Tuesday, April 20, 2010
27 weeks!
27 weeks today! Time is flying by!
Big congratulations going out to my friend Kristen in Alabama who gave birth to a nearly 8 pound baby boy yesterday! Hank is adorable and Kristen is amazing! I'm so proud of the whole family!!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Onesies!
I picked up these onesies from a local company. Each is designed by a local Seattle artist. The best part? These were on sale for $5 each! They're so cute and the packaging was so thoughtful, I feel bad I paid so little!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Beautiful weekend, less back pain! Oh, and the ridiculous daycare situation in this city.
Ever since yoga ended, my back pain has lessened significantly. I hate to think yoga was the cause because I'm pretty sure it's supposed to work the opposite way. I ran on the treadmill 4 times this week and once outside and no back pain! Hmmmm.
Several months ago I joined two different listservs for mothers in the Seattle area. One of the listservs is extremely active with dozens of new messages everyday. The messages range from items for sale to parenting advice to compiles of commonly used services (babysitters, nannies, cleaners, etc.). Already the community has proven invaluable. I learned of a new home daycare center a few block from our house on the listserv. I'd never seen it advertised or mentioned anywhere else. We plan to take a tour tomorrow and get on their waitlist. (We ran by today to check-out the neighborhood and the house.)
We're currently on about 7 daycare waitlists with no guarantee that there will be any availability for us in January 2011 (one year out from when we got on these lists!). Daycare in this city costs anywhere from $1500/mo on the low end to $2000/mo on the high end. At this point, we've invested about $200+ getting on these waitlists and it's really frustrating that no one will commit to us. A couple of months ago, we started considering the possibility of a nanny share. Earlier this week, I posted a message to one of the listservs asking if there are other families in the area interested in a nanny share. I've received a few responses, which is a great sign. It means that even if we don't have the situation figured out by the time Tray arrives, there are definitely other families in our situation! And now I have them on my radar and I'm on theirs!
Another recent benefit of the listserv: I scored a bag of around 8 parenting/newborn care books for free! Most of them had never even been cracked open and several were already on our to-buy list! I love free stuff. We've given away enough free stuff in the last several years that it felt good when the karma came back around.
We had a lovely sunny weekend. It wasn't all that warm, but boy that sun felt good. Now it's chocolate chip cookie time. And tacos for dinner. A perfect ending to a really nice weekend!
Several months ago I joined two different listservs for mothers in the Seattle area. One of the listservs is extremely active with dozens of new messages everyday. The messages range from items for sale to parenting advice to compiles of commonly used services (babysitters, nannies, cleaners, etc.). Already the community has proven invaluable. I learned of a new home daycare center a few block from our house on the listserv. I'd never seen it advertised or mentioned anywhere else. We plan to take a tour tomorrow and get on their waitlist. (We ran by today to check-out the neighborhood and the house.)
We're currently on about 7 daycare waitlists with no guarantee that there will be any availability for us in January 2011 (one year out from when we got on these lists!). Daycare in this city costs anywhere from $1500/mo on the low end to $2000/mo on the high end. At this point, we've invested about $200+ getting on these waitlists and it's really frustrating that no one will commit to us. A couple of months ago, we started considering the possibility of a nanny share. Earlier this week, I posted a message to one of the listservs asking if there are other families in the area interested in a nanny share. I've received a few responses, which is a great sign. It means that even if we don't have the situation figured out by the time Tray arrives, there are definitely other families in our situation! And now I have them on my radar and I'm on theirs!
Another recent benefit of the listserv: I scored a bag of around 8 parenting/newborn care books for free! Most of them had never even been cracked open and several were already on our to-buy list! I love free stuff. We've given away enough free stuff in the last several years that it felt good when the karma came back around.
We had a lovely sunny weekend. It wasn't all that warm, but boy that sun felt good. Now it's chocolate chip cookie time. And tacos for dinner. A perfect ending to a really nice weekend!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Nursery Details
Even though we still don't have a crib mattress, a changing pad, or a carseat, hardly any baby clothes and no diapers, I continue to add little details to the nursery! Not to say we haven't made progress in those other areas, we just haven't actually pulled the trigger to buy anything yet! In due time!
