...and it showered babies...(30 weeks 3 days)

Two Sundays ago I got to have my baby shower! Two friends from school very graciously put a whole bunch of my favorite stuff together (mainly friends, candy, and CAKE!) and we showered it up at my house and out in the yard. It was blazingly hot, and a storm affected some drives home but other than that I would call it a roaring success. We got lots of cute stuff and with any luck we'll have a finished room to put it in soon! Ryan's parents stayed a few days post-shower and got started on the room for us! It's all taped up, and the trim paint is done. Man this baby thing is starting to feel real! We actually have a car seat sitting in our living room...weird.

On the birthing front we have essentially decided to do a home birth. We finally heard from the new midwife again and have our first appointment for a few weeks from now. I'm very excited because I wasn't sure if we'd be able to do this so late in the game and of course once I decided this was what I wanted to do, we had a little trouble getting an appointment. In the meantime I had a regularly scheduled appointment at the midwife practice I've been going to and, while I wasn't going to bring it up, the midwife we happened to be seeing that day said something about homebirth and so we started talking about it. She had both her kids at home and was telling us how many of the other midwives and labor & delivery nurses that they work with all had their children at home. Ryan, who had been somewhat hesitant about the whole thing, just kind of looked at me, and was like, why are all the people who deliver babies as their profession in the hospital having their babies at home...? And it just kind of clicked. We're really excited to meet this midwife in a few weeks and finally get that long list of questions answered!

On a not so exciting note I have been having some pretty severe back pain that has made me pretty cranky (I apologize to anyone who has experienced the backlash of this…mostly Ryan). I was able to determine that it wasn't necessarily muscular pain, but didn't feel like nerve pain either since it wasn't tingly or burning. A friend of my mom's told me her niece went through the same thing and they figured out it was the spreading of all the ligaments around her back and pelvis that was causing the pain and she ended up doing some PT to get it better. I'm willing to do just about anything at this point. I've never experienced chronic pain and let me tell you it's pretty draining. I don't know how people live with it for years on end. I'm hoping to chew off the ear of a PT friend (I'm looking at you, Maria:) and maybe invest in some sports therapy massages or something…anything…to make it better. I don't want to be miserable for another two months. I'm also going to start slowing down at work. Up until now I've pretty much been working regular 40 hour weeks and with back pain and an hour commute each way on top of that I'm getting pretty exhausted. I need to get lots of rest and be in tip top shape not only for delivery but for when the baby's here since sleep will certainly be something of the past!

A good baby shower pic below…thanks again to everyone who planned, attended, and sent gifts!!

To birth at home or the hospital...that is the question (27 weeks 6 days)

My latest obsession has been about whether or not I want to think about giving birth at home. I can't decide if this is a totally crazy idea or possibly the sanest thing I'll have done in a very long time. Before I ever got pregnant I knew I wanted to use a midwife because I felt that I would be more likely to get the birthing experience that I wanted than with a tradition OB. So for the last six months I have been going to my midwives and I have to say it really doesn't feel any different from going to the doctor. I still go to the big office, have to wait half an hour, have nurses take my vitals and urine and then spend all of two minutes talking to the midwife of the day. Since it's a whole practice I see a different midwife every time and you never know which one will be on call the day you go into labor...why am I doing this again?

While I'm frustrated with my current situation, and am not seeing the benefits to having a midwife at the moment, I do believe that once I'm actually in labor there will be a difference in having the midwife there versus an OB (at least this is what I hear from other people). However, at the same time, I feel that just by the nature of having to go to the hospital and giving birth there I still won't exactly have the experience that I want. I want to be able to walk around during labor if that makes me feel better, shower, take a hot bath...whatever it may be, and those things most certainly won't be options at the hospital. I also don't like the idea of so many unfamiliar faces starting down my privates every hour and during delivery. People give birth at home with one midwife and maybe a doula all the time so why do hospitals insist on a bajillion nurses being there, and traipsing in and out? And you're in labor so long that with the change of shifts you've had 20 different strangers staring you down by the time it's all over.

So now I've been looking into private midwives in the area and am really considering home birth. While there is definitely a risk that goes along with it, I'm not so sure the risk is really any greater than being in the hospital (since we all know that comes with its own risks). I truly feel that being in a relaxed and comfortable environment will help resolve a lot of the little things that go wrong during a hospital birth. It also helps that we live approximately 5 minutes away from the hospital so if something really did go wrong we'd be there in a flash. I have a bajillion questions for this new midwife when she emails me back and I'm hoping to shed a lot of light on my current dilemma. Part of me can't envision feeling comfortable doing it at home and the other part of my can't envision feeling 100% comfortable in the hospital either. I'm hoping for some omens/signs in the near future to help me make a decision that I feel totally comfortable with!

Rounding third! (27 weeks)

Happy 6 months to me!! Yesterday I was officially 6 months along and today I am 27 weeks marking the end of my second trimester! I can't believe I'm in my third trimester already and at the same time I can't believe I still have three long months to go. I'm feeling bigger and bigger and it's definitely getting harder to move around. I have a feeling I'm going to be a ginormous whale knocking lamps off tables by the time this is all done!

I've been working for a couple of weeks now, and other than being very tired at the end of the day, everything is going pretty well. Luckily they are flexible with me and said whenever I feel it's too much I can just pull back. I'm really hoping to work till I pop though since the money is pretty nice :)

I have been a little overwhelmed lately since it seems that everything is starting to pile on. The baby's room hasn't been touched since I painted the color swatches on it, we don't have daycare set up yet, nor do we have a pediatrician lined up. When I think about it all it makes my stomach turn. I'm trying to tackle it little by little but working an hour away from home gets in the way of making phone calls during business hours. Maybe I can get Ryan to make appointments to meet with pediatricians...yeah right...

On the up side I have still been sleeping pretty well (when the dogs let us sleep through the night that is). I still only get up once a night to pee if at all so I'm hoping maybe it will stay that way although I highly doubt it! I have my oral glucose tolerance test coming up that has to be done some time this week so keep your fingers crossed that it turns out well! When I first found out I was pregnant I had a huge fear of gestational diabetes so I hope that I've been treating myself and my baby right and we'll get the all clear! I'm also really looking forward to my baby shower in a few weeks! I got to go to some really awesome showers for my friends and I'm excited for my own!

Enjoy the latest belly pic below, and a huge thanks to Leah for some awesome maternity clothes!