Childbirth Preparation Classes

So I was allowed to be added into a closed childbirth class.
My midwife, Betsy mentioned that Laurel Lee taught the prep class on Tuesday nights (perfect for me since I have Mon/Tues off regularly).
I called the Prenatal Education and was told that all of her classes were filled up until September (which does not do me any good, of course).
So, I called the Midwifery clinic to let them know that Laurel Lee's classes were filled - and Betsy asked Laurel if I could be added and Laurel said I could!
So, I have my four week, Tuesday night childbirth preparation classes that start this next Tuesday!!
So registering was kind of funny; I listed Chrissy, Jason, Andi, and Brent onto my birth partner / labor coach person line. Virginia, the woman who was registering me over the phone was like, "uhm....you're not going to bring ALL of them to each class, right?!" I thought it was hilarious!
And then after giggling a bit, I assured her that no, I would not bring all four of them - probably just one to each class.
Since everyone has different schedules (I do know that Brent works Tuesdays), I am thinking each one of them can attend one class with me.
I even emailed the instructor, Laurel Lee to ask if there was the one class out the series that she would recommend fathers attend which one would it be (since each instructor makes their own syllabus and what-not). I just hope if Brent wants, he can request that time off from work and it's not too late to ask.
I however was told by Virginia that the first class is more of a "hello and welcome, this is what we're going to cover" session so it probably won't be the one that Laurel would recommend Brent to go to....which is good, it might give him more time to request the optimal/recommended Tuesday evening off work.
Anyway, I am a bit excited and nervous. It's been a while since I have been in a class setting. I feel a bit goofy and worried that I will have no idea what's going on. I also worry a bit that I will be different than everyone else there too.
I know there are many different situations that people have; I guess I just don't want to be the most different, that's all. I'm sure it'll be fine.
When I talked to my friend, Sarah about this (who had her mom, Carole as her labor coach) she said that her class had a lot of different types of families so I hope the same for me in my class.
But I'm glad to say, I got registered for the childbirth preparation class in time
before my due date! And I got a 15% discount too being a Legacy Employee so it's not all bad. ;)

 

This is Zoba, Jason's dog. He has been missing since May 24th and I think this is a super cute picture of him so I thought I'd post it on here. He's a super cute and sweet boy. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with my pregnancy... I miss him.

polyurethane

Maybe this is my nesting of some odd sorts attempting to get my house in a little bit of better order - now I have to work on less clutter... You don't realize how much crap you accumulate until you have to pack it and move it out of each room!

I am staying at my friend Jason's house while the polyurethane is put down...
I have such great friends, I am truly amazed sometimes and wonder where the hell they came from...Steve has probably put in 60 hours of work in on my floors since arriving here on Friday.
The living room and back bedroom (which will be Andi's) have been completely sanded and have two coats of polyurethane down. We opted to not put the third coat down right now since Andi will arrive tomorrow (!) and it is advised to have as much as 24 hours before setting any heavy furniture down so we opted to just do the two for now and get a third coat down in the future. My bedroom and the hallway are the next on the list. I have to get the carpet, tacks and toe mold up before Steve comes back up here from Eugene -- I would also like to have painted the remaining living room wall and my bedroom too.

So, Andi and her mother are headed out here on their way from IL. They started their journey Sunday waking up at a lovely 5 am so should be here Tuesday late afternoon / early evening... Her bedroom will be finished so it will be less hassle for her when Steve comes to refinish my bedroom floor (which I would like to have done in the next few weeks).

The next thing is to see how the dogs get along: Andi has an 13 year old beagle mix named Ella who is getting slightly demented. But she sleeps about 20 hours a day now so I doubt there will be much conflict with Dinah (who seems to get along fairly well with others).

This is me and Jason a year or so ago. This was his first time rollerskating - it was Raphael's 7th birthday.

So....Jason's dog Zoba is missing; we had a bad thunderstorm a couple nights ago (which we never hardly ever have here) and he was leaving for work (he works the overnight shift) so Zoba must have slipped out when he was leaving for work right before the big thunderstorm - so when Jason got home in the morning, he couldn't find Zoba. That's one of the worrisome items in my head right now...
I sure hope we find that "little devil" as my mom funnily called him in her email to me when I told her about Zoba being out on the lam and me being worried about him. He is certainly a little devil boy but so sweet and I hope we recover him soon. I know Dinah misses him and always looks for him in familiar places and when Jason is around so it's weird for her. Which reminds me, Dinah turned four May 25th! She is just growing up! She has taken it ok to staying over at Jason's right now but never fails to look around for Zoba when we come in. It is so nice that we are welcomed at Jason's while my house is stinky with drying polyurethane. It is so cool to have such good friends. I am so thankful, really. It has helped me tremendously over the past months.

Pregnancy brings some odd hormones and moodiness- I'm not sure it all makes sense but most of the time I feel pretty stable ;)
This week my child is compared to an English hothouse cucumber (14 inches long and over a pound and two thirds!)
A lot of people are asking me when I plan to stop working and for right now, I plan to work up until at least August 31st (that's the end of my work week unless he decides to arrive before then). Either way, I think that this child will be born when he wants to be born. I think unless I feel totally crappy, it's a good idea to save up as much paid time off and make as much money as possible. It might also keep my mind off of not being in labor...(?!)
I would like to avoid being induced... if at all possible but....from what I hear, you just have to kind of go with it.

I want to thank everyone who has shared their birth, nursing, postpartum stories with me. I welcome the advice, comments, what worked and what didn't in all aspects of having children. I think I am still adjusting to the idea really. What I do realize is that I have have no idea of really how much my whole life is going to change. That much I do know.

the carpet expedition

Well, today went ok.
Considering it was 94 degrees or something.
Yup, it was warm.

Obviously the carpet ripping up party did not go as planned.
But never fear, it got started...
The back bedroom got finished which is going to be Andi Girl's bedroom who by the by commented, "Could you get the carpet ripped up before I move there, please?" when I told her of the endeavor...but...I hate to say it...
the floor which is beautiful - has some issues.

First off, the person who had the carpet installed
decided to paint the walls and trim before
and just didn't bother with putting any drop cloths down.
Ugh. So a foot around the perimeter has paint splashes...
Second issue: the wood has some gouges and pretty bad scrapes.

But the back bedroom's carpet is up and the tacks have been pulled.
Jason showed up and helped me get all the bedroom stuff down to the basement which was a task in itself.
Then the actual pulling up and rolling up of the carpet didn't seem too difficult (but you'd better ask Jason, I helped a very minimal amount).
Then Sarah, Raphael and the Diego dog showed up to help and diligently got up the staples. Sarah plans to use the carpet (it's probably the least nasty besides my bedroom) so she and Jason loaded it up in her minivan and away it went.

But I'm a bit bummed about the condition of the floor; I was hoping for better.
I mean I realize it could be worse too.
So, one out of three rooms is de-carpeted. At least the wood is pretty.
Even if it's a bit more messed up than I had wanted...

So, I'm hot and tired. And I didn't even do much really.
My feet are swollen like sausages today.
I keep trying to prop them up and drink lots of ice cold water...
Yeah, not helping that much; still only fitting into flip flops. ugh.
Oh, this week is the 25th week and he's about the size of a RUTABAGA and over a pound and a half!

some interesting facts....

When and where babies arrive

Super Tuesday: The most popular day for babies to make their entrance? It's still Tuesday, which boasted 13,169 births in 2005. That's 16.2 percent more babies than on the average day. Sunday was the slowest day, with 7,374 births. Scheduled labor induction and c-sections may be part of the reason babies were much less frequently born on the weekends, according to the CDC.

Some like it hot: More newborns arrive during the late summer and early fall months of July, August, and September than during any other time of the year. Paul Sutton, a demographer for the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, says it makes sense if you think about what happens nine months earlier in most of the country — the weather gets colder and people spend more time indoors with their sweeties. Also, some people plan their baby's birth to coincide with summer vacations, especially teachers and other people who get summers off. August had the most birthdays in 2005 at around 369,000, and February had the fewest at about 310,000.

Go west: In 2005, the states with the highest birth rates were mostly west of the Mississippi: Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Utah — with Georgia being the lone high-birth-rate state on the other side of the divide. Utah continues to beat every other state, with about 21 babies born per 1,000 people. Vermont has the lowest baby output, with just slightly more than ten babies born per 1,000 people.