I finally figured out a solution for the window in Tray's room. Once again, I can thank Ikea for offering an affordable solution! Last Monday I bought and installed a new curtain rod, solar blinds and white curtains, all for less than $60. We may need to line the curtains in a blackout fabric this summer but we're going to wait and see how it goes. Here's a shot of the after (sorry it's so dark):
A couple of weeks ago, Tray received his/her first books courtesy of my friend Kristen. Kristen is also pregnant (about 39 weeks right now, actually). Kristen and Andrew live in Alabama with their dog, Wilbur. K&A were recently given several cat-themed books at a shower and rather than risk ending up in the doghouse by bringing these books home, they regifted to us! Yay! We're trying to figure out the best way to put Tray's books on display in the nursery. I've been contemplating making rain gutter bookshelves but have yet to work up the energy to buy the supplies and try it out. For now the books are acting as a prop for our new peace lily, which, by the way, is a natural air cleaner:
The latest addition to the nursery is a series of postcards from an amazingly talented illustrator of childhood themes and scenes that I mounted on book binding paper and framed. Here's a close-up of two of the postcards:
I finally figured out a solution for the window in Tray's room. Once again, I can thank Ikea for offering an affordable solution! Last Monday I bought and installed a new curtain rod, solar blinds and white curtains, all for less than $60. We may need to line the curtains in a blackout fabric this summer but we're going to wait and see how it goes. Here's a shot of the after (sorry it's so dark):
A couple of weeks ago, Tray received his/her first books courtesy of my friend Kristen. Kristen is also pregnant (about 39 weeks right now, actually). Kristen and Andrew live in Alabama with their dog, Wilbur. K&A were recently given several cat-themed books at a shower and rather than risk ending up in the doghouse by bringing these books home, they regifted to us! Yay! We're trying to figure out the best way to put Tray's books on display in the nursery. I've been contemplating making rain gutter bookshelves but have yet to work up the energy to buy the supplies and try it out. For now the books are acting as a prop for our new peace lily, which, by the way, is a natural air cleaner:
(The Pikes Place Market book was a gift from our neighbor, Ter, who knows the author.)
The latest addition to the nursery is a series of postcards from an amazingly talented illustrator of childhood themes and scenes that I mounted on book binding paper and framed. Here's a close-up of two of the postcards:
The script beneath the elephants says "I love my Mom" in French. The script beneath the giraffes says "I love my Dad" in French. She has so many illustrations that we love but we're going to wait until we find out if Tray is a boy or a girl before we buy anymore!
On a different note, last week was the last class in our yoga series. We both really enjoyed learning the basics of ashtanga yoga and hope to begin attending a drop-in class at least once a week. Matt was the star of the class! It pays to have upper body strength in yoga! There were a lot of positions I wasn't able to get into due to my growing belly, and my balance is nearly non-existent at times. Still, learning the 8 limbs of yoga and the proper breathing technique was really cool. During one of our last classes, we decided to buy a little something to remember our introduction to yoga and this time:
Hopefully Tray isn't a big one! We really want this to fit! :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Friday's Appt. and Questions to ask the OB
Friday's appointment went well. Tray's heartbeat is still strong and everything looks good. Well, everything except that I'm measuring big. For the second visit in a row, the size of my belly is bigger than it should be. Granted, the OB uses a fabric measuring tape so that measurement is quite crude. If I continue to measure big at next month's appointment, I will have to have another ultrasound. (Side note: With a totally normal pregnancy, the last ultrasound is at 20 weeks! Can you believe that? They don't look at the baby again until s/he is born!)
I know Tray and I just went through a growth spurt so that may explain why I'm measuring big. At our February appointment (19 weeks), I'd only gained a total of 7 pounds, which is under where I should have been. At this appointment (24 weeks), I'd gained a total of 12 pounds (up 5 pounds), which is right around where I should be.
One of the big decisions we recently made was to hire a doula for my labor. A doula is a labor support person for the mother. They offer pain coping techniques including massage, counter-pressure, relaxation exercises, birthing pool, etc. for the duration of the labor. Typically, they also offer support postpartum in the form of home visits and 24 hour phone support for up to 2 months after birth. We met with the doula we eventually hired a couple of weeks ago and Matt and I both really like her. She's a mother of three, a distance runner, a writer, a brand new yogi (like us!), and the former director of the Seattle Midwifery School (which means she's also a midwife, although, she will only act in the capacity of a doula for us). It was very helpful to hear her perspective after assisting at over 300 births!
