33 Weeks Pregnant - you don’t need permission to change your mind!

Weekly pregnancy updates from a childbirth educator, doula and mum to 2 little girls. Come and join me on my journey as I share how I’m feeling, how baby is developing, what I’m doing to prepare, and some favourite resources!

I have never been anti-water birth. I’ve always believed that water is a fantastic tool for pain relief during labour and birth, and studies are quite convincing that birthing in water significantly lowers the chance of perineal tears. However, it’s just never felt right for me.

My journey

With my first birth my private midwife provided a birth pool and we had it in our house when I went into labour. But I was never confident I wanted to use it, I just didn't feel like a “water baby”! And in the end, labour moved much faster than I expected and by the time I realised how far I was, I was pushing my baby out and it was too late to set the pool up anyway!

Second time around I was with the publicly funded homebirth programme. The midwives asked if I wanted to use a pool, but I would have had to hire it from elsewhere. I still wasn’t convinced I wanted to use one, and it seemed a waste of money hiring one and likely not using it, especially given that I’d already had a fantastic homebirth without a pool before. So I opted out, and had another “land” birth.

Fast forward to this pregnancy, and I’m with a private midwife who offers a birth pool as part of her homebirth package. I told her not to bother bringing it, since I didn’t feel I would use it. I imagined myself having another non-water birth, so what was the point of getting all the gear set up? Until a couple of weeks ago, when I suddenly started picturing myself birthing this baby in the pool. That thought has stuck with me, and now I am fully planning to use the pool during labour and birth. And I am not remotely embarrassed about having changed my mind.

You don’t need anyone’s permission to change your mind

So here I am just reminding you that when it comes to your plans for birth, you don’t need anyone’s permission to change your mind. Maybe it’s about your provider or place of birth. Maybe it’s about what testing you do or don't want. Maybe it’s about whether to get newborn vaccines or not. Maybe it’s about who to have on your support team. Maybe it’s about whether to use the birth pool or not. Your change of mind could be due to knowledge you gain which affects your previous decisions, or it could be purely a preference or a feeling. It’s your body and your birth and your decision. Go with your gut. You don’t need anybody’s permission.

What symptoms am I feeling?

My back has been a lot better this week thankfully! No real symptoms except feeling baby movements and occasionally jumping 2 metres when he touches a sensitive spot, because I’m never expecting it 😂

How has baby been developing this week?

Roughly 41-43 cm and 2-2.4kg in size this week. Baby’s eyes now adjust in response to light, with pupils dilating/contracting!

What am I doing to prepare?

More blood tests this week to check platelets and haemoglobin and make sure everything is still heading in the right direction. I’ll get the results next week.

And that’s it for this week! 🌿💛

[Image credit: Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash]