Bradley Baby

Now that we're almost half way through the pregnancy it's time for us to start thinking about birthing classes. There are a few options to consider: Lamaze, The Bradley Method, HypnoBirthing, Birthing From Within and the Alexander Technique, just to name a few. The first two are probably the most well-known techniques, while the others are probably considered nontraditional. However, with all of these options there's a lot to consider: 

Do I want to give birth naturally or should I get an epidural? Should I use a Doula? Do we want to use a birthing center with a midwife or a hospital with a Dr.?

Being a Bradley Baby myself (Dr. Bradley delivered me at Swedish Medical Center), I knew from the time we started talking about conceiving that I would want to try to give birth naturally. We also knew that we wanted to have the baby at Avista Hospital in their New Life Birthing Center. We chose this facility for a few reasons: It is the closest hospital or facility, we wanted a Dr. on site in case we had a medical emergency, and my current OB/GYN has use of the hospital. Since we wanted a more traditional setting, but a natural birth I felt like The Bradley Method was a good option for us.

"The Bradley Method embraces the idea that childbirth is a natural process and that, with the right preparation, most women can avoid pain medication and routine interventions during labor and birth. The curriculum emphasizes the importance of diet and exercise during pregnancy, teaches deep breathing techniques to manage pain, and involves the husband as an integral participant in the birth process." www.babycenter.com

We've signed up to start Bradley Method classes (with instructor Debbie Sheets) July 5-Sept. 27. We'll attend the classes every Monday for 12 weeks. They will have one parenting class, one breastfeeding class and the other 10 classes focus on the Bradley Method. We will also have a workbook to do at home. We plan to take a tour the hospital and preregister when we get closer to the baby's due date.

Hopefully, using the Bradley Method I will be able to have the natural birth my mother had. However, I am also aware that things don't always go as planned and I may want to have an epidural when the time comes. I'm keeping an open mind about it all and am very excited for this experience for both Ruggs and myself!

Week 19: Mango
Vernix caseosa, a greasy white substance made of lanugo, oil and dead skin cells (yum) now coats baby's skin, shielding it from the amniotic fluid. (Picture yourself after a nine-month bath, and the need for protection makes sense.) You might actually get to see the vernix at birth, especially if baby is premature.

Nesting

Anyone who knows Ruggs and me knows that we are big nesters. When we moved into our house we were pretty much unpacked and put away a week after we moved. I even hosted my book club here about 10 days after our move and everyone was amazed at how put together our house was.

One of the fun parts of being pregnant is nesting. Even though we won't start picking out colors for the nursery until we find out the sex, we were able to get our nursery furniture ordered this week. It should take a couple of weeks to get here and then Ruggs will have the joyous job of putting it all together. I'm hoping to have it put together in early June. By then, we should be ready to find out the sex and can start phase 2.

Part of getting ready to order the nursery furniture was relocating Jud. His old room was the smallest and closest to our room. Over the weekend we moved him into a larger room and put together the bunk beds. It was an easy move, he's happy and he's feeling very much like the mature 8th grader he'll be in a couple of weeks. :)

A couple of side notes:

• We found out the results last Friday from the Quad Screen we had at the last Dr's visit. Everything is normal. YAY! Looks like baby is healthy!
• I was at Costco Sunday and one of the employees noticed I had a baby bump! YAY! It was the first stranger to notice that I'm not just fat. :)

Week 18: Sweet Potato
Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon.

Baby Fat

We had our 4 month (17 week) Dr.'s appt on Tuesday. It was the least eventful visit we've had so far: I've gained 3 lbs since our visit last month, everything is normal and she was able to hear the baby's heartbeat with the doppler. Baby had a heartbeat of 150 bpm. I had a blood draw for the Quad Screen (which screens for spinal defects and chromosomel abnormalities such as Downs Syndrome). We will find out the results at our next visit at 21 weeks. We will also have an ultrasound at the next appt. and hopefully find out the sex of the baby!

