Here is a picture of our big girl!
The other big news is that Aydia is going to be a big sister! In like 3-4 weeks! Told you I was really behind in updating! I'm 36 weeks pregnant today with a little boy. We have a name picked out but for now we've been calling him Baby Twinkle, which was a name Aydia came up with. We asked her at about 6 weeks into the pregnancy what we should call the baby and she said Twinkle so we went with it. Because of that his theme is all stars, from his bedding to his decorations.
This pregnancy has been MUCH different from Aydia's. With her I had it very easy, hardly any morning sickness and I was comfortable for most of the pregnancy and I had no complications. This time around I was sooo sick. I actually ended up on a prescription to help keep me from throwing up and to keep the nausea at bay. I did loose 15 lbs because of the whole morning sickness part, and actually I haven't even gained it all back. I'm currently still 2.5 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. With Aydia I ended up gaining 22 lbs over my starting weight and I experienced a 5lb weight loss immediately after birth with her, so I'll be in a good place for weight once this baby comes I think. Ironically I've also been diagnosed with gestational diabetes this time which I didn't have with Aydia. However I'm under the impression, as well as my midwife and the OB I recently saw, that I likely had a false positive. My numbers are well under control and he's measuring right on track. However since I have the Dx I have to follow certain protocol that I didn't with Aydia just to double check on him. That has led to an interesting change in events for us.
I started out this pregnancy going to Generations clinic. Unfortunately Stephanie, my midwife with Aydia, had moved to Hudson Physicians and we just felt like it was too far of a drive to risk once I hit labor. Generations has a FANTASTIC c-section rate and they deliver at St. Joes which also is the best hospital in the twin cities for natural birth and I could do a water birth there. Sadly I never really clicked with any of the midwives at Generations. I didn't feel that same connection with any of them that I had with Stephanie. Also, at my 34 week appointment the midwife I saw that day told me that I wouldn't be "allowed" to go past my due date. Wait a minute, hold the phone. Now I may have the label of gestational diabetes but I'm showing absolutely no signs of it. I measured 33.5 weeks at that appointment so technically small, and no ultrasound had been done to determine what size he was in. There was NO medical reason at that point that induction should have already been brought up. Now I don't think that I'll make it to my EDD this time around but at the same time I didn't want an induction threat hanging over my head. Being a birth doula I do feel like I'm much more educated then the average woman on birth and I refuse to be induced for no sound medical reason. I left that appointment feeling tense and not trusting the group anymore.
Brandon and I had a long discussion that night about what to do. We discussed doing a home birth, something that honestly would be my first choice and if insurance would cover it we would be doing for this pregnancy. But we just can't afford to be spending that much money when insurance will pay for all but $500 of my whole pregnancy and birth in a hospital. I even brought up doing unassisted childbirth briefly but neither of us were completely comfortable with that idea. This whole pregnancy I kept telling him how much I missed Stephanie and that I felt like this wouldn't be happening if I had been seeing her. So after our conversation I decided to give her a call. I spoke with her and she was kind of shocked that they were already talking induction as well. She told me that she would be "thrilled to catch my baby!" So we made the switch to Hudson Physicians.
Our drive is going to be a bit longer, and now I'll be birthing our little boy in WI instead of MN but I feel sooo much more confident in everything now. I've had 2 appointments with her already. The first one at 35 weeks where we just chatted for 45 minutes about how this whole pregnancy has been going and a quick measurement of my belly and a heartbeat check. Then I saw her last night as well for my 36 week appointment which also included doing an ultrasound to check his growth (because of the GD) and a Non-Stress Test (NST) to check to see if the placenta is functioning correctly. Everything was PERFECT. He's measuring at 36w4d, which is right within normal but he has 38w5d legs! Long baby I'm growing! His estimated weight (which can be off by 2lbs either way) was 6lbs 6 oz which puts him right on track with Aydia's birth weight of 8lbs 9oz since they gain about 1/2lb a week from this point on. I also had my GBS test performed, which I'm assuming I'll find out the results next week, and a quick cervical check. I'm already 1 cm and 50% effaced! I'm doubting he'll wait till his due date of June 2nd to come out.
I'm excited to deliver at Hudson hospital, it's absolutely gorgeous since it's only 7 years old. It's small, but they have a low c-section rate of about 15%, which compared to the national average is wonderful. The World Health Organization says anything above 15% is unacceptable. Better then the hospital closest to us which is sitting at 27%! But they also don't have any midwives that deliver there so that hospital isn't even an option for us. (I don't trust hospitals that don't trust birth and allow midwives.) I'll be doing a water birth this time around assuming we make it in time as well. Their water birth tub is gorgeous! This time it's in my notes to fill up the water birth tub while we're on the way so we are able to make it. If you read Aydia's birth story below you'll see that there wasn't enough time for them to fill it up for me as they didn't realize how fast I was going to go.
I'm using a doula again, a wonderful friend of mine who I did my doula training with and we'll also be using the same birth photographer as we had for Aydia's birth. I'll also be doing HypnoBirthing/HypnoBabies combination this time around like with Aydia. And this time my midwife Stephanie WILL be the one to be at my birth!!! I'm beyond excited about this as I love her so much as my provider. The only day she won't be around will be May 14th for her son's college graduation so no labor on that day please! We have quite the plan in place for when I go into labor since Aydia's was fairly quick and I feel confident that I'll make it to the hospital in time. And if by chance I give birth on the way there I'm okay with that as well! I trust my body, my baby and birth! I'm getting so excited for our birthing day now.
Pictures of our little man:
And my belly pictures thus far, weeks 4-36:
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