The waiting game

This waiting game is completely ridiculous. I don't know how women throughout the ages survived it. Guess they didn't have sonograms giving them a due date that apparently only five percent of women actually hit.

Can you believe that - only five percent of women give birth on their due date??? Why does the medical field dangle a date in front of an expectant mother that has such low odds??? GRRRR!!! Especially when we're super hormonal, carrying an extra 30-plus pounds and just plain want to meet our new son or daughter. You know what the answer is - MEN! It's because men still dominant the medical field and have no CLUE how torturous this wait is on women. Okay, I better digress before I start alienating the few male readers I may have... hee hee.

Since late Tuesday night, I've been feeling what apparently are prelabor contractions. They feel like PMS cramps - that dull aching in your belly. I told my midwife about this on Thursday when I saw her for the second time this week (the first was on Monday). Due to the long, holiday weekend and since my due date is Sunday, she thought it'd be best to not wait longer than a week. She now puts me at 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced! I have another appointment set up for next Wednesday (post-due date), but she said she'd be surprised with all my body's progress if I would need it. She did give me light at the end of the tunnel that if the baby wasn't here by next Wednesday, we could probably schedule an induction next Thursday or Friday since my body is so ready to go. THANK GOODNESS! One woman at work told me she was two weeks over due before her doctor induced, and I almost let out a scream of horror!

Last night I had fairly clear-cut contractions for about three hours every 10 minutes for 30-45 seconds, and I really thought, THIS IS IT! but then they started leveling off to 15 minutes and I just went up to bed by 10 p.m. ... This kid is already toying with me! ;) lol

No baby yet, but I'm hoping this Memorial Day weekend will bring us our little bundle of joy!

Baby update

My FINAL weekly midwife's appointment before my due date was yesterday. She now puts me at 2 cm dilated and 75 percent effaced.

I'm hoping all this forward progress prior to labor means the baby will shoot right out... but not too fast. My mother's favorite story (or at least the one I remember hearing the most) about me as a baby is that I shot out like a cannon during delivery and consequently had a mean-looking conehead for the first few days of my life. My grandpa even said to put me back in! Not nice Wilbur, especially for a doctor! Apparently my husband was a cone-headed newborn as well. The odds don't look so good for this baby. Note to self - make sure to pack a hat! LOL! ;)

Come on kid! We're all so eager to meet you, and selfishly I would like to be able to stop waddling and wear cute summery shoes. Not to mention the chore of getting up and down, especially from a supine position. And I won't even broach the topic of losing my ENORMOUS belly - see post from Sunday for latest photo.

One week to go

Seven days ... 168 hours ... 4,032 minutes to go until the baby's estimated arrival, but who's counting???

Okay, I am! I'm going nuts waiting for this kid to arrive. Especially after our false alarm last Tuesday. It became so much more apparent the baby could show up ANY time now, and I'm definitely ready for it. Perhaps not ready in the terms of I know how to do everything, but the fear of actually taking care of the baby has been overshadowed by my discomfort of late pregnancy coupled with my impatience.

Since Tuesday, I haven't really experienced any contractions, at least nothing like I did the other day. If those weren't "real" contractions, I'm more fearful than ever what the true ones feel like. Breathe, breathe, breathe! OMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! (There's my yoga tip for the day. Actually I did a little yoga this morning. Mainly half sun salutes, hip rolls and pelvic tilts.)

I think I'm in full-on nesting mode. Friday evening I got a wild hair to research various recipes that freeze well so I could make a bunch of meals to save for after baby's arrival. My friend Libby inspired me because she made three freezer meals for us earlier this week in preparation for baby to be.

After finding some cool Web sites on the subject (am I lame or what?), I realized OAMC is the acronym a lot of these folks use for making freezer meals - Once A Month Cooking. I ended up following "the plan" method for freezer cooking, which means I made a bunch of food based on one type of meat - I chose chicken. Also seems more efficient to me to make two or three of the same meal so I ended up creating four different recipes and twice the quantity of each for eight meals.

I don't know how people cook for an entire month in one day. It took me a half a day to cook the eight meals, and I am now spent. In fact, my feet are all swollen, and I even made sure to sit and take breaks. Now I'm blogging with my feet propped up higher than my heart. I'll probably do legs up the wall pose a little later and maybe even take an epsom salt bath to help... usually works.

All the various Web sites (check out the ones I saved on my del.icio.us) stressed to shop one day and cook the next. Yet I was so excited about doing it (yes, I'm a dork!), I really wanted to cook after I grocery shopped. Luckily my husband encouraged me to stick to the instructions and am so glad I waited. It's definitely tiring cooking that much stuff, especially when 39 weeks pregnant, but I have to admit it was kind of fun. My hubby was smart and decided to go pursue one of his interests outside the house while I cooked (i.e., poker at the boats). So I turned up my tunes, sang and cooked away!

Perhaps I could've done some prep work (cut some veggies and cooked the chicken up) the night before, but all in all, I'm so glad I did it. Now we have eight meals I made plus Libby's three for a total of 11 meals! I think some of it might actually be more than one meal, at least for the two of us, so it may end up being about 15 meals, give or take.

