37 Weeks (& 3 days)
More Tales of the Midwife Experience!
Yesterday afternoon, Stacey, our primary midwife came for a home visit, a routine thing when planning on a homebirth.
Though I absolutely love going to the clinic because of its calming, un-clinic like atmosphere, (I'll take photos of the clinic for you next week) but the home visit was awesome because of how we felt we were in control of our own visit.
It's the difference between going to a party of which you are a guest, & hosting your own. When you host your own, you steer how the evening goes, you know what is on the agenda & there are almost no surprises, until that certain someone has a few too many champagnes - but really you were expecting that anyway.
It was also like having a friend over. Now most of my friends don't ask me to pee on a stick and then smear goo on my belly and poke at my gut, but that's just because most of my friends aren't that fun (just kidding of course, please never ask me to pee on a stick for your amusement)
But seriously now, we talked for a good hour about everything from how the pregnancy is going at this point, we discussed some of the aches & pains I'm experiencing, what to expect from early labour, and what will happen during delivery & immediate post partum. Of course, all these things I tend to discuss with friends all the time now too...but we also talked with Stacey about our beliefs, choices, thoughts & feelings on a variety of topics. Oh, & I made her laugh a lot too, which makes me feel great. :)
Aside from being a great experience all together, reality began to hit home when Stacey suggested I start here, now, today, with the "natural induction methods", though neither will actually BRING on labour, but we have been planning on using these things to help my body get ready for labour (some being: Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, Evening Primrose Oil)
Though I generally feel no different, minus a few aches & pains, this baby is coming & we'll be meeting this him/her before Easter! Savouring these 'last few weeks' of a wonderful pregnancy have flown by just too fast to savour!
As an update on Squeaker, though not a concern yet, apparently being a nice 'dainty' sized pregnant woman is not all its cracked up to be, (I am one of the smallest women in our pre-natal class, & I have the soonest due date!) Your fundal height should generally coincide with the number of weeks you are pregnant. I'm 37 weeks & measuring at 34, suggesting that Squeaker is a little squeaker. If he/she doesn't put on some poundage by my next appointment they'll be sending me for an ultrasound just to make sure all is well. I asked Stacey if this means I should chow down on mass quantities of bacon. She laughed. Her real guess is that everything is likely fine & that I'm measuring so small because, well, Squeaker's lil head is SOOOOO far down & back already and has been there for a while, (she even wrote on my chart "Baby engaged" Yikes!) but still, they'll take no chances.
Oh - as for those of you who care to know, we also got to borrow a birth pool! (yay!) Though we aren't intentionally planning on a water birth, we do like to have the option available to us, & at the very least it will be a welcomed comfort measure for labour!
More Tales of the Midwife Experience!
Yesterday afternoon, Stacey, our primary midwife came for a home visit, a routine thing when planning on a homebirth.
Though I absolutely love going to the clinic because of its calming, un-clinic like atmosphere, (I'll take photos of the clinic for you next week) but the home visit was awesome because of how we felt we were in control of our own visit.
It's the difference between going to a party of which you are a guest, & hosting your own. When you host your own, you steer how the evening goes, you know what is on the agenda & there are almost no surprises, until that certain someone has a few too many champagnes - but really you were expecting that anyway.
It was also like having a friend over. Now most of my friends don't ask me to pee on a stick and then smear goo on my belly and poke at my gut, but that's just because most of my friends aren't that fun (just kidding of course, please never ask me to pee on a stick for your amusement)
But seriously now, we talked for a good hour about everything from how the pregnancy is going at this point, we discussed some of the aches & pains I'm experiencing, what to expect from early labour, and what will happen during delivery & immediate post partum. Of course, all these things I tend to discuss with friends all the time now too...but we also talked with Stacey about our beliefs, choices, thoughts & feelings on a variety of topics. Oh, & I made her laugh a lot too, which makes me feel great. :)
Aside from being a great experience all together, reality began to hit home when Stacey suggested I start here, now, today, with the "natural induction methods", though neither will actually BRING on labour, but we have been planning on using these things to help my body get ready for labour (some being: Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, Evening Primrose Oil)
Though I generally feel no different, minus a few aches & pains, this baby is coming & we'll be meeting this him/her before Easter! Savouring these 'last few weeks' of a wonderful pregnancy have flown by just too fast to savour!
As an update on Squeaker, though not a concern yet, apparently being a nice 'dainty' sized pregnant woman is not all its cracked up to be, (I am one of the smallest women in our pre-natal class, & I have the soonest due date!) Your fundal height should generally coincide with the number of weeks you are pregnant. I'm 37 weeks & measuring at 34, suggesting that Squeaker is a little squeaker. If he/she doesn't put on some poundage by my next appointment they'll be sending me for an ultrasound just to make sure all is well. I asked Stacey if this means I should chow down on mass quantities of bacon. She laughed. Her real guess is that everything is likely fine & that I'm measuring so small because, well, Squeaker's lil head is SOOOOO far down & back already and has been there for a while, (she even wrote on my chart "Baby engaged" Yikes!) but still, they'll take no chances.
Oh - as for those of you who care to know, we also got to borrow a birth pool! (yay!) Though we aren't intentionally planning on a water birth, we do like to have the option available to us, & at the very least it will be a welcomed comfort measure for labour!
When I was labouring, a hot shower felt incredible and really helped with the pain. I'm sure the pool will also feel amazing. :)
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