42 weeks - Ariel's birth!

56 hours of labor, beginning 2am Sunday morning 23rd. Ariel Grace was born at 10:11am on Tuesday morning June 25th after pushing maybe 20-30 minutes. 7 lbs 10 oz, 21.5 inches long, perfectly round head, full head of dark brown hair, and cutest little face and long/lean body. Thanks to all of my support people - sisters, doula, friends, photographer and midwives, we made it through having a natural unmedicated water birth! The biggest thanks to God for supplying me with a great team, the strength I needed to get through the final hours, and the most beautiful baby girl a mom could dream of!

41 weeks and waiting...

Made it to 41 weeks... Ariel is so comfy she does not want to join the real world! Appt on Tue showed that she had 15.3 cm of amniotic fluid (still a good amount), she had many accelerations on the EFM strip for the nonstress test - she was wiggling around the whole time, and cervix was soft and 1 cm dilated, but not much effaced (not shortened much), and Ariel was still not engaged. During the ultrasound she was very cute and stuck out her tongue repeatedly and had her little fist with thumb pointed out at her mouth. Our plan was to wait for spontaneous labor since she was doing so well and was no indication for induction. Next appt was 3 days later (Fri) to repeat the same exams, except the AFI (amniotic fluid amount) since there was so much on Tue. Again the nonstress test went very well and I was 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced this time. The midwife verified somewhat vigorously that my cervix was 1 cm completely through and there would be potential for certain induction methods (stripping membranes, catheter balloon, artificial rupture of membranes...) if needed in the future. There was no reason to suggest induction yet, so next appt was scheduled for Mon (but hoping labor will come on the wknd!). After appt had some painful cramping and lower back pain for a couple hours that finally subsided. Besides losing bits of mucus plug throughout the past week or so and a few short episodes of cramping/back pain, softer stools, and tiredness, not much else new this past week. Stretch marks are painful at times... She is probably not a very large baby, by the time she is born probably 7lbs, maybe more if she takes a while longer... She is still quite active and Amanda has enjoyed feeling all of her crazy movements this past week.
Hopefully she will come soon! If my water breaks then everything should move quickly... but so far she is not engaged and there is too much water in the way for her head to get very low... so we will see how the weekend goes. Decide Monday whether or not we want to do induction or keep waiting. Tue will be 42 weeks, so will not be able to deliver at the birth center after Tue. We toured a couple hospitals just in case and they both seem like they will be sufficient alternatives if needed, and still may consider home birth but not as likely. Ariel Grace is taking after the women on my side... we tend to be late for everything.. ahh.

40 weeks! Due today :)

Due date today! About 160-161 pounds now... She's still growing despite lack of room! As you can probably see better in these pics, the stretch marks surround my belly button on the front face of my belly. Weird that she grew straight out and not much to the sides (where there is more room).
No definite labor signs yet... I may have passed a tiny amount of mucus plug on Sunday and have mild occasional period-like crampiness, some softer stools. So it seems like the the time is getting nearer, but still unsure if it will even be this week! Big sis is here to help me, yay! Me, big & lil sis & a sister from the church took a long walk yesterday and had a good time, but today I am very tired and sore! So will be trying to relax the next few days until Ariel comes. If she is not here by Thursday, we will have an appt with the Midwife and see if there are any cervical changes and make a plan for what we will do if it is likely she will not come until after 42 weeks. Our doula came over on Sunday and talked with Hieu and I about any concerns and checked the bags we have packed - everything is ready! ....Stay tuned for baby pics soon!

39 weeks!

Made it to 39 weeks praise the Lord! I should have my finals done by the 9th (Sunday) and then can finally relax and allow labor to begin lol. Ariel is being so patient, she's not much like her parents so far haha. Many more stretch marks although the pics don't do them justice. I am somewhere around 158-159 pounds, far surpassing my original goal of 153... But that's okay I will worry about getting back into shape in a couple months. My face seems to have some swelling in it when I wake up in the mornings lately, I will mention it to my midwife on Friday and try to reduce my sodium intake. My blood pressure has been normal/low the whole pregnancy so I don't think that is an issue.

Big sis will be here this weekend to stay for a few weeks-month to help with baby and household stuff and I'm also hoping my younger sis and brother will be able to help out a bit too. Hieu will come to help on his days off too. Hopefully I will not be too stressed/tired/overwhelmed with the new baby and my two online classes... thankfully they don't start until June 24th so I will likely have a small break to rest before baby and have a few days to adjust to new baby before classes start. My dad and Hieu's parents are excited to meet Ariel and will come visit soon after she is born. My dad will come on his days off and he is hoping for good timing of the birth so he can be here on the same day. My mom won't be able to make it to visit until end of July likely... but that may be nice to have a new person to help a bit after my older sister leaves.