All about moms

The waiting game: Over the last three decades, women have been waiting longer to become moms. In 1970, the average age for a first-time mother was about 21. In 2005, the average age of first-time moms was 25.2 years.

More mothering: Birth rates for women in their 20s, 30s, and early 40s are higher than ever and continue to grow. And the fertility rate (an estimate of the average number of births a group of women will have over their lifetimes) increased 2 percent in 2006, to 2,101 births per 1,000 women. In fact, 2006 is the first year since 1971 in which the U.S. fertility rate was above "replacement," the rate at which a generation can exactly replicate itself.

• Women ages 30 to 34: This group saw a 2 percent increase, to 97.7 births per 1,000 women in 2006, the highest rate since 1964. The total number of births, though, was about the same in 2006 as in 2005 (97.7 births per 1,000 women), as the population of women in this group fell about 2 percent.

No wedding necessary: Increases in births to unmarried parents continue to outpace the increases in total births, with the number of babies born to unmarried women (over 1.64 million) rising almost 8 percent in 2006. This total is 20 percent higher than in 2002, when the upswing began. Nearly half (45 percent) of the 6.4 million pregnancies in 2004 occurred among unmarried women. Pregnancy totals among unmarried women increased from over 2.7 million in 1990 to over 2.8 million in 2004, whereas pregnancy totals among married women declined from 4.1 million in 1990 to 3.5 million in 2004.

Seeking care: The number of women seeking prenatal care — which can help women have a healthier pregnancy and healthier babies — rose steadily from 11 percent in 1990 to around 84 percent in 2003, where it remains today.

Weighing in: In 2005, about one-third of pregnant women were outside the weight guidelines for healthy pregnancy, with 13 percent of moms gaining less than 16 pounds and 21 percent gaining more than 40 pounds.

Birth and delivery

Doctor, doctor: In 2005, the vast majority of moms in the United States gave birth in hospitals (99 percent) with the help of a physician (92 percent). Midwives attend about 8 percent of all births (most midwife-attended births are in hospitals), up from less than 1 percent in the mid-1970s. Of the 1 percent of births outside the hospital in 2005, 65 percent were in homes, and 27 percent were in birth centers, numbers that have remained largely the same since 1989.

C-sections soaring: The number of c-sections in 2006 rose to 31.1 percent of all birth s, a 3 percent rise from 2005 and another record high. The c-section rate has climbed 50 percent in the United States over the last decade.

Giving labor a push: The number of women whose labor is induced has more than doubled since 1990. In 2005, it rose 5 percent above the previous year, to about 22.3 percent of births. About 1 in 7 preterm and 1 in 4 term and higher deliveries were induced. Boy power: Boy babies outnumber girl babies, with about 1,049 males for every 1,000 females in 2005 — a ratio that's stayed about the same over the past 60 years.

Early birds: The number of babies born prematurely increased very slightly from 2005 to 2006 (to 12.8 percent from 12.7 percent). But since 1990, the preterm delivery rate has gone up 21 percent. Over half a million babies (1 in 8) are born prematurely in the United States each year.

Little lightweights: The average newborn weight in 2005 was 7 pounds, 5 ounces, almost exactly what it was in 2004. About 8 percent of babies born in 2006 were low birth weight (less than 2,500 grams, or 5 pounds, 8 ounces) — also basically unchanged from 2005. The low-birth-weight rate has risen 19 percent since 1990. Induced labors, cesarean deliveries, older maternal age, and fertility therapies are reasons cited for the earlier trend.

another wednesday night

So my midwifery appointment on Monday went well.
They're so laid back there; I like it.
I got to meet Betsy this time; all the midwives seem to each have
a different style or focus of what they talk to me about.
It's cool; I dig it.

The next appointment is June 9th - I get to do the glucose test - I chose lemon lime flavor - so I have to drink it before I get there so I can get my blood work done an hour after. Just checking for gestational diabetes.
But the third ultrasound appointment (and hopefully last one) is June 3rd.
Gotta check out that low lying placenta for the last time, I hope.

