Milton's Manor

Since there is no longer a need for a blog about me and my baby belly, we've decided to start a new blog for our new family. Jason and I will both be blogging about our sweet Charlotte and our adventures as a family.

Find our new blog (named after our eldest cat Milton) here: www.MiltonsManor.blogspot.com

Charlotte

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Labor

Guestblogging this morning is Bethie's husband, Jason, live from the hospital. Bethie began her labor at about 12:30 AM on the day after Christmas. She is progressing well -- if not without pain -- and is showing great strength.

She's currently perched on the birthing ball and sans epidural.

These Luxurious Days

I feel so lucky to not be working these last few weeks of pregnancy. I am singing a service tomorrow evening and a service Christmas day, but that is it. I have been spending my days relaxing, visiting with friends, taking long naps and long baths and generally getting the house in shape for Charlotte's arrival. I know things will change dramatically after Charlotte's birth so I am really trying to appreciate and enjoy these quiet days. I even treated myself to a pedicure today! Life is good.

Our New Kitchen!

We are thrilled to have (mostly) completed our kitchen renovation!


Can you believe what it looked like when we moved in?!


We are so happy to have a lovely kitchen to bring our Charlotte home to. There wasn't much we needed to do in the kitchen to accommodate a baby, but we did give her her own drawer:


We also got this adorable drying rack for her bottles at our shower (thanks Aunt Tina!). I am planning on breastfeeding so we didn't need anything too big or involved and this one was too cute to pass up!


What a luxury it is to have such a lovely kitchen to work in after nearly two years of using a partially renovated kitchen. Charlotte won't be able to appreciate it, but her parents and visiting relatives sure will!

PS: I did a more thorough post about the kitchen reno over at www.MrsAllensHouse.blogspot.com.

Labor Induction?

I had my 38 week checkup today. The doctor checked my cervix and I am still only 2cm dilated. Bummer. I was really hoping things were progressing faster than that! The doctor then asked me if I wanted to be induced. What a horrible thing to ask an extremely uncomfortable, ginormous pregnant woman! Though I have to admit I hesitated, I told him that I would prefer to go naturally. Not only is there no valid medical reason for me to be induced, I've heard that induced labors are much more painful. Here are some other risks I found on the Mayo Clinic website:

• Low heart rate. The medication used to induce labor (oxytocin) may provoke too many contractions, which can diminish your baby's oxygen supply and lower your baby's heart rate.

• Infection. Inducing labor increases the risk of infection for both mother and baby.

• Umbilical cord problems. Inducing labor increases the risk of the umbilical cord slipping into the vagina before delivery, which may compress the cord and decrease the baby's oxygen supply.

• The need for a C-section. By definition, induction promotes delivery before your body is ready for labor — which may lead to poor labor progress and the need for a C-section.

It wasn't until after this conversation that I brought up my concerns about Charlotte getting too big. When I asked him how big he thought she was he checked my chart and said, "We're looking at between an eight and eight-and-a-half pound baby." At the time, I assumed he meant that she would be that big by the time I deliver, but now I'm a little scared that he meant that she is already that big! Assuming she does grow a full pound a week, that would make her potentially 10.5 pounds at 40 weeks! That would surely not turn out well. If that were indeed the case, I bet we'd be looking at a C-section. While I am against having either a C-seciton or induction, I would certainly prefer an induction to surgery!

Chances are, he meant she will be up to 8.5 pounds at birth. Regardless, there is a lot of advice online on how to naturally induce labor. Most of the advice involves some version of the following:

-exercise
-sex
-stretches, exercises and gimmicks to get the baby to drop (bouncing on an exercise ball, going for a bumpy car ride)
-eating particular foods such as pineapple, eggplant or generally spicy foods
-consuming castor oil, primrose oil, raspberry leaf tea or other particular herbs

A few of these I'm willing to try, a few of these I'm not. I will admit, however, that I did consume half of a pineapple last night before bed. Ultimately, I don't think any of these tricks will work if your body isn't already ready to go into labor; obviously mine isn't quite ready. Still, I have to admit I got excited when a friend told me that pineapples are on sale at Safeway for a dollar each!

38 Weeks

We are getting so anxious to meet our little Charlotte! Now that my last concert of the season is over I feel like I can finally relax. I still have my church gigs to sing on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but I have subs lined up for everything after that.

In the meantime, I need to get organized with my last bit of Christmas shopping and mailing. We got our cards out early so at least that's done. I also have lots of thank you cards to write! Our Charlotte has received lots of love via post mail in the last few weeks!

I am also just trying to rest and get the house in order. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good, but my lower back gets sore pretty easily. I'm not having any more sciatic nerve issues though; thank God for that!! I've also noticed I get a little dizzy if I overdo it so I am trying to make sure I nap and generally rest up when I can. Things are pretty calm around here so I am finding I have lots of time for baths, naps and reading.

Jason has jury duty today and tomorrow so he can't take me to my weekly OB appointment tomorrow morning. I arranged for a friend of mine to take me instead. We've been grateful that Jason has been able to make it to all the other appointments with me but I have to say, I'm pretty bummed that he won't be able to make it tomorrow. Regardless, I am hoping that I will have dilated a bit more! Who knows, tomorrow could be the big day! It is a full moon tomorrow night after all . . .