How far along are you? P#1: 18 weeks, 10 hours and 2 minutes P#2: Let me check my calendar
My expectant mother’s record of prenatal and natal care P#1:Always with me P#2: Where the h*** is it?!
Food P#1: I ate very healthy, no sweets P#2: I just had four cookies for breakfast
Not lifting heavy things P#1: Honey, you have to carry this pound of bread, you know, I’m not allowed to lift heavy things P#2: Carrying the shopping bag on on arm and my 13kg son on the other arm
So what’s going on with the baby this week? P#1: My baby’s heart is dividing into four chambers, the teeth start to grow… P#2: It’s growing
I’m hungry P#1: Don’t eat too much, all the weight you put on you have to lose at the end of the pregnancy P#2: Give me food, please! NOW!
How far along: 40 weeks + days How much do I weigh: 62,2 kg, which means I gained around 13,5 kg (30 pounds) this pregnancy. My weight gain during pregnancy curvesBelly size: Big, hard and heavy 🙂 Circumference 104 cm, Top to Bottom 46 cm Baby Bump Week 41 – 40w6dBelly button in or out: Even Sleep: Very good, most of the time. If I get up it’s only once. Lucky me! But sometimes after I got up I can’t go back to sleep for hours. Food (non) cravings: Nothing special, not that hungry. Symptoms: For being high pregnant and about to pop anytime I have very less symptoms, hardly any. A little heartburn, my knees sound terrible when I do yoga. Labor Signs: Hardly any, some pelvis pressure, some cramps. Nothing worth mentioning I guess. On Tuesday my attending OB checked me and noticed some blood, which might be my mucus plug. It was very less though and probably doesn’t mean anything.
I’ve been taking a bath every day and making hayflower steam baths a few days. I still drink three cups of raspberry leave tea daily. I do yoga daily, sit on my exercise ball at the dining table, walk stairs, go for walks. I also took a few Caulophyllum thalictroides D 4 pills, what the midwives gave me. Those are homeopathic pills which might cause contractions. Who knows, but no contractions at 41 weeks. I’m not forcing my bubby on having sex with me (although I’m bossy like that and would like to give it a try) because my true believe is that you cannot force labor. If I don’t have contractions I just don’t have them, why should they come from taking a walk or a bath.
I do things that are comfortable but don’t take my strength.
Maternity clothes: Ready to say goodbye to too tight pants. Can’t wait to buy new summer clothes in a few months. Stretch marks: None Miss anything: Nothing Looking forward to: Meeting our baby-boy!! Best happenings this week: Seeing that our baby-boy is doing just fine. The CTG on Sunday in the hospital was good, had another OB appointment on Tuesday and Thursday (the first male OB to examine me btw) and all was looking good. He checked me and the baby
Cervix: one finger fits through and it’s very soft
Blood pressured: 120 / 80
Amniotic fluid: baby has enough (more than 7 for sure)
Placenta: looks very good
Baby’s head: around 9,7 cm and tight in my pelvis
CTG: all good, baby’s heart-rate is 130 – 150 and he’s quite active. No contractions
Ultrasound – Baby-Boy 40+ weeks
On Tuesday my attending OB said that the hospital is quite busy this week and that he therefore made an appointment for my induction on Thursday, March 26st.
That would be 40+5 from the calculated due-date and 40+3 from the ultrasound (and my) due-date. He explained why they prefer to induce latest one week after the due-date, which I understand, but I asked him if we could induce on Monday, March 30th, instead, seeing the calculated due-date (March 21st) was always wrong in my mind, due to my irregular cycle and seeing that, in my opinion, my period didn’t start on June 15th (like I told my OB) but the 17th or even more the 19th (which would come out with a calculated & ultrasound due-date of Monday, March 23rd to March 25th).
He understood, said that’s no problem (seeing he’s only my attending OB he doesn’t know the details about my “history”). He looked at the ultrasound image from my 11th week where they figured out the due-date and said ok, Monday is ok 🙂 And seeing everything is fine with our baby, I’d like to give our baby-boy the chance to find his way into life by himself one more week.
