"Full-Term" 37 Week Update

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, her lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Last week's little "false alarm" was a good motivator to get things more prepared, but it also sped up the anticipation! However, after our birth workshop over the weekend, I feel a little less hurried for her to come, knowing that she'll get here when she's ready and ultimately my body needs the time to prepare. I haven't had any good contraction episodes since last week which is okay with me. I'd rather know it's the "real deal"  than always guessing. I was introduced to Red Raspberry Leaf Tea last week and have been pretty surprised at the results. It may just be a placebo affect, but it's a medicinal tea used for pretty much anything related to the female reproductive system and used regularly in pregnancy. I've only read amazing things about it and how it aids in labor so it's a new staple to my diet!  I'm not much of a tea drinker but it if means a smoother, more manageable labor then I'll buy it in bulk! :)

False Start. First Down.

Just 'cuz I love to write and what great storytelling material I have! Most people won't care about these kinds of stories, but I know I'll want them later on!

I'm no stranger to braxton hicks contractions. They're the "warm up" contractions that supposedly don't mean anything and we're told to ignore them. So I do. I typically have them for the last 2 months of my pregnancies, so by now I'm REALLY good at ignoring them! But last night Katelynn had a bad dream or something and started crying. I jumped out of bed and went to check on her and she was still asleep, but crying. As I stood by her bed my tummy got really tight and Ashley got active. I didn't think much of it since that tends to happen when I stand up regardless! So I went back to bed.

Within a few minutes my tummy does the same thing, but I'm lying down. Hmmm. It goes away and I think "okay, just go to sleep." It happens again. And again. And again. They say to change positions to see if you can get your belly to react differently. If they're "real" contractions, they'll keep going, if they're just warm-ups, they'll usually subside. Part of me just wanted to hang out in that position for a while, telling myself, "okay, if the next one is a "good one" I'll turn over" or after a strong one, "if they stay that strong I'll go take a shower and see if that helps". I finally turn over, drink some water (another thing that helps) and they space out, but are still there. I get really excited but also remember that we REALLY want to take our birth class this weekend, go on our "last holiday date" with our friends on Friday night, etc, etc. Half of me starts going through the list of when do I wake up Kevin, who do we call to come take care of Katelynn, when do we call the doula, how long do we hang out here? Apparently my mom had really fast labors (early in fact!) and after Monday's appointment, Ashley's not "hiding" up there, she's low and ready to go! So with a drive to Seattle ahead of us we're having to weigh our timing a little more than normal. :)

I begin thinking of what we'd need to get ready if this really was "it". That's when I realized the video camera battery died last night while we were skyping with Katie and I forgot to charge it! The same thing happened when Kristen was born. I think we got maybe 2-5 minutes of anything and it died. And I also realized the memory cards in both cameras hadn't been emptied and I didn't have a new tape for the video camera...and the list started forming! So I waited out one or two more contractions and got up and saw the clock, it had been at least an hour and a half of pretty consistent contractions - woo-hoo! I realized I was hungry too, so I made some PB toast, got some water, found all the cameras and batteries, and of course got on the computer!

After about an hour of being up and around I noticed the little bit I was feeling wasn't as regular as before and I really should get some sleep if we're anywhere near being close to having a baby!!  Thankfully I was able to get back to bed comfortably and get to sleep. The contractions didn't come back and I got some sleep.

So today, Katelynn and I are laying low and daddy's on-call :). We've been going non-stop all week (including last weekend!) and we both need a break. She's got a cold/cough and I'm getting a sore throat. Not to mention I have a bag to get packed!!!  I actually had a dream that we forgot to take clothes for Ashley to the hospital and we had to borrow some doll clothes from a nearby church nursery....ha ha!!

So all morning I've been hearing the booming voice of the Super Bowl referee clicking on his microphone and doing his hand gestures to indicate a "false start" as the crowd goes wild - some with agreement and relief, thankful for one more down to "make some progress", and others with not so thrilled reactions. :)  Since I don't have control over what happens - only how I respond to it, I'll take the first down!

