Only 25 weeks left to go (roughly)! Today I had an appointment with my midwife and everything went great. The baby had a strong heartbeat and I'm measuring right where I should be for 15 weeks. She showed me how to feel my uterus poking out...I guess until now I couldn't really feel it but it's definitely almost up to my belly button! I'm still feeling great about my choice in midwife. She delivered two babies yesterday/last night and hadn't gotten any sleep in over 30 hours, but still kept her appointment with me. She's super sweet and is great at explaining everything. I feel like since it's my body, I have a right to know what tests I'm having and why, and what the results mean, and Wendy (midwife) really gets that and respects that.
I want to remember everything along the way during this pregnancy, so excuse all the little details and probably too-personal information. I'm still fitting into my regular clothes just fine. At the end of the day, if I wear some of my tighter jeans, they are a little uncomfortable around the waist. Luckily, most of my jeans are low-rider style so they sit low enough that they're still comfortable. My stomach muscles are sore every day, so my belly is definitely stretching, even if I can barely tell yet. I have been so lucky to not have any heartburn, so far. I'm still really tired and don't feel well some days. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that most days I'm too busy to wake up and eat a good breakfast. That makes me feel awful for the rest of the day. I've still only lost weight, no pounds gained yet. My midwife didn't seem concerned though. As long as the baby is growing and healthy, I don't really care how little weight I gain. I'm sure it's going to be coming soon, though. I for sure need to cut back on the junk that I eat. I've never eaten this badly before, and I keep thinking, "ok, next week I'm going to go to the store and get healthy food and stop eating Taco Bell in bed every night!" But, so far, that has not happened. I'm just so busy all the time that I hardly have any time to eat, let alone cook and prepare healthy meals. I'm lucky if I can scarf down a granola bar during my break in between classes.
I can't wait to feel the baby kick. I hope it will be soon, because I'd like to know that the little guy or girl is doing ok in there! Speaking of guy or girl, not too much longer until we find out! I am dying to know. I've started looking at baby items online, and kind of starting a registry because I am just so dang excited. It will be even more fun once we know the gender! Jon's going to have to take away my wallet so that I don't go crazy with buying all kinds of baby clothes. My midwife told me today that Baker College has a sonography program and that you can go get an ultrasound for free, since they need patients to practice on. I'm going to call and see if I can get an appointment in the next few weeks so that maybe we can learn the gender before 20 weeks. My mom wants us to wait until Christmas to tell them the gender (by giving them a wrapped boy/girl outfit, depending on the gender), which is a really cute idea, but I don't want to keep it a secret that long! I want to tell people and celebrate as soon as we know. Sorry mom!
In other news, we are moving in with my parents. I'm so excited! It will be so fun, especially around the holidays. Their house is so cozy and filled with love. We don't like the house we are renting, so instead of staying and wasting so much money every month, we are going to live at my parents house and save up money and get out of debt as much as possible before the baby comes. I am praying like crazy that we can find a cheaper little house to rent by the time the baby is here, because an apartment would be kind of an awkward place to deliver a baby...the neighbors would probably be a little freaked out by a woman screaming in pain all night long! We will see what happens. But in the meantime, we are so blessed to have a place to live and we are so thankful to my amazingly generous parents. We had to get rid of our dog Willy, and Jon was really sad about that. Well, so was Maci. And we are going to have to find a foster home for our cat Tucker ASAP because my mom is allergic to cats. We plan on getting him back once we move out though...he's an awesome cat and we love him! Lucky little Maci girl gets to live with us. Thank goodness, because she is my baby and I don't think I could be away from her that long. That, and she has a very, very short list of people she's comfortable with, so sending her to live with someone else would be really hard for her, if possible at all. I know she's just a dog, but she really is my baby. After we lost the first baby, I got Maci and having her to take care of and love has really helped me to heal :)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
13 Weeks!
Woah, I'm 13 weeks today. This is kind of flying by. Only 27-ish more weeks to go!
I've been feeling pretty well these last few weeks. Sometimes I still feel sick and can't eat much, but rarely. I'm still tired a lot and have slept like 11 hours the last 3 nights, but I think that's because I've had clinicals this week and am working 10 hour days. I feel like I'm in the in-between stage. When I had morning sickness, that was my way of knowing that baby was ok and still growing and everything. And once I'm able to start feeling the baby kick, I'll know he/she is doing ok also! Right now, I'm not having many symptoms and I can't feel the baby kick yet, so it's sometimes a little hard not to worry or wonder if everything's alright. My stomach isn't growing as far as I can tell. All my clothes still fit better than before I was pregnant and I'm still down about 6 pounds from when I found out I was pregnant. That's fine with me though, cause soon enough, I know I will feel like a whale. I was supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday, which would have been so cool because we could see how much the baby has developed and grown in the last 3 weeks. However, I told my job I could only work 30 hours a week because school and 40 hours of work per week was killing me. So I lost my insurance...I should have waited until after my ultrasound. Oh well. The ultrasound/appointment was to check for Down's Syndrome and other abnormalities. Finding out our baby has Down's wouldn't change anything, so it doesn't matter to me whether I have the testing for it or not. My doctor never gave me the option whether or not to have the tests. He actually didn't even tell me what my ultrasound/appointment was for. That bothers me a lot, because I feel like it is my health and my baby, and the doctor should at least tell me why I'm having the tests I'm having and that they're OPTIONAL. Needless to say, I'm not going to continue to go to that practice anymore. Which leads me to my next news...
