Wednesday, February 8, 2017

38 Weeks and Counting

I had my 38 week check up yesterday at the birth center and so far no signs of early pre labor. Everything is right on track where it should be with fundal height, my weight, his heart beat, and my blood pressure. I love the birth center, the midwives and the care that is given there with all the caring, warmth, support, compassion, and love that feels more like family than care providers. Since my mom was there with me this time, Ann the midwife doing the exam invited us back to the ultrasound room for a quick look inside for my mom, which was so nice of them to do that for us since usually we don't do any more ultrasounds from here on out.

Jackson has moved, from being on my left side like he had been for several weeks, over to my right side. He is still in a perfect position to labor without being breech, but I need to continue to point my belly button down towards the ground when I sit, so make sure he continues to line up in the optimal position when time comes to labor.

I did a lot of prepping for postpartum yesterday. Bought the new coconut oil for my birth bag, trader joe's now has all these tiny little individual packets of oil that are perfect for diaper bag and birth center bag! So I got those and threw them in. I also made his labor necklace, and Jocelyn loved looking at all of his beads and wore the necklace around to sing a few songs after blessing it herself. Such an awesome big sister!



Thank you to everyone who contributed! <3 I love how Jocelyn and Jackson's necklaces are each unique in their own ways, and both are so full of love and support.

I also made a couple rice socks yesterday, with some cute socks I found at Target. A mom friend asked if I would put lavender in them, which I didn't but think that's a great idea that I might need to add. These were awesome to use to prop up Jocelyn when she was a new born for late night side-laying nursing, and also after being in the freezer felt soothing for healing, or with heat in the microwave for my sore neck and shoulder after all the nursing.


Aside from that, I also made Jocelyn a night time clock, to hopefully help her get more into the rhythm of bedtime. She's bee stalling more and more lately, which is common in her age, but also common for a bigger sibling getting ready for a new baby. Regression is normal, and we are trying to help her through the transition with all the changes as much as possible. My parenting bookclub suggested using a clock like this, as a physical, tangible, visual to show her how much time is left for books and songs. If she stalls she will miss out on those things as a consequence, but if she participates then there might even be some extra time for extra books or songs in our bedtime routine. Last night was the first night trying it, hoping it will get better the more we get used to it.

A friend from my crunchy mama's group asked if she could set up a vegan meal train for us, so I'm so looking forward to having that much more mom support this time around with our second. It will make things a little bit easier to have some food and also nice to have some visitors during those early weeks. We haven't done a whole lot of meal prepping yet, I'm planning to get on that some more next week with some tamales, some enchiladas, and maybe a lasagna and my mom can help make some double baked potatoes... I need to buy some little plastic tubs from the dollar store to help organize our free-standing freezer with all the frozen food prep. Right now I just have a bunch of the burritos in there I made in the very bottom of the freezer.

And other than that, now I rest, and try to take it as easy as possible until baby arrives. I pretty much feel like aside from the food I have it all ready for him, and for me to go to the birth center. Tomorrow I take my mom back to the physical therapist for her wrist, Jason found a place after she arrived, so I called first thing on Monday and got her in for some treatments. She goes back again tomorrow, and I'll keep taking her to appointments until baby arrives. She said there are some things she can do at home after the putty she ordered arrives (should be here today). We'll bring that with us and the therapist will show her how to use it at home for continued strength and healing.

Everything else is going fine, we've had a couple of hot days in the mid 80s lately, and I'm hoping we get some more cold ones back. So much for being pregnant in winter. Granted this is a good 30 degrees cooler than summer, so I shouldn't really complain. Time to shower and have a friend come over to help her with some of her Quickbooks issues and questions, and then take a shower and maybe get outside for a maternity photo shoot with my mom's help taking pictures. Jason took some great ones with me towards the end of pregnancy with Joss, but with his work schedule we haven't been able to do it together yet. Maybe this weekend if my mom's hand isn't able to shoot yet. We'll see...

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