Random Updates

I've been remiss in updating this week, but wanted to pass along how our hospital tour went last weekend as well as the latest update from our OB appointment on Monday.

The hospital (Sharp Mary Birch Hospital) tour went well. While they aren't able to offer everything we were hoping for (no water tubs, only the traditional birthing position), they were pretty flexible about most things. The facilities were also really nice and private. Even for those of us whose insurance only pays for 'semi-private' recovery rooms, they make an effort to only have one person per room whenever possible (which apparently is usually the case). As for labor and delivery, you are assigned your own room for everything. You are there from the time you are admitted until about 2 hours after the birth. You can have whoever you want in the room with you whenever you want them there. Once the baby is born, the baby stays with you the entire time (except for the first bath, which you can also do if you aren't too tired), so there is no nursery in the hospital (except for the NICU).

After our tour, we stayed behind and talked to the nurse about our specific questions regarding having a natural birth in today's hospital settings. She said, while indeed the epidural rate is high (like most facilities), people do have fully natural child births there. She also suggested that at the time we are admitted to ask if we can be assigned a nurse who would be interested in assisting with a natural child birth. In her experience there were definitely people who were more into it than others...and we do want someone who will be more into it. She also mentioned that we might want to think about hiring a dula, which we are considering...but of course don't really know where to go, since we don't know anyone who has used one and I'm not a big fan of picking names from a list.

All in all, we both felt much more comfortable going there for the birth and it also made selecting our child birth method easier as well. We decided officially to go the HypnoBirthing route and plan to start a class with a certified hypnotherapist (Jennifer Lindeman) in a couple weeks. We are then going to supplement what we learn in that class with a Bradley method book that Brad's sister gave us. We are also thinking about taking an abreiviated child birthing class that the hospital offers, so that we are familiar with the hospital practices and philosphies as well.

As for the OB visit, we did get a chance to meet the other OB in the office, only to find out that she is scheduled to begin her own maternity leave at the beginning of November. Apparently the OB we have been seeing (and don't really care for) will have an nurse practitioner available on Mondays to help with patient load and we may try to schedule our appointments then (since we prefer to go on Mondays anyway). I am also set for my glucose one hour test next appointment (beginning of November) which sounds fun (bleh). As for progress, this was the first time the OB measured my tummy since I now have one :) I think she said I was 21 cm, but I'll know for sure next time. I'm also up a total of 10 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight. As for Lloyd, she had trouble finding his heart beat because he was moving all over the place (which I thought was pretty cute). She'd catch him for a couple seconds, long enough to hear the beat, and then he'd be gone. It took several tries before she was able to catch him still long enough to hear him for her count. I was also reassured that the pain I've been having in my ribs is normal and as a result of my ribs expanding (sexy! ;) Who knew!?!

We also went over the ultrasound results from the 20 week ultrasound, she said that the only thing they had noticed was one kidney measured slightly enlarged (vs. they two the second ultrasound found). She said that normal growth usually takes care of this issue and that maybe at the next visit they will talk about refering us back to our ultrasound facility for a follow up. I also heard from a blog friend that her son had a similar issue and was fine by birth, so that was reassuring to hear as well. So for now everything seems to be progressing as it should.

Lloyd's turned into quite the wiggler and started some regular good kicks as well. Beginning with Sunday night, we've gotten into a nice little routine at bedtime. When I first lay down and while I'm reading (although, I should probably be reading out loud...I still can't quite bring myself to do it...), I or we'll keep a hand on my tummy and he'll give a good kick periodically. Brad has had more trouble feeling him since I get the bonus sensation of knowing where he is moving before a big kick comes, but last night we hit pay dirt. He had quite a few big kicks that Brad was able to feel. His movements during the day are getting pretty predicatable as well...especially after some of his favorite foods (we discovered yesterday that he is a fan of popcorn - who would have guessed! :)

Finally, I thought I'd link to some of my most recent baby projects: a new sweater, some burp bloths and a simple blanket. I've also pulled out a patchwork quilt I started on vacation last year (its been siting in a bag on the floor of our bedroom since then and needs to be finished and put away as part of the 'making room for baby project') and I'm almost done! I starting putting on the binding this morning, so I should have a finished quilt pretty soon - talk about getting a monkey off my back!