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| This was taken around 27 weeks. |
I haven’t been writing much and I haven’t researched any more
topics I want to look into yet and I feel like the list of what I want to look
into is growing. I’ve been busy with other things mostly baby &
work-related. Although I certainly wasn’t asked to help do some things for my
upcoming baby shower, I like to help (which is a nice way of saying I’m a
control freak) so I’ve been working on a few little things for that. I also had
the idea to get the RSVP list from my mom as it comes in so I can at least give
myself a head start on writing out the thank you cards by addressing the
envelopes for people who have confirmed they are coming. I’ve been working on a
few nursery things, finishing up the second blanket- which is getting
increasingly more difficult to lay it out on the floor and straight pin, needed
Chris to help me the other day. Also I’ve been working on a TBA art project for
the nursery. The nursery is looking good, Chris has blown through a Honey Do
list which is great. I’ll dedicate a full post to the nursery when we have
decorated it.
Even though I haven’t had time to do any pregnancy-related
research this week that might be a good thing since it may have been
information overload since we took an all-day prenatal class on Saturday of
last weekend. (We opted for the all day as opposed to the multiple class
format). It was largely focused on labor & delivery and since we took it at
the hospital we will be delivering at we got a tour of the ward and some
information of what to expect while we are there which is great. I think the
two major things I learned from the class are that I don’t need to panic and rush
right to the hospital the second I start having contractions. Now that I better
understand there are three stages to the first part of labor- early, active,
and transition- as long as I am tracking my contractions and speaking to the
doctors to let them know where I am at I am good to stay home for a while
during early labor. I think this is great because it means even if Chris is at
work (45 minutes away) he’ll have time to get home to me to go with me to the
hospital. I opted to not research anything about labor and delivery
before taking this class because I honestly feel like there is no point
stressing yourself out about it until its closer in time to actually occurring.
Even though I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on the subject, I want to go into
my labor & delivery with an open mind as far as pain medication is
concerned. Before the class I didn’t feel strongly either way, I know there are
a lot of women who feel strongly that a natural birth is the way to go, while
others are 100% for the epidural before they even start their contractions. But
I felt I wasn’t leaning either way, I think establishing a birth plan is nice
but who knows if what you plan on and what actually happens are going to even
remotely look like each other at the end of the day. I guess my overall status
on the birth plan was flexible, as things happen we’ll make decisions.
After taking the class I was surprised to find out that in theory,
and in theory is the key word here because I have absolutely no idea how I am
going to handle being in labor and dealing with the pain, I’m leaning towards
the ‘as little pain medicine as possible’ side of the argument. Although I
understand the common stance of not wanting the baby to come out drugged I feel
like sometimes it is unavoidable. Many, many women have had epidurals and many,
many babies have turned out just fine. Also we learned in the class that the
other major pain relief given to a women during pregnancy has a two hour
timeframe, so for most women the medicine will come into their system and leave
their system before they deliver and thus the baby comes out au natural. If in
the rare case that the doctors and nurses miscalculate how much longer the
women will be in labor and the baby is delivered while still under the
influence of the medicine, there is an injection they will give to the baby to
rid the baby’s body of the narcotic’s effects. So that isn't my major reason is coming to my stance. The major reason why I
learned a natural birth is great if you can handle it is because you are then
able to play a much more active role in your delivery. If you are on pain
medicine you are confined to your bed and if you have the epidural you won’t
even be able to feel when you need to push. If you go natural, you can walk around, take a bath, stretch out, try different positions to see where you are most comfortable. This was really interesting to me because my preconceived idea was you are in that hospital bed and that is your only option. Now I, at least, see the no-drug side of
the argument in more detail.
But in the end I really do plan on going in with an open mind
because I have no idea how I’m going to do in the situation. Also some things
are out of the women’s control/not even an option. On the video we watched in
the class, we saw real women giving birth in a variety of situations- 100%
natural birth, slightly medicated, epidural, planned caesarian, and unplanned- a
few women were in labor for so long and their bodies were not progressing that
the doctors insisted on the epidural and in some cases on a caesarian. It was good to see all the possibilities. Another thing I learned from the class,
although I had heard previously that on additional labor with second/third
children, the overall timeframe gets condensed I didn’t know the time frame for
a typical first pregnancy. In our class we were taught that early labor can
last from 4 to 8 hours, active labor another 4 to 8 hours and the pushing stage
can go for about 2 hours giving an overall time for a first labor &
delivery between 8 and 16 hours. With that in mind I think it’s really
impressive women are able to do natural births, seems like it’s a more
achievable goal with a second or third pregnancy since the timeframe typically
shortens. But we will see how it all goes.
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| Source: http://lulabelleismyshihtzu.tumblr.com/image/17156521751 |
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