the showers

Last Saturday, the ladies from my church community group (and Dea), hosted a baby shower for me. It was a wonderful time of celebrating the blessing of Riley’s upcoming arrival and I was touched that my cousins Julie and Erica and an 8 mos. pregnant Jenn B. were able to come down from Maine as well as Betsy and Marlene from Newburyport.

Riley collected some serious booty – lots of books, adorable clothes and handmade items (sock puppets from Aimee, glow-in-the-dark mobile from Heidy, Mickey Mouse blanket from Julie, and a homesewn “hooter hider” from Jenn K for his modest mama). Lisa found a bunch of moose-themed gifts in honor of my Alaskan roots and Riley got a personal invitation on a seashell from Gramma Betsy to come and play with her at Plum Island anytime (which we will take her up on!).

The spread was full of my favorite finger foods & drinks – fruit salad, cheese and crackers, thai spring rolls, thai iced tea, crab cakes – it was all delicious. Antonia brought mango nectar (made in her home country of Bulgaria) not knowing that it’s one of my favorite liquid treats. It’s awesome to have such great friends to celebrate with; I felt very loved by them all.

-Here you see the three preggos on the sofa (from left) – Jenn B (June), Me (May), Jenn K (April)

Alecia & Aimee who is holding Oil’s daughter Zippy – our son’s intended if we have our way (we’re negotiating the details of the dowry with Jon and Oil)

Group shot with Erica, Lisa (& CeCe), Dagmar & Oil

Me & Dea

Today, my co-workers threw me another shower with more good food and good stuff for Riley. The folks at InterGen were very generous and bought the stroller & car seat combo and Baby Bjorn we had registered for as well as other gifts. So now I don’t have to worry about not having a car seat to bring Riley home in – we have everything we need in the event of early labor.

Here’s a couple shots from today’s shower:

If labor happens it will only be early for the next 7 days. I’m 36 weeks today and as of next Thursday, Riley is considered full-term. May God have mercy on me and start those contractions soon after. I’m feeling “beached” at this point…

Shelby

35 weeks

In seeing the picture on the left, I'm reminded of the saying “It ain’t the jeans that make your butt look fat”. I'm not sure that horizontal stripes add any more to my girth at this point. A shorty like me only has so much room for a kid… ha.

The edema is bad enough that I’ve purchased sandals two sizes larger to accommodate my swollen feet. As my low-lying uterus is getting heavier, it’s constricting the flow of blood to/from my legs, making the problem worse. J’s been wonderful in icing and rubbing my feet down to encourage the fluid to move upwards. They always feel better afterwards and less like I’m walking with sausage legs.

Picture this... at the end of the sermon this morning (before the final hymn), three of us very pregnant women (due within the next few weeks) walking up the aisle together at church to use the ladies' room (which is behind the front stage). I really wish I had a picture of us in caravan... we had a good chuckle once we reached our destination. It's exciting to think that before too long we'll be joining the line of women walking up the aisle on the other side of the sanctuary to the nursery with all the other moms.

Looking forward to it,

Shelby

the lost art of sleeping

I’m getting a lot of looks of pity from co-workers, now that I’m Great With Child. I guess I’m looking tired now that my pace has slowed to a crawl. I am tired – I’m often up for a couple of hours a night as the aches keep me up more than they used to. I try to use it to read up on stuff. Three nights ago, I was reading the Nolo Will Maker instructions. Last night, it was handouts on immunizations and car seat installation. It eventually helps me to go back to sleep – for my usual 60-90 min increments.

So if you’re driving by our house at 2am and the living room light is on, you’ll know why.

Shelby

laughter and noise

At my bi-weekly appt last Saturday, my midwife said she was feeling more fluid in my abdomen and wanted to schedule me for another ultrasound (u/s) to check in on Riley and make sure all is well. Since he continues to move throughout the day and has a strong heartbeat, J and I weren’t too worried. They wanted to rule out polyhydramnios, which is excessive amniotic fluid in the uterus. Fortunately, the sonographer said my fluid levels were in the normal range (5-25 oz) -- I’m at 20 oz.

