Another doctor’s appointment
This morning Jered and I went to what I hope is our very last doctor’s appointment. We have made a bit of progress- this morning’s statistics are as follows: fingertip dilated, 70% effaced and the baby is at -2 station. This means that things are progressing, but they are not as far as I along as I had hoped. Of course, I was hoping for “the baby is crowning, off to labor and delivery you go!” which isn’t exactly realistic either!
The plan of action is to wait it out this week and see if things get moving on their own. If not, we are scheduled for another appointment next Monday (when I will be 41 weeks) to see if I’ve made any more progress. Depending on that appointment we would then move forward with cervidil (which is a cervical ripening agent) which they would administer in the evening and send me home. The next morning I would get checked again, and hopefully labor will have started up on its own through the cervidil. If not, I would then be admitted next Tuesday or Wednesday for an induction with pitocin. We are really hoping that it won’t come to that. I want to give this hypnobirthing thing a good honest try, and I know that labor induced with pitocin is far more difficult than a labor that starts on its own. Of course, we are only just due this week, so I am still quite hopeful that things will get moving in the next few days, all on their own!
We will keep you all updated, but at this point it looks like we have a tentative “end” date to the pregnancy on or before June 18th or 19th… let’s hope for sooner- we are ready to meet the baby and I am ready to not be pregnant anymore!!
Filed under Doctor's Office, Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)June is here
We made it to the first of June which means our little Uni will indeed be born in June! We had our 38 week doctor’s appointment last week and had our first check of how things are progressing. Things are softening up and getting ready for labor and the baby has moved down to negative 3 station. Basically this means that labor is going to happen in the next two weeks, which, of course, we already knew!
At the appointment on Friday we were glad to hear that things are moving along and that the baby has moved down. At previous appointments the baby was still really high up, so we have a bit of progress. Jered and I have been walking about two and a half miles every evening at a good pace to try and use gravity to move the baby out. We are excited to finally meet this baby that has been hanging out in my belly for the past nine months!!! I’ve also been using our exercise ball to help with back achy-ness and pelvic pressure. I try and sit on the exercise ball at night when we are just lounging around watching tv, and it also helps to kind of kneel over it to take pressure off my back. I don’t know how I could get comfortable without it!
As we near the end of this pregnancy and get closer and closer to the beginning of our lives as a family of three I can’t help but be thankful that this pregnancy has been relatively easy. I am grateful that I haven’t had too many uncomfortable physical symptoms and that I’ve had enough energy to get through a tough semester of school. Timing has also been perfect for us and I am so happy that this baby is coming in June- no classes, no work for nearly three months. This also works out perfectly since the summers are less busy for Jered at work which allows him a bit more flexibility when it comes to taking time off and possibly working a modified schedule once he goes back to work. I am also thankful for the support of all of our family and friends throughout this process- talk about lucky, I have my own personal masseuse (thanks Mom!) We have been really lucky during this pregnancy and can only hope that labor, delivery and the transition to family life go half as smoothly as the past nine months have!
Filed under Doctor's Office, Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)9 months pregnant
Today I had another doctor’s appointment, marking the first of my weekly appointments and the beginning of the ninth month of pregnancy! All is well with me and the baby, and I had my Group Beta Strep test done today (piece of cake). I will find out next week if I am positive or not. We’re hoping that I’m negative- if I’m positive I have to have IV antibiotics during labor and I would have to go to the hospital a little sooner than if I don’t have it. You may be wondering why going to the hospital sooner would be something we want to avoid- well, through the hypnobirthing classes we are taking we hope to labor at home as long as possible. The longer we wait to go to the hospital (within reason, of course) the more likely we are to be able to do the med-free birth we want comfortably and at our own pace. So cross your fingers that I’m GBS negative!
At the appointment today I went over our birth plan/preference sheet with the midwife. She was very open to everything we included on it and said that nothing we are asking for is unreasonable. What is this mysterious birth preference sheet that we’ve mentioned a few times? Well, our midwife and our hypnobirthing instructor have described it as a way to communicate our preferences about labor and delivery to our caregivers at the hospital. Apparently, in the midst of labor there is quite a bit going on, and having preferences written down ahead of time can be useful! I don’t really see this preference sheet as set in stone as I’m aware that anything can happen in labor, however, I’ve been reassured by our midwife and our OB that if my pregnancy is any indication of what my labor will be like I have every reason to believe that our wishes for a natural and med free birth can be met. In case you are curious, here are a few bullet points from our birth plan.
- The birth environment is very important to us. For that reason we ask that the lights be kept dim, noise be avoided and the door closed for privacy. We would like for all entering the room to enter as quietly as possible.
- We are attempting to have a natural birth, which we believe to be birth without medical and/or chemical intervention. We do understand that there are procedures that may be necessary. Except in the case of an extreme emergency, we ask that we be given the opportunity to accept or refuse any procedure. We also request that the least invasive or restricting versions of procedures (i.e. walking epidural, external monitor) be used.
- We plan to handle pain with relaxation, massage, and water.
- We are aware of our pain relief options and ask that you not offer chemical pain relief (IV medications, epidural, spinal)
- We plan to bring our own birthing ball to use during labor.
- If induction becomes necessary, we ask that non-chemical induction methods be tried before chemical methods. If chemical methods do become necessary, we prefer to use the cervical cream before trying pitocin.
- I would like to push at my own pace- breathing the baby down using the hypnobirthing method.
- We prefer to not have an episiotomy.
- Jered would like to announce the sex of the baby and cut the umbilical cord once it has stopped pulsing (after 3-5 minutes)
- After the birth, we wish to nurse our baby immediately.
- If Cesarean becomes necessary, I would like to be conscious, Jered would like to be present at all times and we still prefer that our child be nursed immediately
So that’s our birth “plan” as of now. We have a separate sheet for our preferences in the nursery- it’s much shorter and includes things like who can come in to see the baby while the routine nursery stuff is going on. In addition to crafting our birth plan we’ve also been busy packing our bag for the hospital. It was really an easy job- one change of clothes for me, one for Jered, a coming home outfit for the baby, a few diapers, some chapstick (apparently my lips could get dry during labor), some change for the vending machines, our camera and video camera, and a list of people to call when Uni makes his or her grand debut.
For those of you who believe in Old Wives’ Tales… Uni’s heart rate was just a pumping today- the midwife stayed in the room for about 10 straight minutes while Uni rumbled around. All the moving around had Uni’s heart rate up near 180!!! That’s the high end of normal, so the midwife told me to sit back for 10 minutes and rest to see if we could get the baby to calm down. Even after a 10 minute rest Uni was still busy bouncing around, but the heartrate went down to the high 150’s. Uni’s baseline heartrate has been in the low 150’s- so our appointment must have coincided with Uni’s hour on the inter-uterine treadmill! The wives’ tales say that heart rates above 140 indicate your baby is a girl- I guess we’ll find out soon enough- less than one month to go!
Just for fun- I leave you with a picture of Jered and I blowing out the candles at our baby shower last month.
(that bunny is hanging from my mom’s chandelier, not coming out of my head, fear not!)
And now… proof that our little bun in the oven is, indeed, nearing its birthday!
Hippobirthing
The third person voice in this post is because Jered and Esther are writing this jointly. Generally the paragraphs that sound better are written by Esther, the ones that appear to be written by someone with a basic grasp of English are written by Jered. You have been warned.
Friday was our 34 week doctor’s appointment- our second appointment at the new practice we’ve switched to. We met with the nurse midwife for the first time and were incredibly impressed with how the appointment went. Part of the reason we switched practices was because we were having a very normal pregnancy and were treated as though we did not exist. Our experience at the new practice has been completely different. First, there are only two practitioners- the OB and the nurse midwife. Both of whom seem very nice and caring. They both have taken time to talk to us about our pregnancy and answered all of the questions we had, another reason for switching practices.
