28 weeks 3 days

I haven’t wrote in weeks (where does the time go?!) and I’m laying in bed mostly unable to move right now so it seems like a good time.

So, let’s see…pregnancy news. I’m feeling much…larger the last couple of days. I know I’m still small, and small for being 7 months pregnant, but my belly and boobs have both been feeling very big and heavy and it kind of freaks me out that I have another 10-14ish weeks to go. The baby is going to grow so much in that time and so am I…

I’ve been having a lot of pain coming with all this new largeness. I see the chiropractor once a week and I’m such a mess all the time I can’t imagine how bad it would be without the chiro. Everything can get misadjusted and knocked out of whack so fast.

The only things I can really complain about is the pain and the heat, though. Other than those things, I feel pretty good. I can’t believe I am in the third trimester, that blows my mind. I think I’m getting a lot figured out and stressing a lot less, and also letting myself realize that it’s *normal* to feel stressed and anxious when preparing to make such a huge transition as this.

I found a groomer! So I am way less stressed about that.

We have been going to birthing classes and they are great. Our next class is next week and I’m really going to miss it…it’s just us, two doulas/childbirth educators who are nuts about birth (I really love their passion, it reminds me of myself a few years ago and brings a lot of that passion back for me, and helps me to remember the goals I have put aside), and a placenta encapsulator who wants to be a childbirth educator (and her adorable 7 month old who entertains us all). It’s very eclectic, not really subscribing to any particular method, and has really taught me a ton…it’s hard to teach me things I don’t know about birth just because I did SO much reading the last 7-8 years, but I learn all kinds of fun and suprising stuff.

We have discussed optimal fetal positioning (which makes so much sense as a part of childbirth class), and they helped me realize a lot of mistakes I’ve been making…I was just asking for a badly positioned baby, seriously. I’ve been following the things I’ve learned and it seems like she’s pretty much always in a good position now. She flips around SO much though, it must still be decently roomy in there because she does somersaults and twirls all the time.

We’ve also talked about methods of pain relief, surprise interventions to expect at the birthing center, things the birthing center is really good about, discussed laboring at home and once I get to the birthing center…I really like that it’s just us at the class, it’s super personalized. They know I’m very knowledgable about natural birth, and that I know what I want, and they know Jonathan is all for it and thinks most interventions are ridiculous, so we’ve kind of skipped a lot of basic stuff and instead we mostly just chat about things they’ve seen, advice and wisdom they have gathered, what they have seen work and not work in labor, funny stories, etc…like I said, I will miss it.

I’m going to hire one of them to be my doula. The birthing center does have volunteer doulas, but I think it would be best for me to bring one myself who already knows me, knows exactly what I want, and will fully advocate for me.

Speaking of the birthing center, we went on a tour last night. There were so many people there! Like 40 of us all stuffed in an L&D room. The birthing center definitely isn’t home…but for a birthing center in a hospital it is very very nice. The tub looks great, the room is pretty roomy and comfortable, it has shutters you can close to make it completely dark if you want, candles, it’s all very nice. The postpartum rooms are also great, and I just really love the hospital’s methods…very hands-off, respectful of the relationship between a mother and her new baby, they don’t really do anything to the baby at all (cord clamping, vaccines, washing up) until you’re ready, whether that’s a few minutes or a few hours. Also, they made a point during the tour to mention that vaccines are OUR choice, they will ask consent and it will be entirely up to us.

Ok, I will finish this all up later, I have to do some things and I’ve been writing on my phone so this has taken forever.

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