Ariel still gets hiccups everyday and wiggles around after I eat and when I sit/lay down to rest. So far Ariel enjoys taking walks, food, singing, praying, and sleeping, can't wait to learn more about her as she develops more... We have been enjoying the warm (low 70s - feels extremely hot to me) weather this past week and have been taking small walks to the parks in our neighborhood.

I am thankful for all of the sisters here who have put up with me the past 9 months and have been great companions and very encouraging. It has been such a blessing to have the support of my family, friends, saints, and Hieu. God continues to supply my every need even when I make mistakes. He doesn't want me to change or try to be perfect, but love, enjoy, and pursue Him daily!

38 weeks!!

38 weeks - Ariel is preparing her descent! She is still pretty high in my pelvis according to the midwife (today), not engaged yet. My cervix is a little softer but no other changes yet - good news! I should be able to get through finals... We discussed postpartum care at midwife appt and will be doing newborn care tonight at childbirth class. I will need to rest mostly in bed the first week after she is born - needing others to take care of me ;) doing laundry/cooking/cleaning etc. First 3 weeks will be similar but adding small activity as able. 6 weeks is the postpartum period to heal, so may take that long to be able to care for myself completely and be routinely active. Baby blues in the first 3-6 wks is very common (80% of moms?). Postpartum mood disorders are fairly common (1/8 of moms will develop depression) and need to look out for them, especially day 3 when milk comes in & anytime in the next 6 months after delivery! Peak onset is 3 months for depression, anxiety, etc. The best thing to help/prevent is having a lot of emotional & practical support to care for self and baby from not only partner, but also friends & family.
Anyway... 157 pounds this week (yes basically reaching 30 lb gain now). Ariel continues to kick and move about at various times throughout the day. Uterus is measuring 38 cm - perfect. Her head is remaining down & she is basically facing the right way but rotates around still. New stretch marks on upper belly now, on both sides but right side is more prominent once again (she likes her back/butt on the right I think is why).
2 weeks left :)

37 weeks - full-term

37 weeks! Full-term period (37-42 wks) has begun and Ariel could be done baking any time... The bottom pic I added so you can see my stretch marks better... eek. I also noticed the dark line is appearing now above my belly button for the last week or so, although you can't tell from the pictures. Weekly midwife appointments are going well so far, my "iron" (hematocrit 32) and vitamin b12 were low last week, so I am trying extra hard now to take my iron/vit c supplements twice per day (it is hard because they upset my stomach and have to avoid dairy for a couple hours) and am now taking vitamin b12 1000mg/day that dissolve under the tongue and also eating beef for the next few weeks, hopefully they will get me to a normal level by the birth! It will be difficult for Ariel and I if we are both anemic after the delivery. Childbirth classes are going okay... I think they could be more informative and include more from the reading. It seems like too much of our time is spent chatting about useless stuff, or maybe it is just that a lot of the info is not new to me? Some of it is helpful though and I'm glad we are taking the class so we are on the same page with everything and making preparations. Every week I realize there are still little things I need to buy and hopefully I am ready now!
Very tired lately, likely from being anemic and 156.5 pounds... I get out of breath and dizzy very easy so have slowed down a lot in my activity level. Thankfully only a couple more weeks of school left plus one online test... my professors will let me turn in things late if needed. So nice to be in the nursing field!
Follow-up: Midwife appt today (Friday 25th) went well. Ariel is growing appropriately from what we can tell from the outside - 37cm to top of uterus is perfect for 37 weeks. Her heart sounds good. My cervix is softening but has not yet effaced (thinned out) noticeably and is still closed (not dilated). So hopefully she won't be here in the next week or two and just be on time!

36 weeks!

36 weeks! Midwife appt on Thursday, meeting the doula on Friday!
Notice the new stretch marks especially on bottom left.

35 weeks!

35 weeks, here are a few pics. The bare belly profile shot had an "error" from my phone so would not show up on the computer, why so many random issues??? The other ones It took right after worked just fine. Annoying. So I just took the crappy one at the bottom to try and make up for it.

New this week - thanks Tabitha for pointing out I am developing stretchmarks on both sides of my lower belly! I was happily in ignorance, not being able to see the bottom half of my stomach, but then Tabi pointed them out and I had to verify by looking closely in the mirror. Siiggghhh still about 4 weeks left! More stretch marks to come I'm sure. I don't know how Ariel is going to fit any longer, there's really no room and my stomach is already so big! I am 154-155 pounds this week, Ariel is about 5.5 pounds (by internet estimates). She should continue to gain half pound per week until she is born!

The final supplies are being gathered so not much left to do except write birth plan, pack to go bags, and finish up childbirth classes! I'm sure more will dawn on me after she is born, but hopefully my support team of sisters will be able to help then. :) This week I went to a conference and learned a bit about perinatal mental health, touching upon postpartum depression, psychosis, OCD, and some other mental health issues. Next week we have our midwife appointment, childbirth class again, and I will also be learning about Electronic Fetal Monitoring for school... so hopefully I don't learn so much that it scares me before the delivery!

