Yesterday morning I attended my first prenatal class, which was a "breastfeeding basics" class. I was so happy to be in a room full of other soon-to-be-mums! I went on my own since Ashton was too afraid to come. (Just kidding, he was actually working and had said that he wouldn't have an opportunity for "practical application" of the knowledge we would gain lol). He was kind of right though. Unless he wanted to learn how to help me massage the milk out for manual expression if the baby can't latch properly... Ha!

These are some of the useful facts and skills that I learned (even Ashton might find them interesting).


1. The Newborn Tummy!
At birth a baby's stomach is only he size of a cherry! So teeny! And it will take an entire month for her tummy to even be the size of an egg! This somewhat eases my worries that I might not be able to produce enough milk to breastfeed her.


2. Did you know? Differences between breastmilk and formula.
Compared to a formula fed baby, a breastfed baby...
...has softer stool.
...does not need to be burped as often and may not burp at all because they swallow less air (breast vs bottle).
...has a smaller stomach.
...requires a smaller feeding to get the same amount of nutrients.
...has an easier time digesting and, consequently, has fewer "fussy" periods.
...generally requires fewer medications and visits to the doctor.


3. Wet diapers and bowel movements.
Poop is poop, but I just like this chart because it gave me more of an idea of what to expect. The chart also included a column for color and texture of bowel movements, but I decided to leave that part out (as I'm sure you are all glad!). It is good to know though so I know what is normal and when to be concerned.


4. Interesting facts!

• Skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and frequently thereafter helps babies breastfeed sooner and last longer, latch on well, cry less, soothe more easily and have lower stress hormones.
• Frequent babywearing stimulates baby and promotes breastfeeding.
• Babies actually LOSE weight after they are born, but should typically be back up to their birth weight by the time they are two weeks old.
• Babies feed better when they feed on cue, rather than on a schedule. Cues include: hand to mouth movements, licking lips, rolling eyes, sucking movements and noises or sucking on hands or fingers.
• The more milk your baby takes, the more milk your body makes!

   

I learned a ton more as well, but won't bore everyone with the details. Overall, the class made me much less anxious to breastfeed and I definitely gained some useful knowledge on how to properly latch and unlatch, how often to feed in a 24 hour period, how to encourage breastfeeding, how to know when baby has received enough milk, different positions for breastfeeding and burping, how to comfort baby when she cries, when to contact a lactation consultant or pediatrician, etc.

Honestly, it was such a useful class, I really recommend one to any new mum who is planning to breastfeed. Breastfeeding might not look or sound that hard to some people, but after sitting through the class I realized there really is a lot of skill involved--as well as patience and practice!

To any other women out there who are planning to breastfeed for the first time, good luck and don't give up. Our bodies were made for this!

How far along? 32 weeks.
Total weight gain? 22+ lbs.
Stretch marks? None on my belly.
Best moment this week? Making it through a six day work week!!! Registering my prenatal care in Dorchester and setting up an appointment to meet my new midwife. Checking out an apartment with Ashton and filling out an application! (Just waiting to hear back now!) Seeing my family this past weekend for Deasha's birthday. (Happy Birthday!) I love getting to sleep over at my Mom's, I just feel so comfortable and relaxed while I'm there. I feel like it's my once-a-month mini-vacation. Too bad I only get one more before baby arrives!
I went to Whole Foods in Dedham and treated myself to the brown rice cucumber and avocado rolls, with wasabi and ginger of course! Even though the sushi is expensive I've only had it one other time since being pregnant so I thought I'd treat myself today!
Late night snacking tonight.... It's like these treats were made for me!! I let Ashton have one too, even though he's not a Mom, lol.

How far along? 31 weeks.
Total weight gain? 20-21 lbs.
Stretch marks? None on my belly.
Best moment this week? Feeling up to working a few extra hours last Thursday to count inventory after already working a regular 8 hour shift. I'm also working six days this week and feel pretty good about it, so far!