The hope is that we will labor at home for as long as possible with her assistance. She will bring all of her doula toys (birth ball, birthing pool, rebozo, hot/cold packs, scented oils, etc.) to help us try to meet this goal. (This is, of course, assuming a totally healthy pregnancy and no potential issues.) Ideally, we will birth at home until 6-8 cm of dilation. The hospital is a short 10 minute drive from here, so we will be in a good position to get there sooner if necessary. The ultimate goal is a natural birth, without intervention or drugs but in the hospital with our OB (sounds like an oxymoron in this day and age). This is just a goal and we are well aware of all that lies on the other side of the spectrum. We want to be prepared for all possible outcomes.
At Friday's appointment, we got to have a conversation with our OB about our doula. We were also able to ask our OB several questions our doula brought up during out meeting. First off, our OB is very friendly to the idea of a doula and has worked with doulas in the past (she even gave us a sheet of recommended doulas last time we asked). She's also aware that if we were living in a European or an Asian country, there's a 90% chance we'd be giving birth with a midwife, as OBs are only used for high-risk pregnancies in the vast majority of the world. All and all, our OB is about the best doctor we could ask for right now. The only problem is that she works in a hospital and hospitals follow strict protocols. Let me explain.
Like all of medicine, protocols are developed out of research. Medical research is most often based on the bell curve. Medicine looks at the distribution of a given scenario and a protocol is instituted for the mean (the average) of that distribution (the very top of the curve). So, for example, with a woman in labor, the protocol might be to put her on pitocin (a synthetic version of oxytocin which is what your brain is producing to get your body to start contractions) after ____ hours without natural contractions. The protocol is applied to all women at a certain number of hours (whatever the protocol is), with very little variation. The problem is that variation exists in the real world (as the bell curve proves). On a bell curve, the mean is just the very top of the curve. 50% of people fall on one side of that inflection point and 50% of people fall on the other side of that inflection point (i.e. some women will experience natural contractions much sooner than the average and some women will experience natural contractions much later than the average). But everyone gets treated the same because that's how medicine is able to minimize risk and how hospitals are able to keep up with the demand. Our OB, despite her desire to give us the birth experience she knows we want, will ultimately have to follow the protocol at our hospital, more or less.
In the scenario of a woman without natural contractions, say 8 hours after her water breaks, the hospital will put that woman on pitocin to minimize risk for infection and speed up the labor process. A midwife would let that woman continue to labor at home unless there was some reason for alarm. Pitocin exists for a reason, absolutely, but too often it is applied to nearly every woman who walks though the doors of the labor and delivery ward, before seeing what her body is naturally capable of. However, the real problem with all of the interventions that occur at a hospital during the labor process is that one intervention leads to another, which leads to another, and to another. It can be a very slippery slope. Historically, the ultimate goal of obstetrics was a healthy baby, and protocols were developed in response to that goal. From my perspective, the real goal, however, should be a healthy baby and a healthy mother.
There was an article in the NY Times earlier this week about the c-section rate in the United States. The World Health Organization recommends that the average c-section rate in any country should be no higher than 15%. The c-section rate in the US is now at 32%. One in every 3 women gets a c-section!! Some states are as high as nearly 40%! It used to be that a c-section was only performed as a life saving measure. Now, if I wanted to, I could elect to have a c-section (elective c-sections are probably only a very small percentage of the 32%). I totally see the benefits of a c-section and I can understand why they are performed. But, again, I don't want to be forced to have a c-section because of protocol alone.
