Almost time for the baby, eh?

So I had a rough night last night. Braxton Hicks contractions and back pain that would not let up - I think I maybe slept 2-3 hours. On top of that I had to get up early to go for more glucose testing (this time to see if the diabetic diet I've been following is working to control my blood sugar or if I will need medication to control it). I was exhausted before I even started my day. This third trimester has definitely hit me like a brick wall (whatever that means...I'm too tired to even come up with a clever saying). My back hurts, my feet hurt, and my body is wondering what's going on with all of this extra weight it's trying to lug around.

After being chatty chatty with my friends, the lab ladies, I headed to Medical Records to make sure that my final lab results would be transferred to my new doctor. As I'm standing there filling out the paperwork (minding my own business) these two ladies were commenting to each other about how tiny I was and that I was pregnant...commenting as if I couldn't hear them in a room that was literally 5x5. I acknowledged them after I finished my paperwork and they told me that they knew someone that fit into her regular clothes for her entire pregnancy and they were going on and on about how little weight people they knew had gained during pregnancy. Then the Medical Records lady opens the frosted, sliding window to take my paperwork and says "Almost time for the baby, eh?" I said "Well, no, I still have a few more months - I'm due in November." You could hear a gasp come from the two ladies and the Medical Records lady. Their eyes all bugged out of their heads. "Wow, you're really big. Are you sure that there's only one in there?" I reassured them that there was only one and of course Medical Records lady says that she was a twin and her brother was blocking her during the ultrasounds and her mom had twins and didn't know it....GREAT - so I'm extremely sleep deprived, lugging around all this extra weight, with my back killing me, worrying about the Braxton Hicks contractions that I had all night and just wanting to get out of there so I could have a calorie restricted diabetic lunch and take a nap and now I'm feeling GIGANTIC!

So I've made a decision...whenever people say "Almost time for the baby, eh?" I'm going to smile politely and completely make up a new due date! Today I've decided that my due date will be September 14th...not sure why...it just sounds good. Tomorrow, we'll see what date looks good! Maybe I'll decide that I'm a week overdue!!! That should be a confidence booster!

What We Might Do To You During Labor

It's been a very busy week...I've been making my lists and checking them twice to make sure that we have everything we need for "the move"! Yesterday Jeff and I went on a tour of "France", a.k.a. the hospital we are transferring to. The nurse giving the tour was more than helpful and explained in detail what we could expect the day of delivery. She was open to our requests and didn't look at me like I had three heads when I asked about natural birth options! It was so wonderful to have the first person we encountered in "France" be so pleasant and supportive! After the tour, Jeff and I were confident that we made the right decision...especially after what we heard at the Childbirth Class at the old joint last night...

So we still had two more childbirth classes that we had signed up for and we decided to attend since Jeff had already rearranged his Tai Chi teaching schedule to accommodate the classes. The classes we had left were both on Delivery. Part I, last night, was about the basics of what your uterus does during contractions and the stages of labor. The nurse teaching this class warned the "epidural moms" not to be afraid of the videos that she was showing because the videos were of moms who chose to not have any medication and deliver their babies completely naturally....really....do women who get pregnant not realize that there is pain involved?!

The nurse teacher was particularly excited about next week's class, which she strongly encouraged everyone to attend...she said, and I quote, "Next week's class is one of my favorites. It's all about what we might do to you during labor!" And she was serious!!! My mouth was wide open as I glanced at Jeff, whose mouth was equally as open! The look we exchanged was "thank God for "France"!!" Now I'm not that naive...I realize that there are rules and regulations that hospitals have to follow...however, to refer to it as "what we might do to you during labor"...really?

So I started thinking about this...what MIGHT they do to me during labor...

1. If I refuse to have an IV or an epidural, might they pull out the Voodoo doll until I surrender?

2. If I prefer to be mobile during labor, might they lash me with wet noodles until I come to my senses and get back in the bed?

3. If I choose to deliver my baby in a non-traditional position, might they stand at the foot of the bed, holding a baby doll and pantomime me delivering on my back?

4. If I request to have something more than ice chips to sustain me through the hours and hours and hours of labor, might they laugh at me as they finish their Extra Giant Smoothie and Value Meal?

5. If I request for my doctor to coach me through the last stage of pushing so that I won't tear myself wide open, might she look at me and say that she can refer me to one of her partners who is more supportive of that....wait, that one really happened....

Anywho...the possibilities are endless. I am quite aware of the millions and millions of unknowns that go along with pregnancy, labor, delivery and beyond. I am willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that my baby enters this world in a peaceful, loving and supportive environment...so France, HERE WE COME!!!!!

Out with the old and In with the new!

