Home visit

Today was our midwives' home visit. They arrived at 9:30ish and my hubby stayed home from work for the morning to be here.

First thing she did was check the baby's position. I was very relieved to hear the baby is head down. She showed my husband how to check too and he felt the head. He had tried feeling yesterday and thought he felt the head low then so it was reassuring to know it was easy for him to feel and we got the confirmation we needed!

Next thing is that I'm measuring at 40.5 centimeters now which equals 40.5 weeks. So now I'm 3.5 weeks ahead.

We showed the midwives around the house and they seemed to think we were in good shape. They kept stressing though how they want everything in one place. I just don't want to put my little baby's clothes in with all the other stuff. They're all nice and neat and clean. I have all the "other stuff" in a tote and the baby stuff is either folded and on top of my dresser or on hangers hanging on the closet door. It's close enough to the tote that I don't see it being a problem. The "other stuff" is things like trash bags, ziploc bags, olive oil, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, the hose, etc.

I'm so burned up. We get so much mail that it often piles up before I really get a chance to look at it. I always pull out the obvious bills and whatnot but the "junk mail" piles up. I just found a Babies R Us coupon booklet yesterday. I think I could have gotten a $30 or $50 gift card when I bought my travel system with this coupon they had. But it expired on the 13th and I just saw it yesterday, the 20th. Now I'm really hoping another one comes soon. I really wanted to get the travel system this weekend. We have a $200 gift card to put towards it but I also do not want to pay full price!

We do need to get the car seat though (and that's part of the travel system) because I have to take the baby to the doctor when he/she is 2 days old just to get checked out.

Well, I'm off to meet a friend for lunch soon. I'm such a social butterfly these days!

Nothing much new

It seems I have more time to update my blog now that I'm not working. Today I woke up around 4:00 a.m. totally drenched in sweat to the point I needed to change pillows. I fell back asleep after that and had a pretty good night actually. The cramps/contractions started up again when I woke at 4:00 but when I woke up again for the day at 7:30 or so they were gone. They did not start up again until after I went to the chiropractor and was driving home. My appointment was at 3:00 and the contractions started around 3:45. They didn't last nearly as long as yesterday's though.

I'm seriously not ready for this baby yet. I mean, I'm ready to meet, love, hug,and hold the baby but when I look around this house I just want to groan. I'm still not done washing up all the little clothes and I have to make sure I have all my birth supplies organized and my bedroom still has some tidying to be done. Yet here I sit. I just have no energy! I want to sit all day and even getting up to go to the bathroom makes me annoyed. I have issues!

I came home from the chiropractor and took a nice nap. I think it might be my first nap since my leave started which is pretty sad! I met friends for dinner at 6:00 and knew I'd be too drowsy if I didn't sleep before.

So there is not much new to report but I thought I would update while I was thinking of it!

A Braxton Hicks Anniversary

Today is my husband's and my anniversary! I was hoping that if baby was going to be early today would be the day. Otherwise, I'm quite fine with baby waiting til November to make his/her appearance!

I had a massage at 12:30. It was awesome. My massage therapist though felt my "gorgeous belly" (her words) and what I refer to as the baby's butt she thought was a head! I really hope she doesn't know what she's talking about because I've been to the chiropractor for the Webster technique three times already and am going again tomorrow and the next day. I see my midwife on Friday so I'm hoping to get some positive confirmation then that baby is now in the correct position! Other than head down I don't know much more than that.

After my massage I went to the food store. I need flour and apples to make my hubby a cake. I had all the other ingredients in but those. I stopped at the bank and for a quick bite to eat at fast-food place (shhh, don't tell) and then I got home and started trying to make the cake and I felt so awful. These horrible menstrual-like cramps came over me and then I started feeling nauseous. I was in the middle of cutting apples and just left them and came and sat in the living room. I know last time I felt this way my midwife said they were Braxton Hicks. I thought those were supposed to be painless! These are not exactly painful but they definitely hurt some!

My hubby and I went out to dinner and they continued all through dinner and since we got home. So I just feel kind of crappy. I'm really hoping this isn't a precursor to anything and if so that it will just stop! I'm trying to stay hydrated and now I'm going to bed to get some rest.

Labor Prediction Quiz

I just took this quiz for fun. I'm quite fine with my results. While I'm super excited to meet this baby, I'm really not hoping for it to come early. I want to enjoy this early maternity leave and have the baby's room and the rest of the house ready. And that is so not the case!

Here are my results: "I know you were hoping we weren't going to say this, but don't expect this baby to come early. Your baby is nice and comfy tucked away in your womb and has no interest in joining the rest of the world. We predict your baby will be born after its due date. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 7.5 pounds and that your labor will be about 11 hours long."

Here is the quiz if anyone wants to take it: http://www.justmommies.com/quizzes/labor_prediction_quiz.php

Webster Technique and Start of Maternity Leave

So the day after my last blog post, my chiropractor called me back with the name of a fairly local chiropractor who knew and practiced Webster and so I made an appointment there for today. I think it went well but I didn't feel any movement from the baby during that time. I didn't know it would be instantaneous. The baby has been moving a lot since I got home and sat on the couch. That is when my baby is most active - when I sit down and relax. I also bought some pulsatilla on Monday night and took some today. I did not take it correctly. So I'll try again tomorrow. I'm going back to the chiropractor for another adjustment and will take the pulsatilla then, the correct way.

