Brenda’s Pregnancy Journal

Even though I’m too tired to make dinner when I get home from work each night I somehow have the energy to do anything related to preparing for Elliot. I just can’t sit still! I’ve reorganized and rearranged & cleaned. It seems there is just so much stuff that a baby requires & finding room for it all isn’t easy. Clutter can really bother me so finding a place for everything has been a challenge. I was able to convince myself to lay down and rest for a while last night - but only b/c I used it as relaxation to practice breathing for labor. Charlie came home & we practiced more - using a clothespin on my ear to simulate pain. I was actually suprised how much it hurt at first, but then how breathing & concentrating on something really worked to get my mind off the pain.

I organized a bunch of our books last night, it’s been a while since I’ve read anything other than pregnancy/baby related stuff. I love diving into a good novel, I’ll have to read some when I’m off work before he comes.

Night before last I woke up at 1:00 a.m. to go to the restroom. When I got back in bed I thought I’d stay awake until I felt him move. Well it was like 1/2 hour and I still hadn’t felt anything so I let myself get a little freaked out … went downstairs to get the stethescope & listened to his heartbeat for a while to reassure myself. And of course when I went back to bed to sleep he decided to have karate practic. Messing w/ mama already.

I have my weekly check up tomorrow, I’m hoping to hear that there is further progress, but I also don’t want to get my hopes up - or place too much hope in any news anyway. It’s possible to go weeks a few centimeters dilated before going into labor, and it’s possible to go from 0 to 10 in just a few hours, so even if there is *progress* it is not an indication of when labor will begin.

My diaper bag came in the mail today! I haven’t been home to see it yet, but I’m excited too. I ordered it online & mom bought it for me as a shower gift. I’m sure It will be packed by the end of the week, silly me.

I had no idea what bandwith was but I lost my journal to it….finally figured it out & I ended up paying $2 to get my journal back up - no biggie!

We finalized our birth plan last night & this morning I printed it out on cute little baby footprint paper. It think we did a good job of sharing our desires, but not appearing inflexible to the hospital staff.

Our Family Birth Plan

 

Mom’s name: Brenda

Baby’s name: Elliot

Coach/Dad: C

Attendandt/Grandma: S

Due Date: May 12, 2005

Thank you for your assistance & participation in our childbirth. We recognize that a birth plan is only a guideline for our preferences and that flexibility is required due to the unpredictable nature of childbirth. We ask that we be given a few minutes alone to discuss any and all procedures, medications, interventions etc. If there are items in our birth plan that cannot be accommodated please let us know immediately so that we may anticipate the change.

 

Labor

• It is my goal to have an unmedicated labor - please do not offer pain medications, I will ask for them if I need them.
• Encouragement by the staff and doctor to deliver without pain medication is greatly appreciated and any help or advice to accomplish this goal is welcome.

• I wish to be able to move around, walk, and change position at will throughout labor.
• I would like to have fluids by mouth, and would prefer a saline lock in case IV becomes necessary.

• I would like intermittent monitoring unless continuous monitoring becomes required by the condition of the baby.
• I do not want an internal monitor unless Elliot has shown some sign of distress.

• I prefer not to have my membranes ruptured artificially, if the staff or the doctor feels that it would be to my benefit or that of the baby we would like to be given a few minutes in private to discuss it.
• If labor isn’t progressing, I prefer the membrane be ruptured before other methods are used to augment labor.

• I prefer to be allowed to try changing position and other natural methods of labor augmentation before receiving pitocin.
• I would prefer not to have an episiotomy unless absolutely required for the baby’s safety.

Cesarean

• Unless absolutely necessary, I would like to avoid a Cesarean Section.
• If the doctor determines that a Cesarean is indicated, we would like time in private to discuss it.
• I wish to have an epidural for anesthesia if a cesarean is indicated.

Delivery

• I would like my husband and my mother to support me and my legs during the pushing stage.
• If I am fully dilated, and Elliot is not in distress; I would like to wait to push until I feel the urge.
• I would like to have Elliot placed on my stomach/chest immediately after delivery.

Immediately after Delivery

• I would like to have my husband Charlie cut the cord.
• I would like to hold Elliot while I deliver the placenta and any tissue repairs are made.
• I prefer to hold Elliot rather than have him placed under heat lamps.

Breastfeeding

• I plan to breastfeed and would like to begin nursing immediately or as soon as possible after birth.
• Unless medically necessary, I do not wish to have any bottles given to Elliot.

Circumcision

• We would like Elliot to be circumcised before we check out of the hospital.

I had this message on my yahoo pregnancy calendar today: Congratulations! Your pregnancy is officially full-term. The baby can arriveany day now.

I was slightly suprised b/c I’ve heard anywhere from 37 weeks to 38 weeks is considered full term, so 36 weeks sounds a little early - but it is so wonderful to know that Elliot would likely be just fine if he arrived today.

I never tire of feeling him move around inside - now that I know how he’s positioned it’s fun because I can tell what part of the body is sticking out of my tummy. He must be sideways becasue when I sit down sometimes my tummy points out like an arrow rather than round like a ball.

I’m glad I’m a morning person - every morning at 6:00 a.m. I walk into City Hall thinking, boy I can’t believe how great I feel!  By the end of the day I can be pretty tired - but I’m still in awe of how good I feel most of the time. I never expected pregnancy to be this good- physically & emotionally it’s just been a wonderful experience.

Here we all are, there were also 5 infants under a year old, something must be in the water!

I added a new album with lots of pictures from my showers.

I’m due in a month from today! Time is flying. I had a wonderful “friends” shower on Sunday, my friend Amanda threw it for me at my mom’s house. She did a wonderful job. We played several games I hadn’t seen before - a mothers of the Bible quiz,  “melt the baby out of the ice cube first”, then many people brought their baby pictures & one game was to match the baby picture w/ the person. There was also a Pregnancy Journal Quiz.  It was a lot of fun & what I loved most was that there was enough time for me to spend time visiting with each of the guests. I’m going to post a picture later of the 7 pregnant women who were there, and on top of that there were several babies. Elliot will have lots of little friends his age as he grows up. God has truly blessed me with many wonderful friends in my life & it was special to have so many of them together. My favorite part of the shower was the prayer time, many people prayed for Elliot & I and it was special to have the shower begin that way - the most important part of raising Elliot will be pointing him to Christ, and having friends & family pray for you is better than any other baby shower gift. We were blessed again with lots of gifts, and we’re really set, there’s not a whole lot more we need before he arrives. God has graciously provided so much.

One special guest was Tania who came down from Sacramento w/ her husband and one year old son. It was a year ago this month I went to her baby shower. We hadn’t seen them since, so it was really great to spend time together. Josiah their son is so adorable and playing & watching him only made us more eager to meet our own son.

I updated my albums with belly pics for the last 2 weeks -you’ll notice stretch marks have arrived - strange thing is - they are only on the side that I take pictures on - the other side is spotless - can flash cause stretch marks? :-)  - also in the family album I added a pic of me @ my shower holding my beautiful niece Natania.