Week by Week: Week 20

We're at the designated halfway point! Tomorrow is our big ultrasound appointment, and we couldn't be more excited. The Week by Week post is happening today because tomorrow, our official halfway point, will be a recap of where we've been so far. AND it will, hopefully, include some ultrasound pictures! Yay! And now, on to the good stuff.

Week by Week: Week 8

In which I present Junior's birth story.

NOTE: This is a long post. I probably could have shortened it down, but I just dumped it all out here. You might want to take this in chunks. I apologize ahead of time for the wordiness.

Who doesn't love a good birth story? The pain, the joy, the tears, the laughter . . . it's all the stuff that makes for great drama.

I'm not sure about drama when it comes to our story, but it's got all of the things mentioned above--some more than others.

Now, a short disclaimer before I launch into the tale:

Childbirth, while miraculous and life-changing, is not a glamorous process. I'm not going to pull any punches here and I'm not going to use euphemisms or metaphors (OK, I'll probably use some metaphor, but just because I like it) to describe parts of the human body or the process of labor and delivery. If you're squeamish about that sort of thing, or if you don't want to hear words like "vagina" or "perineum" (whoops, got you!) then I'd encourage you to maybe find something else to read. For the rest of you, let's get into the good stuff.

Presenting Lil' Feisty.....

I'm hoping to post a long and detailed birth story later this week, but until then, may I present some news.

Lil' Feisty joined our family at 5:16 a.m. on Thursday, November 12. HE is a beautiful BOY! He weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 21 in. long. According to the nurses that's a heavier baby and a very long baby. I don't know about all of that stuff, but I do know we think he's exactly as he's supposed to be.

His arrival was swift and on his own terms, and both he and I are doing well after the first week.

Now that we're home and figuring out this whole life-as-a-family-of-three thing together, we've already learned so much about ourselves and this precious little boy. He'll be called "Junior" here from now on.

Next week I hope to have a birth story up and posted for y'all.

Until then, keep it real, keep it warm, and keep it snuggly.

Week by Week: 39 Weeks

Week by Week: 38 Weeks

Week by Week: 37 Weeks

A Birth Plan vs. Planning for Birth

Birth Plan.

These two words have come to mean a lot these days. Women feel more and more empowered to have the kind of birth they desire, and writing this thing called a "Birth Plan" is meant to produce that result.

These words conjure up images of bullet lists detailing a perfect environment, exactly how each stage of labor should progress, and a slew of things NOT to do. Images of a laboring woman arriving at a hospital and handing over pages and pages to the nurses on duty, expecting that they be meticulously read and followed. Images of these overworked and under-appreciated nurses inwardly sighing and bracing themselves to deal with yet another one of THOSE women.

Now, it's already sounding like I have something against birth plans, and let me quickly say that I am VERY pro-birth plan. Let me explain.

Week by Week: 36 Weeks

Week by Week: 35 Weeks

Week by Week: 34 Weeks

Week by Week: 33 Weeks

Week by Week: Week 32

Week by Week: 31 Weeks

Week by Week: 30 Weeks

Week by Week: 29 Weeks

Creating a Birth Folder

As the third trimester begins and we gear up for final trips and preparations in anticipation of birth, there are fun things to do and not-so-fun things to do.

You might think compiling all the necessary paperwork for a hospital stay would fall into the not-so-fun category, and you might be right. But my system-loving, organizational self started dreaming up various systems with which to alleviate the tedium.

Behold, my (fun and colorful) end product:

Let's dive right in, shall we?

Week by Week: Week 28

Week by Week: Week 27

Hypnobirthing, The Mongan Method. Part #1: Reading the book.

As most any pregnancy site, book, or health practitioner will tell first-time parents, a birth class is an invaluable resource, especially when taken in conjunction with the hospital where they'll be giving birth.

Some practitioners, however, espouse very specific methods which differ in some key points from the class given at their hospital. And many parents choose not to give birth at a hospital, giving them an endless array of options when it comes to labor and birth education.

For me, even though I'll be doing a hospital birth for Lil' Feisty, I wanted to find a birth class that fit well with someone seeking a non-medical birth. My first thought was of the Bradley Method, a very popular and highly-praised method of education for parents seeking natural birth.* But when I checked for classes in my area, I couldn't find anything closer than 3 hours away. And considering it's a 12-class course, that's a bit too much to do.

I asked my midwife, because I knew from her website that she's a proponent of HypnoBirthing. I was hesitant, mostly because the "hypno" part of the word comes from, well, hypnosis, and we all know that that means people clucking like chickens onstage in Las Vegas, right? Wrong, but we'll get to that in a minute. When I asked her if she had any classes soon, she sadly shook her head, saying she was so swamped she couldn't find a time to put together a class; the book, however, was an excellent resource and the first place we should start, anyway. So I bought it.

And I finished it this week.

Here are my thoughts on HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method.

*"Natural birth" is one of those terms that can mean any number of things. Some people use it to mean a vaginal birth. Some use it to mean a birth without pain management medication. Some use it to mean a birth without any medication whatsoever (without pitocin inductions, for example). And some use it to mean a birth without any intervention (medications, surgery, physical manipulation), meaning no manipulation of the cervix, membranes, or entry of the baby into the world. For our purposes, and for clarity's sake, natural birth will mean a birth without any sort of intervention.