36 Weeks!

I'm almost two weeks behind on this post but here I am at the last month of pregnancy.  I can't believe it.  I'm very nervous and scared about delivery.  I think I'm more worried this time now that I know what to expect.  I also have a lot riding on this birth since I had a csection last time and I'm not planning on that this time around.  I feel good, I still love being pregnant.  Last time I was this far along with Brielle I was way more miserable and ready for it to be over with.  I'm appreciating everything that comes with pregnancy more now and really trying to enjoy it even though I have a lot of aches and pains cause I love being pregnant!


Do you see how shiny my foot is...that's because it's is sooooo swollen!
I had buy new shoes because I got to where only one pair fit me! I'm normally a 7 1/2 but had to buy a 9!!! My hands and feet started swelling with Brielle at 37 weeks so it happened a little sooner this time, I'm sure some of it has to do with this heat, I love warm weather though so it doesn't bother me as much as you would think it should.
At 37 Weeks with Brielle I was 1 cm dialated 20% effaced -3 station.

At 38 weeks with Brielle I was 1cm dialated 60% effaced -3 station

 My Dr. doesn't do any checks till you show up to the hospital in labor.  I am curious to know where I'm at but he and I both know it means nothing..some people are dilated to a 3 for weeks with nothing happening and some people have no progress at all and have a baby 12 hours later.  It's all just up in the air.
I was also up to 42 lbs at my 36 week appointment....booooo....so much for not getting as big this time around.
I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night these past few weeks more than any other time. Thankfully I'm still able to go right back to sleep and sleep pretty well.
I have had a lot of pressure and some pain on my pubic bone.  Also some painful braxton hicks.  Hopefully all good signs of an easier birth to come!

We have been getting last minute things ready around here for baby.  I am all packed and so I Hason and Landon is half way there.  I just need to get Brielle's bag ready for when she stays at Litas house.

I started drinking my Raspberry tea leaf.  It's supposed to have great effects on a mother and baby...these are the reasons I'm taking it...

-Reduces pain during labor and after birth: By toning the muscles used during labor and delivery RRL eliminates many of the reasons for a painful delivery and prolonged recovery.

-Assists in the production of plentiful breast milk

-Can help make labor faster: RRL works to encourage the uterus to let go and function without tension. It allows the uterus to work more efficiently

-Studies show that women taking RRL have a reduced incidence of artificial rupture of membranes, forceps delivery or cesarean

I also got  some bath herbs for healing down there after baby and it helps with healing the babies umbilical stump much quicker.  Everyone says it works phenomenally!  I  also purchased Milkmaid tea to help with milk supply when I start getting low.  I'm so excited about all the new things I've discovered in this journey to have a better birth! I never knew all this was out there!

Packed and ready to go!

I've also tried to get everything ready for our newborn photo shoot before hand cause I know I won't feel like it once he is here.
I made monthly growth signs with Brielle and wanted to do the same for Hason so I go that done this weekend.

 

 

Some photo props I made for the newborn photo shoot....

 Aunt Emily and Uncle Trent delivered  Hason's gift to us this weekend and oh my what cuteness!
Love, Love this carseat cover and it matches his room!!!

I will warn you now these next paragraphs may take you by surprise and my be TMI.  You have been warned ha!
I want to ask you to be praying for a safe, healthy smooth birth for me : )  I had to have a c section last time, really I shouldn't say have, I should not have had a c section last time but it ended up that way.  I had a lot of emotional baggage from that birth... anxiety, some depression, slight post traumatic stress disorder and everything else that comes with such an unhappy, unplanned, disrespected out of control experience.  It wasn't until I moved here and found other women and joined a group who felt the same thing and were in the same boat as me that I have found soooo much healing!  I still mourn what Brielle's birth could have been but now I am focused on making this one what it can be.  I have the best VBAC Dr. in Texas!  He is the closest thing to a midwife but in a hospital.  He believes in the woman's ability to do what God made it to do.  He's a praying Christian man and I adore him.  I truly feel like he is giving me a gift.  Whether I get the natural birth I want or end up with a c section again (but this time I would know for a fact it was medically necessary and not just routine) I feel as if he is giving me something nobody else can give me and 99% of other Dr's wouldn't even let me try.  He has delivered babies naturally from women who have had 2, 3 and even 4 previous c sections.  He also delivers twins and breech babies.  The man is amazing and has a gift and I feel extremely blessed to get the chance to have a healing birth and for sweet Hason to get the chance to bond with his momma right away and not be taken from me for nonsense reasons.

