30 weeks and counting...

well here i am at 30 weeks! this pregnancy seems to be flying by. i cannot believe that if this one comes at the same time that his brothers did, i'll have a newborn in 7 weeks! both bubba and pooks arrived during my 37th week.

bubba was technically an induction for my high blood pressure, but when i checked into the hospital i had been having contractions and not feeling them. i think i was dilated to about 2 cm too. i made it til about 12:30pm before i had an epidural, and then had him at 4:32pm. if it hadn't been for how quickly the contractions came on due to the pitocin IV, i think i could have done it. but i went from feeling nothing to 'holy cow i'm gonna split in two' within about an hour. it didn't help that i was stuck in the bed because of the IV and then the epidural.

his delivery was rough, to say the least. the epidural wore off while i was pushing, so i could feel my left leg but not my right leg and i couldn't feel any contractions so i didn't push very well. the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, i needed 16 stiches 'down there' from tearing, i had heavy bleeding and within hours of having him i passed out twice. he ended up being jaundice and had to stay under bilirubin lights for 3 days! i was so swollen that i couldn't even fit my feet into flip-flops---4 days after having him! my stiches got infected, i had become anemic and overall, i was exhausted. i felt like crap when i should have felt awesome! i loved him and was thrilled beyond belief to have a healthy son, but his arrival into the world kinda sucked.

i was determined to have a better birth/delivery experience the 2nd time around.

with pooks, i walked around 4 cm dilated for over a week and a half! at my 36wk appt i was dilated to 4cm and they said ''i bet you'll have the baby this weekend'' but then at my 37wk appt i heard ''i bet you'll have the baby this weekend''. after walking around feeling like he was going to fall out and i wouldn't even have to deliver him for over a week, i was beyond ready. i decided to mow the lawn in the heat of the day with a push-mower...it worked. i had him by 9:46pm that night, aka My Birthday!

the amazing thing about pooks birth, and i'm sure i shared this before but i was able to have him completely naturally--without any drugs. and i did this by choice, not because it happened too fast...i am so proud of myself for this! he was alert after being born, nursed wonderfully, gained weight like a piggy, had good coloring and great apgar scores. i had a small tear that didn't need stiches, i was able to nurse within 30mins of delivering him---i felt great. sure the contractions hurt like nobodies business but when they were over, so was the pain. after i had him, i felt like super woman! it didn't hurt to walk or laugh, i didn't pass out, i didn't swell, he didn't become jaundice--it was a complete 180 from bubba's birth and i wouldn't change a thing!

so one can only guess what i'm planning this time, right??

a natural drug-free birth again-duh. only this time i hope to do so more....quietly. LOL. apparently when i was in labor with pooks, i screamed and moaned and while in the transition stage made a growling noise--LOUDLY. the rumor is, that there was a first time mom who thought that she might be in labor, checking in while pooks was checking out---hearing me scared the bejesus out of her! apparently her eyes were huge and suddenly she realized that she probably wasn't in labor after all. and even though the screaming/moaning/growling helped, i'm hoping to handle the pain better this time.

i plan to work with my body and let the contractions come without the fear i had last time. i think i'll do quite well. i now know what to expect, i know i'm not going to explode and most importantly--i know that my body is capable of delivering a baby. i've done it before and thats all the proof that i need. i am reading a few natural childbirth books, as well as a breastfeeding book just for a refresher and for the techiniques and suggestions. B is totally on board and supportive, and i assume that nanaw is too seeing how they've been my labor coaches the last 2 times--i'm not changing anything now!

anyways, now that i've rambled and probably shared too much information (haha that's why it's MY blog) i'll end with a picture of my 30 week belly covered up. ironically, i think it looks bigger than in my weekly fridge pics!