I moved to bi-weekly appointments a few weeks ago, and they’re coming so close together that I didn’t get my act together and write about appointment 5 before appointment 6 had come and gone!  Personally I miss only going in once a month, but I tend to be very chill when it comes to my healthcare and so I have to keep reminding myself that it’s important for me to visit with Sarah and have her check up on my swelling, weight gain, and measure my belly to make sure baby and I are where we need to be.

I’m making my way through my maternity photos slowly but surely. I love having the RAW files to process, but it means it’s going to take a bit more time to get through all of it. :) Photo by Bethany Jackman, editing by me.

Appointment 5

This was one of my shortest visits so far. I was up 6 pounds from my last visit, with a total weight gain of about 45 lbs at 31.5 weeks. My blood pressure rocked at 102/67 and baby’s heart was pumping away at 140 bpm.

I had attended the breastfeeding class offered by the birth center only two days before, so I had breastfeeding on the brain. Sarah had taught the class and mentioned the importance of showing your nipples to the midwife so I lifted my shirt and gave Sarah a little peek to make sure I don’t have flat or inverted nipples that would make breastfeeding difficult. She said everything looks great! We talked more about my breast reduction surgery and the plan regarding breastfeeding. I asked if I should purchase a supply of bottles and other formula related paraphernalia but Sarah said we wouldn’t worry about it until we had to. One of my favorite things about Sarah is her passion for helping every single mom to breastfeed and be comfortable doing so.

I told her that TH still hadn’t had a chance to get his blood tested and she gave me a test we could use to figure it out ourselves. Alright!

The last thing we talked about was Group-B Strep. She gave me a sheet that talked about the test, why it is done, etc, and told me to make a decision regarding my preference for having it done by our next appointment.

I thought some of you might like to see the fun we had testing TH’s blood in our kitchen!
We puzzled over the instructions before we began:

Dropped a bit of water on each of the circles on the blood testing card where indicated:

TH sanitized his finger:

Attempted to prick his finger using the little knife in the kit:

Gave up on that and poked himself with a pin:

Success!:

I gathered a drop of blood from his finger using little sticks that were provided and dropped some of the blood on each of the water droplets placed previously:

We mixed the water and blood together and waited to see which circles coagulated:

The results? RH Negative! What a lucky girl I am.

Appointment 6

Three weeks after appointment 5, I went in for appointment 6. It should have been two weeks but Sarah had a birth to attend on the day of my appointment so we pushed things back a bit. I frowned at the scale as I saw I had gained close to 8 pounds in three weeks, but my belly measured about a week behind so it looks like baby isn’t growing into a monster. Awesome blood pressure results once again, 102/58, and baby’s heart pumping away at 139 bpm.

At 34.5 weeks during this appointment it was time for Sarah to hand me the sheet containing all of the items I would need to gather for the home birth. I ordered a personalized birth kit from www.inhishands.com and put together a shopping list for things like towels/trash bags/sanitary napkins, etc. She asked that I have all of these items assembled by 36 weeks, which happens to be this coming Saturday. Crazy!

Over time Sarah has realized how strong willed I am regarding my own treatment and my desire to research things out for myself before doing them, and I really loved how she phrased her advice at this last appointment, urging me to look things up on my own and decide if I wanted to use them. She recommended Mountain Meadows Herbs Gentle Birth Formula, Red Raspberry Leaf Tea, and 2000 mg of evening primrose oil inserted vaginally each night beginning at 36 weeks. Primrose Oil is full of prostaglandins, thought to help ripen the cervix, and a method I’m definitely going to employ.

We talked about perineal massage, a method proven to help reduce tearing of the perineum during delivery and decrease the need for instrument assisted delivery. I believe in perineal massage because when TH does it, it forces me to relax and work on focusing through an uncomfortable event.

My calves and feet are swelling up to monster sizes lately but my blood pressure is still looking good and I don’t have swelling anywhere else so no need to transfer or worry aboutpreeclampsia yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s somewhat related to the large number of hours I spend sitting in front of the computer each day!

The last thing we discussed at this visit was Appointment 7, which will be a home visit! Sarah comes out to see her mom’s at 36 weeks to familiarize herself with the drive, know how to get in, talk to me about preparing the house, etc. Wouldn’t it be nice if every appointment was a home one? ;)

Also: