This was my third pregnancy, second birth, and we decided to go Team Green - that's what people call it when a family chooses to wait until birth to find out the baby's gender. My husband and I knew we were expecting on the day of my grandma's funeral, and it was confirmed by a bunch of pregnancy tests the following morning... We needed more than one positive test to be sure! It was a miraculous surprise, and we were thrilled and filled with emotion. My grandma would have been so excited, and I know she is loving on my first baby in heaven right now.
The pregnancy was pretty smooth from the beginning. I was nauseous, but not as nauseous as I was with my daughter Wren. I was tired, but not as tired, I was emotional, but not as emotional. (She was from the beginning and is still a little more high maintenance...) The baby's heart rate was consistently in the 140's-150's, whereas Wren's hovered in the 170's, so I began guessing boy.
My prenatal anxiety began fairly early in pregnancy, when my midwife struggled to find the baby's heart beat. I went for an ultrasound, and everything was okay, but the tech gave me a weird vibe when she asked about the due date. So the anxiety continued. Then it grew as I studied to become a Stillbirthday certified doula. I'm so proud of that accomplishment and grateful for the knowledge, but being a mom to a baby in heaven, pregnancy was probably not the best time for me to read about so much loss. I worked through my anxiety with my midwives, chiropractor, husband, and amazing doula, my mom.
Later in the pregnancy, I had another source of fear - this stubborn baby was breech! As a doula, I knew it was too early to freak out, but I did anyway. I did all of the Spinning Babies exercises, spending time upside down and everything. I saw my chiropractor twice a day, used essential oils, and talked to my belly constantly to encourage this child to get in line. What I think finally did the trick was relaxing and letting go of the idea I had of control. I went to England for a week at 32-33 weeks pregnant, and when I got back the baby was in a perfect position. So, that's my advice to those of your trying to flip a baby... take an amazing vacation and let it go! ;)
Finally, I made it to my due date. And I was SO READY to meet this baby. One midwife on my birth team had decided to change my due date after my 20 week anatomy scan from March 25th to April 8th, so on April 9th I was over being pregnant. I felt like I had been pregnant forever. My google search history included topics such as "Longest recorded pregnancy" and "Best Ice Cream in DFW." At my 40 week appointment on the 9th, I shared my emotions with my midwife of the day. She was confused when I mentioned the due date change, and called in another midwife to discuss it. Together, they decided that the due date should not have been changed per ACOG guidelines, and that I actually was 42+1 and needed to have the baby right away. Well, I panicked. I have some trauma from my daughter's birth, specifically I feared being induced. After some tears and some serious discussions, we determined that one of my early ultrasounds suggested a due date of March 30th. According to that, I was at 41 weeks and 3 days on that Monday. My birth center can only deliver babies through 42 weeks, so I was looking at an induction on Friday if I didn't go into labor sooner.
That week was so stressful and intense. I did everything I knew to do to naturally induce labor. I saw the chiropractor twice a day, did a pumping regiment with holistic supplements, prenatal massage, pedicure, acupuncture twice, some crazy Chinese herbs, squats, lunges, curb walking, etc. I ate spicy food and tons of dates, drank red raspberry leaf tea, and continued to take my evening primrose oil. I allowed the midwife to strip my membranes on Monday, which gave me some consistent contractions throughout the evening, but they fizzled out while I slept. Tuesday and Wednesday I had occasional contractions, but they never gained intensity. Wednesday night I spoke to some friends in the birth world who recommended taking castor oil according to Ina May's methods. Now, I would NOT recommend this to you, it has some horrible side effects. For me, the main side effect was not the tummy stuff you normally hear about, it was that my contractions started out with a scary intensity and they never let up. I took the castor oil (which honestly didn't taste bad to me... just felt like an oil slick in my mouth) at 10:30, and the effects hit at 12:30. Needless to say, it did work, and this little bundle was on the way. I was in labor without having to be medically induced!
If you want to hear about my labor, look for the next blog post!