class week 5

In class this week, our instructor invited one of her previous couples to come in and share their birth story. They brought their 3 month old daughter which was very popular with the crowd of parents to be and just talked about the whole process of their birth. It was interesting to hear about, because it didn't go perfectly but I think they were really happy with it and felt like they knew what they were doing.
We also talked about fetal monitors (which are used to monitor the baby's heart rate and the mothers contractions, but prevent you from moving around and changing positions in labor) and episiotomies (I'm not going to tell you what an episiotomy is, it will just gross you out) and what they are good for (or not). We also did some more practice contractions with ice, which I am not sure hurts me enough to be a good test of a contraction, but what are you going to do. Our homework for this week is to think about and write down our fears about labor and then think of pro-active things we can do to help keep those fears from coming true. Also to do some more practice contractions, and as always, I'm to do my pelvic tilts and kegle exercises!

End of Second Trimester!

We went to the doctor today and did a bunch of stuff. They measured my weight again (I had gained 4 lbs, perfect!) and measured the size of my uterus which was also right on track. Listened to his heart beat (140 beats/minute, same as last time).

Then I went down to the lab and pounded an orange soda for a pregancy diabetes test (you drink the soda and then an hour later they draw your blood and measure your bodies ability to process the sugar). After I drank the soda, we ran off to get an ultrasound to see if my placenta had moved off my cervix. (For those of you who don't know, this happened before we started blogging, but we discovered my placenta was on top of my cervix which, if it stays that way, requires us to get a C-section though 98% of the time it moves). I'm not sure if it had moved enough, the tech wouldn't say but I am hopefull because she did say "looks good" kind of under her breath.



He was growing great, by ultrasound his due date this time was September 14th (it has been either the 14th or the 15th every time they look, so he is growing very consistently). I then went back to the lab and got my blood drawn (never my favorite thing to do). And that was it!

So we will have to wait and see about the placenta, and the gestational diabetes till the tests get back, but all and all I think it was a good visit.

Class week 4

Class was interesting as usual this week. We talked about laboring on the birth ball (one of those exercise balls people sit on) and different positions to take in labor if you are having back pains during your contractions (which means the baby is pointed face front instead of face back like he is suppose to. We also did these exercises where we I held an ice cube in my hand for a minute to simulate labor and our instructor told all the women to do something wrong (breath shallowly, not relax our legs) and see if the dads could figure out what we were doing and get us back on track. Mike was one for two (he didn't figure out my leg was tight) but he did a great job of making sure the rest of me was relaxed. I think he is going to be a great birth partner.

Not really our baby...

Ok, this is pretty much totally unrelated to Mandy's growing belly. But I wanted to share something fun. We put ourselves down on the waiting list for a cool new car. It's called an Aptera... check it:



Very cool I think.
We are number 3200 on the waiting list, so the 'gestation' period for this 'baby' might be a few years... but it sure would be fun to have!
You can find out more about this exciting new car at www.aptera.com

Continued expantion

Here are two more pics of my ever growing belly, the first is from a couple weeks ago and the second is from this past weekend.

oops!

Yesterday I was in the bathroom at my work washing my hands and I looked at myself in the mirror and saw I had my very first milk mark leaking through on one boob, just a tiny spot, but clear none the less. I tried to dry it off, but it actually is a stain and even water wouldn't get rid of it completely, very classy. So after work I headed over to a maternity bra store and bought myself some breast pads, I'll probably wear them for a few weeks without a single leak and then forget one day and it will happen again, oh well. Just another thing to get used to!

House

So we think we got a house to rent! The owners agreed to rent it to us today. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath in West Simi and it is totaly suburbia heaven, it cracks me up. We've got a yard with a lemon tree, a garage, a mirror with gold flecks across one wall of the master bedroom, another full wall mirrow in the living room and sparkles in the ceiling. What more could a new family want?? I am totally stoked. We looked at about 9 houses and this was our favorite and we got it!

class this week

Class this week was about learning more about the different stages of labor, how to time contractions, when to go to the hospital. Our instructor likes her couples to go to the hospital when contractions have been 4 minutes or less lasting over one minute for over an hour. I guess at this point you are usually about 6cm dialated and prevents you from being at the hospital too long. We also did exercises where Mike leaned on my leg muscle so it hurt for 30sec, 60sec and 70sec while I did deep breathing to get a sense of the length of a contraction. It was funny, when Mike started leaning on my leg, I wanted to hit him and say, that hurts! But then I realized that is the point. I think a key to labor will be to take one contraction at a time, knowing each will end in the not so distant future. We also watched another birth video, I'm not going to lie, it still gives me the heebee geebies to see a baby's head come out of a vagina, but the birth was very calm, not at all like the screaming in movies.

Crazy Moms

So, I think I am beginning to understand why all moms are a little crazy (sorry moms). This understanding comes from that I think I am going a little crazy. That I am forming a person inside me and some random thing I do might have lifetime adverse effects on him is enough to drive any sane woman a little batty. For example, usually the little guy is pretty squirmy in there. But every once and a while, he takes a couple days off and barely kicks at all. Just long enough for me to start getting worried that there is something wrong with him, and then he goes back to kicking. I wish I had a window into my belly so I could peek in at him and see how he was doing, he could give me a thumbs up and then I'd leave him alone. But anyway, I think that this is just the start of my long desent into crazy motherhood. Just wait till he is a teenager and wants to drive or something like that...aaahh!

Blog comments

We finally figured out how to change the settings so that anyone can comment. Pretty easy actually...

In any case, to add a comment, click on "xx comments" at the end of the post. You can change the Identity to Name/URL. Enter a name (preferably yours!), then type in your comment in the box above.

We hope to get a few comments... especially when we post some pictures!

Play Time

So this morning Mike shook my belly and the little guy kicked back. Mike laughed and shook my belly again and the little guy kicked again. This went on for about 10 iterations and I think that I am going to call it our baby's first play date with daddy! I think they both had a good time.

Last night was also the first night that Grandma Sue got to feel him kick, he is starting to be less shy with his performances.