So no baby yet, but at least this future mom and dad will have more time to take care of him or her instead of spending time cooking.

Happy Mother's Day

Found a great overview article about prenatal yoga on YogaJournal.com called Yoga for Moms-to-be; thought it was fitting for Mother's Day.

(Photo of me today at 38 weeks!)

Not sure if this is technically my first Mother's Day or not, but I did receive some Mother's Day cards, which was nice. I also was able to check out the DVD Yoga for Your Pregnancy that I blogged about earlier this week. Received it from Netflix and practiced the energizing, 30-minute practice a few times along with the meditation, pranayama and birthing room section. There's also a 17-minute relaxation practice and a postnatal section.

If you're new to yoga and expecting, this is a good DVD to try. If you have Netflix, I strongly suggest renting it first to make sure you enjoy it. I'm not sure if I recommend buying it, especially if you're more versed in yoga because it's fairly basic. However, it's definitely a great practice to do later on in your pregnancy, and the birthing room and meditation section are unique to any prenatal yoga DVD I've found. The alternate nostril breathing demonstration within the pranayama or breath section was very good as well. In addition, there's three women representing each stage of pregnancy and doing the poses in various ways, which is always nice so you may use the practice throughout your entire pregnancy.

Meditation for childbirth

Saturday hubby and I attended an all-day childbirth preparation class. After a difficult day at the office Friday, I must admit I wasn't looking forward to spending half of my weekend indoors in class when I could be wallowing in the past. Luckily I woke up Saturday bright and early and felt better about life and more excited about the class. Plus we prepaid so it would have been stupid not to at least go for the morning portion.

About 10 other couples showed up and most were due within the next month (just like me!) or two. During the introductions, we had to share our fears and concerns about the labor and delivery so I said I wasn't really worried about the labor but the hub is so that was the main reason we were there. Sounded like other soon-to-be dads felt the same way in the room.

Definitely didn't regret going - although you may want to ask my husband what he thought! First-time parents should take advantage of this type of class if available because being informed eliminates fear. Well, maybe...

At one point, hubby's hyperventilation through one of the birthing videos almost made me shake him. Yet, luckily for both of us, he seemed to pull it together once the vagina shots were said and done. I will admit seeing the placenta being delivered was trippy, but I'm glad I saw it. Now I'm almost thinking I might have the mirror down south when the baby is crowning, and I NEVER thought I would want to see that. But how often can you observe such a thing, especially when it's your own flesh and blood? And if hubby isn't going to, doesn't one of us need to witness it?

All joking aside, I do think hubby feels more informed and aware of what to anticipate. We learned a lot about the various stages of labor and what to do when - I'll try to share more of those insights later this week such as when to head to the hospital and different laboring positions. About 40 percent of the class was techniques on how to stay calm and relaxed throughout labor, and most were derived from yoga. Several meditation and breathing techniques were discussed plus most of the labor positions are asanas or yoga postures. So I feel really prepared on this front. Think I'm going to focus my personal yoga practice more on meditation and the postures that will help throughout labor like squatting, table and cat/cow.

Since it's "Meditation Monday," I'll share one of the meditations given during the class to prepare for the birth and to do while in labor.

Meditation to prepare for or during labor:

Imagine you are inside your uterus and can see your baby. Say hello to your baby and look deeply into your baby's eyes. Ask how he is doing. Continue talking with your baby as much as you'd like - perhaps sharing your hopes and dreams for him. Then give your baby a hug and kiss and tell him that you can't wait to meet him.

Rock-star parking

Although it was a gloomy, stormy Monday, I didn't mind because I knew I had a rock-star parking spot waiting for me at work thanks to my little jelly in the belly!

People at the office told me I could request parking for expectant mothers, but I just kept forgetting to follow up. I finally remembered to send an e-mail Friday - the contact told me my own personal spot would be ready for me on Monday - even has my name on the sign! It's all mine and is about 15 steps away from the front door. A huge improvement to the parking I typically find at work by the time I arrive at 8:30 a.m.
I also saw these two geese walking together tonight as I left work. Thought they were cute...

After a week off from teaching yoga due to the wood floors being redone at the YMCA, I returned to the mat. Boy what a difference a week makes. I teach power vinyasa-style yoga, and at 30 weeks it's getting more difficult for me to teach and demonstrate various postures. The hardest part is talking as I'm doing even the simplest things, which causes me to easily lose my breath. Plus, I'm just getting large enough to be uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong, yoga is still doable as a pregnant woman and very beneficial, but power yoga is probably not the best type, especially in the third trimester.

Here's a great posture to do for your hips and groin - plus it's nice and relaxing. Cobbler's pose against the wall; feels so good!

Beginning the last trimester

How am I already 28 weeks pregnant AND beginning the third trimester? Where does the time fly?

Counting the baby's movements is something I apparently should start doing to monitor the baby's health, according to a Web article I found the other day. The average times a baby will move is about 10 times within a two-hour period by week 28. The little squirt has been moving a ton lately, which is reassuring yet freaky at the same time. Especially since it is 2.4 pounds and the size of a Chinese cabbage - I'll never look at vegetables the same way again after this little cabbage sprouts!