And this is called a craving...

2 days ago, I wanted 5 Guys Burgers. I told myself "Baby doesn't need 5 Guys" and went to Tropical Smoothie for a yummy (healthy) wrap instead.

However, when I woke up this morning, I decided I HAVE to have 5 Guys today. I mean really, how bad can it be? Although a friend told me it was in the top 10 most fattening places, or something like that. So apparently, pretty bad. But I will choose not to think about that.

And because I want it SO badly, I'm blogging about it. How sad. Blogging about it and praying that Chuck won't be super-busy today and he can go with me. I would rather not be the pathetic pregnant woman sitting in the corner devouring a burger by herself. But hey, if that's what it comes to, I'll do it.

On another note, I'm 30 weeks today. It seems so weird to say that my EDD is 10 weeks away. I remember when I was 10 weeks pregnant, and in some ways that seems like just yesterday. I will do my best to remember to take a photo tonight when Chuck gets home and post it for you guys.

Childbirth classes

Chuck and I attended the childbirth classes this past Friday night and all day Saturday. I was expecting them to be good... but I was overwhelmed at how awesome they were. Somehow when looking at their website I missed the fact that they are Christians and how that influences their birth philosophy. Needless to say, that made the classes better :)

So this might be long, but I feel that it's a huge part of my "pregnancy experience" and that some of you may be interested.

From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to non-medicated birth. I made this decision for 2 reasons. 1. I feel that God made my body to do this and I want to actually experience it and not be all doped up and 2. The thought of someone putting a needle in my spine (epidural) scares the crap out of me.

I got many comments like "just wait until the contractions hit... then the epi won't scare you any more," but I just shrugged them off. I went with a normal OB practice because I felt that was what was best and I had no idea how rare unmedicated births are in "traditional" practices. I thought people that hired doulas, midwifes, etc were fruity people that thought all medicine was bad and wanted home births.

The more research I did, the more I realized that non-medicated births are extremely rare in a hospital setting. Many times, hospitals put you on a bit of a time line... if you aren't progressing "fast enough", they give you a medication called pitocin to speed things up. From what I've heard, this medication puts your contractions basically on top of each other (whereas naturally you get a break) and makes them more painful. Pitocin essentially ensures that you're going to wind up with an epidural, because very few people can handle that pain. My worst nightmare all along has been needing pitocin because I know that it has the possibility to change everything and make my birth experience a miserable one instead of a happy one.

After realizing how rare a non-medicated birth would be in a hospital setting, I realized that the classes we're taking from the hospital probably wouldn't address our needs, so I signed us up for this class that focuses on the non-medicated birth because I felt it would better prepare us for what's ahead. It was taught by 2 doulas and I was worried that it would be a bit "fru fru" (as I said in my last post), but it was exactly what was needed.

Their whole philosophy is that God designed our bodies to do this. That we need to listen to our bodies in order to have a positive birth experience and that we can't listen to our bodies with medication running through them. They (like myself) are not opposed to medication when it's needed. When mom or baby are in distress, induction via pitocin is a GOOD thing because it can lower your chances of needing a c-section. There are several situations that require a c-section and in those situations they are GOOD things because without them, you or your baby (or both) can die. They do not oppose medication, they oppose unneeded medication. Many women do not educate themselves and think that everyone gets an epidural, so they walk in the door and ask for one. Epidurals can often slow things down, so they then get pitocin, but they can't feel it, so who cares? Medication has become the norm to the point that many that don't want it are viewed as tree-hugger hippy freaks.

Well, before this class, and particularly after it, I am officially a tree-hugger hippy freak :)

I have a LOT of questions to ask my OB at my next appointment, and if the answers don't line up with my beliefs, Chuck and I are in agreement that we might need to change doctors, even though I'm 7 months along. Even without changing doctors, we are about 95% sure that we are going to hire a doula... because they are great at advocating for your rights in a hospital setting.

I feel like I could go on and on and on, but I don't know if anyone else finds this to be interesting!!

I recognize that many of my friends that are reading this have not had kids yet and I am not by any means saying "you should all do things they way that I am going to!!" However, I am telling you to educate yourself. Weigh the pros and cons both ways and really pray about the situation. Labor does not have to be a horrible experience that you want to forget for the rest of your life. It can be wonderful. Both of these doulas have had natural births (one had also had a c-section and an induction), so they're talking from experience. They had a video of a natural birth and it wasn't NEARLY as scary as some of the videos I've seen of medicated births- less screaming, etc. A mom came in that had just had her baby 2 weeks before talking about how amazing the experience was.

Anyways, Chuck and I both learned a lot and I left the class excited and happy. I know that labor won't be easy, but it CAN be good, and that's what I'm going for.

29 weeks

11 weeks to go! How crazy is that? I'm amazed that I just keep getting bigger. They're going to have to widen doorways before this is all over...

I took my glucose test to check for gestational diabetes on Wednesday, and thankfully, I do NOT have it. Everything came back completely normal. That orange stuff they make you drink made me gag, but I suppose that's better than having diabetes and not knowing about it...