Still thinking of names...Sidney....Darby....Miles....Desmond...
All good names I think....Any other suggestions?! Let me know.
I am wanting to stay away from popular names but not super bizarre names either. Something unique but not totally weird...if that makes sense.

So this weekend is carpet ripping up and painting party....ugh.
Yeah uh some party. I of course have a stuffed up nose and head.
But no really it's the goal I have before the baby gets here
because I just don't want to feel like I put it off.
The carpet is disgusting and needs to be gone and I have the living room wall left to paint. And of course my bedroom - which I guess will be me and my son's bedroom (wow) very soon. I have still haven't picked a color...I was thinking a light blue-gray....
So my friend, Stevie D who I have known since I was 12

is coming up from Eugene this weekend to help me out with this huge project.
Poor guy; I have a Stevie D to do list hanging on the fridge. But he's handy like that and having friends like him (with some mad skills) and all that rocks!
I have "invited" people but we'll see what happens ;)
It's supposed to be 93 + degrees this Saturday (but dry, no rain!) so it should be a hot one.
But never fear, the weather should return to 60's cloudy overcast by Monday or so.
I do fear that I will end up caving into buying a window A/C for the bedroom this summer. Yup, I think I will have to splurge on that luxury item in the near future...but it's still up for debate...for another time and blog :)

So the biggest most exciting news is ANDI GIRL is on her way out here.
She will be here by the end of this month - yes all the way from IL to OR. Wow.
And yes, she IS sniffing her shirt. Ha!
I think the most touching thing that she said to me was, "When you told me you were pregnant, I couldn't see NOT being a part of your kid's life".
Of course she has to be witness to this funny adventure of mine; it will sure be an amusing journey, I'm sure.
Ok, it's time for this big mama to go to bed. Thanks for catching up with me.

ok, I lied....I can blog more often than I think I can.

So, I am tired this week.
He's moving more and maybe this makes me more tired.
Who knows?!

Anyway, the big things that are going on with me are getting organized....
Or attempting to get organized (I know it's difficult for me).
I have been looking into thank you cards, shower invitations and announcements.
It would be nice if they all sort of matched (I never thought of myself as a "matchy-matchy" type) but I do have a certain idea/style in mind - somewhat plain-ish on recycled thick paper, with same font or whatever. I don't know. I would like to add a picture to the announcements.
And realize that not everyone who gets an announcement will get a shower invitation...And yes, I am rolling my eyes here. There are some fancy stationary stores here and I think I need to just go and see what they offer and check out pricing. (I am considering paperzone and ecru)
With that said, please send me your mailing address so I don't have try to get it together later. I might just go crazy if I have to get it together after this child is actually born so the more I can get finished beforehand seems better. Oh, and if there are people you want me to send announcements to, please get me their correct spelling of their name(s) and addresses now instead of waiting until later, please!

I am currently reading "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach. We'll see about that but I'm gonna give it a try. I am also wanting to get the book, "My mother wears combat boots" by Jessica Mills - from the band Citizen Fish (Christyl sent me via email a cool Hip Mama article of China Marten interviewing Jessica http://www.hipmama.com/node/37394
(thank you Christyl!). This is a book review that you should check it out about her parenting book called, "My Mother Wears Combat Boots: A Parenting Guide For the Rest of Us".

Ok, I have been steadily eating a little all day but want to eat my smoked oysters on saltines so I think I need to go to the social services office - it's only a million miles away from the ED (emergency department) - you know, since I have to get down there for paperwork pick up and drop off and just to be polite about the smell. Although if you smelled the smells I smell at work sometimes....you'd just laugh at me trying to hide to eat my yummy smoked oysters but...

He's a mover and a shaker...

Today was a very active day - at least for the baby.
He decided to move around in somersaults for the majority
of the day which made me feel a bit odd.
Not completely nauseous but it was not altogether comfortable.

I did not get as much accomplished today as I wanted to - but did get Dinah and Zoba to the dog park, made dinner (oven roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots), did the dishes, a load of laundry and I also got a bath and a reading nap in (a New Yorker magazine article about whether or not families should be allowed to witness emergency room resuscitations or not - it was interesting).

