Pocket Bebe

Enzo’s Blog:

Enzo is 29 weeks this week and we are on our way to 30 as of Friday.  On Friday we will only have 10 more weeks until a fully cooked baby, though it is generally safe for him to arrive anytime between 37 and 42 weeks.  Lord, help us that he arrives before or at the latest, only a few days after 40 weeks.

Enzo’s muscles, lungs, and brain are developing rapidly and Enzo is building those brain bridges by taking the majority of my stores of DHA now to make him smart.  Great, right?  More pregnancy stupids than usual for me.  I’m suprised I can even remember my own name at this point.  Calcium is very important at this stage in the pregnancy as about 250 milligrams are being deposited into his hardening skeleton each day.

Enzo is very active and I don’t have to worry too much about doing kick counts for him because he will move around constantly for about 30 minutes each time I start eating a meal or by ten minutes after I finish. 

I am carrying Enzo different than I’ve carried my girls up to this point.  He seems pretty high and I don’t seem as big around yet as I was with them.  I know a lot of the weight has filled up empty pockets on my thighs and butt as it is attractively puckering like an orange peel.  The belly button is half way on its way to being all the way out but otherwise like with the girls I’ve been blessed with a stretch mark free, rounded belly that will look nice for Lucy and Ricky’s pregnancy memory photos.

Last time we were at our appointment the midwife said Enzo was already lounging with his head down and that statistically they will generally stay that way.  Babies get their own ideas and tend to do what they want but it is good news should he continue to stay that way and I am doing my part by avoiding the recliner (which prompts a lot of babies to flip breech) and by cashing in on my helpful habit of always wanting to be on my left side.  Stay Enzo, stay.

My Time:

Just so I can put an end to the complaining about my eye and you can all be happy that I will now shut-up, let me fill you in on the last development.  It only took one day for there to be a cancellation at the dermatologist, either that or the lady knew I wouldn’t let up until they closed their doors after the last appointment on Friday afternoon.  I was able to see an actual doctor this time and he used the method Lucy had told me they should use before I even went the first time.  I didn’t have to pay for the return visit but I did get to pay for pathology again which is annoying in a way because pathology was already being run on the first half of the SAME specimen.   Whatever, I know it is policy but ugh… Anyway, right away I could tell it had at least been removed and unless the hormones get involved, shouldn’t be a problem.  Afterwards it looked like a cigarette was put out in my eyebrow but this time the healing is much better than I expected.  I am now a happy camper and at least one silver lining to this whole headache is that in being self employed we can deduct medical expense.

So, I still wanted to go over the birthing class we had to take and that was put on by June from Happy Birth Way.  Like I mentioned before, I was hoping for a special couple to stick out that I could entertain you with snarky stories about but that was not the case.  We had a really cool group of people attend our class and it was very much enjoyable.  In a way it was a neat do-over for The Husband and I because we hadn’t taken a birthing class since I was 20 and he was 22 and during that class our mentality was like, “Dude, just tell us what we need to know about the drugs, we plan on going that route and you can forget about anything latching onto my/her boob so we don’t need to know about that nonsense either.”  Obviously, we’ve come a long way in eleven years and breastfeeding along with natural labor progressed with two children after that by trial and error and by becoming self aware.  I think The Husband and I make a great labor team but attending the class and having June put words to the things we’d instinctively picked up along the way was very helpful and made me feel even more confident that we are going to rock this labor out with Enzo and get him into Lucy and Ricky’s arms in the most healthy way possible for all of us.

Here in no specific order are some of the notes I made while there:

1.  What do we know about labor pain?

P: It peaks and it is predictable.

A: It is there to get attention and to help as a guide through the labor stages.

I:  Intuitive, which means that a woman tends to tune into her instinctive wisdom that is already there during the pain of labor. 

N: It is normal!

2. Two assets women have in labor is breathing and mobility.

Breathing deeply is the link between the mind and the body.  It tells our pituitary gland to release calming hormones and not adrenaline.  Fight and flight response with the release of adrenaline is not going to get us anywhere good during labor.  Don’t waste energy on tensing.  The quote by some famous midwife that made us laugh was, “A tight tensed face, jaw, and body makes a tight tense cervix.”

Lips parted and making an ahh, ooo sound or even moo at the end of a contraction helps stay relaxed and can even make a laugh when in great pain which releases the feel good hormones.

Mobility is just having the ability to move around and follow the body’s instincts with the use of gravity to help baby progress through the phases it needs to.  Having mobility helps labor progress faster in most cases.

3. Rehydrate: take a sip after every contraction and pee every hour. At the hospital they will put an IV in so this may be a mute point for hospital births but it is necessary to keep fluids moving as the amniotic fluid is still flushing out and replenishing itself in the womb through the end of labor.

4. I learned there is a contraction application for cell phones to time the contractions for you which will come in so handy as I am usually the one who has to keep track of my own contractions while The Husband is driving.  Yeah baby on technology to that one!

We talked about partner and family support and since I’ve been through labor a few times I can generally estimate how I will be though birthing at the birthing center will provide me with many new opportunities this time around.

1. I don’t like a lot of chatting of the people around me.  Side noise like music or some television shows aren’t distracting but cell phones ringing, vibrating, whatnot tends to bug me.  I get total sensory overload during birth and I’d like the lights to be dimmed even though most of the time I seem to have my face or eyes covered.  I totally believe in the 3 year-old mentality of, “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me”, move.  Remember Office Space and the “O Face” scene? Yeah, there is a version of that for laboring women and I don’t like it.  If my eyes are open I am usually in a dead stare at the Dallas Cowboy’s star that generally graces most my husband’s shirts.  Cowboy’s apparel has been requested at the last two birthing experiences.  I am sure Enzo’s birth won’t be an exception.
2. The Husband has to have all attention on me and my needs unless I say it is ok that he doesn’t.
3. Nobody can eat in front of me unless I am also eating the same thing.  Some smells are just too much and throwing up while also having a contraction is somewhat akin to throwing up and having diarrhea at the same time, not awesome..  Also, someone else’s chewing sounds are annoying.
4. Praise.  By transition phase it is natural for the birthing person to lose a little bit of faith in themselves as labor becomes very intensive, I need a lot of praise at this time to be energized to keep going.
5. Strength and endurance.  Pure strength from my husband to literally hold me up, provide counter pressure, reminders of what PAIN stands for, options in positions and consistent understanding when the “reasoning” side of my brain shuts down and gives over to the primal. 

 Besides some of the things I listed above I did leave class with two of my own theories that I’ve come to out of my own observations. One, I think men who tend to be a bit overweight but have wives that aren’t, generally show more affection in public (it probably works both ways) than other people naturally do and that you have to be anything BUT savory looking in appearance to be a birthing parent for a training video (if you’re a midwife in a birth training video you need to have, at least, a 3 inch minimum length of armpit hair visible to the viewing audience. Bonus points if it is braided).  I’m just sayin’….

© Pocketbebe, 2010