Midwife Visit and Stuff Related

This morning was good.  Woke up nice and early for my walk, showered (it's even sweat-inducingly warm by 630am when i was finishing up my walk!), meditated, read my scriptures and ate some peanuts and raisins, and spent some time writing in my journal.  My midwife arrived.  We are now at weekly appointments.

The baby's heartrate was 140.  Normal.  Awesome.  My blood pressure was 118/72.  Good.  My fundal height measured 1 week more than last week.  Good.

All is well.  :)  Baby moves regularly.  We're gearnig up for the birth!  How?

Well, i've completed my goal of preparing 14 days worth of snacks (that's 2 snacks each day, by the way).  My goal of having 14 main courses prepared prior to the baby's arrival is short by only 4 meals.  Pretty great, right?  And i DO have a plan for those meals... at least 3 of them.  :)  So, i'm feeling pretty pleased with myself.

The rest of my "Before Baby Arrives Goal List" is sorely lacking in accomplishment.  But most of the items on it are not integral or even terribly important to baby's arrival.  Just things i WANTED to accomplish.  The main one that sorta had to do with baby (and the biggest that were/are directly related) is already done.  That goal had to do with excess clothing in the house.  It did feel good to get the items i'd put aside a long time ago washed, sorted, and OUT (though i did retain a few items in SMALL sizes... few is REALLY the operative word there).

The only thing i MUST accomplish before baby's arrival now is to relocate the clothes and blankets i expect to use for this one (probably some of the neutral colors as well as a few in "girl" and "boy" colors since we won't know which we have until the birth).  Those items DO need to be washed and i will have to find a home for them.  That last bit should be the most interesting of all aspects of the job pertaining to those things!  ^_^  It'll be fine.

I sure am getting excited!  This is the first time i've been able to look forward to a birth this way.  What's the difference?  i'm not getting stuck at the labor!!!  ^_^  Why?  Well... i think it is a many-faceted jewel of a difference in me, honestly.  For instance, i'm walking right around 2.31 miles every morning as well as doing "kimchi" DEEP squats.  i walk and do squats 6 days per week.  As a result, i feel very strong in my body and greater peace, generally.  The peace (and ability to feel it regularly if not constantly) is due, at least in large part, to the time i spend praying and listening to uplifting talks during my walks, which walking requires right around 1 hour every morning.  (Today was 65 minutes.)  i do think the Bach Remedies i use are enabling my brain to access the Peace always  available to us through Christ much more constantly.

Bach Flower Remedies are most definitely a facet in the jewel of my anticipating this birth.  THAT is a huge one, i think!  If i had to say which of the remedies are making the biggest impact, i'd have to say: Olive, Aspen (which has been particularly helpful regarding fears), as well as Hornbeam and White Chestnut.  Many days i use a total of 7 remedies, but i've been trying to use fewer the last couple days.  Just felt like i should....

Meditation is, of course, yet another facet.  If you haven't tried it, i HIGHLY recommend doing a little reading/watching and making a 40 day commitment.  If 40 days is too much, try 7.  In my opinion, 40 days is THE best minimum to try... but doing even as little as 7 could show you the value.  As for me, i started with a 40 day test this time around.  (A long time ago, when i was 25, i practiced some guided imagery meditation and loved it, but scared myself out of doing it.  But that's another story! ^_^)  The test, which i honestly didn't think i'd be able to completely, went wonderfully well.  Apparently the differences i felt were not very apparent to those around me, but i felt them so much that i kept going even though there was a good deal of opposition.  i'm super glad as i'm now approaching my 1 year anniversary!  ^_^

Currently, i'm practicing Kundalini Yoga.  It's nothing like the yoga that is commonly understood when that word is used.  In my opinion, it's MUCH better... though not usually/always as physically demanding.  If you do a search right here in my blog, you'll readily find a few posts that include the meditations i do regularly... except for the most recent addition (i started a new 40 day challenge), which i'll write about soonish.

Finally, but in no way meant as the least of these, is my effort to eat very well.  Organic produce is the majority of our food supply currently.  Hopefully, some of that will come from my garden very soon.  (So far it has been very little in the form of some greens.  Definitely grateful, but hoping for a good bit more.)  Juicing is also a big effort.  As i progress in this pregnancy it becomes increasingly difficult to juice regularly due to physical fatigue, but i still try to do it every couple days!

There is surely more, i just cannot think any more on this subject.  My mind is ready for sleep, but i have hours yet to go before i may.

Namaste!

Jess Says I Glow, What Do You Think?

FRONT

Jess took this one. I was looking down at Kat.

FRONT

Ria took this picture. Didn't she do a great job? Of course, we now have a record of the extra chin I still have... ah, well!
Oh, and I wasn't holding my breath, or anything, it's just the perspective.