The hospital where we will deliver had a c-section rate of 34% in 2008. The flaw in that statistic is that our hospital has one of the best neonatal departments in the state. They see more high risk pregnancies than other hospitals which drive up their total. We asked our OB what her c-section rate is. The last time they measured, as a group (there are 8 female OBs total), they were around 13-15%. We asked our OB how often she delivers her own patients. She's on call one night a week, which means that if I deliver in the middle of the night, I have a 1 in 7 chance that my OB will be the one who delivers our baby (good thing her partners share a similar philosophy!). For daytime deliveries, she's on call 5 days a week (meaning she runs from the office to the hospital (next door) to deliver her patients throughout the day). Overall, she says there's a 60% chance she will deliver our baby. I asked our OB about birthing positions. When a woman gives birth on her back (how most hospitals require a woman to give birth), her pelvis is 33% smaller than if she was squatting or bending over (the baby passes through the pelvis). Our OB says she has delivered babies in all kinds of positions but, typically, once a woman has an epidural, she's required to lay flat so most women give birth lying down. If I'm able to make it through labor to the pushing phase without an epidural, I hope to get into whatever position feels best at that time. Obviously, that position is TBD, but it's nice to know that I may be able to do something other than lay in bed.
The more research we do (books, documentaries, etc.), the more we are glad that we're getting the big picture. We will give birth with an OB in a hospital and that is reassuring in many ways. But we will also have our doula with us and she will know what type of birth we want and she will advocate for us, which becomes especially important when you end up with labor nurses you've never met before and an OB you've never seen because yours is off duty. Also, studies have shown that doulas decrease the likelihood that you will end up with an epidural, a c-section, etc. Ultimately, we don't know what the labor experience holds for us and, more than anything else, we're trying to prepare for that unknown equipped with as much knowledge as possible.
I know Tray and I just went through a growth spurt so that may explain why I'm measuring big. At our February appointment (19 weeks), I'd only gained a total of 7 pounds, which is under where I should have been. At this appointment (24 weeks), I'd gained a total of 12 pounds (up 5 pounds), which is right around where I should be.
One of the big decisions we recently made was to hire a doula for my labor. A doula is a labor support person for the mother. They offer pain coping techniques including massage, counter-pressure, relaxation exercises, birthing pool, etc. for the duration of the labor. Typically, they also offer support postpartum in the form of home visits and 24 hour phone support for up to 2 months after birth. We met with the doula we eventually hired a couple of weeks ago and Matt and I both really like her. She's a mother of three, a distance runner, a writer, a brand new yogi (like us!), and the former director of the Seattle Midwifery School (which means she's also a midwife, although, she will only act in the capacity of a doula for us). It was very helpful to hear her perspective after assisting at over 300 births!
The hope is that we will labor at home for as long as possible with her assistance. She will bring all of her doula toys (birth ball, birthing pool, rebozo, hot/cold packs, scented oils, etc.) to help us try to meet this goal. (This is, of course, assuming a totally healthy pregnancy and no potential issues.) Ideally, we will birth at home until 6-8 cm of dilation. The hospital is a short 10 minute drive from here, so we will be in a good position to get there sooner if necessary. The ultimate goal is a natural birth, without intervention or drugs but in the hospital with our OB (sounds like an oxymoron in this day and age). This is just a goal and we are well aware of all that lies on the other side of the spectrum. We want to be prepared for all possible outcomes.
At Friday's appointment, we got to have a conversation with our OB about our doula. We were also able to ask our OB several questions our doula brought up during out meeting. First off, our OB is very friendly to the idea of a doula and has worked with doulas in the past (she even gave us a sheet of recommended doulas last time we asked). She's also aware that if we were living in a European or an Asian country, there's a 90% chance we'd be giving birth with a midwife, as OBs are only used for high-risk pregnancies in the vast majority of the world. All and all, our OB is about the best doctor we could ask for right now. The only problem is that she works in a hospital and hospitals follow strict protocols. Let me explain.
Like all of medicine, protocols are developed out of research. Medical research is most often based on the bell curve. Medicine looks at the distribution of a given scenario and a protocol is instituted for the mean (the average) of that distribution (the very top of the curve). So, for example, with a woman in labor, the protocol might be to put her on pitocin (a synthetic version of oxytocin which is what your brain is producing to get your body to start contractions) after ____ hours without natural contractions. The protocol is applied to all women at a certain number of hours (whatever the protocol is), with very little variation. The problem is that variation exists in the real world (as the bell curve proves). On a bell curve, the mean is just the very top of the curve. 50% of people fall on one side of that inflection point and 50% of people fall on the other side of that inflection point (i.e. some women will experience natural contractions much sooner than the average and some women will experience natural contractions much later than the average). But everyone gets treated the same because that's how medicine is able to minimize risk and how hospitals are able to keep up with the demand. Our OB, despite her desire to give us the birth experience she knows we want, will ultimately have to follow the protocol at our hospital, more or less.