My last day of work was Tuesday. I'm now officially on maternity leave as of yesterday at 36 weeks pregnant. I honestly thought I'd feel guiltier leaving. I think I left things in a good state and left good notes on all my outstanding projects. And while I know I'll hate missing out on what is going on, I really had the feeling of, "Get me the heck out of here." I'm just so tired all the time and walking can be such a challenge. I guess it doesn't help that I don't exactly love my job anyway. So if baby is born on time I'll probably be off for a total of approximately 20 weeks! I can't imagine how many changes will take place in 4.5 months time! The leave I'm on now is FMLA and that starts up to 4 weeks before due date. It ends when baby is born and my next disability starts that day. It will still be FMLA but I'll get paid 6 weeks from that date. I'm paid 100% right now and will be for 6 weeks after baby is born. Then after that I start NJFLA which is completely unpaid and I can take up to 12 weeks of that. I'm planning to only take about 10 weeks though. If my baby is born on time I'll be headed back on Leap Day. Well, that would be officially 16 weeks but I'm figuring for day care purposes it would make sense to go back on a Monday. I'm so lucky to get this time ahead but I really wish I could have more paid time after and I'd have worked closer to my due date. But really, I'm just very grateful for this time!

I went to Walmart yesterday and got almost all the supplies on my list the midwife provided. I needed a waterproof mattress cover and a small fish net and juice and sanitary pads, etc. I figured Walmart would be a good place to hit for all those different categories. Most of the things I couldn't find were things just too specialized for Walmart. I went to the health food store today and got the Arnica 200c and the red raspberry leaf tea I needed. I also got some grapefruit seed extract in liquid form. I'm taking that along with garlic, echinacea, Vitamin C and a few more supplements in preparation for my GBS test next Friday when the midwife comes to do her home visit. I guess these things will help me to be GBS- if I was at some point GBS+. They're all immune boosters I believe.

So here I am 27 days from my due date. It feels so surreal. When I look ahead to Thanksgiving, it's crazy to think I will be a mom then. That's 15 days past my due date and I'm pretty sure if I don't deliver by the day before Thanksgiving I'll be induced. I don't know the hows and wheres of that yet. I don't know if it would be a "natural" induction (i.e. castor oil) or if I'd have to check into a hospital or what.

Back to the birth class for a minute... There were two other couples in there. One is due with a boy on 10/19 and the other was due 10/25 but did not know the gender. My midwife has a FB page and she announces the births on there, just the gender and the weight on the date. She said happy birthday, baby boy on Monday and I was wondering if it was one of my "classmates." The one who I knew was having a boy was due sooner so she was my first guess but she and I are staying in touch and I actually heard from her later that day and she was still very much pregnant. Yesterday, I heard from the other father and here it was his girlfriend who had the baby. I felt so sad for them because they wound up doing a hospital transfer and a C-section but I'm glad everyone is doing well! So now that means 2/3 of our class is having a boy. Am I going to make it 100%? Or will we have the lone girl of the group? Ack, the suspense is killing me! I keep secretly hoping I need another ultrasound and that the tech will slip again. Or that I'll tell her we're being surprised but this time she'll refer to the baby as "it" or revert back and forth between "he" and "she" and then I'll know she really did slip last time. Oy, I need to get a life, huh?

Birth Class, Baby Shower, Blood Pressure, and Breech Babies!

The theme of this post is B words I guess!

We had our last birth class on the 24th. I cried through that one as well as the one before it. I'm so emotional! What got me this time was the teacher (another mom client of my midwife) told us that we should really plan to just stay in bed for seven days and not do much of anything. I don't know why but I just burst into tears. I had flashbacks of my surgery last year when I was home recovering and felt so helpless and lonely. I couldn't even pull my pants up! Now I know this time that the baby will be a big draw into getting people to come in and help. Who doesn't want to snuggle up with a new baby? But that day I couldn't see the reasoning in that and I just cried and cried. I was afraid of feeling abandoned again.

In happier news, I had the most lovely baby shower on Saturday, thrown by my family (mother, sisters, and sister-in-law). They did a great job with everything. We were blessed with such nice presents. Some of the big items were swing/cradle, bouncer seat, two high chairs (I took one back already and we got store credit at Target), a Pack 'n' Play, an extra car seat base. We got lots and lots of diapers, over 200 size 1s, and lots of blankets and clothes. I was surprised we got as many clothes as we did since we didn't find out and announce the gender. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

I had my 35-week appointment at the midwife today and my blood pressure was up even more. She did say it was fine though (I guess still acceptable). She asked how I'd been feeling and I told her pretty good although there was something uncomfortable feeling in my ribs. I first noticed it the night of my shower. So she asked where I was feeling kicks. I showed her and they can't all possibly be kicks, some must be punches and jabs, and then she listened for the heartbeat and felt around, and measured my uterus which measured 38 weeks (which is 3 weeks ahead and all along I've been measuring 1 week ahead) and she said she thought it was baby's head I was feeling in my ribs and that the baby was breech! She told me to go the chiropractor. I asked her if there was anything else I could try and she told me pulsatilla. I called my chiropractor on the way back to work and he said he did not know the Webster technique but he'd find me someone who did.