Well, 38 weeks tomorrow!

Doctor

We have a midwife and a doctor, and actually like our doctor better. She was away having surgery and we finally saw her last week after several appointments with our midwife, who is incredibly knowledgable but a little bit abrasive. Our doctor was super excited to congratulate us about gay marriage being legalized that morning. She was so positive and caring and respectful. She examined my belly but also did a brief ultrasound. My blood pressure is great (consistently around 95/58) and Glitter has lots of healthy fluid. The placenta is disintegrating a little (you can see on the ultrasound monitor that it’s calcifying) but that’s normal. I’ve gained 23 pounds so far and I’m hoping not to gain any more.

GBS

The doctor was supportive of our perspective on GBS and accepting that we may decline antibiotics under certain circumstances (if all goes well, my water hasn’t been broken for more than a few hours, and I have no fever). She agreed to swab me for GBS, although the results ended up still positive, despite over a month of anti-strep b regimen. I took fem-dophilus, garlic and vitamin c twice a day, drank apple cider vinegar throughout the day, and yes, towards the end I inserted a clove of garlic into my vagina overnight, every night. The positive outcome of this regimen was that when J got a bad cold for a week, I didn’t have a single symptom. I’ve always had a sensitive immune system, but either pregnancy or this regimen or both made it very resilient. Anyway, I’d prefer not to have Glitter exposed to antibiotics as she comes into the world, but if that happens, so be it.

Symptoms

Things are getting really uncomfortable. My belly feels very heavy and walking around the office and sitting in therapy sessions has been difficult. I have sharp pains throughout the day and even more at night when Glitter is moving a lot. No decreased movement here – she stretches, shudders, has hiccups, and pokes sharp body parts into me constantly. When she moves this much, I’m experiencing sharp cervical pains. I hope this means she’s getting into position, as the doctor and my mom have confirmed. Monday morning THREE different coworkers told me I’d dropped over the weekend, but when I carefully compared photos from two weeks ago to that night, I really couldn’t tell. Her butt is in my right ribs a lot and her feet or knees are poking out of my left side a lot. I have a lot of Braxton Hicks, especially when she’s moving. My belly gets hard and tingly.

I’m also still nauseous on and off and last night threw up all of my dinner, then had to eat crackers and fruit right before getting into bed. And speaking of bed, that’s the worst spot – I wait all day to get in there, exhausted, then I don’t sleep. My hips are in so much pain but I can’t lie in any position other than on my sides. I wake up every hour or more to pee. Thank goodness the pressure of work will be gone from now on and I’ll be able to take a nap when necessary.

Maternity Leave!

I really felt that 38 weeks was too early for mat leave until this week. As it became more and more difficult to get up early and be gone 11 hours straight every day, I started to let the relief sink in. I finished up seeing all of my clients, concluded supervision with my intern, and tied up a lot of loose ends. My intern cried when we said good-bye. She’s an incredible person – professional, authentic, energetic, flexible and just plain talented. I was honored that our supervision relationship meant so much to her. I remember looking up to my clinical supervisors and I can’t believe I get to be that person now, and for such an incredible intern. My supervisor, who just had her first baby a year ago and is my age, has been incredibly supportive. I hugged her good-bye and thanked her for everything. I also told her I may be back Monday, as we don’t have air conditioning!

Last weekend J and I reviewed our finances. With my SDI we’ll be fine, but if it doesn’t come through for some reason, we’ll also be fine. Not having my own money is going to be difficult, but I know that caring for Glitter is a huge and worthy job in itself, even for this career woman.

Next week I’m going to put up pics of our nursery here. It’s pretty much finished and Glitter’s diapers, swaddlers and clothes are washed and ready. The closet needs to be cleaned out and organized though. I have a full week planned – midwife appointment, hair cut, breastfeeding consultation, prenatal induction massage, and more freezer meals and house cleaning!

Childbirth Prep

My fiend from yoga whose due date was today had her baby this morning. She went into early labor Sunday, and finally had our shared doula come over on Tuesday. I’m not sure when she went to the hospital or how her labor went, but I know she had a beautiful baby girl, 6 lb, 9 oz! The weird thing was that when she was in labor, I felt kind of jealous. I know it was so hard for her and she was getting through contractions by the skin of her teeth, but I couldn’t wait to be where she was. I’m so happy for her and can’t wait for us to meet up with our babies during maternity leave!

My hospital bag is pretty much packed and paperwork for the hospital is completed and gatherered. We’re pre-admitted at the hospital and co-pay is paid. I even wrote an Advanced Directive and Birth Preferences sheet. We don’t really have a newborn outfit for her to wear home though, and her baby blanket isn’t finished yet. I keep wearing and washing the one maternity/nursing gown I bought. I finally bought nursing pads and a nursing bra, which arrived today, and in perfect time since I’m leaking a lot of colostrum these days. I can feel my breasts tingle before it happens, which is pretty cool. The nursing pads (Bamboobies, both day and overnight reusable bamboo pads) are in the dryer right now.

For the past week I’ve been doing hypnobirthing meditations in the bathtub and in the car on my lunch breaks. I don’t know if, in the moment, I’ll actually use these but I plan to. Deep breathing and acceptance of sensations has definitely been helpful in coping with the cervical pains and Braxton hicks. J is kind enough to do perineal massage most nights, and I practice deep breathing during that fun activity too (yes, very sarcastic).

Jurassic World was everything it was cracked up to be! We had such a fun weekend last week. Tomorrow we’re going on a late, short baby moon at a gorgeous hotel in Pasadena. We’re going to relax and go out to eat. The most important thing is the swimming pool, which I can’t wait to get into! It’ll feel like we’re getting away, but we’ll just be a short distance from the hospital just in case. I don’t think I can handle going anywhere for fireworks – I need to be very close to a bathroom – but I know it’s going to be a nice holiday weekend. Happy 4th everyone! (Well, the Americans!)