Week 36 - Welcome to Month #9!!!

Well, we've made it to 9 months. I remember with my 1st pregnancy I was a little bugged when I found out that pregnancy is really counted as 40 weeks which can be loosely translated to10 months, NOT 9 months. I've since gotten over that since my babies don't know any different, they'll just come when they're ready! And as of my appointment yesterday the midwife did say all my "signs" are looking good and progressing quite nicely, so we may not have to wait until May 18th to meet Miss Ashely Megan!

Here's the baby update I got for this week:

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest manipulating her from the outside of your belly.

Thankfully Ashley is head-down and very low, which is a really good thing! Although it makes my daily life a little difficult at the moment, I'd MUCH rather have her low now than have to convince her to "drop" while in labor! We attended a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) class with our doula today up in Seattle where we're planning on delivering and that went really well. We were able to take another look around the birthing unit and our doula got more familiar with the location herself. The anticipation is building everyday!!

Although it would be fun to have Ashley join us any day, our birthing class is this weekend and Kevin and I REALLY want to be able to take the class before she comes. It's not your typical birth prep class, it's more of a mini-marriage retreat with the baby being the focus. We took the same class before Kristen and were amazed at what we took away from it. I was able to process a bunch of "stuff" from Katelynn's birth experience and go into Kristen's with a whole new perspective on what WE, as a team, were doing and what we were capable of. I also gained a new understanding and appreciation for what God has made my body to do and felt truly empowered to take on birth for all it could be, something I didn't do with Katelynn. We left that class almost 2 years ago feeling we could take on the world! Little did we know we'd be asked to go through what we did, but we both agree that we were able to get through many parts of that experience because of what we learned and practiced in Patti's Class. So when it came around to "Round 3" there was no doubt that we'd be taking the class again.

So until my week 37 update....stay tuned!! :)

The right tools make all the difference!

When all else fails, get power tools!
After hitting his knee with his mallet at full-strength (you can still see the spike stuck in the ground from when it happened!) it was time to go get a jack-hammer!








He was done clearing the 7 remaining holes in less time than it took to go get & return the tool! A dollar-a-minute made it worth it's weight in gold!!


Here's a look at the holes all done. We put flower pots in them to hopefully prevent anyone (human or pet) from falling in! It's coming together!!!

Katelynn's new-found skill

Here's Katelynn's new found skill she perfected this last weekend. Yesterday she was on the swing after school for over an hour straight - with the exception of about 30 seconds when she got down to look at an ant and then went back to swinging!!

Thirty-Five

Thirty-five weeks of pregnancy completed.
Thirty-five days until the due date.
Thirty-five days of anticipation.
Thirty-five sleepless nights.
Thirty-five things (and counting) on the to-do list (most of which I physically cannot do myself)
Thirty-five years it seems until she's here.
Thirty-five times an hour I'm reminded to have patience.
Thirty-five.

The patio cover has begun!!!

The patio cover has begun!!!

Weeks 34 & 35 - that's right folks only 5 or less weeks left!!!

I wasn't able to get last week's baby update posted so while I've got some time, I'm gonna post 2 weeks worth with my usual commentary at the bottom.

Week 34:
Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Week 35:
Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that she's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, she isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

It doesn't seem like it can really be only 5 weeks away, but it is! (OR LESS!!) I realized this last week that my body won't be getting ready in 5 weeks, it's getting ready now!!  Which explains the trouble walking, breathing, sleeping, you know, normal life!
I'm finally to where I feel I'm one of those pregnant ladies you see at the store and say under your breath to the person beside you "oh my she's pregnant!" I feel like Ashley could be here any day, but you wouldn't know that by the state of my house or any other normal baby preparations! It still feels like a long way off I guess. And I know from experience, she'll come when she's ready, not when the laundry's done or her bed is ready, or whatever is on my to-do list! Hopefully our "to-go bags" will be ready before she is! :)

