Southern Exposure

So last night from 9:45pm on I had contractions. Some were 11-10 minutes apart, some 7 minutes then back to 15 minutes. I’m not one to run to the car and get to the hospital so we sat tight. I took a shower, shaved up and prepped the last of our hospital bag stuff. I went to sleep and woke up a few times but I’m still home this morning. 

So while they seem to have slowed down this morning, only have had two so far. I am taking it easy and trying to let me husband finish up today’s work. I watered my plants, called disability and put away all clean laundry.

My mom who is a thousand miles away in New York is trying to be calm but I can tell this is occupying her mind. She forgot to pick up my niece and nephew yesterday from the bus stop. I don’t think in her 30 years of having her own children she’s ever forgotten. Poor Grandma.

I’m not rushing him to come but I feel like whenever my body decides we’re ready as we can be. I got my pedicure yesterday because well, I can’t do it myself. Of course I felt jipped because they wouldn’t massage my feet. Ugh I’m 39 weeks, rub the feet!! My place is clean, garbage taken out, bills paid and dishes unloaded.

Does all this over preparedness mean he’ll just show up at 41 weeks?

Well today I started looking into what my post baby workout plans will be. I know I have to take it kind of slow after baby gets here and I know I won’t have a lot of time but I need to fit it in. They say the first 6 months are crucial after that you are more likely to become obese or just not lose the weight and get back to pre-pregnancy shape.

I use working out to control my anxiety and of course it’s been my lifestyle for a long, long time.

So I am researching how I want to get back into the swing of things and also what my diet goals will be. Before baby I was a dairy free, health food junkie. So I’ll return to that but I really want to eat way more veggies then ever before. So I guess it’s time to get creative.

Here are some great pointers that I’ll probably go back to when I need a review:

So when I took my hypnobirthing class, the midwife teaching it mentioned we had options for what to do with our placenta.

Yes, there are options. I think many of us think, isn’t the only option to toss it? Gross placenta.

Well some cultures, not typically in the US believe in Lotus birth, where they leave the placenta attached to the new baby for several days. This forces the family to slow down and be a bit more secluded for the first few days of the baby’s new life. Actually sounds way better then having every family member, friend and their germy kid come over and pester you while you should be bonding with baby.

A more common tradition in the US is planting your placenta. Honoring your child by giving the placenta back to the earth, some also plant a tree or flowers in that same spot. I’ve actually heard of this lately.

Oh and there is placenta art. Yep. I don’t know.

Placenta donation to Cadaver dog training. Now that sparked an interest in me. I feel these dogs are sadly a necessity in helping families find closure.

Then finally, there is eating your own placenta. So when someone mentioned this to me at first I was like gross. I imagined a soup or something like veal. I wouldn’t knock anyone for doing it but it wasn’t for me.

However, lately I have been reading about the amazing benefits of encapsulating the placenta in a tasteless pill that you swallow like a vitamin. Of course there has been some exposure in the news lately. I think January Jones from Mad Men raved about taking placenta capsules. I don’t really care what she does nor do I have cable but it did bring some light on the subject.

So as not to bore anyone, dehydrating and ingesting your placenta has been done for many many year in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some of the benefits of this are:

• Significantly reducing postpartum bleeding.

• Encouraging a quick and healthy milk supply.

• Replenishing essential hormones such as oxytocin and CRH(stress reducer).

• Replenishing essential nutrients such as vitamin B6 and iron, helping to prevent postpartum anemia.

• Prevention of baby blues and post-partum depression.

• Leaves new mothers feeling calmer.

• Gives new mothers the energy to cope with a busy day.

So many benefits. I am not, nor have I ever suffered from depression. I do however have this lovely friend called anxiety. While it’s been many years since taking any medication, I have found alternate ways to cope after settling down the “flare ups.” I feel if this can help me prevent baby blues or post-partum among all the other benefits, why not try it.

Not that we can exactly compare ourselves to other animals but they all eat the placenta after their babies are born and while that may be to hide the scent from a potential predator, it doesn’t seem to hurt them.

So here is a link to some info if you want to know more. I found someone who’ll do it for me in my home with her tools. We just have to get the placenta from the hospital to our freezer where it’ll live in several ziplock bags till it’s ready to go. The specialists you’ll find on this site are certified and registered with food and safety administrations. You can also check with your midwife or doula if you are using one, especially those more prone to encourage natural childbirth.

Anyone know anything about Placenta Encapsulation? Like cost and do they come get the placenta from the hospital?

I’m looking into the benefits and seeing if it is something I’d be interested in. I’ll post more later when I understand more.

On my way to my 38-39 week appointment I got what felt like an instant stomach bug. Needless to say it hasn’t packed it’s bags. I’d really prefer if this was that pre-labor cleansing I’ve heard about but who knows.