Landon has been my rock through all of this.  He has seen how everything has affected me, almost to the point of not wanting another child.  I would talk to everyone about having another kid hoping they would convince me. I finally realized it wasn't another baby I was afraid of but another traumatic experience. Landon is completely on board with everything I want to do. This is our birth and it makes me so happy to see how excited he gets at the thought of a non c section birth.  You should have seen how thrilled and relieved he was after we visited the hospital an found out we weren't going to have to fight the nurses an hospital policies for the things we wanted done.  He is as involved and devoted as a husband of a pregnant woman can be and I love him so much for that.  He is willing to do anything and pay for anything I want to make this birth what we hope it can be.  Bless his heart he's had to turn into a crunchy/granola man through all of this.  What guy knows about doulas, baby wearing, vbacs and placenta encapsulation.

 Yes placenta encapsulation lol!  Technically I will be eating that thing HA!  I know I know you probably threw up in your mouth a little bit, sorry...but let me explain...It's not exactly what you think.  I have hired a placenta encapsulator, she will make it into a powder form and put it in vitamin capsules for me to take as a vitamin/pill form after baby comes.  It is supposed to help with post partum depression.  I'm excited about that cause I don't want to feel the way I did last time.   There are many other benefits as well but that's the main one for me.  I will also have a tincture done to it which those last for like EVER.  It's best used when I go through menopause or baby can use it later on down the road if something traumatic happens to him.  Worth a try and worth the money to me! (I found a girl who has been doing this for about 3 years now but just moved here and wants to get her name out there so she is doing all of this for me for only $50!!!  I told you, I've got a completely different view on birth this time around.  We also won't be bathing baby till a day later, I want to rub the vernix in and we are not cutting the umbilical cord until it's done or almost done pulsing.   We will wait until he is at least 8 days old to have him circumcised by a Rabbi, Rabbi Mike that is.  All he does are circumcisions and the pain is minimal.  I know moost people choose to have it done in the hospital and I don't think that's a wrong way to go about it at all!!!  I think every parent has the right to decide what they think is best for their baby and family and others shouldn't judge them for it, we are all trying to do whats best for the littlest loves of our lives : )  These are the differences with both circumcisions.... Hospital circumcisions take around 30 minutes and babies are strapped to the table while the procedure is being done. Parents are not allowed in. Baby is  given a numbing shot down there as well. You also have to give baby the Vitamin K shot while in the hospital to help with clotting if they are to be circumcised in the hospital.   With a Rabbi the procedure takes around 30 seconds, vitamin k is not necessary,  baby is on a soft pillow with mom and dad there, a numbing cream is applied afterwards and baby only has discomfort for about 3 hours and I will be able to nurse him right after to help soothe him.  I am still not looking forward to that, I feel sorry for the little guy but we decided this is the best option for our family. Yup we are hippies now lol!

I have been going to the Chiropractor religiously for the past 4 months, drinking my herbal tea, done tons and tons of research, and hired a doula and most importantly I have the right Dr this time around and a natural birth friendly hospital.  My mother and Landon are behind me 100% in this and believe it is the right thing to do as well as opposed to a repeat c section. Landon and I feel like we have set ourselves up for success this time and have taken matters into our own hands instead of being at the mercy of hospital routines. My goal is to not have an epidural and if I do end up with one I want to hold out as loooong as possible to make sure I can still walk and move and get that baby into the right position.  I won't be scared into getting one way to early by me nurses like last time.  They just didn't want to deal with a laboring woman.  Thought that was their job, apparently you have to hire a doula to do that.  We trusted the system last time and it failed us.  Not gonna happen again.  Like I said before though, if I do end up with another c section I will be bummed but not the way I was the first time because I will have confidence that it was the only thing left to do.

I need to take the time to write up Brielle's birth story.  I remember it like it was yesterday!  I will do that and also write Hason's when he gets here.  Please pray for us as we get close.  I'm 38 weeks this week and Brielle was a week early, so we could have a baby as early as next weekend!  But since I am a vbac patient my Dr will let me got to about 41 weeks before stripping membranes and then if that doesn't work he will move on to something more intrusive.    Lets pray baby Hase is ready before then lol!