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Week 25 Milestones: Baby is weighing in at just over a pound and a half, and is about 22cm CRL. It's around now that he'll start gaining about a 1/2lb every week! My Journal: This week has been another busy week filled with little preparations here and there... My appointment was last Wednesday, and went very well. I'll post all the little details in that section of this journal, but one noteable outcome of the visit was that my OB told me that yes, it was possible to book an elective C-section and then attempt to have a VBAC if he arrived early. Since their "ideal" C-section time (38.5 wks) is the Christmas holiday weekend, she said it was okay to push it to the Monday (the 27th). But then, the office called me back this week to say that when they'd tried to book the 27th, they were told that even the two days after the holiday weekend were still holidays! So we're scheduled to go in on the 29th instead, which is a Wednesday. I'll be 39weeks, 1 day. Making this decision was a really important step and it feels good to have a plan for what will (likely) happen. Now we'll start letting everyone else know when Avery is scheduled to make his arrival and make plans around that date. Another big preparation is the baby's nursery, of course! I almost have it all cleared out and we're planning on moving my desk and computer downstairs to the basement the weekend after next. Then we'll hoepfully get the chance to do all the painting on the weekend after that (Thanksgiving weekend). Once that's done, we can start setting up his room! I'm starting to get really excited about what it will look like. So far it looks like we'll just have the crib, the dresser, the rocking chair, and a small set of shelves in his room, so it may look quite roomy! I'd like to find some little accents to tie the theme together though, like a mobile and maybe some pictures. I've booked our hospital tour, and we'll be going in on November 2nd for that. We also decided that of the prenatal classes that are offered, taking the "refresher" course seems to make sense. It will be one day on a weekend sometime, so hopefully that will be helpful, especially for Paul since it's his first time doing the newborn thing. And although I do remember quite a bit from when Harmony was small, I could really use a refresher too, especially to learn what's new and might have changed since 1998!!! Another "getting ready for baby" thing that I've started is Avery's cross-stitch birth announcement. I made one for Harmony when I was pregnant with her that was of a teddy bear with a purple bow. I'll be doing a similar bear for Avery (there are two in the book I have) and his will have a yellow bow. I also finished a cross-stitch that I'd started working on in the spring that has an angel on it. It says "Angels watch over you..." and I'd like to sew it onto a little blanket for him. With all these preparations, it's becoming very real to us now that baby is on the way!!! I realized that I only have another week before my pregnancy is 2/3rds over! It has gone by so fast and I'm sure the last three months will be flying by too, so I'm trying to make sure to get everything done as soon as I can so I can enjoy those last few weeks of pregnancy and all the excitment of waiting for Avery! Test Results/Ultrasounds/Appointments: My appointment last week went really well - my blood pressure was slightly high but still within an okay range, and everything else checked out as normal. Avery's heartbeat was normal too, at about 147 bpm. I'm actually measuring a little big (fundal height is 27cm, whereas the "average" would be about 24cm), but then again, it's my 5th pregnancy so I wasn't too surprised to hear that! Also, I peeked at the ultrasound summary sheet in my file, and the u/s tech had written "21 weeks" for the measurements (and it was an u/s done at 20 weeks, 2 days), so it looks like Avery had been measuring a bit big as well! I am going back again in 4 weeks and then after that check-up I start going every 2 weeks! The only thing I had questions about at this appointment was of course trying to figure out the best option for the whole "C-section or VBAC" choice! I was really glad to hear that it was possible to have a scheduled date for a Cesarean, but then be able to go for a VBAC if he arrived early. So I let my OB know I wanted that option, and she wrote on my file that I would be attempting a VBAC if he arrived before the planned C-section date. There are a lot of reasons why I feel this choice is kind of the "best of both worlds", so even though it was a really tough decision to make, I think we've made the best one. Paul and I were really talking about it a lot before the appointment, and just felt that planning a Cesarean for that time would be best for us, best for Avery, and best for everyone else in the family too. It's a little frustrating that the calendar-driven considerations had to be taken into account (planning around Christmas holidays, planning around the split between two different years!) instead of just having a simple decision based on the type of birth that was best, but I don't think we made our choice totally based on Christmas or on whether or not we wanted him born in 2004. If it came down to one main reason for why we chose a planned Cesarean, I would have to say that it's because we want him to arrive safe and sound in our arms! We've been through so much to get here, to become pregnant, to keep the pregnancy, etc. that we will do anything possible to make sure we have that healthy baby at the end! The stats we saw (compiled by the Ottawa hospital) showed that babies delivered via a 2nd C-section had a much lower death rate than babies delivered via VBAC. Also, I really feel that having a calm, positive, and "in-control" (as much as possible!) birth experience will allow Avery and I to get a good start together, which is especially important since I want to breastfeed as soon as possible and for quite some time. Having a C-section birth definitely sounds like it stands a better chance of being that type of birth, as opposed to waiting to go into labour and being anxious that all the same negative things that happened with my first birth will happen all over again. As Paul and I describe it, it seems like there's a choice between "will probably be pretty good" and "could be very good or could be very bad" - in this case, I think I'll be safe and take the middle road. And the best part