In the scenario of a woman without natural contractions, say 8 hours after her water breaks, the hospital will put that woman on pitocin to minimize risk for infection and speed up the labor process. A midwife would let that woman continue to labor at home unless there was some reason for alarm. Pitocin exists for a reason, absolutely, but too often it is applied to nearly every woman who walks though the doors of the labor and delivery ward, before seeing what her body is naturally capable of. However, the real problem with all of the interventions that occur at a hospital during the labor process is that one intervention leads to another, which leads to another, and to another. It can be a very slippery slope. Historically, the ultimate goal of obstetrics was a healthy baby, and protocols were developed in response to that goal. From my perspective, the real goal, however, should be a healthy baby and a healthy mother.
There was an article in the NY Times earlier this week about the c-section rate in the United States. The World Health Organization recommends that the average c-section rate in any country should be no higher than 15%. The c-section rate in the US is now at 32%. One in every 3 women gets a c-section!! Some states are as high as nearly 40%! It used to be that a c-section was only performed as a life saving measure. Now, if I wanted to, I could elect to have a c-section (elective c-sections are probably only a very small percentage of the 32%). I totally see the benefits of a c-section and I can understand why they are performed. But, again, I don't want to be forced to have a c-section because of protocol alone.
The hospital where we will deliver had a c-section rate of 34% in 2008. The flaw in that statistic is that our hospital has one of the best neonatal departments in the state. They see more high risk pregnancies than other hospitals which drive up their total. We asked our OB what her c-section rate is. The last time they measured, as a group (there are 8 female OBs total), they were around 13-15%. We asked our OB how often she delivers her own patients. She's on call one night a week, which means that if I deliver in the middle of the night, I have a 1 in 7 chance that my OB will be the one who delivers our baby (good thing her partners share a similar philosophy!). For daytime deliveries, she's on call 5 days a week (meaning she runs from the office to the hospital (next door) to deliver her patients throughout the day). Overall, she says there's a 60% chance she will deliver our baby. I asked our OB about birthing positions. When a woman gives birth on her back (how most hospitals require a woman to give birth), her pelvis is 33% smaller than if she was squatting or bending over (the baby passes through the pelvis). Our OB says she has delivered babies in all kinds of positions but, typically, once a woman has an epidural, she's required to lay flat so most women give birth lying down. If I'm able to make it through labor to the pushing phase without an epidural, I hope to get into whatever position feels best at that time. Obviously, that position is TBD, but it's nice to know that I may be able to do something other than lay in bed.
The more research we do (books, documentaries, etc.), the more we are glad that we're getting the big picture. We will give birth with an OB in a hospital and that is reassuring in many ways. But we will also have our doula with us and she will know what type of birth we want and she will advocate for us, which becomes especially important when you end up with labor nurses you've never met before and an OB you've never seen because yours is off duty. Also, studies have shown that doulas decrease the likelihood that you will end up with an epidural, a c-section, etc. Ultimately, we don't know what the labor experience holds for us and, more than anything else, we're trying to prepare for that unknown equipped with as much knowledge as possible.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
23 weeks!
I know I've been slacking on updating this blog. I'll try to be better in the future! Here's a picture of me from this morning at 23 weeks. We go in for our 6 month check-up on Friday and we're looking forward to hearing Tray's fast little heartbeat again. I haven't been sleeping well lately and when I wake up in the middle of the night, it's been harder to fall back asleep because of all of the activity in my belly! This kid *really* likes to punch and kick his/her mama!
I can't believe I'm nearly done with the second trimester!!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
22 weeks
My belly seems to have grown a lot in the last week! If you compare my 19 week photo to my 21 week photo, strangely enough I look much bigger in my 19 week photo. And so, perhaps, that is why I look even larger this week!
This photo was taken on our way to yoga class, which we are loving! We only have 2 weeks left in our yoga series. We plan to start looking for a drop-in course to attend once a week starting in April.
This photo was taken on our way to yoga class, which we are loving! We only have 2 weeks left in our yoga series. We plan to start looking for a drop-in course to attend once a week starting in April.
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