Lots of changes going on! For one, the baby is getting bigger and bigger and kicking harder and harder (I'm 26 weeks now and the baby is as big as an English Hot House Cucumber...however big that is!)! Some days I swear that the kid is trying to create an escape hatch out the bottom! I love to feel the movements, even though it does tend to keep me awake some nights (especially once I get up to pee in the middle of the night...the baby starts kicking and jumping around as if to say "Yay, mom's finally up and now I have someone to play with!"). Jeffrey witnessed the wave like action of my belly the other night when the baby must have been transverse in my belly and had the hiccups! It was pretty cool to watch! And as the belly gets bigger, it also gets heavier! Some days it feels as though I'm all of a sudden carrying around an extra 10 pounds!

The other big change is that Jeffrey and I have decided to not only change doctors but also to change hospitals. Don't get me wrong, I loved the doctor that I've had for the last 5 years or more -- however, in the past, I would only see her once a year for an annual womanly visit and that was that. Well, as I'm getting further along in my pregnancy I've realized that she is not all that supportive of natural birth and that her views on childbirth are very Western. I think that a doctor should be open minded about what a woman wants during her birth as long as the requests are reasonable...when we brought our list of questions to our last visit, the doctor kindly answered every one of them. However (and this is where the red flag went way up) when we got to the part in my birth plan where I requested that she coach me through the final pushing stage by using Lamaze techniques to slowly birth the baby to prevent tearing (sorry guys...but it happens!) her immediate response was that she had partners that she could refer me to if that was important to me because she didn't really support Lamaze that much. I thought to myself...Lamaze is one of the very basics of natural child birth -- it's not like I wanted to give birth in the woods! She was quick to point out that even if she referred me to one of her colleagues that I could not be guaranteed that he/she would be on call the day I deliver. As she answered our questions and addressed other items in our birth plan, her approach was very defensive and close-minded. Now, I'm not stupid and I realize that there are a million unknowns when it comes to birth and that all of the wonderful ideas I have in my head of how I'd like to welcome this baby into the world may very quickly be thrown out the window if complications arise...however, I don't feel like my ideas should be discounted at this point! And this was not the first time that red flags went up - you should have seen the major eye roll when I told her months ago that I was going to see an acupuncturist for relief from headaches and backaches...I should have probed more then.

So...after much thought, debate, and research (and with the help of first-hand info from friends) we have decided to switch to Touro. They have a Family Birthing Center there and are much, much, much more open to natural births. They even have a midwives program there! I'm not choosing a mid-wife, however, because being "high-risk" (because of my small size) I don't think that they would take me on. The doctor that I have chosen is supportive of natural birth and (from what friends have said) supports tub births (you can rent birthing tubs and have them set up in your delivery room)! You have no idea the sigh of relief that I had when I actually scored an appointment with him for later this month! Now I have to start the process of having my records transferred over and we will be good to go!

In other baby news, I had to take my glucose tolerance test (it's a test to see if you have Gestational Diabetes). It is a standard test given between 24 and 28 weeks. You first have to schedule the one-hour test...basically you go in and have to drink this orange stuff that tastes like Orange Crush and wait for an hour and then have your blood drawn to check your blood sugar level. I'm not a big dessert person, although I will indulge in some chocolate chip cookies and have an Abita root beer on occasion. I felt fine through the test and thought I had that one in the bag.....well, needless to say, I got a call from the nurse a few hours later saying that I flunked. Although I had test anxiety when I was in school, I'm not used to failing tests. This one threw me for a loop! So since my blood sugar numbers were elevated for the one-hour test, I had to schedule the 3-hour fasting glucose test. The 3-hour test involves the same orange drink (except this time I had to drink the whole bottle...must have been 100mg of sugar) -- and they draw your blood FOUR times...once before you drink the orange drink and then every hour for the next 3 hours. I felt like the human pin cushion and got to be personal friends with the ladies in the lab!! The time passed quickly as I had rented some movies to watch on my laptop -- silly me, though, rented the Disney flick The Princess and the Frog...who knew that the entire movie was about food...and New Orleans food at that! I was starving!!!

So I did the glucose test this morning and I'm waiting for the call with the results. I'm prepared to do whatever I need to do to keep this baby (and me) healthy. I have been blessed with a very smooth pregnancy and so I can't complain about having this little bump in the road! Even if I do end up with Gestational Diabetes, I only have 3 more months to go...so whether that's 3 months of a strict diet (which I can totally do) or 3 months of insulin injections, I'm ready!!

On a fun note -- we go for another ultrasound tomorrow morning. Given my small height and weight, the doctors just wanted to make sure that the baby would continue to grow at a normal rate! I can't wait to see the little one again!!!! I'll be sure to post pictures...and no, we still are NOT finding out the sex!!!!!