28 Weeks

Matt and I have had the chance to take a few classes already.  And the rest of this month and next month is pretty full also.  We went on a tour of the maternity part of the hospital, and also to a pain managment in labor class.  I was a little disappointed in the pain management class. Matt and I are planning on trying to have a natural birth- why take pain management then? Well I know that birth is an unpredictable event and  there is a possibility that I will not be able to make it the entire time without pain medication, so I wanted to be informed. I also wanted Matt to be informed as well since he will be a part of the decision making with me. I figured the class wouldn't talk about natural pain management- but i didn't expect the big push for the epidural. They actually said "epidurals is just what we do here. Everyone wants one so we give them one." "Even those who come in thinking they can do without end up getting one eventually." This totally disheartens me. I was also surprised that they didn't go into anything about c- sections.    The class went into the difference between using an analgesic and an epidural.  But nothing about c- sections. That was one topic I wanted some more information about. What all it consists of, etc. hopefully we will go over it in one of our other classes. Matt and I did discuss that we do not want to use an analgesic (which is a type of pain management that is injected into the blood stream and does get passed to the baby. 

We stopped after class and spoke with one of the nurses about wanting to go naturally and asked if there were nurses there that have participated in naturally births or had one themselves that we could ask for when we were admitted. (I really wanted to check into this because of the comments made during class. She spoke with us briefly about writing a birth plan and letting them know whenever we  are admitted that we would like to try to go naturally and they will hook us up with the right nurse. So that made me feel a little bit better. 

Without further ado, here are our stats for this week (well those that have changed atleast)

How far along:  28 weeks down, 12 weeks to go

This week baby is the size of: a Chinese cabbage. For those of you (like myself) have no idea what that is;  the baby weighs about two and a half pounds and is about 16 inches long from top of the head to the tops of the toes.

Next appointment: We start going every two weeks now.  This next time will only be a week and a half since 2 weeks would be right before Christmas.  Decemeber 19th. 

Movement: There is no telling what kind of movement I will get from day to day. Somedays it seems like I have a little gymnist in there, and other days I think I have a sleeping beauty.

What I'm loving: feeling the movement and watching my belly move when Bebe is up and moving and grooving. 

What I'm looking forward to: Christmas and seeing all of my family and friends from PA at our baby shower. 

Milestones: Baby P is now able to blink and cough. He/she is also getting better at sucking and breathing.

Goals: My goal before leaving for pa is to get a few things made for our shower. I plan to put together a scrapbook for the baby from everyone at the shower. It will include predictions and wishes and advice for the new parents. So I need to design that. I also have a book I plan on making a small favor for everyone. So I need to get those things done!  I also need to figure out Christmas gifts!