38 Week Pregnancy Update
38 Week Pregnancy Update!
What’s in a Birth Plan?
If you have been following the blog or our Facebook page for any time at all, you will have noticed that as we prepare for the upcoming birth of our first baby, we are planning on having a natural birth. When planning a natural birth, unless you are also planning a home birth, it is important that you write a birth plan. This does not have to be an extravagantly long document, and in all honesty should be kept as simple as possible.
But…. What’s in a Birth Plan?
While many birth plans you find on-line are amazing about helping you with wording or giving you ideas of things you may forget to include, lets be honest…no doctor or nurse in the hospital wants to read a 5-6 page document detailing everything that may or may not happen. To help us prepare ours, we used the one found here for guidance.
My advice is to create a one page document that includes information about both procedures for you (during labor and delivery) and baby (immediately following). Ideally the Top 5 things for each you and baby will keep everyone happy.
For ours, we included:
1.Our names and a picture of us so if the birth plan is taken out of our room with our chart, doctors and nurses remember who we are.
2. A blanket comment that simply states “Please ask for our consent before any routine procedures”.
3. A bullet list for Labor & Delivery that includes our Top 5 wishes. For me this includes, minimal vaginal exams during labor, unlimited movement during labor, not asking about pain medications or inductions , delayed cord clamping, and a statement about what I would like should a c-section become necessary.
4. A bullet list for our baby that includes are wishes. For us this includes statements regarding, the hospital allowing myself or Andrew to go with the baby at all times if there are any complications, delaying routine procedures to allow for immediate skin-to-skin contact, our wishes towards vaccinations and eye drops, bathing the baby in our own products that we will bring, and a statement about the baby being exclusively breastfed.
Weather Labor Myths
As we are bracing for Hurricane Sandy here in New Jersey, seen as one of the worst storms in hurricane history, we have to talk about some of the weather labor myths associated with increase in labor. While there are TONS of myths throughout all of pregnancy from determining gender based on how you are carrying to myths about how to induce labor…there are two main myths associated with weather, both of which I am having to worry about right now with just a few weeks left of our pregnancy.
Myth #1. Full Moons increase births.
Myth #2. Hurricanes bring more babies.
Both of these are simply myths. There have been many studies researching both and while a few studies have shown some correlation, the majority show it’s just simply false. What these researchers do point out in the case of hurricanes is that labor is brought on simply by hormones and the stress from preparing for any type of natural weather disaster, may trigger those hormones, putting a mom in labor.
Today, there is a full moon, in addition to the hurricane set to to make landfall just 45 miles from here, so I guess we will soon see if either of these myths are true for us!!I know that we have been preparing for everything that can possibly happen and while I’m trying not to stress, the thought of having to get to the hospital during a torrential downpour and high speed winds, is definitely not something that I’m trying to think about! I will say that my baby girl was going crazy all day yesterday and has started going crazy all day today too. Who knows!? Maybe I will have a hurricane baby, maybe not 🙂
37 week Pregnancy update
37 Week Pregnancy Update
We had an appointment yesterday and I haven’t gained ANY weight since the appointment last week!! I was honestly shocked because I have been a mess craving (and giving into) sweets lately. In addition to the apple pie cheesecake that I made over the weekend, I also made peanut butter chip brownies and picked up (and ate) some Ben & Jerry’s Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream (whoops!).
I actually feel amazing still. My doctor came in and asked me how I feel and when I said great, he commented that I am making this look too easy for my first pregnancy. Honestly, it’s not a walk in the park, but I am enjoying my pregnancy, actually more at this point that I did my entire first trimester. If you remember from our post last week, we had our Group B Strep (GBS) test and the results came back negative!!!! (that’s what we wanted).
Since last week, we shampooed that carpets (and when I say we here, I mean Andrew), finished writing our birth plan, and packed up some special treats for our nurses (post on that soon).
I am still feeling tired a lot more than I was used too and I credit that really to my body preparing me for the lack of sleep that I am about to experience. My contractions are not consistent at all, but I know with every one that I have it’s my body preparing and moving along.
My one sad moment is that I do officially have stretch marks on my belly. It’s the one thing that I didn’t want and for them to come so late is so disappointing to me. It’s like my belly dropped a bit and I get them :/ I know most moms will just say it’s a blessing to remind me of my pregnancy and not a big deal; but, to me it is. I have had stretch marks on my legs since high school and even got them on my boobs really early in pregnancy, but my belly is one place I didn’t want them. But what can I do!
Until next week…….
My Baby’s Heartbeat Bear Review & Giveaway
Disclaimer: A product was sent to We’re Parents!? to review free of charge. The opinions here are my own and nothing influenced my opinion. There are affiliate links within this post. I only get paid if you make a purchase; however, this is a source of income and helps to run this blog, so thank you.
About the company:
My Baby’s Heartbeat Bear was started after a mom and Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer realized that she could provide mothers with the memory of a lifetime– her baby’s heartbeat. She started by offering them to her clients and quickly realized that she had a special item.
I was so excited to be able to review My Baby’s Heartbeat Bear. The best part of every single doctor’s visit is being able to hear my baby’s heartbeat. As much as I love feeling her move around, that sound is one of the most reassuring sounds I’ve ever heard in my life. I was sent a frog kit to review and was so surprised at how fast it arrived. Once it arrived, I pulled it out of the bag and figured out how everything worked. I was so pleased with how soft it felt and how well it is put together.
