39 weeks

I went to the maternity clinic today and everything is going fine. I am 3 centimeters dilated but haven't thinned out much. The nurse asked if I wanted my cervix stripped. Ummm, no..... I am not even at my due date and little girl's head is not even engaged. She is flipping from side to side. It looks like I will get my June baby. I was tempted to buy some blue and black cohosh at the store today but I have confidence in my body. I am ready to deliver and as soon as Elaina is ready we will get this show on the road. Until then she can keep on cooking....

38 weeks

I am still pregnant. I am about 38 and a half weeks along. As of last Thursday I was still just 2 and half centimeters dilated. I have been contracting randomly and had a lot of discomfort but I don't think I have dilated any more. I definitely have gained more weight. I am hoping some of that is going to Elaina but I feel it is all going to my bottom and thighs. I was guessing she would weigh 7 pounds 2 ounces. Now, I think she may be closer to 8 pounds. I have gained 26 pounds but it feels more like 40. after she is born I would love to loose 70 pounds. That sounds like a lot but hey, I'll be honest I weigh over 200 pounds right now. Going by my past deliveries I should loose at least 15 pounds with delivery and 10 pounds of fluid in the 2 weeks immediately post partum. That only makes one pound to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight. Then I will start to work all my extra weight. I am realistic. I give myself 6 months loos the weight and a year to get into good shape. I have always had a thought in the back of my mind that it wasn't worth it for me to get too gung ho in my weight loss routine because I knew I would want to be pregnant in a year or two. That really is a lame excuse I know. I am fairly sure we are done with adding children to our family the old fashioned way of birthing them. That and 40 being right around the corner I think I will try to get as healthy and as strong as I can. A friend from highschool has started walking at a local track in the morning twice a week. I may actually try and join her group. This week and next should help labor along and after birth it will help me stay active.  It all starts one day at a time.....

The next full moon

The next full moon is June 4th. I think that sounds just right for having a baby. I was thinking back to all of the dates of my other childrens' births. Danny was born 4 days after his due date. Lyn was born 9 days before her due date. Connor was born 3 days before his. Evan was 11 days after his. Eliot was 3 days before hers. Ben was 5 days before his date. I excluded Annika's birth because she was born so early at 28 weeks by c-section. I took the averages of all of their births and came up with the fact that my average for delivery is 1 day early.... That is about right give or take a day for the full moon. I have a feeling she will be here on June 1st though. If I break it down by girls though they tend to be earlier than the boys by average. No way to predict though when she will be here. My body is prepping just like it did with Ben. I am contracting throughout the day. Nothing is regular but I am sure it is helping to thin my cervix bit by bit and to help little girl move into position. I anticipate a fairly short labor. I will guess around 5 hours unless she ends up in a funky position. I don't think she will be very big. I am guessing she may weigh around 7 pounds 2 ounces. Watch her come out weighing 9 pounds!!! This will probably be my last pregnancy and I am a bit sad for it to come to an end. I do feel more tired and am very uncomfortable for various reasons and am not sleeping well. Usually by now I am so ready to deliver that I get impatient. The end of this pregnancy has been a little harder than usual. I chalk it up to being 37 years old and weighing a good bit more than I really need to. Even with that I will be sad to never be pregnant again.  

Baby is doing fine

Baby girl is doing fine. I went to the maternity clinic today to see the CNP.  My weight is doing what it should be doing. I have officially gained 15 pounds. I have finally started to gain weight at a "normal" rate. This is the first pregnancy that I have gained so little. Even with Annika being born at 28 weeks I had gained 25 pounds. Of course I started out with extra fluff this go around. I know from a fetal developmental and nutritional viewpoint that shouldn't matter. I still need to eat right and gain what I need to gain for the health of the baby. I am measuring a little small according to the nurse today. I am OK with that. Eliot was only 7 pounds at birth and I feel that this little girl will be about the same size. 7 pounds full term is smaller than my average of 8 pounds but I am OK with that. She still has some growing to do. I was told I was measuring small with Evan too and he was my largest baby at 8 pounds 3 and a half ounces. I am not happy with my prenatal care at all. My insurance has limitations and I have no choice. I did get a chance to ask about some of the hospital's policies. My prenatal care providers won't be there at the birth so there is no continuum of care. I am worried that any information I have provided and my needs won't be known at the time of birth. The hospital does accept a written birth plan. I just don't know if they will actually read it. I want minimal interventions for me and the baby. I want to leave the hospital as soon as possible. Hopefully I can leave within 24 hours. I have tried really hard to stop thinking about this birth and having too high of expectations. I wish CPMs were legal here so I could have a home birth safely. This is probably my last birth and the midwife bill is still alive. If and when it passes into law and legalizes midwives in Alabama I may be ready to be a grandmother!

