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...
34 Weeks Pregnant - low platelets again!
Last week’s blood tests show my platelets have dropped off a bit again, which for Australian standards has technically put me back in the range of gestational thrombocytopaenia (very borderline still). Platelets dropping during pregnancy is physiologically normal for some women, and certainly seems to be my norm, since I know it happened with my first pregnancy too.
33 Weeks Pregnant - you don’t need permission to change your mind!
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.
32 Weeks Pregnant - back pain in pregnancy and abdominal separation (aka diastasis recti)
I’ve had a bit of upper and mid back pain this week as my abs have really let go, and the weight of my uterus and baby is pulling my upper body forward. I need to be very mindful of posture and of engaging my core. But I’m also feeling very motivated to really focus on building up the muscle in my abs and back after I close up my diastasis recti postpartum!
31 Weeks Pregnant - bonding with baby
For many of us, this past week has been a week of holiday and family time. It certainly has been for me and my family. We enjoyed a few days with some of the extended family, and are loving having a week for just our family at home right now, after a very full year. It’s important to spend time together, bonding as husband and wife, parents with children, siblings with siblings.
And it’s just as important to spend time bonding with baby!