The instructions provided with the kit were well beyond explanatory. I never once had a question about how to use it. The only complaint I would have is that the mic has to be right up against/near what you are trying to record. We experimented a few times before taking to the doctors office and even a foot away sounds somewhat muffled. Once we got to the doctors office, we had to try to record a few different times before you could really hear the heartbeat because it was picking up a lot of static. But if you play around with it, you will get the perfect recording.
Overall, we are absolutely thrilled with our Frog Kit. It will be a great thing to have forever and I can’t wait to until the baby gets old enough to be able to listen to it herself 🙂
If you have already had a baby, but love the way these plush kits look don’t worry. These makes AWESOME presents for birthday or holidays for anyone. If you are a parent that travels a lot, it would be awesome to record a message, so your little one can hear your voice every night. It also makes for a great gift for family where you can have your little one record them a message before sending it. The possibilities are endless!
Buy It: You can purchase any of the kits for just $35 or any of their other products (outfits, holiday gifts, hats and more) on their website or at Amazon.com.
Disclaimer: A product was sent to We’re Parents!? to review free of charge. The opinions here are my own and nothing influenced my opinion. There are affiliate links within this post. I only get paid if you make a purchase; however, this is a source of income and helps to run this blog, so thank you.
36 week Pregnancy update
36 week Pregnancy update
Today we are officially 36 weeks pregnant!! So exciting! We had an appointment this week and are officially to the point where we will see the doctor every week until this little one decides to arrive! Since our last appointment 2 weeks ago I have gained 2lbs, so we are officially at 31 lbs total. So we are still on track to stay under our goal! We also had our Group B Strep (GBS) test this week and will find out the results from that test next week. Essentially, if I am positive, I will need to have antibiotics to make sure I don’t pass it on to our little one during delivery, but we’ll cross that road then.
In my post from last week, I hadn’t been really nesting. However, this past week I have been in overtime. I don’t remember the last time my house was this clean.
Earlier this week I scrubbed the bathroom floor three times, yes THREE, because until then I didn’t feel like it was clean enough. I also had the urge to scrub the walls in the bathroom and the kitchen too.
I am also getting everything together. All of her clothes are officially washed and put away and her hospital bag is completely packed. I have Andrew and mine’s bag halfway done.
I also feel like I’m reverting back to my 1st trimester. I am constantly sleepy and have to pee every 5 seconds again. I have also been having a lot more contractions. They are turning recently (past 4-5 days) from just the tightening to the crampy/menstrual feeling too. I’m glad things are moving along and progressing, but still hoping she stays in there a little longer.
On a happy note! I also became an auntie again! My sister had a new baby girl on Tuesday, making me an auntie to three beautiful little nieces!!
Until next week……
Hospital Bassinet Sign for Breastfed Baby
35 week Pregnancy Update
35 week pregnancy update!
So after last week’s post I promised that I would start weekly updates until the end of my pregnancy so here it goes!
We didn’t have an appointment this week but starting next week we will have one every week until Lil’ Miss decides she is ready to be out in the world! It’s very overwhelming to think that within the next few weeks we will be holding her in our arms. I don’t actually have a scale in our home (I refuse to worry about my weight–pregnant or not), so I can’t update you on my weight gain until next week’s appt.
35 weeks. |
It has started to get cold here, so sweatshirts and pants are now making up a majority of my wardrobe. With that also comes actually having to put on sneakers, which is somewhat hilarious. I can still reach my feet to put my shoes on, but I always just feel like I’m squishing her! It’s definitely not as comfortable as pre-pregnancy.
Andrew said the sweetest thing to me yesterday. He knows I’ve been having some back pain throughout my pregnancy and recently the pelvic pains have started, so he offered to carry my belly for me. While we all know it’s impossible, just the fact that he offered, was so sweet to me.
On a positive note, my ribs are starting to hurt a lot less. I am attributing this to the fact she is slowly dropping lower into my pelvic region, because I am starting to feel her more down there instead and let’s just say that’s an interesting feeling.
I still haven’t hit that full on “nesting” phase that everyone describes to me, so that gives me hope that I still have a little bit of time! We shall see!!
Until next week…
34 week Pregnancy Update
34 Week Pregnancy Update
I took this pic this morning and when I saw it I was like WOW! I always feel smaller than what I look like in pictures! I have been having some Braxton Hicks contractions for about a week and a half now. They aren’t painful at all yet and some only last 10 seconds, while others have been up to 2 minutes. On Friday, I freaked because I was having a bunch, but I drank a bunch of water, laid down, and they would go away. Every time I got back up, they would start again, so I rested a lot that day. If I walk a lot, I have them more, so I have tried to not go to the store for very long or do anything else that will bring them on more often. I need a few more weeks to prepare!!
Other symptoms I’m having: I have been nauseous a few times in the past week and also having some cramping later at night too. All completely normal and my body just getting ready. I have also been nesting a lot more. All of our cloth diapers are prepped and cloths are washed up.
I’m working on some more projects, that I will keep you updated on soon 🙂