I forgot to add that Ashely's baby hiccups are officially full-swing! They started really lightly a few weeks ago, maybe a few times a week. Now she's got them at least twice a day and they're fairly decent ones too lasting fairly long. Katelynn was a major hiccuper, so it's fun to get to "that stage" with Ashely. They were strong enough a few weeks ago that Katelynn got to feel them and that got her really excited! She usually doesn't keep her had on my belly long enough to really feel anything. She felt those!! And of course tells everyone about them! :)

Doctor stated, Mother Approved! (at least by this mom!)

I recently read something that I feel is important for anyone who will be experiencing a birth at any point in their lives – in any way. Whether as a participant, an observer, a family member or friend, or in any other capacity, this is for you!


Having gone through two VERY different birth experiences already (and having heard and read countless of others’ birth stories), I feel I can look back with pretty clear hindsight and see the truth and validity in the following statements by Dr. Buckley. She does mention the intervention of obstetricians, which for those who know our story know if it hadn’t been for medical intervention, we probably wouldn’t have had ANY time with Kristen while she was still alive. I know many babies that are here today only because there was medical help available. I am all for medical intervention when it’s needed. However I feel it's offered or imposed far more than it should be….I once heard a saying about birth: a midwife sees birth as a miracle and will only intervene when necessary. An OB sees birth as a miracle if she/he didn’t have to intervene. There is a time and a place for medical intervention when birth is concerned, but our culture has turned child birth, a 100% natural event, into a “medical procedure” robbing from it many of the hidden gifts I think God intended in the natural process.

Quite often anything that strays from our “cultural norm” is looked on as an extreme point of view or a radical slant to “normal” because it questions something we thought we understood, or it encourages us to possibly re-think our opinions and/or our perspectives (heaven forbid we could grow from such actions!). I don’t think I’d consider myself a radical by any stretch of the imagination (unless it involves couponing! ha ha!) so I hope that this would be read as if I was sharing it, not Dr. Buckley. This isn’t some “way out there point of view”, it’s about an event in which God has allowed us humans to participate in a miracle and sadly our culture has robbed it of so much. I hope you will view birth differently after reading this and ultimately understand that it all comes down to the birthing mother’s concept and definition of “safety and privacy”, not yours. (unless you’re the one giving birth, that is!)

When I had first mentioned to our family and friends just the mere thought of doing a home birth this time around we got some pretty interesting responses. I knew most people would find lots of reasons to be hesitant, which is fine…if the decision was theirs to make. But I personally had more reasons to be reassured it was a good option than I had hesitations. I had a lot of chances to try to explain myself and why I was even considering it. Although I quickly realized my reasons meant nothing if the people I was explaining it to didn’t understand the concept(s) described below. However, through the process of trying to explain something I quickly learned would probably never be truly understood, I forged my own concepts and definitions of “safety and privacy” as is mentioned below. And it was with that new definition I found that I could in fact create my ideal birthing environment in a medical setting versus at home. I just had to find the right medical setting, which we feel we have. (Not to mention in our particular situation it’s WAY cheaper this way!!) For many women after a c-section birth the only place they feel safe is a hospital, many of them opting for a repeat c-section. But that isn't the case for all of us. And I would hope that both decisions would be respected as what is best for THAT birthing mom and HER needs.I just wish more moms were better educated about their options so they could indeed decide for themselves versus being told what they should do. But I digress..


I know that this will probably go in one eye and out the other for a lot of people, but I feel compelled to share. So here goes:

Sarah J. Buckley, MD wrote a book called Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering. This is just an excerpt from that which I borrowed from a blog by Patti Ramos, birth educator extraordinaire (in my humble opinion!) and birth doula. 