The day started off a bit hectic for me, as I promised a coworker that I would make her cookies and I completely forgot the night before even though I had plenty of time. I think I set my alarm for some time before 8am, but ended up ignoring it and going back to sleep. I finally woke up at 8:15 and realized I had to shower, get ready for work, make cookies and be to work by 9:30! I literally ran out of bed and found a pre-made sugar cookie mix in the cupboard, whipped it out, and began stirring as fast as possible. I was mildly disappointed that I couldn't make the cookies form scratch, but at least I had an alternative this late in the game. I also didn't have any cookie cutters so I was standing there, with my hair a mess, cutting little hearts out of the dough with a butter knife! It's a great mental image, I know. I put those in the oven and bolted into the other room to get dressed because now I knew I wasn't going to have time to shower. I sprang back into the kitchen, pulled the cookies out and put them on a plate and stirred up another batch but was too lazy to make hearts again so these were large circles made from the rim of a drinking glass and little squares I cut quickly with the knife. After throwing those in the oven I ran in the other room to finally fix my mess of hair, I pulled my boots and coat on as quickly as possible and flew back to the kitchen in time to take them out of the oven, toss them on a plate, wrap it in tin foil and zip out the door. I was so exhausted from MAKING COOKIES. And I'm sure the whole time the baby was thinking, "Damn, I've never felt Mum move this fast before!"
Needless to say, I was nine minutes late to work. At least I wasn't late enough to get in trouble for attendance. I'd say I made pretty good timing!! I split the batch of cookies in half and brought one plate to work with me and left the other (shown above, and don't mind the slightly burnt corners you see peeking out..) on the counter for Ashton for when he got home from work. Don't worry, I did cover them so they didn't get stale. :P
Ashton and I both had to work on Valentine's Day, but luckily it wasn't terribly late. I got out at 5:30 and was home by 6, and arranged two red roses next to the cookies on the counter. One from me and a tiny one from baby. Although Ashton was out at 4:15, I was still waiting around until almost 7:30 for him to get home!! :( I didn't know what to do with myself so I ended up doing all the dishes, and eventually pulled out a bag of chips and salsa because my appetite got the best of me. He's lucky I didn't start on that plate of cookies before he got home! He finally arrived and brought me a single long-stem rose that I love. ♥
We then made the yummiest burritos for dinner (whole wheat wrap, rice, black beans, jalepenos, pineapple, pepper jack and mozzarella daiya cheese, tofutti sour cream, and mango salsa), and Ashton's sister and her husband stopped by shortly after that. We decided to stay in for the night and later on we ended up falling asleep to one of my Ghibli favorites, Castle in the Sky.

I hope you and your special someone enjoyed your Valentine's Day as well. ♥

It all started on Monday morning when I FINALLY got in touch with my Maternity Support nurse after two weeks of missing each other's calls. I'm so glad we finally spoke, as we had quite a long and involved chat! We reaffirmed my decision to deliver at Brigham and Women's Hospital and went over what that entailed. She said I must transfer my prenatal care over to a practice that is affiliated with B&W, and to do so as soon as possible because sometimes it is difficult to transfer prenatal care at this point and certain practices don't accept new patients who are already in their third trimester. And so the search began.

I googled around for what must have been hours, until I found the perfect practice to continue my prenatal care with- Dorchester House Multi-Service Center. They literally have everything I want: a midwife that will see me for every appointment from now until birth (instead of the doctor hopping I was doing with Dedham Medical- I saw 3 OB docs and a midwife there) and will be able to accompany me to B&W to deliver my baby, a pediatrics doctor who will also come to the hospital before I am discharged to establish a relationship with me and my baby and set up our first appointments together, optional group prenatal appointments (like a mini support group of mum's that are all due around the same date), a facility that is actually slightly closer to travel to, complete coverage by my insurance, AND they regularly work with patients who are looking to transfer their prenatal care! So I called Dorchester yesterday morning and have a prenatal registration appointment next week with a nurse for initial interview questions and then will set up my next set of appointments with my new midwife so my prenatal care won't be interrupted! :)

Unfortunately all of this means I somehow have to "break-up" with Dedham Medical. I actually feel bad about having to tell them I won't be continuing my prenatal care with them and asking to transfer my patient file over to Dorchester. It literally feels like a terrible break-up. I hope they don't take it too terribly!

To add to the excitement, Ashton and I went on a maternity tour of Brigham and Women's Hospital on Monday night. It was quite a rush actually being in the hospital and seeing all of the different rooms and floors that we would be traveling to in just 10 weeks. I watched the online tour video and almost decided on not going in for an in-person tour since it isn't necessarily recommended, but I am so glad that we did. It gave me peace of mind knowing exactly where to pull the car up (we drop the keys off for valet parking!) and actually see the front desk to check-in at and know where I will be wheeled off to next. Our tour guide told us about the triage room (where we might have to wait if we arrive too soon and I'm not far enough along to deliver yet), and showed us a labor and delivery room where we remain for 2 hours after delivery, a postpartum care room where we stay for the next two days, the nursery where the baby will only go if she can't be with me for medical reasons, and the waiting area for visitors that aren't one of my three support people (three support people are allowed to enter and exit the labor and delivery room and postpartum care room at any time, everyone else is considered a visitor and can only come to the postpartum care room between 1-8pm). She expressed the importance that the hospital places on immediate skin-to-skin contact between mother and child and also recommends breastfeeding as soon as possible (we will be visited by a lactation consultant soon after birth too). I will admit, I actually got really scared when we finally entered the labor and delivery room. Just looking at the hospital bed terrified me. I tried imagining myself laying in it and I felt my body get stiff and my eyes fill with tears. I'm so glad we left to continue the tour soon after that because I didn't want to have a meltdown in front of all the other couples there. How embarrassing! Overall, I loved the facility and agree with the practices that they recommend, I'm happy that my new midwife will be there throughout my birthing time, and am confident that everything will go smoothly.

ONLY TEN WEEKS!!!!! :)

Hypnobabies!