After introducing ourselves to the Nurse Midwife, Darleen, Esther explained our thoughts on a med-free birth if possible. Darleen immediately jumped in and started telling us about hypnobirthing (which Grammy J Benoit later misheard as “hippo-birthing”. Thanks, Grammy J). Jered started to giggle, not at the concept of hypnobirthing, but the fact that Esther had been talking about hypnobirthing from early on in the pregnancy. Darleen has had two couples who have used the techniques, both effectively, and she gave us a website and book to research.
The rest of the appointment was routine, although Esther and baby are measuring about two weeks ahead. It was nice to be comforted by Darleen, who said that doctors, nurses and the like generally over estimate baby’s size and weight in women who are under 5′ 5″ (Esther is 5′ 4″) and women who have a standard or short sized torso (which Esther also has). So all in all, the measurements maybe off a little, but the baby is still on track.
Jered and I decided to do a bit more research into this hippo-birthing process and went over to our local book store to see what materials were out there. We found the book our midwife had recommended and decided to go ahead and buy it after browsing it and finding that this method of natural childbirth is one that is very congruent with our thoughts and feelings about pregnancy and childbirth. We have been reading the book all weekend and decided to try and contact one of the local hypnobirthing instructors. We were not sure we would be able to do the class in hypnobirthing as it usually takes 5 sessions- but we got an e-mail back from the instructor today and she is willing to teach it to us in 2-3 sessions
The Hypnobirthing book, Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method
We are excited about the hypnobirthing classes and the tools they will give us as we try to have an un-medicated birth. We are getting ready for the baby to get here and are surprised at how quickly time has gone and time continues to go by as we get closer and closer to B-Day!
Filed under Dad's View, Doctor's Office, Pregnancy by esther | Comments (3)Dr. Bob
Esther and I went to our first doctor’s appointment with our new doctor. We had decided to change practices and it has been about 4 weeks since our last appointment when we should have been going every two weeks.
We finally got to our appointment and I, for one, was pleasantly surprised.
After Esther was taken away for a the normal questions, blood pressure and weighing, we were lead back to Dr. Bob’s office. I call him Dr. Bob, because he said in his practice people were known on a first name basis. We were in his office for about 10 minutes while he went over all of Esther’s chart and previous records, asking us questions that weren’t completely filled in.
Dr. Bob walked us down to the exam room where he did the standard doppler and belly measure. We learned that the baby’s heart rate was 152, which Dr. Bob then explained the wives tale. Over 150 its a girl, under 150 its a boy. The nice thing was he was very clear to us and to his staff that we did not want to know the sex of the baby, we were both worried that in the transfer someone would accidentally tell us.
Whew.
The real reason why Esther and I are happy with our decision is because Dr. Bob talked with Esther and I about the melanoma that John passed away from. He reminded her to be putting on sun screen or avoiding the sun when ever possible. Because he went above and beyond a standard belly measure, I know Esther and I are very happy with Dr. Bob.
Filed under Doctor's Office by Jered | Comment (0)Glucola, Rhogam and my first trip to the hospital
This morning was my 29 week appointment. I got to the doctor’s office after over 12 hours of fasting and had to drink a 10 oz. orange drink called glucola in under 5 minutes. It tasted like flat, extra sugary orange soda- not exactly my idea of a great breakfast, but it wasn’t as horrible as some people have suggested.
After downing the glucola I was sent back out to the lobby to wait for my doctor’s appointment. The appointment was routine- blood pressure was nice and low, weight gain wasn’t up too much from my last appointment and the baby’s heartbeat was loud, strong and easy to find. Uni also decided to kick while the doctor was measuring my belly, which didn’t surprise me, considering I drank soda for breakfast on an empty stomach!
After the appointment with the doctor I was sent back out to the waiting room to wait around for my blood draw. Once you finish drinking the glucola you have to wait for exactly one hour and then you have your blood drawn. While I was waiting the doctor came out and wrote me a prescription for a Rhogam shot. Way back about 20 weeks ago at our first appointment I found out that I’m Rh negative- which means that my blood type is negative. This is not a big deal, but since Jered is Rh positive it means that our baby could very well be Rh positive and my body could build up antibodies against the baby’s blood if I come into contact with it. Routine procedure now has doctor’s giving Rhogam shots (which inhibit the antibodies from forming) at 28 weeks and then again at birth if the baby’s blood tests Rh positive.