My CTG on Saturday in the hospital was good, one contraction in 45 minutes – ha! The midwife also made another prenatal acupuncture for free 😀 I have two more nights where I can go into labor before getting induced. I’m quite nervous now…
And again, a big thank you to my Baby-Boy for this awesome pregnancy 😀 This time it’s final 🙂My dear Baby Boy, we’ll meet you soon
Movement: So so much! I can feel him moving around like crazy. That’s such a weird thought – knowing to have a human baby in the belly who’s all “done”, it’s unbelievable. He’s turning his back from left to right to left to right since Thursday evening (over a week now). He’s never done that. You’d think he’s ready to leave the nest (or he’s just feeling way too comfortable now). Gender: Baby-Boy Bruno Happy or moody most of the time: Happy and very excited and nosy! I did have some thoughts about how the pain of inducing will kick in and how I will handle it. Will it go from 0 to 100, will it take hours or days, will it not kick in at all? It’s a fear of the uncertain, a totally new experience – how will the pain feel and will I be able to handle it?! Sports: Walks, daily Yoga 40+ weeks baby bump
How far along: It’s my first due date 🙂 (my second according to the ultrasound in week 11 is March 23rd) How much do I weigh: 62,4 kg (+ 13,6 kg / + 700 g this week / 30 pounds in total) Belly size: Circumference 104 cm, Top to Bottom 44 cm, photo taken on Friday, at 39 weeks 6 days Baby Bump Week 40 – 39w6d40 weeks baby bump Belly button in or out: Even / Out Sleep: Getting up once (sometimes first at 5:30 in the morning), so, very good with all of the boppy pillows surrounding me. Food (non) cravings: Nothing special, I can still eat lots, unfortunately no loss in appetite. I was really in the mood for chocolate on Tuesday. Lots of chocolate. So much chocolate!!! Symptoms: The belly is getting so heavy, it’s hard to get up from the couch occasionally, especially after I was laying down on it 🙂 Labor Signs: Very less Braxton Hicks, nesting (which, I think, is not a labor sign seeing my due date can be any day), I’m a bit bitchy – the things my boyfriend does/says annoy me fast. Maternity clothes: They are getting tiiiiight – it’s uncomfortable to sit and wear maternity panties and pants, I wish I could just go naked down there (but – another symptom – a lot of vaginal discharge) Stretch marks: None Miss anything: Nothing Looking forward to: giving B I R T H. Let’s see, some of my “easy-to-remember” dates have already passed
03.03.2015 (I already have plans with a friend there though)
05.03.2015 (I have an appointment for a foot care there though)
15.03.2015
19.03.2015 – Two months after my birthday
21.03.2015 – Baby’s Due Date
23.03.2015 – Baby’s second Due Date, according to the ultrasound
25.03.2015
27.03.2015 – 5 months before my bubby’s birthday
30.03.2015
So there’ll be another zodiac sign with horns in our family. Our Baby-Boy might be determined, fiery, have executive skills, a born leader, impulsive, headstrong, opinionated, loyal, physical, driven, ambitious… Aries doesn’t match with Capricorn (me) or Virgo (the bubby) which I’m ok with, we’ll make it match. I have horns so it’s clear that the ram and the goat abut. But: Aries signs have excellent sense of humor, and they get along with almost everyone at the party (and they DO know how to party). Aries can be impatient, but we love them anyway because they are devoted friends, lovers and family members (aww) 🙂 Best happenings this week: On Monday I went to my fourth and last prenatal acupuncture. I got 12 needles – one in each hand, two in each of my knee areas, one in each ankle, one in each pinky right next to the nail (ouchie) and one on each foot. I walked into the delivery room at the hospital, the midwife looked at me and said “looks like the baby’s coming soon”.
She wanted to check me, I let her know that I’m having an OB appointment with my gyn that same evening, so she just checked how our baby-boy is laying, made a CTG and checked my urine. All good and I didn’t have contractions.
So, in the evening I had my second check for that day:
How far along: 39+2
CTG: all good
My Blood Pressure: 120/80
Cervix: 1cm dilated, soft
Baby’s weight: around 3100g (6 pounds 13 ounces)
Amniotic fluid: 11
Placenta: 95% intact
Baby’s head: around 34cm, not completely tight in my pelvis
My OB wanted me to get in touch with the OB who will be delivering our baby this same week, seeing she could still push baby’s head up a bit. Other than that she said the supply for baby-boy is all very good so there’s no need for inducing that soon. But that’s something the hospital and/or delivery OB will have to decide.