is that we could still get the "very good"! If Avery does decide to come early and things are going really well, I can always decide to give the VBAC a try (if things are going badly, I can just opt for the Cesarean before things get really bad). There's also something to be said for the whole Christmas factor and the 2004 vs. 2005 factor. As much as they shouldn't be (and aren't) the most important things in our decision-making process, they have been a big factor. I really wanted him to be born by the end of December for lots of reasons: the most important being his future education (he'll most likely be a gifted child, and I don't want starting school a whole year later and spending all those years of education bored to tears), the fact that a lot of people will be on holiday and able to help out around the time of the birth and soon afterwards (including one or possibly both of my parents visiting from overseas), the tax break, the benefits to the family of him starting school sooner rather than later (for me continuing my career, for a year less of daycare costs, being one grade closer to where Harmony is), and even just being able to say we have a 1998 baby and a 2004 baby which makes the math add up a bit better (since they will actually be just over 6 years apart). As for Christmas, I am really hoping he doesn't come early because I would rather be able to give Harmony our full attention at Christmas-time (and especially not have mommy sleeping at the hospital while Santa visits!), and be able to visit family and friends as usual. I really hope I'm not in the hospital for that holiday weekend and that we're not trying to take a 3- or 4-day old baby around to all those Christmas events either! Other perks that helped make the decision easier is the fact that I have the choice of getting my tubes tied while they're "in there". Since we know this will be my last pregnancy, that actually may be a good option. And of course I have to admit that there's something very appealing about being able to plan for the day your baby will arrive and have a good chance of things going very smoothly and "as planned". I'm not saying I wouldn't love it if fate turned the tables on us and I had a fantastic and easy vaginal birth on the 27th or something, but for now it really looks like waiting for the C-section on the 29th is the way to go. Physical: I am loving this big belly!!! It's so exciting to finally be really "showing" and have people around you tell you "Wow, you're really popping out!". Sure, it means I am fitting into less and less of my clothes (especially as the season change means I'm not able to wear shorts or light skirts), but it's worth it. So are the stretch marks - I bought a new tub of Cocoa butter cream (to use in addition to the Cocoa butter stick that I've been using already) and am now trying to get one of those creams on a coulpe times a day. I do have another few stretch marks, but maybe only 8-10 new ones in all. This stretchy belly also means that we can really see Avery now and all his little jumps and wiggles. I love hearing Paul say "Whoa!!!" when he's able to see Avery jump and kick as well as feel it. Harmony got to feel some really big jumps tonight and got really excited about it. She was saying "Daddy, come here! Feel right there! I can feel Avery!". We are starting to be able to feel where he is too, just from the outside. Like one part of my belly will be a little softer and another part will be harder where he is lying and you can feel that there's something (a leg, an arm, a back, a bum) right under the surface and stretching it out. It's very exciting to be able to explore our interactions with Avery as well - I love rubbing my belly after he kicks and talking and signing to him while he is awake. I do admit that he is still a little agressive at times (one time his kicks were in a really painful spot so I paced around the house a little to rock him back to sleep!), but those kicks are worth it! Aches and pains have not been too bad lately but I'm coming down with a cold which has been pretty miserable. It started with a runny nose and hasn't gotten much worse, and I really hope it stays mild, because the sore throat, bit of a cough, occasional headache are enough for me, thank you! Especially the throat since I can't really take anything for it. I was up in the night last night and really needing juice, but then couldn't get back to sleep very well. I know your immune system is pretty yucky when you're pregnant and you can't fight things off as well, but hopefully this is just a mild bug and doing the lots of sleep and lots of fluids thing will help get rid of it fast. Weight Gain/Food: The scale has told me I've gained a total of about 12 lbs so far. As much as I hate to see those numbers rising, at least they are doing so slowly. Baby is supposed to start gaining another 1/2 lb every week at this stage of things, but if I'm careful, I may be able to stay at my 20 lb total gain goal! I have been feeling cravings very intensely this week, including beverages (sometimes I neeeed juice, like ASAP!) and also chocolate (sorry to say I've dug into Harmony's chcolocate pudding supply - she should be having the more nutricious snacks like fruit cups anyways though, right?). One thing I was thinking about this week though is that I'll be pregnant over Christmas!!! All those candies and treats and sweets, yikes! Maybe I will try to stay under 20lbs so I can save a few pounds for the last week of my pregnancy - knowing the way my family has treats around (including us here at home!), I could probably gain those few pounds in one week, easy. Emotional: Oh dear... I told Paul last night that we're not allowed to watch emotional movies anymore because I just get so hormonal over them! I find I'm starting to get teary-eyed over more things too - even happy things like when I realize another exciting thing about the baby. Sometimes coming across little clothes or thinking about certain things we'll get to do as a family when he arrives will really set me off with lots of happy tears. Of course the same is true for little sad things too, even commercials and of course TV shows and movies are starting to get to me. I've definitely been feeling pretty sappy lately, in good ways and in bad. Still haven't thrown any tantrums though, even over those chocolate cravings I've been having! Must be because I'm keeping my usual sense of humour...
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