WTF?

The things I learn on my pregnancy forum. I have just learned what "placenta encapsulation" is. After you have your baby, a certified specialist comes to your house and "prepares" your placenta. They dry it, grind it into powder and put it into capsules that you can swallow. Supposedly, it gives you doses of important hormones. I dunno, the whole thing sounds really gross to me. I got a little queasy reading about it. Here's where I read about it: http://placentabenefits.info/about.asp

I guess I'll bury mine under a tree or something. I'm not going to fry it up with some onions and share it with the family or anything! I'm not going to stick it in the freezer, either. One woman on the forum still has hers in there from a few years ago. That just sounds gross.

Quick update

Just a quick update today. Last night the baby was kicking so hard that I finally saw it - my belly totally jumped. Actually, it looked more like a muscle spasm. It felt so weird. Almost like being punched in the gut. I can't believe I have to endure 3 1/2 more months of this and the baby's only gonna get stronger. Erik put his hands on my belly and the baby kicked away. It's crazy. My favorite thing to do now when I'm just chillin' is to pull my shirt up and stare at my belly. It's so fascinating. Also, I've noticed that I seem to have less lung capacity. It almost hurts when I yawn, especially after a meal. I guess the baby is squishing my stomach and intestines up into my lungs. And talk about heartburn! Small meals, bland foods, nothing helps. Just Tums. Tums are my friend.

So, I think I've decided to rent a birth pool. They have really nice ones that are heated and everything - pretty much like having a hot tub, but w/o the jets. It costs $300, but it's for 3 weeks, so you can use it like a hot tub before the birth. It will really help with relaxation and stuff. I was thinking of just buying one. They have really cool inflatable ones online for only around $160, but they don't have a heating unit, so someone would have to fuss with hot water and stuff while I'm trying to give birth. Sounds like a PITA. If I bought one, I could probably turn around and sell it and get most of my money back, but I really like the idea of having a really nice tub that will be delivered and picked up and comes with all the equipment.

You all must think I'm crazy. Homebirth? Birth tubs? It's all very common up here. In my pre-natal yoga class, it's just assumed that the birth will be at home, or at least a completely natural birth if it's at a hospital.

Well, that's all for now.

5/12/10

May 12, 2010

Well, I’m just about 24 weeks. Or is it 23? Hard to keep track sometimes. Anyway, I feel the baby moving like crazy all of a sudden. It’s so neat. He (or she) was kicking really low last night and I sort of felt it on the outside, so I told Erik to come feel and the baby totally kicked his hand! We both felt it – so amazing. So, weird, too. To feel something constantly flip-flopping inside of me. I had an appointment yesterday and we went over the ultrasound results – all totally normal. Baby is measuring right where it should be, heart rate is great. Yay. My blood pressure is perfect, I’m not anemic, no weird stuff in my urine. I have to get a glucose test next time and a rhogam shot ‘cause I’m Rh negative. I guess I don’t HAVE to get a glucose test, but they’re highly recommended. It just bugs me ‘cause I know everything is fine, but I have to drink all that frickin’ glucose and screw my blood sugar up. Lame. So, yeah, pregnancy is great. It’s getting baby out that freaks me out. I mean, it doesn’t freak me out in a bad way. It’s just such a huge deal and at this point, there’s no way out of it. There are just so many unknowns. I’ve read so much about it and I’m planning on taking childbirth classes with Erik and I’ve talked to other women about their experiences, but none of that will really prepare me. I guess I’ll be mentally prepared and I’m trying to do yoga and walk and stuff so I’ll be physically prepared, but I’m just worried about how I’m gonna handle it when that first big contraction hits. Erik thinks I’ll cuss a lot. I probably will. I’ll have to warn the midwives. And the neighbors. The dog will probably panic. We might need to send him to a friend’s. I had a leg cramp this morning that lasted a really long time – I kept grunting and moaning and the dog came over to my side of the bed and stared at me with a worried look on his face. Poor sensitive guy.

May 4, 2010

So, I attempted to post something to my online journal on Friday and it deleted the whole thing. I hate when that happens. I’ll try to somewhat recreate it. There’s actually not too much going on with me right now. I’m feeling good, my energy level is pretty good. My belly is definitely getting bigger and so are my boobs. Here’s some TMI. (No, seriously, TMI – boys might not be able to handle this one.) I had my nipples pierced in 2006 and I took the piercings out when I found out I was pregnant in January, so almost 4 years. They’re pretty much all healed up – you can barely tell where the holes were. Anyway, I’m getting colostrum (the pre-milk stuff) in and when I squeeze my nipples (don’t laugh – you totally would, too!), it comes out where the piercing hole is. I showed Erik and he was kinda grossed out. I think it’s hilarious! I’m not worried about it. I’ve read that some women can even leave their piercings in and have no problem breast feeding, but I think that’s going a little too far.

So, that’s about the most exciting thing going on so far. I bought my first baby item at a yardsale last weekend – a dresser/changing table combo. It’s all white, so I think I’ll get all Martha Stewart on it and decoupage some animals onto it or something. We’re not having an actual baby room, so it will just be in our bedroom, but it will still be cute. I went to a baby shower on Saturday and the couple was having a boy and they got so much cute boy stuff. It makes me almost wish that I knew what we were having so that we could get cute boy stuff (if it’s a boy, of course). But, I’m enjoying not knowing. We still don’t really have any ideas for names.

Baby has been moving more noticeably lately, but still not keeping me up at night or anything. Still just little taps and sometimes what feels like rolling around. Some of it I still can’t tell whether it’s gas or not. I think it will all start seeming more real once I feel and can even see movement.

I meet with the homebirth midwives on Thursday. I hope the homebirth works out. I really don’t want to have the baby at the hospital, even though we have a great birth center at our hospital up here. I really just don’t like the idea of strangers attending my birth. That’s always been one of my biggest issues with hospital births. I won’t even go into all my other issues. But, if I end up there, so be it. As long as the baby is healthy, right?