Very tired this week. Still feeling Ariel move around a lot although she can't really kick hard anymore. She seems to be head down still, but rotates from my right side to my left side occasionally, but she prefers the right. Braxton hicks contractions come and go throughout the day, but sometimes they are quite frequent and feel some stabbing pain on my bladder/cervix. I have been sleeping better this past week, but still so tired I cannot wake up at my desired time and feel like I need a nap everyday. Right lower back is uncomfortable periodically and sometimes pinches sciatic nerve, and now cracks if I move it in a particular way - the chiropractor helped loosen this area but hopefully will go back to normal after delivery. Final complaint is that I am constantly hot when everyone else is cold or normal. Lucky for me we had a crazy heat wave this past week... I never thought I would be glad for 60s weather and rain that's coming tomorrow...

34 Weeks!

We made it to 34 weeks... time will not stop it seems. As much as I want it to slow down, it keeps speeding up! Anyway, I'm about 154 now, uggh I typed 134 at first and then had to add 20 pounds... Just crazy. I never thought I would weigh this much in my life, but thankfully the end is near! Ariel must be getting cramped by now... my stomach is pretty hard and tight, the stretch mark is slowly spreading from my belly ring hole. Haven't noticed any others yet though.

We had our midwife appt this week and it went really well. The measurement of my uterus looks normal so we assume she is growing just fine. Her heart sounded good and after feeling around my belly she told us that she thinks the head is down and butt on my upper right side (as I've been saying for the past month...). So she hasn't really moved in the last month and is ready to dive head first into her new world pretty soon!

We picked a doula this week. She is fairly new, but we have heard good things about her from our childbirth educator, who is also a doula. Our doula recently had her second baby and used our same midwife, childbirth educator, and birthing center, and then decided to become a doula herself and shadowed our childbirth educator. So we are very comfortable with her (well I'm the only one that has met her so far) since she has similar experiences and training that we will be familiar with.

We are slowly finishing up preparations for Ariel's arrival, which the midwife kindly reminded us could be anywhere between 37 and 42 weeks - meaning there only remains <3-8 weeks. Scary. SO. Soon. Hopefully my body and Ariel are understanding that my finals are between 4-6 weeks from now, so she just needs to stay comfortable for another month or so. The crib should be ready soon - the final items have been ordered and should be arriving in the next week. We have the first set of cloth diapers to try out, but will likely need to buy a few more once we figure out which ones we like the best. We still need to figure out our system for rinse/wash/sanitize/dry... I have barely thought about breastfeeding, and am not even going to worry about pumping until fall quarter starts (unless most of my classes are online again!). Next thing to do is the birth plan before/when we meet with the doula in a couple weeks.

I must say that Ariel is already spoiled. All of her aunties, uncles, grandmas/grandpas, blood-related and other, have given her so many supplies, clothes, etc. that half of my room is filled with her stuff now. She has so many cute outfits, and Hieu does not hesitate to buy her everything I think she might need. Ariel is so blessed and loved, and no one except for God even knows her yet!

32 and 33 weeks

32 weeks above

 

33 weeks above

153.5 pounds this 33rd week... I have officially met my 25 pound goal, 7 weeks too early lol. I have definitely gained more than baby weight, but at least she will be born in the summer so we can take lots of walks/jogs. Midwife appt is upcoming Tue... I have also been seeing a chiropractor past two weeks - 4 visits so far, and 2 more next week. I haven't noticed much difference, but I wasn't in that much pain before either. I think it has helped a tiny bit for my lower back/sacrum area and possibly will help keep me more mobile for the birth coming up... Ariel should be over 4 pounds now and still gaining weight rapidly. She's still moving a lot too and makes my whole belly twitch and move. She also gets hiccups at least twice per day that I notice. I will probably be starting perineal massage next week - week 34 and will try to remember to mention it to my midwife on Tuesday. If you don't know what it is, look it up! It helps to prevent tearing during birth, especially for your first birth and if you have had episiotomy in the past. You can see from the pics that I don't have any stretch marks YET except for the small 'X' over my top belly piercing hole. I'm sure it will get worse too as she continues to grow. The past couple weeks I have really felt the pressure on my skin to stretch... Finally, Hieu and I started childbirth classes 2 weeks ago with April Bolding at her West Seattle home. There are about 7 other couples that meet there Wed nights, all planning either home birth or birth at a birth center (like us). The most helpful parts so far are learning techniques for rhythm, relaxation and ritual, and also therapeutic touch. We have watched a couple birth videos and have had some sharing about our concerns/thoughts and talked about what pre-labor and labor signs there are. A lot of the info is stuff we have learned in nursing school, but it is definitely good to review it and have time to practice coping techniques. Ariel says hello and goodbye, she just swiped her little foot across my belly lol. I don't think many people have seen her truly in action, but when she is in an active period she just goes crazy in there. Ttfn!