I start going to the doctor every 2 weeks instead of 4 now. At 35 weeks, I'll start going every week and having internal exams to check for progression.

Chuck and I picked out the paint colors last weekend and bought the chair railing, but unfortunately we didn't get any of it up. Hopefully we'll get it up this weekend. Heck, I'll be honest... hopefully he'll get it up this weekend. I'm not much help in that department. After we get it up, we'll do the painting and then he'll put up the ceiling fan and that's basically it. The crib is here and unpacked, we're just waiting to put it together until we can put it in the right room. I'm so excited to be done.... I keep having dreams that I have the baby early and it doesn't have anywhere to sleep when we bring it home. In one of them, we put it in Belle's kennel and Belle was not very happy. My entire pregnancy I've read about "pregnancy dreams" and how weird they can be, but hadn't really had any until recently, but now that I'm having them MAN they're crazy.

Anyways, while I know that the baby will not be sleeping in the dog's kennel even if I do have it early, I'll be glad to have the nursery done. Who knows what I'll dream about then?

This weekend we're attending a childbirth class down in Virginia Beach that's all about natural childbirth. We're attending a class at the hospital as well, but since most people scream for the epidural as soon as they can have it, I thought it would be helpful to take a class somewhere else too. I'm completely aware that I might not be able to have the natural labor that I want, but I'm also aware that without any preparation it's extremely likely that I'll cave early. There's all kinds of techniques and such to help you with the natural process. If you're interested, here's the website: Birth in Sight. They're a little on the fru-fru side, but I think the information they dispense will be helpful.

I'll try to get better about updating regularly, but as far as I know, Kristin's the only one that reads this, so what's the point?? Haha, love you guys :)

IKEA

On Monday, my friend Kristi and I went to Ikea in Woodbridge. It's about a 2 hr drive, but was well worth it. We spent the whole day there walking around and just had such a good time. I got new curtains for all of our windows and bought new bookshelves, which I desperately need.

I also got a desk chair. It was my "splurge" purchase. I needed one, but I

didn't necessarily need to spend $90 on it.

But look at it- it's just so cute! Luckily Chuck understood :) And I put it together all by myself, which I am very proud of!

Last weekend we were snowed in again and spent most of the day Saturday working on the nursery and it is now all cleaned out :) Unfortunately, that means that "grammie's room" is covered in things that are going to Goodwill. If the weather would clean up, I could actually take it... but so far that only good weather we've gotten this week was Monday and I was at IKEA all day :) Either way, I'm very excited that the room is clean and we can start making some real progress. Chuck has a 3-day weekend this weekend, so we're planning on at least putting the chair railing up and prepping for painting.

Don't worry, I'm taking pictures along the way and will post them when everything is looking beautiful :)

My next doctor's appointment is next week and I'm not looking forward to it because I have to take the test for gestational diabetes and I've heard the stuff you have to drink is really nasty. Oh well, I'm glad they test for it since it can be really dangerous if you do have it and it's not controlled. And hopefully I don't have it!

We're supposed to have good weather for the next few days, so hopefully that holds true. I'm completely sick of snow and rain. Not to mention the fact that my jackets are getting extremely tight and I won't be able to wear them for much longer so it needs to warm up!!

3rd Trimester?!?!

It's been a while since I posted... sorry for my slacker tendencies :)

Today (or yesterday, depending on who you ask) I am officially in the 3rd Trimester. This is strange for numerous reasons... mainly because I in no way feel like I'm ready to have a baby. I know that this is "normal", but I just feel like I should be more prepared. Oh well... I'm doing lots of research and working in the nursery at church, which I figure is about all I can do. I can't practice on my own kid until I have one, haha! Although I somewhat feel sorry for the first kid... all the mistakes are made on them.

Anyways, here's a picture from last night:

In the past week I have had 2 people say "when are you due?" and when I say "May" they say "is it twins?" Here's a tip for all you non-pregnant people: NEVER say that to a pregnant person. The only thing you need to say to a pregnant lady is "you look awesome!" I'm 5 feet tall. There's no where else for the baby to go... short torso and all :)

Anyways. Chuck and I are getting lots done on the nursery. Last weekend we were basically snowed in so we worked in there most of the day. It's looking like this weekend will be the same way... it was supposed to rain today but the temperature dropped and it's definitely snowing. As much as I love snow, I'm a little sick of it because the state of VA apparently only owns 2 plows and it takes 4 days for the side roads to be cleared. Normally, I wouldn't mind so much but I have horrible balance and can't walk the dogs when there's ice out. And the dogs are MUCH better behaved when they get exercised. And it's good for me too... supposedly exercise makes delivery easier. We'll just have to see about that ;)

Next week our church's life groups are starting and Chuck and I are hosting one at our house. We're not the leaders, just donating our home :) I'm excited. I think it'll help motivate me to keep the house clean! I get really discouraged when I realize we've been in this house 7 months and we still don't have everything unpacked, but I've realized that beating up on myself does absolutely no good, so I try to just keep trudging on.

That's all for now!