"Undisturbed Birth is exceedingly rare in our culture, which reflects our ignorance of its importance. Two factors that disturb birth in all mammals are firstly being in an unfamiliar place and secondly the presence of an observer. Feelings of safety and privacy thus seem to be fundamental. ...Yet the entire system of Western obstetrics is devoted to observing pregnant and birthing women (tara’s note: observing them in unfamiliar settings, mind you!), by both people and machines, and when birth isn’t going smoothly, obstetricians respond with yet more intense observation. It is indeed amazing that any woman can give birth under such conditions. Some writers have observed that, for a laboring woman, having a baby has a lot of parallels with making a baby: the same hormones, the same parts of the body, the same sounds, and the same needs for feelings of safety and privacy. How would it be to attempt to make love in the conditions under which we expect women to give birth? Undisturbed birth is possible in a variety of settings, but must always involve a feeling of emotional security for the birthing woman. A familiar and supportive companion, such as a midwife or doula, can play an important role in creating and protecting a private space for the laboring woman, especially in a hospital setting."

A second comment from Dr. Buckley I wanted to add simply for my own validation. :) 
I was never able to articulate why I didn’t want hoards of people at the hospital when our babies were born waiting for their first glimpses of a newborn just minutes old. Maybe I was articulating it, but I never felt I did in a way that validated my need for time with my newborn while at the same time inviting family and friends to come enjoy a few-hours-old baby if not a day-old baby. I want(ed) them to feel welcome and enjoy such an incredible time, celebrating this new miracle of life with us. HOWEVER, it wasn’t until I read this that made me realize that my “personal preference” may actually be a God-given instinct to allow me uninterrupted, private time with my baby, which in turn would allow my body to do what it needs to do to heal, and my baby and I to bond in the first ever-so precious minutes and hours after birth which is a time that can never be replaced or replicated. So I guess if personal preference wasn’t enough, here’s some scientific data to back it up!

"For the new mother, the third stage (immediately following the baby's birth) is a time of reaping the rewards of her labor. Mother Nature (a.k.a. God, tara’s note!) provides peak levels of oxytocin, the hormone of love, and endorphins, hormones of pleasure for both mother and baby. Skin-to-skin contact and the baby's first attempts to breastfeed further augment maternal oxytocin levels, strengthening the uterine contractions that will help the placenta to separate, and the uterus to contract down. In this way, oxytocin acts to prevent hemorrhage, as well as to establish, in concert with the other hormones, the close bond that will ensure a mother's care and protection, and thus her baby's survival." ~ Sarah J. Buckley, MD 

I guess all in all, I would sum up this crazy long post by saying as a soon-to-be birthing mom, thank you for your opinions, your concerns and perspectives. It's nice to know that people care about us moms. But ultimately it really comes down to the who/what/where/how's that make US feel safe, comfortable, and uninhibited to allow God's amazing gift of nature take place through us. I would hope that every birthing mom would have people in her life that would push her towards that kind of environment, even if it is different than what they would chose for themselves. That, friends, is showing the ultimate love for the mother. Allowing her to have HER experience be what SHE needs it to be. Our pastor will jokingly say 'Well, when you're God you can change the rules, but until then, this is how we play.' So, when you're the birthing mom you can call the shots, but until then....momma makes the rules. :)

What could be better than a Hallelujah??

In case you needed it, here's permission to put aside the "happy christian" role and be real - even if just for a moment, or maybe for the first time!
I've heard this song a number of times and wanted to post it here.Sometimes I don't have a hallmark card to read to God. He longs for those time! :)


Slide show with lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nMvvoXa9Yk&feature=fvw

God loves a lullaby
In a mothers tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.
God loves the drunkards cry,
The soldiers plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

We pour out our miseries
God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are
The honest cries of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah.

The woman holding on for life,
The dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
The tears of shame for what's been done,
The silence when the words won't come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes.

Better than a church bell ringing,
Better than a choir singing out, singing out.