So I made the appointment with the baby-delivering-OB for Friday morning. I asked him to check me to see if baby’s head is tight so he first checked my cervix, 1cm and yes, Baby’s head is tight in my pelvis. Then he checked the Baby, he measured him around 3400g (7 pounds 8 ounces), the head around 34cm and he’s still got a lot of amniotic fluid, so he sees no reason for inducing (yay, I’m happy he sees it that way).
I have another appointment with him on Tuesday (40+3) where we’ll have the induction-talk and on Sunday (40+1), I’ll go and get checked by a midwife at the hospital where I will be delivering.
I try to find my peace with eventually getting induced which is hard. I try not to think about it and if I do think about it, I try to see it as ok, nothing bad, maybe even something good and helping my body to get ready. It just seems too planned and not natural. I don’t like that the doctors seem to be fixated on that one date, the estimated due date. For me, the estimated due date begins today and ends next Saturday, for me it’s an estimated due range of 7 days and not one day. I have an irregular cycle, my period doesn’t start from one day to another, my ovulation – no idea when that is. Setting an estimated time range for a baby to be born would take off a lot of pressure.
The OB also made a 3D color ultrasound of our Baby’s face, it was the best 3D I’ve seen, I could see our baby-boy and what he looks like! I even got a photo which might be the last in-uterus photo of our baby-boy 🙂 Ultrasound 39 weeks 6 days with his arm before his faceMovement: Still doing his regular gymnastics. He’s been really, really, really active on Thursday evening for a long time and all of the sudden I felt his kicks in my right side, so I assumed he turned his back from right to left. I asked the OB on Friday and yes, our Baby-Boy turned, at 39 weeks 5 days, from one side to the other. I’ve read a few weeks before that it’s not such a big problem for the Babies to turn but it’s very very unlikely that they will flip so that all of a sudden their head is not in the pelvis anymore. I hope he doesn’t get too excited to meet us and decides to make somersaults!
I think he turned back on Friday afternoon… I’m not sure now, I feel his kicks, it seems, everywhere. Gender: Baby-Boy Bruno Happy or moody most of the time: Happy and Bitchy Sports: I’m lifting a lot of weight 🙂 Going for walks and did yoga once. Me giving kisses to a very photogenic baby 😉
How far along: 31 weeks 6 days How much do I weigh: 56,9 kg (+ 8,1 kg) Belly size: I am trying to eat more to gain more weight. Yesterday eve I ate two big plates with spaghetti and a veggie-tomatoe sauce and had ice-cream for dessert 🙂Baby Bump Week 32 – 31w6dBelly button in or out: It’s coming out a bit, a tiny bit Sleep: Pretty good, getting/waking up once (not) every night Food (non) cravings: Nothing special My Birthday 2015 – I’m 31 weeks and 2 days pregnant 🙂Symptoms: Heartburn Maternity clothes: One pair of jeans is getting a bit too tight around my belly so now I have exactly one pair of pants which still fit good without giving me trouble breathing. Let’s see how long. Stretch marks: None Miss anything: I’m feeling good and everything is pretty fine so I’m not missing anything yet. Looking forward to: I’m looking forward to not getting up early on Monday morning to go to work 🙂 Best happenings this week:
Monday: Had a lovely 33rd birthday. I didn’t go to work so in the morning I baked some cupcakes, then the boyfriend and I had a lovely breakfast and went for a nice walk in the early afternoon. It was very sunny so we stopped at a coffee shop and had coffee and cake. In the eve we went out for dinner.
Tuesday: On Tuesday I had my second prenatal class. We learned about contractions and when we should drive to the hospital.
On Wednesday I baked some more cupcakes which I all brought to work on Thursday to celebrate my birthday and maternity leave.
Friday: I had my last day of work for this year 🙂
Movement: Lots! His feet are kicking the right side of my uterus Gender: Baby-Boy Bruno Happy or moody most of the time: Happy and getting more and more excited for the baby to come Sports: Not allowed at the moment
