42 Weeks Pregnant - will they let you go to 42 weeks?
Will they let you go to 42 weeks? Has the midwife told you what she wants to do if your baby isn’t born in the next couple of days? These are the kinds of questions that you get asked once you pass 41 weeks of pregnancy. And these are the kinds of questions that show how we’ve been conditioned to think that the hospital or medical care provider has the final word over a pregnant woman’s body.
41 Weeks Pregnant - when baby is posterior
My baby is posterior! What does that mean? Is it a problem? Should I be worried?
Posterior simply means baby has his or her back towards mum’s spine. It is entirely normal during pregnancy, even though a position with their spine towards mum’s belly is considered more ideal approaching birth. This is because an “anterior” baby has less rotation to do during labour…
40 Weeks Pregnant - the importance of positive affirmations and self-talk
It’s that time of pregnancy where baby could be born anytime... or we could still have a week or two to wait. These final days/weeks can be so tough mentally, and we need strategies to cope with them…
39 Weeks Pregnant - getting labour started naturally?
By this stage of pregnancy we’re feeling pretty heavy, uncomfortable and just generally looking forward to being able to get up out of a chair or roll over in bed without it being a big deal! So since baby is technically classed as being “term” now, what about natural options for moving things along?
38 Weeks Pregnant - nesting, here we come!
You hear a lot about pregnant women’s “nesting instinct” as they get ready for the arrival of their baby. There are some stereotypes about the nesting mum who cleans every tiny corner of the house and polishes up things that she would never even think of needing to clean at any other time in life! I can’t say it’s hit me to that extreme, but I have certainly gone all in on the preparations I still wanted to make for baby’s arrival and for postpartum. This has looked like…
37 Weeks Pregnant - co-sleeping? room-sharing? bed-sharing? sleep training?
We’ve had family from Italy staying for a month, and they went home this week. I also had my last home visit with my last client before my maternity leave. So now I feel I am able to focus on the final preparations for our baby to arrive! There’s not a lot to do, but even so I’m breaking it down into smaller tasks to make it easier to get to. This week’s task was emptying the bassinet in our bedroom and finding storage for all the stuff I’ve been dumping in it! And yes, my babies sleep in a bassinet... I’ve found that the topic of newborn sleep is one of the most hotly-debated on social media and on parenting and new mum forums. Honestly, to my way of thinking it’s actually a pretty straightforward topic. What I mean is...
36 Weeks Pregnant - I’ve never weighed this much before!
I weighed myself today and saw a bigger number than I have ever seen in my life before! And I am very unfazed. So far I’ve gained 4kg more than I did in my previous pregnancies, and we’ve still got a month or more to go! I feel like it’s pretty much all showing up in my belly, as I’m not experiencing swelling or fluid retention. Probably a bit on hips/thighs, but honestly I’m glad to have a bit of extra “padding” before going into breastfeeding, since that requires SO much energy!
So, let’s talk a bit about weight gain in pregnancy - what is normal and is it something we should be concerned about?
35 Weeks Pregnant - birth is unpredictable
As we close off the month of January, I am reflecting on the two births I supported this month. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to support families through such an amazing life transition! My reflections on this month’s births can be summed up in two phrases: mums are incredibly strong; birth can be very unpredictable.
And it’s the unpredictability of birth that I wanted to reflect on briefly in this post. Because we can do all the “right” things to prepare for birth, have the most aligned care provider and the best support team. But at the end of the day this won’t guarantee us a “plan A birth”. So is it useless to plan for your dream birth? Definitely not! However...