Riley, on the other hand, is a larger than average boy – 65^th percentile and estimated to be 5 lbs 9 oz. Average weight at 34 weeks is about a pound less than that. That being revealed – I decided to eliminate my daily sweets, as I don’t relish squeezing a 9 or 10 pounder out of my loins.

During the u/s, Riley had a hand resting underneath his chin – like he was contemplating what life outside the womb would be like. We can also confirm that he’s still in proper head-down position – no surprise to me as my right ab is sore from his repeated karate kicks. Not that I’m complaining…

My biggest concern in all of this was preterm labor, which would disqualify me from giving birth at the birth center. I have to be at least 37 weeks with no complications. That means he needs to stay in and “cook” for another three weeks at least. Once May 3^rd arrives, we’ll be ready for him.

I bought a print from artist Brian Andreas (of Storypeople fame) which touched me years ago when I saw it at a gallery in Maine. Underneath his whimsical artwork he writes:

“There are lives I can imagine without children,

but none of them have the same laughter and noise”

J took a picture of the print along with a colorful quilt that my sister-in-law sent to me last week.

Having had a wonderful life filled with friendship, romance, travel and exploration, I’m now looking forward to a life beautifully disrupted with laughter and noise. I’m putting the print up by the changing table to remind me of my little boy blessing as I’m wiping his bum for the umpteenth time.

Shelby

a change of plans

Two years ago, I had no plans of having a natural childbirth. I just assumed I’d labor and deliver like most women I knew – in a hospital with the meds. It was the idea of a water birth that first intrigued me and thus began my journey away from the hospital to a birth center with midwives.

Hospitals have always given me the creeps – the environment feels so cold and sterile to me. When I first checked out the birth center where I plan to deliver, I was immediately put at ease with how “homey” the environment was. It was more like a cozy hotel suite – I immediately felt comfortable there.

I've discovered that one of the fundamental differences between midwives and doctors is that midwives view pregnancy, labor and delivery as a normal, natural event that a woman’s body is designed for – doctors are trained to approach it more as a disease to be treated and to anticipate complications.

They tell us in our Bradley birth classes that less than 10% of labors have complications that require intervention (inducement, c-section, episiotomies, forceps etc). I've been shown that there are many things I can do before and during labor that will minimize the need for intervention -- natural ways of preparing myself for childbirth and how to work with my body as it's laboring.

I'm glad those interventions are available when really needed as they no doubt save lives. But the fact that over 25% of American deliveries are done via c-section is troubling to me. That's major abdominal surgery (yikes!). Maybe in today's litigious environment it's understandable why it may be over-prescribed. Maybe there's more of a feeling of control for the doc when he's not relying on the natural progression of labor.

J's perspective as a chiropractor of starting with the least invasive methods before going to meds and surgery is one that I've come to adopt as well. So, at some point I came to the conclusion that barring no complications, I want to experience childbirth without any unnecessary interventions and let my body do what the Creator designed it to do.

Being a person who prefers information to “winging it”, I have really appreciated the thoroughness of our Bradley classes. We’ve had 12 classes that cover nutrition, exercise and all aspects of labor and delivery (L&D) with the many variations that can occur. Last week, we actually practiced late first stage labor techniques for 30 minutes. Our instructor timed 60-second contractions 2 minutes apart and we tried out the various laboring positions that we were taught with our coaches providing the physical and emotional support. J did a great job of massaging and encouraging me to relax all of my muscles and breath deeply from my abdomen. He’s got a big role in this thing – it’s called “husband-coached childbirth”, so he’s much more actively involved in my labor, which is a great source of comfort for me.

We’ve watched about 15 natural childbirths which help to give us a picture of what a normal L&D might look like. Fortunately the midwives see a broader range of “normal” than a doctor does and I won't be encouraged to take interventions unless there’s apparent danger to me or Riley. If there are any complications, they'll put me on a gurney and have me at the hospital in minutes (the birth center is on the hospital grounds). It seemed the best of both worlds to me -- comfortable & safe for me & Riley.

So, as I wait out my final weeks of pregnancy, I don’t have the fear and apprehension of L&D that I might have had if I were less informed. I’m looking forward to seeing how much these classes will affect our approach to L&D when the big day finally arrives. I’m sure I’ll blog on it at a later time…

Shelby