I thought I would be getting the shot at the doctor’s office, but instead the doc sends me over to the hospital. I had to register, get a little outpatient bracelet and head to the lab where they took two more vials of blood (I’m running a little low today!) to double check that my blood is indeed Rh negative. In two hours I go back to the hospital to get my shot- I’ve been told it’s one of the shots that they give you in your bum, lucky me!
I should find out by Wednesday whether or not I passed the glucose screen. I’m hoping that I did because the alternative is not much fun at all. If you fail the screen you go back for a 3 hour glucose test where you have blood drawn 4 times over the course of three hours (pre- glucose drink, after one hour, two hours, three hours). Wish me luck!
Filed under Doctor's Office by esther | Comment (0)Nine years
It’s hard to believe that Jered and I have been together 9 years now. Thinking back on the time we’ve spent together it seems like it was just yesterday that we rode the tandem from my house in Sandhausen to his house in Neulussheim- and at the same time it seems like it was ages ago! Nine years later we’re married with a little Jester on the way. It really is amazing that we’ve known each other so long- we’ve had 9 years to get to know each other and enjoy being a couple, and now we’re entering a whole new phase of our lives together. Who knows what fun the next 9 years will bring!
Speaking of that new phase of our life, this next week will be an interesting one. Monday I’m scheduled for my 29 week doctor’s appointment. I’ll be having my glucose test to screen for gestational diabetes. This will be our last appointment with our current doctor. After thinking long and hard about the practice we have been going to and the doctor’s I’ve been seeing, Jered and I have decided to switch practices. The office I’ve been going to has three doctors and a nurse. At the very beginning of our experience at this office Jered and I both were a little off-put by the practice. The office staff is not friendly and I can honestly say that none of the doctors or nurses would know me if I showed up 10 minutes after an appointment with them. In the beginning of my pregnancy test results from a fairly important test weren’t given to us until I called about another unrelated issue- it was one of those “oh by the way, you had some abnormal cells…” Then two weeks later when I went in for a follow-up procedure the doctor was confused as to why I was having the procedure at all. We both wanted to be realistic about the level of care we expect to receive- understanding that it’s not realistic to expect a close one-on-one relationship with our doctor, and so we decided to wait it out and give the practice a chance.
At my last appointment I mentioned to my doctor (one I’ve seen three times in a row, who didn’t know how far along I was or who I was without checking my chart twice) that I wanted to entertain the idea of a natural child birth. Jered and I have been going to our babies classes and I was starting to feel more empowered about the whole unmedicated labor process. When I brought this up with my doctor she raised her eyebrows and asked me why I was thinking about going unmedicated. I explained to her my thoughts on it, and also emphasized that I am flexible and open to whatever might happen in the labor process- knowing that I won’t know what it’s like until I’m in labor and that I might change my mind about pain relief once I’m in the midst of it! Even after this disclaimer, she looked at me with raised eyebrows and proceeded to tell me that partners are often more comfortable when mom’s are medicated… I thought this was an interesting response, seeing as no one informed me that my goal in labor is to make my partner and my doctor more comfortable!!
After this appointment Jered and I looked around to see what our options were in terms of other practices in the area that take our insurance and have privileges at the hospital close to our house. We were able to find a practice with just one doctor and a midwife (our previous practice did not have a midwife). Our first appointment with the new doctor is April 17th and from that appointment on I will be going to the doctor every two weeks for a month and then every week until the baby gets here. I am nervous and excited to make this move- and feel like we made a good decision, even if it means that we will only have about two months with this new doctor. I’m hoping in that time that the doctor will at least learn my name!
Filed under Doctor's Office, Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)Whoa! Hospital!
Esther, Jered and Uni took a trip to Mary Immaculate Hospital for our hospital tour.
Let me tell you: Whoa!