Baby is starting to accumulate fat this week so I thought it would be an appropriate week to put up the requested belly pictures. Not too much there yet, but it's starting to be more noticeable now...

Since my belly is starting grow I've been very dedicated to slathering on my Mama Mio Tummy Rub to prevent stretch marks. A friend of mine recommended it to me and so far I love the way it makes my tummy feel and smell! It's also fairly inexpensive. You can get it on their website (http://www.mamamio.com/us/pregnancy-skincare/tummy-rub-stretch-mark-butter.html) with free shipping so I really feel like it's a good deal.

 

Week 17: Onion

Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Baby's First... Drugs?

During the first trimester I was very careful not to take over-the-counter medications, touch/breath harsh chemicals or even ingest certain foods. I was trying to give baby the best chance at being put together I could give him/her. Sadly, last weekend I came down with a cold and have had to resort to taking over-the-counter medicines. I am taking the medications that are believed to be "safe" and recommended for pregnant women, but it's definitely not something I would have chosen (I'm not really sure how "safe" they actually are).

Being sick with a cold is the worst possible thing I can think of. I hate it. The stuffy head, ear pressure, sore throat, fever and other various symptoms that lead to sleeping on 3 pillows (or sometimes not at all) is miserable. I'd do almost anything to get well, so I've tried taking the medications that are deemed ok. Here's my grade for them so far:

Extra Strength Tylenol = B
(Makes the aches go away, but did very little for my 101.5 fever.)
Robutussin = D-
(Didn't do anything for my severe head congestion.)
Sudafed = C
(If I take the recommended dose it makes my heart pound [and I'm sure the baby's too] so I've been trying to take only half the dose which doesn't quite do the trick.)
Benadryl = B+
(I finally was able to sleep an [almost] uninterrupted 7 hours last night.)
Afrin = A-
(It makes my sinuses burn a little and make me feel the perpetual need to sneeze AND I can only use it for 3 consecutive days.)

So basically, I'm just suffering through it. Baby and I slept 5-20 minute cat naps the other night - which meant Ruggs did too (I was trying to let him sleep, but he's a pretty light sleeper so when I get up he wakes up). I'm sure it won't be last sleepless night we have together (if in fact baby was awake with us). When baby does get sick (and I know it'll happen) I'll feel terrible for him/her. It's a bummer when you can't find anything to make yourself feel better, much less your baby. Let's pray we don't both get sick or Dad will have double duty!

On a positive note, I think I began feeling the baby move late last week (which is called quickening). The Dr said I probably wouldn't feel it until after 20 weeks, but there's definitely something going on in there! At first I thought it might be something else (like gas), but then I began feeling other sensations (like my stomach dropping [like when you're on a roller coaster] and what feels like muscle spasms) that make me believe it's baby. We can't feel it on the outside, but the internal activity is there. I've felt it the last few nights somewhere between 8-10pm. It's a pretty fun feeling!

Next week we have another Dr's appt (and maybe another ultrasound if we aren't successful with the Doppler again) and I'll get some of those requested belly pictures up!

Week 16: Avocado
Watch what you say... tiny bones forming in baby's ears mean the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And, if you're interested, an ultrasound might be able to determine gender.

Our Little Monkey

Time is flying by and baby is developing fast! Baby is about the size of a naval orange (or almost the size of a softball)! Here's how the baby is developing...

• Baby is now covered in a fine hair called Lanugo, which will help keep the baby warm until a few weeks before birth. He/she is also developing hair on the eyebrows and head.
• His/her skin is transparent and blood vessels are visible through the skin. 
• Fingers & toes are visible and they each have fingernails and fingerprints!
• Eyes and eye lids are present. (Some books say they cannot open them, but I swear I saw him/her blink in our last ultrasound.)
• He/she has a nose and mouth. 
• Vocal cords are developing.
• Baby has a separate esophagus & trachea so he/she can swallow, absorb and discharge fluids and well as practice breathing with it's developing lungs.
• Brain is present and developing.
• Heart is present and developing with both a right and left chamber.
• Toothbuds are present.
• Baby has taste buds and can taste what I eat!
• Baby is moving and wiggling (not just reflexes anymore) - maybe even doing somersaults, making fists, sucking it's thumb and frowning!