So, I am still not fully convinced of the name Sidney.
Although it's one of the top names right now.

I did like the name Oliver. But my friend Christyl's son, Junah
has like FIVE kids' named Oliver in his preschool right now, which means I don't want to name my bean Oliver too.
Some other suggestions have been: Jasper. Miles. Tristan. Desmond.
I can't remember them all actually since someone will inevitability shoot it down.
Or I'll remember why I didn't like that name. Or someone will remind me why they don't like the name or why I shouldn't like that name.
I think the best method is to have a couple first names ready so when we see him for the first time....it will just make sense.
So of course, Sidney is in the top 3 -- and will stay there until he's born, I'm sure.

He's been moving around like crazy today - maybe he's doing a happy dance or something creative like that....
I got my babycenter.com weekly newsletter email thing - ha!
He's a mango this week!
I love how they use fruit and vegetables each week to help you understand how big your baby is...
I really get a kick out of it so you should check it out:
http://www.babycenter.com/slideshow-baby-size

So, I start my five day work week tomorrow so probably won't blog much more until next week or something... so thanks for reading and until then...

i am 23 weeks pregnant & starting a blog...

So it's been suggested by others for me to start a blog about the baby bean.
I guess it all started in early December without much input from my intellectual knowledge or rather my authorization or approval.

But I did find out soon enough and by the end of December, well the little bean had been firmly established and these 12 week ultrasounds pictures were taken on Feb. 19, 2008 - the day after my first midwifery appointment at Legacy Midwifery Clinic *you can check out the midwives profiles* (www.legacyhealth.org/body.cfm?id=1913) which was soon after my 34th (gasp!) birthday (which went by without a hitch and not much fanfare I must say).

Of course, I did have some deep Jack Handy thoughts about this whole experiment during this time. It also alarmed me to learn that if I would have turned 35 during this pregnancy, I would have been considered "advanced maternal age" ("AMA"). I looked surprised and the midwife (Beth) went on to just say that at 35 years old and beyond your eggs are just a bit "older", that's all. Hmmm. Not sure about all that but I guess medically it's supposed to make sense...but I made the cut off. I am trying to meet all of the midwives before I deliver so my appointments are made with whomever is available. So far I have met Beth and Kathy. I think my next appointment is with Terri (?)

So, my doula is Chrissy Curran. We met because right around the time that I had decided that the bean was coming whether or not I had completely agreed to him from the beginning and had been researching for some resources on assistance (i.e. midwives, clinics, etc...)
So, Chrissy had just posted an ad on Craiglist: http://portland.craigslist.org/asking if there were any women who needed a *free* doula because she needed five births for her doula certification.... It was truly a blessing of some sort, I suppose because what perfect timing.

I met with Chrissy after my first midwifery appointment. We seemed to click well and I thought she would be a great as well as affordable asset to this adventure I was on. I'm sure Chrissy will pop up more in this blog as time goes on...

So, more about the first trimester: I only had a little nausea (no vomiting at all) when I either ate too much or when I hadn't eaten in a while. So my body was telling me, "hey dummy, you ate too much and you're too full" or "hey, wait are you trying to starve me?!"
The most disturbing symptom the first three months of pregnancy was being tired. So very tired. I went from sleeping 6 hours a night to at least 9 hours a night and sometimes 10. I didn't even have time to think at all as my head hit the pillow because I was just turned off and waking up groggy after 9 or 10 hours. It was bizarre. But I suppose needed...

In March, I got a call from the RN at the clinic saying that my AFP (alpha feto protein) test came back elevated... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFP_screening#AFP_screening.
I of course had gotten the routine first trimester screening blood work which examines you for possible signs of down syndrome and all that chromosomal abnormality business. Anyway, if your AFP comes back lower than normal limits, it could possibly be an indication of down syndrome and elevated could be an indication of spina bifida... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spina_bifida.