We had a list of questions all prepared and thought we would be asking them, drawing information from our tour guide. The opposite was true. We walked up to the Labor and Delivery wing and got to sit in a birthing room. It was spacious and we got to learn how the whole “birth” thing unfold. Not the baby birth mechanicals, the hospital delivery ones.Each birthing room has a shower (so Esther can soak), and plenty of room for her to walk around.
After the baby is born, and hospital staff gets the baby cleaned up, Esther and I will get to spend an hour with the baby in the birthing room before Esther gets moved to a postpartum room and I follow the baby to the nursery. Once the baby is in the nursery, the nurses do test and checks and generally make sure that the little one is doing well, we get separated from Uni for about 3 hours. I hope he or she doesn’t get lonely… maybe there will be some other babies in the nursery.
The baby gets to stay with us in the postpartum room, which has a recliner for me, so we all get to stay together, kind of a “sleep over at the hotel” deal. While on the tour I did learn a hospital term that I would like to adopt into every day speak: Rooms labelled “Nutrition” = kitchen.
All in all, the tour was very informative, the labor and delivery unit is very secure (don’t worry about all of the baby stealing stories) and the NICU is a level II (Esther says that’s good, I think level X is better. She says I’ve played too may games in my youth.)Finally, we get 4 people in the birthing room, Me, Oma (Esther’s Mom), Clayton, and… send us a note and we’ll consider having you there. 
Meet Uni!
As promised, we have decided to post together about our fantastically baby-filled day, yesterday. We started our day off at the OB with our 20 week ultrasound. The ultrasound tech was great and she explained everything to us as she was taking measurements of the baby. Everything looked healthy and normal, including the baby’s heart, brain, kidneys, liver and all sorts of other things.
Here is a picture of Uni’s foot (on the left side of the picture, viewed from below so it looks like a foot print). Next to the foot is what we think is Uni’s butt (not quite sure)
The ultrasound tech was great about making sure we didn’t find out the sex of the baby. We had her find out what it was so that we could write it down and put it in a sealed envelope- but other than that it isn’t written anywhere, not even on our medical chart!
Here’s another shot of Uni- this time the face- a little scary, but we’ll pretend it’s cute!
The Tech then gave us these fantastic shots of Uni sucking his/her thumb (or picking that Benoit nose, not sure which)
The second one definitely looks more like nose picking- what a cool baby!
Just when we thought the ultrasound couldn’t get any more amazing the tech switched transducers and pushed a few buttons and voila, 3D images of Uni!
Apparently my placenta was in the way (in case you were wondering) which kept us from getting a completely clear view of Uni’s face, but we still thought this was really cool. Here are the three pictures we got- two of them look a little like smiles, albeit alien smiles, and the other you can see the two hands in front of something that vaguely resembles a face.
The 3D images were easier to distinguish when they were “live” and we were able to watch the baby moving around. You can make out a little hand in one of them. It was amazing to watch the baby wiggling around!
And finally, the image that my mom likes best- Uni all laid out with arms by the side. You can make out the little umbilical cord, and no that other projection is not what you think it is- we asked the tech about that!
After the fantastic morning at the doctor we went to our first BABIES class (Birth and Bonding, Infant Education and Safety). It is going to be very useful to us- they really emphasize the role of the father as coach which we both appreciate. We start floor exercises next week- hard to believe we are already going to start our breathing and relaxation techniques! The class is long- 3 hours a week for 12 weeks, but it includes prepared childbirth (Lamaze-type stuff), infant care and nurturing, and infant CPR among other things. The instructors seem great and there are at least 10 other couples- we are very excited about it and glad to be doing it now so that we have enough time to complete all 12 weeks (hard to believe that 12 weeks from now we’ll be 6 weeks away from having our baby!).
Hope you all enjoy the pictures, feel free to leave comments or give us a call if you have trouble making anything out.
Filed under Doctor's Office, Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)A preview of tomorrow’s post…
We had a wonderful day today. Jered is going to post all about our fantastic ultrasound experience (the baby is healthy and doing great!) as well as our first prepared childbirth and infant education class which we also had today. Here is a little glimpse of one of the many photos we got of our little one today.