 (example of the Lanugo)

Since he/she is now covered in hair with ears, eyes, nose, mouth that can frown and suck it's thumb I envision a little monkey wiggling away in there. I'm still not feeling anything, but sometimes when I lay very still I sike myself into thinking I do.

In the next couple of weeks baby will start using his/her ears. He/she will be able to hear what's going on around us and will jump if startled. Ruggs has made a date with baby for their first one on one :)

Speaking of ears - I think inanimate objects that have ears on them is adorable! While shopping for a friend at Babies R Us I picked up baby's first blankey! It's a neutral color so it'll work for either a boy or girl...

 

Week 15: Naval Orange

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now out measure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.

Eat Mor Chikin

So far I've been pretty lucky in that I've been feeling good and things seem to be going smoothly. The one thing that I have had to adjust to is that I'm extremely picky about my food now and I avoid some foods altogether. I will take something sweet (like fruit, chocolate or ice cream) over anything else any time of the day. I also crave watery vegetables (like cucumbers, iceberg lettuce and tomato) and sandwiches a few times a week. I was sad when Dr Huyhn told me I'm unable to eat lunch meat unless it's steaming hot (it contains a bacteria called Listeria that is harmful to the baby.) Determined to have a cold cut-esk sandwich, I resorted to Smart Deli® to substitute my lunch meat (or sometimes bacon for a BLT). It's not the same, but it gets the job done with a little lettuce and tomato.

I also don't want meat at every meal. Especially chicken. Thus we have been eating beef, pork or meatless meals for about 3 months now. I've even tried buying organic chicken and it's a no-go. The thought of eating a chicken breast pretty much makes my stomach turn.

However, last night we had a break through! (I was worried because sometimes I buy, try it, then have to throw it out and have a PB&J instead.) I bought some drummlets and wings at the store and we made our own spicy hot wings. They were delicious! I found that the smaller portions of the dark meat were tasty and the hot sauce hit the spot. I finally felt like I'd succeeded. Chic-fil-A may be happy to know they may be getting thier customer back pretty soon... or maybe not.

 

Week 14: Lemon
Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.

Pillow Top

We had our second Dr's appointment yesterday with Dr. Huynh. At this stage it's nice to have these monthly appointments because I start to wonder about what's going on in there. At this visit we were scheduled to go over my blood work (which was all normal) and listen to the baby's heartbeat with a doppler. I really wanted an ultra sound again, but decided I'd wait until the next scheduled ultra sound appointment at 20 weeks when we can determine the sex.

It turned out that we were unable to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. I was a little worried, but the Dr. didn't seem too concerned. She decided to do another ultra sound. I should have been secretly excited, but I was too worried about not hearing the hearbeat to be excited about what we might see on the ultrasound. When she did the ultra sound she discovered that we were unable to hear the heartbeat with the doppler because the placenta is between my stomach and the baby and was acting like a pillow. She said this is normal and nothing to worry about. The Dr. also said that because of this I likely wouldn't feel baby moving until about 24 weeks (instead of 14-16 weeks). Looks like our baby is comfy-cozy with his/her pillow-top protecting it from the world.

A video of the ultra sound...

If you look closely you can see him/her kicking it's knees/legs! I told Dr Huynh that my baby books says it's the size of a peach this week (approx 3"). She was unconvinced. So you'll hear a lot of us discussing it in the video. However, 7.74 cm is about 3.25" - so she's not very good at her math conversions. :)

The heartbeat has slowed from 171 bmp (at 8 weeks) to 157 bpm!

The baby is measuring about 3" long from head to rump.

Hi Baby!

 

Week 13: Peach

Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)