I'm training for a marathon ... (not really but kind of)

On Wednesday night of this week, Jason and I attended our first Bradley Birthing class. It was really informative and I know this is really going to help us get through our next birth. So far, we've been given instructions on nutrition and exercise to help us become physically prepared for the birth. I believe I've already told you about the nutrition aspect, eating the eggs, yada yada yada, I hate eggs but I'm doing it anyways, yada yada. But, the exercise part is somewhat new and really interesting as to why we have to "train" to have this baby.

Here's the list of exericses I have to do and that COACH JASON is supposed to get me to do.

1. Pelvic tilting-(75 per day)on hands and knees, tilting my pelvis forward and backward to help baby assume the correct position for birth.

2. kegals-(75 per day) husbands, if you don't know what kegals are, ask your wives; dudes, if you don't have a wife, don't worry about it; ladies, if you don't know, ask your girl friends, you should be doing them even before you are planning on having a baby.

3. Inversions-(30 seconds) this one looks rediculous. I put my forearms on the floor with my head down, stick my butt in the air on a couch or chair. This also helps the baby to go head down. Kind of like a modified "tri-pod/head stand." If the baby doesn't go head down by the time you're due, the Bradley instructor said she'd tie me to an ironing board and tip me upside down ... I'd rather not do that so I've been good at doing my inversions. :)

4. Butterfly legs-(20/day) this is kind of like the "birthing machines" (as I call them) at the gym where you're sitting in a chair and pressing your legs outwards from the hips. The difference is, you're siting on the floor of the living room and Jason becomes my resistance. This one is kind of fun because I know my legs are stronger than his arms so sometimes he'll grimace because he's working so hard. ;p

5. interval hills-(3+ /day)-You've probably heard that normal walking is good for pregnancy but walking up hills is even better. By walking up hills, the exercise becomes Anaerobic (no oxygen used) which is supposed to train the baby to recover after a contractions. Essentially when you're having a contraction, the baby is being squeezed and momentarily deprived of oxygen. If you can train the baby to recover before he's born, he'll be healthier and safer when the day comes he will have to endure several contractions for long periods of time.

So, today I did all my exercises, even the interval hills. It was hot, and I didn't want to go, but all I could think about was, " how much do I NOT want to have a C-section" rain or shine, heat or humidity, I have to train for this MARATHON of a birth. Feel free to keep me in check. :)

Here's a picture of my belly, moving right along into the 3rd trimester.

Oh, and here's a picture of my walking partner. We were both panting by the end of our 3rd hill.

Dirty Laundry

A few days ago, I was sorting through my laundry and noticed a trend. Being pregnant dictates the way you do your laundry, how much laundry you have to do and what type of laundry/clothes you wear. Maybe you're saying "DUH" in your head but please, continue reading and let me explain.

First of all, pregnant laundry requires something called "the sniff test." I have become an expert at the sniff test. When you're pregnant, certain places ... and certain things ... smell different (use your imagination). Especially pants. Pants can usually be worn only once and then they have to pass the sniff test, which they most likely don't pass the sniff test after one wear. No more wearing my jeans 5 times before I wash them.

Second, because you can't wear certain items of clothing more than once, we're doing a LOT more laundry. Because we end up doing more laundry, I ended up pulling out more maternity clothes to compensate so we don't have to do laundry so often. So I got rid of wearing my jeans (due to the number of times I have to wash them) and added black stretch pants. Black stretch pants are ESSENTIAL because they're comfortable and they can also double as black dress pants (shhhhh, don't tell my patient's I'm wearing stretch pants to work.)

Another essential would be bra's that FIT!!! Good grief ... my normal C's and even the last pregnancy D's don't fit anymore so ... if you do your math right ... I had to go and buy new bra's. Bummer. It's really hard to find something cute that's that enormous.

Because I couldn't find anything particularly cute, my next decision was to go the comfort route. So, I broke out the old NURSING bra's. Now those things are HIDEOUS, but most definitely the most comfortable.

A few more tid bits; hair binders are attached to all my old buttons of my clothes. they're instant waist lengthen-ers. Another way to lengthen the life of wearing "regular" clothes is to not button the pants and just cover it with a belt or even better, use one of Jason's old ties. :)

Speaking of laundry, I put a bunch of clothes in the baby dresser and I just had to take a picture, everything is blue! Completely different from Abby's wardrobe. Here's some pictures.

These little shoes are my favorite item in the dresser.

Look at ALL the BLUE!

Here's a belly shot

I just had to add this. Abby looked so adorable in this little outfit. She wore it to Joy School (church) she is getting so BIG!

The size of a cauliflower!

On THIS meter, it says the baby is the size of a head of cauliflower ... I'm pretty sure he's bigger than a cauliflower. At least, he feels bigger. He's been kicking and scratching at just about the same times everyday. At least he has a schedule.

There's been a lot going on since we got the ultrasound. After we got the ultrasound, I decided I've been having a hard time dealing with the whole LOOMING possibility of a secondary C-section. So, I've been talking with several people about it, learning about different people's birth stories etc. The whole fear of this second birth has been hindering me from really bonding with this baby so talking to people helps me get my mind off the inevitable. To bond with the baby, we went garage sale-ing for baby boy clothes. We've gone to several garage sales over the past few weekends, we also got a new dresser for Abby's clothes to make room for the boy clothes. Just the process of going through the baby clothes and imagining the baby wearing them was helpful in bonding with him. Now, the dresser is filled with baby blue clothes instead of pink clothes. :)

Here's a picture of my belly at about 24 weeks.

We've also been trying to come up with names for him and it seems to be even MORE difficult than it was for Abby. We have a list started but it's a long list, there's nothing that Jason and I agree on and nothing REALLY jumps out at us. Bummer. At least we have 108 days left. :)