Where's the beef?

Ah food, glorious food. I've hit the stage in pregnancy where if I don't eat shortly after waking, and every couple of hours thereafter, I get nauseous. I'm craving protein (probably because of the extra iron I'm needing right now), so while the boys have grapes for morning snack, I have a slab of meatloaf...which Joe finds amusing. I'm still incredibly tired, and am trying to figure out the best combination of naptime and bedtime so that I am still able to get stuff done around the house, and get work done, too. My pants are starting to get snug already (especially after meals) and that is kind of annoying, considering I'm not even out of the first trimester yet. I don't think I had to switch to maternity pants until I was four or five months with Dom, but I think it's going to be closer to three with this kid.

As for this kid, at 8 weeks she/he is about 5/8" long (kidney bean size). All appendages have continued to develop, and the respiratory system and neural pathways have started to form. Here is a 3-d ultrasound pic of a baby at this stage, courtesy of babycenter.com...

Kind of looks like a kidney bean, too. That's it for this week! Thanks for reading!

So why homebirth?

This is going to be a long post, so be forewarned. After our last homebirth, I had many people ask me why we would choose to homebirth with a direct entry midwife, as oppsed to having a hospital birth with an OB, or even a Certified Nurse Midwife. Since I'm sure there are people wondering that this time too, I thought I would explain. There are a lot of reasons, but here are the big ones:

1) I've already had an unecessary c-section, and I don't want another one. The odds of me having a c-section with my midwife are less than 1%. I am not sure what the statistics are for our local hospitals, but I have yet to find any hospital with c-section statistic for low-risk mothers that is anywhere near that. The national average for c-sections is 29.7%. Since that is an average, there are hospitals out there with c-section rates of 50% or more. So just by walking in the door of a hospital in labor, my risk of a c-section goes up anwhere from 20-50 times. That is not acceptable to me.

2) I do not want to deal with unecessary and potentially dangerous procedures performed on me that are dictated by hospital policy. Policies such as: continious fetal monitoring, restricted food and water, a "labor curve" that I must progess along, or otherwise having my labor screwed around with, when it doesn't need to be. Since I am a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesearean) the odds of me being able to refuse these policies with little resistance from the staff is even lower than normal. I do not want to have to fight medical personel while I am in labor.

3) I do not want to deal with unecessary and/or potentially dangerous procedures performed on my newborn, and I don't want to deal with medical staff giving us a hard time for refusing those procedures. There are more than I care to list here, but they would include: immediate umbilical cord clamping and cutting, eye medication, Vitamin K injection, Hepatitis B vaccine, and circumcision.

4) I want a medication free birth, so being at home makes it impossible for me to get an epidural in a weak moment. I also know my support team will not offer me medication, like a nurse in the hospital might.

5) When I give birth, I want to be in a familiar, comfortable place, with people who I know, who know me, and whom I feel safe with.

I've also been asked the big "What if'" question: "What if something goes wrong?" There is a misconception in mainstream American society that childbirth is a disaster waiting to happen. Studies comparing low-risk homebirthers to low-risk hospital birthers have repeatedly and consistently shown that homebirth is as safe or safer than hospital birth. In reality, there are very few things that go catastrophically wrong very quickly in birth. 95% of the time, childbirth will happen just fine if you leave it alone. With a homebirth, I have one on one monitoring from an experienced midwife. The odds of her catching a potential problem early are much better than if I were in a hospital with a nurse watching a monitor showing my contractions at the nurse's station down the hall, while watching three other women's monitors at the same time. There is only a minute possibility that something would go wrong so quickly that I would not have time to transfer to the hospital before the issue becomes life threatening.

I mentioned a few interventions in #1 that are very typical for most hospitals. Any one of those things can lead to distress in the baby, a "stalled" labor, or problems with mom. One intervention typically leads to another, and another, and another. This is known as the "cascade of interventions." Any one of those interventions can cause problems, but when you start adding them together, you increase your risk of a whole host of problems which include fetal distress, instumental delivery, or c-section. So the truth is, the odds of something going wrong are increased by being in the hospital, simply by virtue of things they do as "standard policy". If you want more information on iotragenic (doctor or intervention caused) c-sections, and the cascade of interventions, you can read Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, by Henci Goer, or pretty much anything written by Ina May Gaskin.

So, I hope that answers any questions anyone may have about our choice to homebirth. Here's a quick update on baby's development: At 7 weeks, she or he is almost half an inch long — roughly the size of a raspberry — and has elbow joints and distinct, slightly webbed fingers and toes. Both hemispheres of the brain are developing, as well as teeth, the inside of the mouth, and ears. And although I can't feel it, apparently the little bub is bouncing around like a mexican jumping bean in there.

I am still going to the bathroom a lot, and am still very tired. I'm trying to keep up with my excercise, but it's tough when I feel so run down all the time. Still no morning sickness!! That's it for this week...

So far, so good!

Well, here we are at six weeks pregnant. According to Babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a lentil bean (4 to 5 millimeters across). The baby's heart is beating about 100 to 130 beats per minute, and blood is beginning to circulate through it's body. It is also starting to build muscle fibers and, halfway through this week, will likely start moving arms and legs. Although with so much room to swim around, I won't be feeling anything for another couple of months.

As for me...still no morning sickness, not even a hint of nausea. YAY!! I am, however, experiencing my usual first trimester fatigue, and have resorted to taking naps with the boys in the afternoons. I've also noticed the mood swings have started to creep in, but once my hormones level off, that should get better...at least I hope it does for Joe's sake!

We're started to try to night wean Dominic, so I can get more sleep during my first trimester, but since we just started I'm not really sure how that is going to pan out. I've got to talk to some ladies who have nursed while pregnant and tandem nursed to get some additional ideas on what we can try.

I guess that's it. Thanks for stopping by!

We're pregnant!

A friend of mine blogged throughout her last pregnancy, and I thought it seemed like a cool idea...so I'm going to try it!

I'm just past five weeks pregnant today. My due date is somewhere around the 8th of September...although since I went to 41 weeks with my second son, I don't really expect to see this kid until around the 15th.

So far the only pregnancy symptom I've had is soreness when my son nurses...oh, and having to go to the bathroom every half-hour. I'd forgotten about the peeing all night thing, too. I'm hoping this pregnancy is like my last one, which was really pretty much a cake-walk.

Let's see, what else...how about a quick overview of my birth history? My first son was an unecessary c-section, my second son was an (accidental) unassisted home waterbirth, and we're planning a pretty hands-off home waterbirth for this baby. I guess that's it for now, thanks for reading and feel free to check in weekly for updates on the growing belly!