So yeah it kinda freaked me out a bit. I went in for another ultrasound the very next day to get a full anatomy ultrasound where they check the neural tube, etc... and see if there is any indication or signs of the spine not fused or any open exposed spinal cord. Thankfully, there was no indication of any of these from the March 25th ultrasound which was great to see. No cleft palate or other skeletal abnormalities as well. The only thing that was seen that was of concern was my placenta was only about a centimeter (if that) from my cervix which isn't a great thing (they call it "low lying placenta"). So I got to have a wonderful vaginal ultrasound also. Now that was interesting and weird but I realize necessary to really check out where exactly my placenta was hanging out. The maternal fetal medicine doctor assured me that most low lying placentas do seem to float up and away from the cervix as your uterus expands. She described it like un-inflated balloon - put a dot on close to the stem opening of the deflated balloon - then blow it up...the dot magically appears to "move" away from the opening because the material has been stretched - being pulled or "moved" by inflation. That is what typically happens in 80-90% of all cases of low lying placentas. They of course have to re-check this in June (on the 3rd actually) to just make sure that this has happened. If it hasn't, then it could be sort of a problem ("placenta previa" is a condition where the placenta actually is covering the cervix making a bad situation if you start to go into labor and your cervix starts to dilate since you don't want the placenta to cover that needed opening....you get the gist, yeah?)

So here he is in the freaky 3D pictures....

Oh, yeah I also found out that he was a he. I had really thought he was a she (yeah, so much for maternal instinct!) So I was bit taken aback by this news. I had been picking out girls names (his name would have been Mazzie, I think). At least that was the top pick for me at the time of discovering that he wouldn't be a girl!

Don't think that he doesn't have the rest of his head or half of his body -- the 3D technology is just amazing but the program doesn't always complete what the ultrasound can't trace or read....so no worries; he's all intact and there.
One of the doctors I work with was joking around and was like, "Uh Mimi, I think there's something wrong with your baby, he has a hole in his head and only half a body...." (Thanks, Tim.)

So...anyway another symptom of strangeness is that I am actually perspiring under my arms now...it is the most peculiar feeling really! I find myself fascinated by the fact my shirt is slightly wet at times! And the only other weird and most disturbing symptom since being pregnant has been having syncope and/or syncopal symptoms (fainting).

So the first time I fainted - I mean from standing to just collapsing was at the end of February. I was at the dog park doing the usual dog park before work deal with Dinah....

And we were talking with Carole, our dog park neighbor (she lives on dog park- literally, her house sits next to the dog park) with her dog Bandit who now notifies Carole every time we're there. Bandit will start barking loudly like a seal constantly until she brings him out to hang out with us -- I am considered the "treat lady" and I mean, Bandit even recognizes my car, it's truly that bad.

So, Carole is discussing how she is starting to paint her ceiling and I start feeling really faraway almost in a movie surreal sense, I just couldn't really hear or politely follow Carole's fascinating ceiling painting story.... I just felt hot and sweaty and just plain weird. I saw spots and next thing I heard was Carole gasping in a distressed voice, "Oh my god, Mimi! Are you ok??!" I just felt myself hitting the ground (thankfully not on any not picked up dog poop) and hearing myself say, "I'm ok, it's ok, Carole, I'm alright!" I have never fainted before in my life so it was rather jolting to fall with all your weight like a damn tree to the ground. I was glad it was standing on grass, not concrete and that someone was there.

Anyway, I haven't actually fainted again but have felt the weird "I might faint any minute now" feelings a couple times. I of course call the midwives who the first time this happened made me get a bunch more blood work - it all came back fine: I'm not anemic, nor do I have orthostatic hypotension /hypertension or hypo/hyper glycemia issues. And it's not because I haven't eaten. I always eat something before the dog park. in fact, it seems like I am always eating on something... So, I have come to believe that it's the baby lying on my inferior vena cava and to the point of making me feel dizzy and lightheaded and fainting once. I know it's a weird Mimi diagnosis but that's all I can think of. So it looks like this kid already can push my buttons! ;)
Maybe he doesn't like the dog park adventures or feels like he needs some attention or the particular movement at the dog park (chucking the ball for Dinah) is annoying him or something. Or it could just all be my imagination and the syncopal symptoms are just a fluke. Because it does only happen when I'm at the dog park...

So yes, I'm happy to say I am over half way done because I have gotten huge. Or I feel huge.


Ok then, I'll add more to this blog later. My next midwifery appointment is May 12th. Thanks for hanging in there with me...