As I was researching different approaches to natural unmedicated childbirth I came across information about water births, home births, doulas and midwife deliveries, hypnobirthing, acupuncture or acupressure, massage and hot/cold therapy, visualization techniques, and much more. I am obviously giving birth at a hospital and while I would actually LOVE to have a water birth, it is not offered at Brigham and Women's (maybe next time! haha). But I do really want a midwife there and to prepare for labor and delivery I have decided to try out a program called hypnobabies. It is similar to hypnobirthing in that they both rely on self-hypnosis techniques, but it has it's own home study course and preparation methods. The home study program involves five weeks of listening to meditation-style hypnosis tracks every day and then rotating through each of the topics again from the end of the course until birth. I decided to try this method because I used to meditate a lot in my spirituality class in college and really loved it and miss it. I find it relatively easy to calm my mind and enter a meditative state to relax. I also love that the program helps women embrace the parts of pregnancy, labor, and delivery that are commonly feared by empowering us with knowledge and assurance that all of these aspects are natural. They even change the terminology to be more comforting- "pressure waves" or "birthing waves" instead of "contractions", "birthing time" instead of "labor", etc. I know the idea of this hypnobabies program might not be everyone's cup of tea, I'm actually really excited to see how it goes. I'm starting it this week to finish by my 35 week mark and then do the rotation until I give birth. I really think it will help put my mind at ease about anything I am fearing and help to keep me relaxed during my birthing time. :)

30 week update.

How far along? 30 weeks.
Total weight gain? 20 lbs.
Stretch marks? I think so, on the bottom of my boobs. :(
Best moment this week? Switching my prenatal care from Dedham to Dorchester, going on a maternity tour of the hospital at Brigham and Women's, and setting up a time to see an apartment tomorrow (fingers crossed!).

This week's to-do list:

1. Continuing to work on Roo's block set.
2. Speaking with my landlord. (The guy seriously NEVER gets back to me!)
3. Seeing an apartment tomorrow with Ashton and hoping all goes well.
4. Contacting my insurance company about breast pump options and cord blood banking options and notifying them of my change in prenatal care.

Hopefully I can continue to be productive to make it through the weeks ahead. Baby will be here before I know it! :)

This munchkin has apparently been wiping my body out and allowing me to sleep 9 or more hours a night; I can't stand it! I think it is the growth spurt that she's going through but I literally cannot wake up. I know I shouldn't be complaining, I should probably be grateful for all the rest I get and that I don't wake up at all to use the bathroom or have insomnia or something. But when I finally do get up I feel like such a bum and like I could have gotten so much done in the few extra hours of sleep that I got!

So this morning I really wanted to be a bit more productive:
- I called my Maternity nurse and left a message for the second time (we literally keep missing each other somehow). Hopefully she calls back tomorrow afternoon or on Friday for our appointment.
- I signed Ashton and I up for a tour of the maternity ward at Brigham and Women's on Monday night! Yay, I am so excited to visit the hospital and this will probably be the point that I let them know I plan on delivering there so they will expect me, teehehe.
- I also registered for two more classes at B&W at the end of the month: Breastfeeding Basics and Infant Care and Behavior. Ashton can't make either of these classes but I registered anyway since they are the only ones that weren't full and I'm going to keep an eye out for the March events calendar so maybe I can switch the Infant care class to a time that Ashton can make as well.
- Another thing I decided was that I probably won't get the Tdap vaccine now or after birth. Please don't scold me on this. I'm just not really big on vaccines and am going for an entirely natural pregnancy and childbirth as much as possible. :)

Well, that is all for now! Next on my list is researching hypnobirthing and other natural labor and childbirth techniques. Wish me luck! Haha.

How far along? 29 weeks.
Total weight gain? 19 lbs.
Stretch marks? Well. The thing is.... I have yet to figure out what these dark shapes and lines are that are under my boobs. They are getting too big so that I can't see them for myself but I noticed these lines for the first time in the mirror this afternoon before my shower. So devastating! I still have to show Ashton later. But anyway, they could be stretch marks?! :( As soon as I got out of the shower I ferociously slathered myself in my body butter because I felt guilty about skipping out on it recently.
Best moment this week? I had another appointment with my midwife (our appointments have switched from every 4 weeks to every 2 weeks now!). Everything checked out great as always and she was super surprised that I am still wearing regular jeans and can button them up normally! She finally mentioned the Tdap vaccine, which I have to get back to her about at our appointment next week but I haven't gotten around to really researching that yet, oops!

My most recent to-do list:

1. Signing up for a labor and delivery class and a breastfeeding class
2. Finally having that conversation with my doctor about delivering at Brigham and Women's
3. Calling my Maternity Support nurse for my 2nd appointment
4. Finishing up Roo's block set since I've been putting it off for a bit now
5. Continuing my failed attempts to get a hold of my landlord so I can get out of my stinking lease!

What I ate this week:

I completely missed taking pictures of our Indian inspired dish with multi-grain rice and grilled asparagus! But as you can see, my little squash actually got to have some butternut squash this week! :) I hope she loves veggies!!!