My mum has been in town, taking care of me (despite my stubbornness and strong will to fend for myself) for the last several days. It's been a great, great visit, which is why I haven't had time to post to the blog for a while. I've been taking loads of pix during her stay, but I'll post them and a rundown of what we've been up to later today. For now, I want to give a brief update on Baby Mittman (affectionately known as Cyrus-Minerva by my mum) before leaving my half-day of work today!
Mum accompanied me to the birth center last Thursday afternoon, and it was a real treat to have her there. She really loved the center, and was really surprised by the amount of specialized, one-on-one care I received. She kept saying that at the hospital, you're in and out; at the birth center, each appointment is one hour of individualized attention with loads of information, explanations of what's going on with me and baby, and answers to all my questions.
Baby is doing well, still growing at a normal rate (my belly was 29 cm at 30 weeks, pretty much right on schedule), and baby was doing laps around my belly during the whole appointment. They found not only the baby's heartbeat but also the pulse from the umbilical cord; Mum and I were floored to get so much fun information at one visit!
I haven't really mentioned this on the blog, pretty much because of embarassment and fear of judgement from my readers, but there is one on-going issue that I've been having a problem with. I can't seem to gain enough weight with this pregnancy. At any other point in my life, NOT gaining weight would be a highlight, but for now, I just want to be like everyone else, and gain what I'm supposed to gain to make a healthy baby. So far, I've only gained 15 lbs, and being that I'm 2 months away from the delivery, I'm getting a little nervous. While the midwives say that "it's not how much you gain, it's what you eat that matters", even Clarice said that I should be upping my calories and eating more everyday. The last three visits have had me at the same weight each time. Every single person I see at work, at the grocery store, at the mall, wherever, looks at me and says, "Wow, you're really tiny! You don't look like you're seven and a half months along!" I feel like I'm doing something wrong and it's wearing thin on me. My midwife Kip said that everyone's different, and we all metabolize at different rates; Mum said I should be happy not to put on a ton of weight that will be really hard to take off later. One girlfriend assured me that she only gained a total of 20 lbs with her baby, who was born at 8 1/2 lbs! So, I guess I'm starting to feel a little better, but it's so hard to think that you might be doing something wrong that could adversely affect the rest of your kid's life.
Two nights ago, I was on the phone with Adam while my mum was resting on the couch opposite me. While I was reading aloud to him all about the kicks and punches baby will throw during pregnancy, I all of a sudden felt a sharp pain front and center, above my belly button (which still has not popped out yet!). I groaned out loud, then timidly felt my way down to the offending area...only to find a hard lump protruding out. I freaked out. I started trying to push it--whatever it was--back into my belly where it belonged! Once I finally nudged it back into place, I realized that I had been so busy panicking that I had missed a really cool experience--the first sighting of baby's elbow/knee/etc. Oh well, next time.
Baby has been really active ever since, rolling around, tumbling, wiggling, you name it. I can tell that it's getting bigger and stronger, and probably has long legs and big feet like its father. This morning I couldn't go back to sleep after 6am because baby was so busy trying to kick itself out of my stomach.
I'm off now to return home to mum. We're going to make lunch, watch movies and sort through all the booty I've gotten so far from everyone. Your thank you card will be in the mail shortly.
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