33 weeks and musings on goin' natural... or not

Here’s the latest and greatest from my OB appointment on Monday:

• No more excuses or procrastination. I HAVE to find a freaking pediatrician already. It’s the one thing hanging out on my to-do list making me feel like an unfit mother-to-be.
• Baby is head down and in a perfect position. Of course that could all change over the next few weeks, but we’re on track today and that’s a good thing.
• Unless my water breaks, my OB supports my decision to labor at home for as long as possible. Her recommendation is that we try to postpone coming in until I’m in transition. (!!!) I love her laid-back approach. If my water does break, she said I have to come in and get checked for cord prolapse or other issues, but if everything looks good, I don’t have to be admitted right away and I can do my own thing as long as I stay close for frequent check-ins.
• All of my readings (weight, blood pressure, uterine measurement, etc.) are normal.
• She doesn’t recommend formal kick counts but explained the general “10 movements in 2 hours” rule, which is kind of funny to me. It seems our norm is more like 10 movements in 2 minutes! She just asked that I call if I notice decreased movement relative to whatever I’m used to.
• And the biggest news, we get to have another ultrasound! (Hear that positive spin? Go me.) It turns out there was an abnormality with the baby’s kidneys at our 20-week scan – renal pelvic di.lation or something like that. My OB said it’s very common and nothing to worry about as it usually resolves on its own prior to delivery. She also pointed out that if it was a serious concern, they wouldn’t have waited until now to send me back in. I realize this must have been sitting in my chart since the last ultrasound report came back and I’m appreciative that she didn’t tell me about it until now. I think I would have had a hard time not worrying about it for the last 13 weeks. As it is, I’m feeling pretty calm and optimistic - appropriately so, I hope. I haven’t been given a date for the ultrasound yet but I’ll keep you all posted.

I’m on day 3 of a particularly uncomfortable growth spurt that is rendering me nearly unable to walk. My hips are so sore! A couple of people have told me I look further out in front than I did before, so maybe things really are shifting around. It certainly feels that way. I think it’s starting to get better. I certainly slept better last night than I did the previous two.

We’re more than halfway done with our hyp.nobirthing classes and I’m starting to feel a lot more confident in my ability to use the techniques. I also went to see Org.asmic Birth this weekend and it was awesome. I highly recommend it if anyone is considering trying for a natural birth. It made the whole thing seem a lot more do-able. All along, my sound byte regarding our decision to try natural childbirth has been that I have no idea if I CAN do it – I’ve never given birth before and don’t know what to expect – but I think it’s just as much of a mistake to automatically assume that I CAN’T do it. I just want to try my hardest and see what happens – maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t. Now, with the preparation we’ve done and plan to do, I’m feeling much more motivated to give it my all and to push myself as much as possible. Of course I don’t know for sure that I can do it, and I don’t want to feel like a failure if I end up needing an epidural. I’m starting to worry about those feelings more and more as I repeatedly defend our plans to the bazillion people who tell me how delusional and naïve they think we are. All I know is that I really, really don’t want an epidural and I’m going to try to avoid getting one. Beyond that, I make no promises. Hopefully people will know better (or at least have better manners) than to say “I told you so” if our plans take a detour, but I doubt it. I’ve been pretty shocked by how unsupportive so many people have been already. I think I’m just going to start declining to comment when people ask us about our plans, or I’ll say “I don’t know, we’ll see what happens” and leave it at that. That’s the truth when it really comes down to it anyway.