I found a midwife that I absolutely love! I met with her last week, and the appointment was the complete opposite of anything I've experienced at my doctor's office. The midwife's name is Wendy, and she spent over an hour with me, getting to know me and answering my questions. She let me listen to the baby's heartbeat, and spent a lot of time explaining to me what each sound was, which was really nice. She was very clear that she isn't going to push any testing on me or anything. She told me what testing she thinks is important, and WHY it's important, and told me that it's up to me whether or not I do it. She helpfully offered her opinions without making me feel like I was under any pressure to have anything done. She made me feel very at ease with having a home birth, and was even familiar with my fainting condition, which was my biggest concern. She seems to have a true passion for helping women during this amazing time in their lives. After one meeting, I feel a hundred times more comfortable with her delivering my baby than I did with my doctor. Of course, I know that there are great doctors out there and that my experience is just an unfortunate one that I should not base my opinion of ALL doctors on. But I definitely feel that a midwife and a home birth is best for me and the baby, and it's a very personal decision that I wanted to feel 100% ok with. I've been reading lots of stories online about home births, and honestly, I have not read a single one where the woman has said "it was horrible, I hated it, and I never want to do it again." Every story I've read has been honest about how hard and painful it is, but every story ends with the woman saying that it's the best thing she's ever done and she would do it again. Every experience sounds like a good one in the end.
I've had a lot of people tell me things like "be prepared to go to the hospital," and "what if something goes wrong and you don't get to the hospital in time?" I think a lot of people close to me think I'm crazy and that having a home birth is dangerous and irresponsible. I definitely want to do it, but I also understand that if something does go wrong, and I have to go to the hospital, it's ok. Things don't always go as planned, and the ultimate goal is to have a healthy baby in the safest way possible. I live about 5 minutes from the nearest hospital, and the point of having a midwife there is because she's trained to deal with any problems that may arise. She said she's had one emergency transport to a hospital in her whole career. I think we're trained to think that pregnancy is a medical problem that must end with medical intervention (i.e. - going to the hospital for pain medications, induction, c-section, etc). It's not! It's a natural thing that our bodies were made for. Obviously there are cases where medication, inductions, and c-sections are absolutely necessary for the health of the baby.
I've been feeling pretty well these last few weeks. Sometimes I still feel sick and can't eat much, but rarely. I'm still tired a lot and have slept like 11 hours the last 3 nights, but I think that's because I've had clinicals this week and am working 10 hour days. I feel like I'm in the in-between stage. When I had morning sickness, that was my way of knowing that baby was ok and still growing and everything. And once I'm able to start feeling the baby kick, I'll know he/she is doing ok also! Right now, I'm not having many symptoms and I can't feel the baby kick yet, so it's sometimes a little hard not to worry or wonder if everything's alright. My stomach isn't growing as far as I can tell. All my clothes still fit better than before I was pregnant and I'm still down about 6 pounds from when I found out I was pregnant. That's fine with me though, cause soon enough, I know I will feel like a whale. I was supposed to have an ultrasound yesterday, which would have been so cool because we could see how much the baby has developed and grown in the last 3 weeks. However, I told my job I could only work 30 hours a week because school and 40 hours of work per week was killing me. So I lost my insurance...I should have waited until after my ultrasound. Oh well. The ultrasound/appointment was to check for Down's Syndrome and other abnormalities. Finding out our baby has Down's wouldn't change anything, so it doesn't matter to me whether I have the testing for it or not. My doctor never gave me the option whether or not to have the tests. He actually didn't even tell me what my ultrasound/appointment was for. That bothers me a lot, because I feel like it is my health and my baby, and the doctor should at least tell me why I'm having the tests I'm having and that they're OPTIONAL. Needless to say, I'm not going to continue to go to that practice anymore. Which leads me to my next news...
I found a midwife that I absolutely love! I met with her last week, and the appointment was the complete opposite of anything I've experienced at my doctor's office. The midwife's name is Wendy, and she spent over an hour with me, getting to know me and answering my questions. She let me listen to the baby's heartbeat, and spent a lot of time explaining to me what each sound was, which was really nice. She was very clear that she isn't going to push any testing on me or anything. She told me what testing she thinks is important, and WHY it's important, and told me that it's up to me whether or not I do it. She helpfully offered her opinions without making me feel like I was under any pressure to have anything done. She made me feel very at ease with having a home birth, and was even familiar with my fainting condition, which was my biggest concern. She seems to have a true passion for helping women during this amazing time in their lives. After one meeting, I feel a hundred times more comfortable with her delivering my baby than I did with my doctor. Of course, I know that there are great doctors out there and that my experience is just an unfortunate one that I should not base my opinion of ALL doctors on. But I definitely feel that a midwife and a home birth is best for me and the baby, and it's a very personal decision that I wanted to feel 100% ok with. I've been reading lots of stories online about home births, and honestly, I have not read a single one where the woman has said "it was horrible, I hated it, and I never want to do it again." Every story I've read has been honest about how hard and painful it is, but every story ends with the woman saying that it's the best thing she's ever done and she would do it again. Every experience sounds like a good one in the end.
I've had a lot of people tell me things like "be prepared to go to the hospital," and "what if something goes wrong and you don't get to the hospital in time?" I think a lot of people close to me think I'm crazy and that having a home birth is dangerous and irresponsible. I definitely want to do it, but I also understand that if something does go wrong, and I have to go to the hospital, it's ok. Things don't always go as planned, and the ultimate goal is to have a healthy baby in the safest way possible. I live about 5 minutes from the nearest hospital, and the point of having a midwife there is because she's trained to deal with any problems that may arise. She said she's had one emergency transport to a hospital in her whole career. I think we're trained to think that pregnancy is a medical problem that must end with medical intervention (i.e. - going to the hospital for pain medications, induction, c-section, etc). It's not! It's a natural thing that our bodies were made for. Obviously there are cases where medication, inductions, and c-sections are absolutely necessary for the health of the baby.
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