First Trimester

The first trimester was nothing short of a miracle-that I survived it that is!  I was SO nauseous from sun up to sun down that I started to let my mind run away from me (ie panic that I would be one of those oh-so-lucky women to be nauseous my entire pregnancy).  I google'd my heart out for any possible remedy, I read any and every blog out there and I actually tried every suggestion.....from every natural herbal possibility to finally calling my OB (at the time I still had one).  I tried nux vomica, peppermint tea, eating saltines first thing in the morning (not so easy to do without a glass of water close by), eating every 2 hours and making sure it was plenty of protein, sea sick bands worn 24/7 and finally going the pharmaceutical route.  I took generic zofran during the day and phenergan at night.....but these only lessened the symptoms and only slightly.  I eventually stopped taking the meds once I talked to my midwife.....because as she stated "those drugs are for nausea of a different kind, not pregnancy".  I'm certainly not judging anyone who does need to take medication, because if it had actually worked I probably would have kept taking it.  I did discover ginger ale and P.F. Chang's (insert restaurant plug here) ginger beer-that stuff is AMAZING!  Its made from ginger puree and very strong, which I found that I really enjoyed.  I turned into a blob fairly quickly.....I could only muster the strength to go to work and then come home and be a blob on the couch for the rest of the night.  I missed over 8 weeks of pilates and boy could I feel it.  On the bright side of being a blob on the couch there was plenty of time to research pregnancy, and educate myself on just about everything from natural birth, to cloth diapers to labor and everything in between.

In August Chris and I went to Chicago to partake in some most excellent music and city life.  This was my 4th year at Lollapalooza and the line up was quite promising!  This was week 14 and nausea was mostly gone with the exception of a night spent in the bathroom over some lobster corn dogs.  We ate at my favorite deep dish Chicago pizza joint-Lou Malnati's and the organic food vendors at Lolla were awesome-fried cheese with olive oil and fresh fruit smoothies.  On Saturday a pretty wicked storm blew through and delayed the Foo Fighters from starting, the storm only subsided long enough for the Foo to get on stage and as they began singing their opening song the clouds opened up again and the crowd roared! It was pretty awesome, except I had been waiting for Chris to return with my awesome bratwurst wrapped in a pretzel bun only for it to be a soggy mess when he finally made it back to me.

Going to Chicago is always a fun trip!  On Sunday we found a great Thai restaurant somewhat off the beaten path of downtown and I enjoyed the most fragrant lemongrass coconut soup.  We got a huge bag of Garrett's popcorn-the Chicago mix!

I LOVE CHICAGO!

HOMEBIRTH HERE WE COME!

I have some exciting exciting exciting news to share!  We have decided on a waterbirth at home.  I have been seeing a OB/GYN in Arkansas who is great, but I will be moving to Oklahoma and decided that I needed to find a new doc.....so began my quest.

I began watching too much TLC's "A baby story" (I've already decided to stop, as it kind of freaks me out cuz that will be me soon) and one of the mom's did a water birth.  I was so moved by the interviews given by the midwife and doula, that I knew this would be something for me.  Further research led me to the possibility of giving birth at home-and honestly (to me at least) what better place is there? 

Much to my chagrin, there are no practicing midwives in my town and most of the OB offices weren't exactly friendly about it either.  However, when I get an idea into my head I blaze forward all engines running with full steam and so I have stumbled upon some pretty neat websites and forums (ie Heaven Sent Births, Mother.com) plus some really fun resources that led me to my midwife.

We (midwife and I) had a brief discussion earlier in the week, and she suggested two wonderful documentaries: "Pregnant in America" and "The Business of Being Born".  I have watched the first one, and so has my husband.  I really enjoyed it, cried at times (but to be fair I cry at most things lately) and was left with a new sense of purpose.  This movie sealed the deal for me....there is just no way I am interested in giving birth in a hospital.  I'm not going to be talked into an epidural, c-section, induction...NADA! Please don't be offended, it just isn't the choice for me.  So, to be fair I'm going to share that my best friend had to be induced and had to have a c-section because it was MEDICALLY NECESSARY, but on any given day childbirth is not some life and death situation.

My husband and I made the trek by meet with the midwife, and came up with a lot of good questions for her like 1) do we need a back up dr plan? ANS: NO (phew!)
2) what are your stats? ANS: She sends about 11% of clients to hospital, and only 1% of her clients have had to have a c-section (another phew!, she really knows what she is doing)
3) how do we prepare at home? ANS: You buy a kit, pretty inexpensive with everything the midwife will need (another PHEW!, You mean they make kits for this?!?!?)
4) What to avoid? ANS: deli meats, raw fish, raw cheese, all sweeteners-because apparently splenda has chlorine in it, and nutrasweet turns into some formaldehyde derivative in temperature above 88 degrees  (ok, I can handle that and a little freaked out by sugar substitutes)

She gave so many other helpful ideas, and of course I'm going to try them all.  I'm also excited that she is attempting to get in network with our insurance!

She did also give us a wonderful gift-we got to hear our baby's heartbeat! 166 bpm, so strong and I think Chris was got pretty excited too!

So, we get to the car and he ask me who I want at home with us.....to which I respond "just you and me", and he gets all panicky and says "no way, I can't deliver a baby by myself!" (poor guy, I can only imagine how freaked out he must have been).  ME: "Chris, the midwife does that part, you assist" So, with that major crisis averted we went off to lunch and treated ourselves to Jamba Juice! YUM YUM!