This week was really productive. Sunday and Monday nights we spent organizing and cleaning up the house. It was so nice to get all our stuff unpacked and set up for Brooke's arrival. We still have some stuff left to get, but we have most of the big stuff, which is really nice. Thanks to all my friends and family for helping us out so much! Today we plan on finishing up the nursery - we only have a few more things to organize - and setting up the video monitor. Then we are going to make a cheat sheet for our labor techniques from the Bradley method, just so we have them handy when the time comes :) There's no way we are going to remember everything.
On Tuesday I had my regular OB check-up. I met with a midwife to see if I wanted to transfer to the midwifery practice, which is a practice associated with UNC. There are 6 midwives and they practice and perform deliveries at UNC in the same place that the doctors practice, so if something goes wrong during labor, the doctors are right there to take over. I really liked the midwife I met with and felt that their theories and practices for the labor and delivery process match exactly what Paul and I want. They are very focused on making the birth experience what we want and helping us figure out methods for dealing with pain and other situations without medicine. But at the same time, they don't hesitate to give medicine if I want it or if the situation requires it. They will also try to stay with me throughout the entire delivery unless they have other patients at the same time, but that's much better than being delivered by a doctor who doesn't show up until you are pushing.
At my appointment she just measured my belly, which measured perfectly, and listened for Brooke's heartbeat. I thought she might check my cervix since I am already dilated 1 cm, but she said there is no reason to check my cervix unless I am having contractions because it shouldn't be making any progress without contractions. She also said that checking the cervix can stimulate it some, so they don't want to do it unnecessarily. So the next time she will check it is at 39 weeks unless I have contractions again. She also said they don't need to see me more often, so my next appointment is 2 weeks from Tuesday. I was hoping to go again this upcoming week, but I guess there is no need. After next Tuesday's appointment I will begin seeing them on a weekly basis because at that point I will be 36.5 weeks along.
On Wednesday night, there was a "Meet the Midwives" session at UNC where we could meet 3 of the 6 midwives. Paul and I went so that he could hear their practices since he wasn't able to go to my appointment on Tuesday and so that we could meet 3 of the midwives since I probably don't have enough appointments left before I give birth to meet all 6 of them. Paul felt very good about what they had to say and we both were happy with their personalities, so we are very happy to transfer my care to them. From now on, I will see a different midwife at each appointment until I give birth to try to meet as many of them as possible, since we won't know which one will perform the delivery.
The past couple of weeks I have started waking up more often, sometimes as often as 4-5 times per night, so I'm not getting as much sleep anymore. I typically need to go to the bathroom when I wake up and I always have to roll over to my other side, so it's a bit of a process. I have been trying to drink more water lately because I feel more dehydrated lately and dehydration can cause contractions, so I want to avoid that. This past week, each night I have woken up at some point with a numb right hand, which is really weird. I called the nurse on Thursday to find out what could be causing it and she said it sounds like I have carpel tunnel! Apparently that is common in pregnancy and can happen during the day or at night or both. She said I can wear wrist braces if it gets annoying, but that seems like more of an annoyance so I'm going to hold off on doing anything unless it gets really bad. Early this morning I woke up and both hands were numb but it went away quickly and didn't come back. What fun :)
My coworker suggested that I take belly pics of my belly without a shirt over it so I can really get a feel for what it looks like, so that's how I'm going to take my belly pics from now on. Even though I still seem to be carrying Brooke kind of high, I feel like I can kind of tell that she has dropped some from the outside, and I can definitely tell she has dropped some from the inside. It's much harder now to sit or bend forward, especially with my legs together :)
1 comment:
you look GREAT!
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