26 Weeks

Wrapping up my 25th week, I'm beginning to feel heavily pregnant. The rate at which I get up from sitting is increasing and I have begun to enlist the help of my kids to do so. I'm feeling more tired and achy every day and my back (via diastasis recti), I'm sure, is the culprit. I got a massage for my birthday last week, thank you mom!, and that helped me feel better for a few days and I go see my new chiropractor on Friday- hopefully it will do wonders! Of course, by then, I will be so sore from sitting for almost 3 full days that it will probably be INCREDIBLE!

I'm going to be in training in the big city for 3 days (8 hours each day) for work. It's a training for trainers, so it will enable me to travel and train other peer counselors and others who may need/want this training. I'm not thrilled to be away from my family for so long, but I suppose it will be nice to have a change of pace for a little while.

My new term starts this week as well. The class that I'm taking is called Creating Wellness: Psychological and Spritual Aspects of Healing. Sounds fun. I'm very relieved to have a break from my classload for the rest of the year. I hope that I'm ready to get back to my full-time status once the new years starts and the new baby's a couple months old.

Oh yeah, this is a pregnancy update... This baby is doing very well, according to the ultrasound that I had on Wednesday. I went in to see if my placenta was clear of my incision site so that I can be cleared for out-of-hospital birth. I expected a simple and clear answer and shame on me for that. The tech was nice; was understanding of my rowdy kids in the room, was happy to explain his process and seemed very knowledgeable about his job.

He started when the baby was asleep, went right to the face and saw several little yawns. Adorable. Continued with his anatomy scan (I was sure to tell him NOT to let on about the sex) and the kids became increasingly obnoxious. I was pretty stressed out because I couldn't get them to settle down and was stuck on the table, unable to physically restrain them. It appears that the baby was getting stressed too because when he went back to the face, baby had the hand up on the head with the mouth open in an adorably stressed-looking gesture:

Poor baby.

He said that after the full anatomy scan, that the baby was measuring about 2 weeks ahead and was already 2 lbs 1 oz!  A baby at this age is usually only about a pound and a half. Everything looked perfect.

Then I asked him where my placenta was, attempting to explain the situation and he didn't get it. He told me it was anterior (on the front) and so I was clear to have a vaginal birth. This is great news but not what I was asking or concerned about. I asked him again if he could tell me if it was attached at the c-section incision site and he repeated what he had already said: anterior, not posterior, blah, blah, blah. He pissed me off after that because he decided it was necessary to explain the difference between anterior and posterior (I know this!). In the end, he finally said that he could not visualize my incision but that it seemed like my placenta was around there. UGH. After an anxious call to my midwife, she assured me that he was just the tech and that the report would be sent to and reviewed by a perinatologist who would forward the results to her. If I have to have a repeat ultrasound, I will. I just wish I knew whether to plan for another hospital birth or if I could mentally prepare for my desired birthing center/home birth.

My next appointment is August 11th, so I hope to learn more by then.

Here are the rest of the pics I got from the ultrasound. (I think it looks like Auron)

24 week update

We are viable!

I met with my midwife last week and everything went well. I gained 6 lbs since my last visit, bringing me up to 8 lbs total so far. We got to hear the baby on fetoscope and stethoscope with heartrate at about 140. I decided to opt out of a pap for this pregnancy because I had one last year and everything has been normal for the past few years, so I can afford to put it off until 3 years from now on. YAY! I scheduled my placental location ultrasound, which will be next Wednesday, July 21st and I won't have to drive to the big city for that, which is always nice. At that point, I will be able to plan on where to give birth. If it is close to or beneath my c-section incision, I will go in for another one at the end to check the location before I go into labor. As long as we're in the clear, I'll be able to deliver in the birth center or at home if I don't feel like driving an hour to the birth center. I have no clue how long this labor is going to be since my last was induced at 38 weeks because of Pre-eclampsia, so I'm going to have to just listen to my body.

Besides that, I talked to her about my increasingly horrible back pain, which is directly related to my diastasis recti. She checked its severity while I was there and it was 3+ fingers. That means that it is advanced, hard to repair, and causes some seriously painful/uncomfortable problems. She referred me to a chiropractor who is experienced in treating pregnant women and I was able to make an appointment for July 30! Unfortunately, I'll be going to the city at least twice that same week, so that is definitely going to be tiring but at least I'll get paid for those two days since it's a training.

At my next appointment, I will have my blood drawn for the glucose test but my midwife is really nice and isn't making me drink the flat orange soda; I just have to eat two hours before my appointment, a meal that includes complex carbs and protein. I have to limit any juice that I drink that morning to 4 ounces or less. If I do not pass that test, I will have to drink the orange for the follow-up 3-hour test. I've never failed the test so I'm not worried about it.

The baby is obviously getting much bigger; I can see and feel rolling and almost every movement. The night before last, Chloe had a middle-of-the-night-pillow-freak-out tantrum that woke up the baby and made him/her really upset. There was furious kicking and squirming and I swear, if I could see into my uterus, I would have seen my poor scared baby crying silently in there. ='( At least I know that hearing isn't going to be an issue!

That's the gist at this time. I'll probably wait to post again until after my ultrasound. Maybe I'll take a giant-belly picture for that one.

23 Weeks and VACA!

Alrighty, so I've been MIA because I went on an INCREDIBLE vacation in Los Angeles! We stayed with some great friends who took great care of us. We went to the Long Beach Aquarium, Venice Beach, Redondo Beach, took a quick tour of LA hotspots, and ate at some delicious restaurants- although I have to say that I had the best food at home where our hostess prepared authentic Japanese cuisine! I think shabu shabu was my favorite! Here are some pics from the trip:

Now onto the pregnancy update.

I am now 23 weeks and the baby's movements have gotten really strong and fun! I do not enjoy when s/he kicks my downstairs, but it's so fun when s/he squishes all to one side and my belly is lopsided. Everything is going well; my next midwife appointment is this week on my birthday and my mom is going with me. I am going to ask to schedule my anatomy scan so that, if my placenta is attached at my C-section incision site and I have to deliver in the hospital, I have time to mentally prepare for that. I'm praying that it is good and out of the way because I really want a better birth this time with few interventions.

I'll update again after that appointment.