Birth ideals

I have had an easy pregnancy so far except for some migraine trauma early on. But I just cannot get away from some anxiety over this baby's birth. I think I just have too many expectations. I want a natural birth but I am afraid of pushing. I want a home birth but I am afraid a little of postpartum pain without pain medication. I get really strong after pains when nursing. I don't want a lot of interventions for the baby and am afraid the medical personnel will give me a lot of heat for declining some procedures. I wish I could just turn off my brain for a while and not think about things. I am proud of myself that I have educated myself about pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care but knowledge can be a burden sometimes. I am afraid my labor will be really fast  and since it is probably my last labor I will feel cheated of the experience. I know some women really hope for fast easy labors. I am OK with an easy birth I just don't want it to be so fast that it gets away from me.....

34 weeks (give or take...)

Labor and Delivery Candles

I am trying something new. I took two simple white candles and etched two designs into them. One is a spiral and the other is a simple mother figure. I then took some beet root powder and mixed it with safflower oil. I rubbed the mixture into the designs and wiped the excess off. These candles burn for 5 and a half hours each. I added them to a Blessingway kit for a friend. No one needs to watch the clock when they are in labor but these may offer some comfort as they burn. I'll be adding them to my Etsy store soon. Tell me what you think?

Postpartum Nightmares

I saw a show today on Discover Health Channel. It was called Postpartum Nightmares. It greatly disturbed me on several different levels. It showed several mom's stories and their struggles with postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. What bothered me so much was that it was obvious that a lot of the anxiety that led to their depression could have been avoided if they had better birth experiences without interventions, breastfed their babies successfully, and slept with their children. The show actually brought me to tears. Never once when the moms were trying to decrease their PPD were they encouraged by family, friends, or professionals to seek breastfeeding support or to put their babies in bed with them. So much of their anxiety was caused by having children that would not sleep in cribs in other rooms. The mom's actually took medication to make them stop checking on their babies at night. (They kept checking on them to make sure they were breathing.) With all of my 7 kids I was a bit obsessed with that too but all I had to do was listen for my babies's breath as they slept next to me. The whole show made me feel so sorry for those moms and babies. I have had PPD myself and I have even sought help with anti-depressants. I understand the feeling of desperation. I just can't understand not tucking my baby in next to me at night for my own peace of mind. This show was well made but the content was disturbing.

39 weeks

We are in the home stretch. I am walking around at 3 centimeters dilated. Everything is still going OK. My doctor has given me the option to try some natural ways to see if "Ben" is ready to be born. We are scheduled to go to the hospital on Monday to see how far I have dilated by then. She has given me the option to walk away and go home as long as my water hasn't broken during any of the interventions. We'll see how it goes. I am thinking this little boy may be my biggest one yet. I am guessing at least 8 lbs 8 oz. But I won't be surprised if he is over 9 lbs. But I will be happy no matter what he weighs. So far I have gained about 40 pounds myself. That isn't my record but it is close. This pregnancy has been a little different here at the end than my other ones. I have felt like I have been in early labor for weeks now. Maybe that is a good sign that everything will go smoothly and quickly. I'll keep everyone updated!!

29 Weeks

Yesterday I made it to 29 weeks. This milestone has a lot more meaning during my pregnancies ever since Annika, my fourth child, was born at 28 weeks. It's all down hill now. Lyn asked me today riding in the car if any kids in our family were exactly on their due dates. I told her that it is very rare for any child to be born exactly on their due date naturally. Well, here is the run down. Danny was born 4 days after his due date. Lyn was born 9 days before her due date. Connor was born 3 days before his due date. Annika was born 12 weeks before her due date. Evan was born 11 days after his due date. And Eliot was born 4 days before her due date. Hopefully this little boy will stay put till around his due date. Share your delivery vs. due date times with me!!