Midwife thinks baby next week so there is a plus for today. Back to cleaning the condo. Wee!

Odd, overwhelming feeling of loss of self esteem today. I woke up almost in tears. I can’t explain exactly why. It’s mostly about me which is so selfish. I’m sad that I feel huge. I’m sad that hubby gets all this attention from women. These are all things I shouldn’t give a hoot about at this point. 

I hope I stop feeling sorry for myself soon.

Two and a half days of work left for me before I go on maternity leave. Last week I missed two days because of contractions and a very concerned husband/first time daddy. I came in today because well there is only so much nesting and sitting on my butt I can do. I am super active so I bore easily when told to relax.

I’m 39 weeks Friday and I guess I can say, sure I am excited. I’m not so much anxious as I feel tremendous and I think I’m ready for that to go away. It’s times like this I wish I was a little less uptight about how I look and dress. However I’m wearing my black dress, leggings and fancy hair despite not really feeling like it. 

I drove myself to work today and unfortunately have to drive myself 45 minutes to my midwife appointment tomorrow. Oddly I do not fear anything happening to and from work and I am not afraid to deliver the little man myself if we can’t make it where we have to be. Is there something seriously wrong with me?

I have this strange wave of confidence that has come over me this last trimester. Of course I worry will I be a good parent but I am not nervous about clipping his nails, his first bath or his crib having or not having bumpers. I guess that may all change when he is actually here crying at me or being difficult. 

Back to where I was, I’m going to miss work. I really am. I am a bit of a loner outside of work so it was nice to have nice limited social interaction. Of course I’ll try to maintain routine to my life and maybe learn to be more social. 

This is an extremely boring post but I’ve got nothing exciting yet. I’ve got no drama (thankfully). Just waiting on little man to arrive. 

I haven’t been getting great sleep between nightmares and sporadic contractions. Finally got 7 hours last night but today boy was I sleepy.

So I listened to my body. Yep napped for five hours!?! Aren’t I supposed to get bursts of energy and nest like a mad woman?

Okay so I’ve been nesting for months so I’ve run out of things to do. So yep now I am at a standstill.

I’ll enjoy it as I should. No one can use that, “enjoy sleeping while you can,” because one, it’s really obnoxious and two I haven’t had a solid nights sleep since first trimester.

Victoria’s secret please stop emailing me several times a week, a day advertisements for swimsuit sales! Okay, yes it’s my fault, and I should unsubscribe but some day I’ll be okay with wearing a swimsuit again and I’ll want those sale codes…

I am confident but humble and always have been. Through out this pregnancy I have not felt that pregnancy “glow.” I have not felt like a beautiful pregnant woman. Honestly, I don’t feel beautiful. Hearing it from other people that I am a beautiful pregnant woman isn’t make it better. I am sorry. I understand the sentiment and I appreciate the words of encouragement but what I see is what I think.

And while I understand and completely agree that growing a healthy child inside my womb is a beautiful and amazing thing, I also know that I don’t look like myself and that every day is battle to be comfortable in my own skin. I am allowed to feel that way.

I think each woman is allowed to feel beautiful or not when pregnant and there should be no pressure for us to pretend we feel like amazingly gorgeous fertility goddesses.

While I may not think I am beautiful, I am still happy with who I am. I still love myself and have my self esteem from before. My priorities are not all focused on hiding how uncomfortable I am in my pregnant body. My priorities are taking care of my family and my unborn son.

Oddly the only person so far who even understands my feelings is my husband. He has told me he thinks I’m beautiful either way and tells me I look great but he says he also understands my feelings and understands why I feel the way I do. It helps to know one person gets it without saying, “oh no you look amazing” or “other pregnant women hate you.”

Everyone has a right to feel how they feel. I am not saying pregnancy is ugly or unattractive. I can list plenty of girls who’ve look phenomenal pregnant. Carrying a child for 9-10 months is an amazingly beautiful thing and I am proud to do it. I just don’t have to pretend I look like Miranda Kerr while being pregnant.

This is my vent. I don’t know what kind of response it will receive but I am hoping we are all human and understand we don’t have to all feel the same way.

If any of this forward movement means anything, I’ve begun to tie up some loose ends at home. I’m supposed to work till next Friday but I’ve missed the past two days because of contractions.

So trying to be proactive I’ve done our banking, scheduled our bills, did my husband’s books, change the sheets on our bed, cleaned the condo a bit and now I am doing all of our laundry. All of these chores of course involve frequent couch breaks.

Of course if he doesn’t come any time soon at least it’s all done.

So we’ve got sporadic contractions starting yesterday, pelvic pressure, baby head butting my cervix, the pukies and an upset stomach. There are few little details I leave out but no water breaking yet.

I’m not really anxious or nervous or even concerned with making it happen tonight, tomorrow or Sunday. I’m actually really calm and relaxed. Odd.