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!

Filed under Doctor's Office by esther |