October 2008 - Posts

• Awkward Stage

  At 17 weeks, I think I'm in the awkward stage of pregnancy. In my first trimester, as long as I ate constantly, I rarely threw up but I did have the general miserable feeling. I heard this would likely go away in second trimester and I would start glowing. In fact, several people have claimed that I'm glowing now but I think it's their imagination. It wasn't until around week 16 that I started feeling normal again. However, "normal" now feels strange. I'm back to the strange feeling that I'm not pregnant after all. Allegedly I might feel baby move any day now but so far nothing (though I understand this is normal with first babies). This awkward feeling extends to my wardrobe. A couple of years ago I lost about 20 pounds. Once my normal clothes were too tight, I switched to my bigger, older clothes. In fact, this might be the first time since my teen years that the clothing manufacturers and I agree what the waist to hip ratio should be. Previously, it was the rare pair of pants that didn't require belt. However, the days of my larger clothes fitting are almost gone. I've slowly started to ease into maternity clothing. However, I'm still too small for most of them to fit comfortably. Monday I went shopping for maternity clothing. I've already determined that the thrift stores have almost no maternity clothing. I don't remember the last time I paid more than $20 for a single piece of clothing and I had no urge to start. However, maternity clothing is expensive. Fortunately, I found a used maternity clothing store called Fuzzy Kiwi. It has odd hours but my day off was Monday so I managed to get down there to view their selection. There were still too many items that fit awkwardly on me but I did manage to buy a couple of items that look decent, or will soon. The prices were more than I'd pay at a thrift store (and I did go over the $20 mark for some dresses) but it was still significantly cheaper than new. I stopped by Target on the way home and was pleasantly surprised to find a good pair of maternity work pants for a very reasonable price. (I mention that I don't believe in paying too much money for clothes but I also like high quality clothing which usually has meant avoiding Target/Walmart/etc. Thrift stores provide much better quality clothing at cheaper prices). Hopefully, I have enough clothing to last me for a couple more months. While I know I'm going to need more clothes, I doubt I'll look forward to clothes shopping until after baby has arrived. Posted Oct 17 2008, 06:35 AM by Asteria with no comments Filed under: clothing, update

• Pain Relief

  At 1:30 AM Monday morning I woke up with a splitting headache.  I lay awake for a couple of minutes and then decided to go downstairs, drink some tea and read a book while hoping the headache would dissipate on its own.  An hour later, the pain seemed better so I decided it was time to try bed again.  As soon as I lay down, the pain was back.  I thrashed around a little bit more.  Eventually, I decided to give up and take some acetaminophen (Tylenol).  For some reason, I tend to be a little resistant to taking medication to deal with pain.  I don't know why.  I'm not scared of pain medication, However, I would prefer if the pain would go away on its own.  The pain started lessening within the next half hour and eventually I dropped off to sleep.  I woke up at 6:00 AM almost giddy with the realization that the pain was completely gone.    Ever since I started researching pregnancy, I've been trying to decide whether or not I would want to get an epidural.  Pain medication for labor has evolved immensely in the last decade and many of the concerns that were valid a couple of decades ago aren't as much of an issue anymore (btw, I'm still researching the pros and cons of epidurals/pain medications so feel free to post links to research you've found in the comments below).  As I mentioned in my previous post, I really enjoyed reading The Best Birth book.  When talking about natural childbirth, McMoyler said something that resonated with me, "I believe that avoiding epidurals and medical interventions is an excellent goal--but only in the same way that climbing a very tall mountain is an excellent goal: For some people, it's great; for others it simply isn't doable" (p. 167).  As I mentioned above, I tend to be a little resistant to taking pain medication and I do like a challenge.  However, lying in bed pain-free at 6AM Monday morning I couldn't think of any good reason why I should refuse an epidural.  If it felt this good being pain-free after a minor headache, why would I consider going through labor without pain medication?  Again, if I find good research studies indicating that pain medication is likely to negatively effect my baby or me in the long term, I'll reconsider.  However, for now, I'm strongly leaning towards getting an epidural at some point during my labor. Posted Oct 04 2008, 04:50 PM by Asteria with no comments Filed under: labor, pain medication

• Book Reviews

  This last week I finished reading The Best Birth by Sarah McMoyler and Armin Brott as well as Easy Labor by William Camann and Kathryn J. Alexander.  The Best Birth book is currently one of my favorite childbirth books.  McMoyler and Brott spent a lot of time discussing how husbands can be  involved in the birth process.  In addition, they covered various pain coping methods including both natural methods and medication options.  I felt like this was one of the most balanced books I'd read.  It seems like many books try to push either all natural childbirth or just assume you'll choose an epidural.  I liked that the focus of this book is "healthy mother, healthy baby" and however you choose to get that result is okay.  McMoyler also has a DVD called The Best Birth.  Unfortunately, it's not available in any libraries but I liked her book enough that I'm probably going to go ahead and buy the DVD.  The only downside I encountered in the book is they didn't recommend using doulas.  The reason given is that your husband should be providing the support that a doula usually does.  She also mentioned that some doctors/hospitals are uncomfortable with them.  However, this isn't true in my case, I've already checked.  I'm a little nervous about only having my husband to help me through labor.  I know the nurses and doctors will be there to help me but they need to split their attention between me and all the other women on the maternity floor.  It would be nice to have another person focusing just on me and my husband.  Instead of hiring a labor doula, McMoyler suggestions hiring one to help with postpartum care.  This does make a lot of sense to me but at the same time I think I might want additional support during the labor.  I haven't decided one way or the other yet.  I'll probably need to discuss this with my husband more and see what he thinks.  In any case, I would have appreciated it if the book covered where a doula would fit in if you wanted to have one with you. Before reading The Best Birth, I read Easy Labor.  This book had a lot of information especially regarding pain medication options.  It did include descriptions of Lamaze, the Bradley Method, Hynotherapy, and more but I felt like most of the space was devoted to pain medication and other possible medical interventions.  Even though I didn't like it as well as The Best Birth, I think it provides the most thorough information about pain options.  Even if I decide not to use pain medication, I think it's useful to understand the pros and cons so one can make an informed decision since it seems labor almost never goes according to plan :)  Camann and Alexander were also featured on an episode of Pregtastic.  I really enjoy listening to the Pregtastic podcasts as they have many experts on to talk about pregnancy related issues as well as the chance to hear many womens' birth stories. Posted Oct 04 2008, 04:26 PM by Asteria with no comments Filed under: labor, Books, Book Reviews