RIGHT SIDE

Kat just had to be in the pictures with me. "What ARE you looking at, anyway, Mom?"
Can't you just hear her thinking that?? :)

LEFT SIDE

POSED

Jess had us stand like this. I guess he saw us doing it a moment before the other picture with Kat in it and liked it so asked her to look up at Mama again.

KAT TAKEN

Kathryn actually took this picture. Can you tell who her favorite person is??? I'll give you just one guess for this one. :) Yes, it's Ria... or YA, or YAYA, or EEE-A as she calls her depending upon her mood and the purpose of the call! ^_^


My WALK
Oh, I have my first REALLY horrible Braxton Hicks while walking today. WOW, what pain!

Oh, and I was able to enjoy a lovely walk ALL BY MYSELF today. For the first time I went on a regular long walk with Jess home. 63 minutes, to be exact. Usually, I've been home before 50 minutes, but today I lost track of time and miscalculated return travel. Jess didn't mind, though. What a great hubbie! ALSO, on THAT subject... when I came home I found that he had swept everywhere I could see!!!! WOW, right!?!?!!! What a GIFT! I've actually been sweeping pretty regularly, but it was lookin' rough today and I was trying to determine when I could get to it tomorrow (Thursday). Now, I won't have to! ^_^ JOY!!!

Another Couple Notes about the Midwife Visit
I forgot to mention before that I gained 1 pound since my last midwife visit. That makes the first weight gain of the pregnancy... another strange bit. During each of my previous pregnancies I didn't gain ANY weight until the last month (at which point I gained exactly 13 pounds of water). This pregnancy is different, all around, I have to say!

My blood pressure was also elevated slightly, but we'd just been talking about emotional stuff, so it's nothing to worry about - we thinks. :) Seriously, though, it shouldn't be anything because it wasn't outrageous or anything AND we really were just having an emotional conversation.

Life is a Circus... How Many Rings Does Yours Have?

Ring Master Ria
The title today is inspired by Ria. Just a little while ago I heard her, as I was lying down on the couch resting again, narrating to an imaginary audience. She was obviously trying to build up some suspense and excitement for what she was about to present. The words were there, but it was also the tone - the way she was totally ANNOUNCING it. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you something that will surprise and wonder you. It is Kathryn!" And then she proceeded in her announcer style to tell Kathryn to do certain things, "Now, Kathryn will go to the microphone," and here she got a bit more quiet so I couldn't hear further instructions from Ring Master Ria. How funny, huh? Ria has never seen a circus... oh, well, I suppose she has seen ONE: DUMBO. ^_^

Midwife Visit
I'm pretty sure that covers the whole circus aspect of the day since our days are pretty quiet as of late. I suppose today has been more exciting than normal because we had our midwife visit. Everything is great. Baby heartbeat is at 140 (range 120-160 is good/normal). Mama's blood pressure is same as last time 110 over 62! ^_^ THANK YOU WALKS!!!! And belly measurement: 28 centimeters. Uhhh... did you SEE that number? You know, of course, a preggie belly is supposed to measure the same in centimeters as the Mama is weeks preggie. I'm 25 by my count, which isn't TOO off. But my midwife has me at 24 and a couple days. BUT even at 25 weeks (my count) I've never measured more than 2 weeks ahead of my weeks. So... what do you think?? Lately I've really thought there was probably only one baby in there, but now I'm not so sure. If the measurements are up a week more next time, I'm going to have to schedule an ultrasound. :( The way I'm trying to comfort myself about this situation is that #1 having an US will enable me to keep my home birth and #2 the US will NOT be prior to 30 weeks gestation. We'll see. It could totally even out and I won't even have to worry about it!

Today was the gestational diabetes test, which I didn't realize. So I ate a peanut butter and honey sandwich for breakfast. :( This is not the best meal to have in preparation for that particular test! Hopefully it comes back normal or I'll have to pay for extra labs on my blood! ah well... it's my own fault, I wasn't heeding the promptings....

Scary Excitement in the Van
The other aspect of excitement this morning is that we were almost sideswiped by a Volusia County School truck this morning. (It was about the size of a standard Chevy S-10, but still!) Jess didn't even perceive it as soon as I did, which caused his reaction to be very lagging, which caused me some extra anxiety. The truck would have hit me, by the way. Also, Jess is really slow to honk the horn. I, on the other hand, feel that horns are the only way to communicate with other vehicles, so I use it if I feel the need. Different ways of honking for different purposes, of course. This particular instance would have been a LONG drawn out honk with lots of exclamatory short honks afterward! At least Jess did honk, though! Thankfully, we were not touched by the other vehicle. Father was certainly offering his protection. My anxiety was super high. I'm glad it happened after my blood pressure was taken! haha