birth prep second time around

As I've been getting ready for the upcoming birth this time, I have at the same time gone through Leona's birth again, and have had some epiphanies.

First of all, I really should have completed the entire Pink Kit readings and practices, as it is truly impressive and chok-full of useful tidbits and knowledge. I am sure that if I had done this, the birth would have gone a lot faster - or at least I would have been more knowledgable in terms of how to handle certain aspects.

For example, the tightening across my kidney area in my back that I felt, I admit to myself now that it really stressed me out because it was so unexpected and I didn't understand it, thinking that it was Leona who was in a non-optimal position for birth that was causing it. And because of that, I wasn't able to properly relax. Basically what I've learned now is that the uterus attaches also around that area, and that a tightening there is normal for the cervix-opening contractions especially. This time, when I feel tightening there during warm-up contractions, I am able to be happy about it, knowing the work that is being done by my body, and relax into it, taking the intensity out of it. I believe I will be able to do this during this upcoming birth as well - if I experience the tightening this time too.

PLUS the Pink Kit mentions that if you do feel tightening there, and the cervix is not opening progressively, then a birth partner can place his or her hands basically across your kidneys and gently pull the skin upwards (not sliding the hands across the skin, but just gently pulling upwards), and this will both assist in letting you focus on relaxing those muscles as well as help the cervix dilate.

If only I had known this - or my doula had known it - last time. Instead she had suggested putting counter-pressure on that area, and I think that this actually made it harder for me to relax fully, thinking back. Counterproductive to say the least.

I think I would have also waited longer before heading to the birthing hospital, because though the contractions were strong, just under a minute and around 5 min apart they did not progress in strength, length or frequency for several hours I think. So really I was in early, early per-labor at that time, and could of relaxed at home for longer. Then again I thought the birth would be fast, so I don't think we would have waited much longer anyhow, with the 1 hr drive and threat of rush hour.

Anyhow, this time I have been going through all aspects of the Pink Kit - all cornerstones so to speak - and Judge and I have been working on the various movements/exercises that can be done to help open up the pelvis and give space to the baby on her journey out, depending on where she's at, if necessary.

I've also of course gone through the Hypnobabies course again, and am listening to the tracks pretty much each or every other evening.

One thing I have found is that some of the 'self-protection' taught in Hypnobabies is not as necessary when coupled with the Pink Kit, as knowledge really is empowering.

For example, internal exams. Though I know they are not technically necessary - especially if the birth is progressing consistently, if it is taking a long time I think useful information can be gained. Like if the cervix is not dilating (like what happened last time with us), then there are things that one can do to help this along. Of course, with the Pink Kit you learn how to do internal exams yourself, so wouldn't need a midwife or nurse or doctor to do this, but what I mean is that learning that one is not dialating doesn't have to be the downer it normally is, but rather something empowering, guiding you towards where you're 'stuck' so you can actively do something about it.

So, we're at 39 weeks tomorrow, and I feel that I'm quite ready now, both mentally, emotionaly and physically - ready to go through birth and even more ready to meet baby...and be done with the aches and pains I've been contending with this time.

Trying not to make it into a waiting game though, as if she's a week or two 'late' in coming that's a long time to be sitting straight-backed and ready to og.

[been living in this dress the last few days

as the weather's been sunny and hot - 18 degrees]

.

some of the most recent gems

Leona's language has really exploded these past couple months. When we were in Taiwan, we got a comment or two regarding her lack of language ability - not that we took it to heart as she's an excellent communicator with signs, and she has three languages she's picking up so we expect a later explosion, but still, we can say she didn't have a particularly overflow of words then, that's for certain.

Recently I filled out a questionnaire for her 2-year check-up, and in the language category I suddenly realized she now says TONS of words.

And what is super exciting is she's currently working really hard on stringing two and three together. Like the 'poot papoo papi' I mentioned earlier. She also has 'mama sit chair' and other such combinations.

And then there are her comparisons, using her head for the affirmative and negative (mama ut - shake head; Noona ut - nod head...meaning 'I know you're going to stay inside while I go out on the balcony').

With all this exciting development there are a few super cute things that have developed. We have a 't' ending - poot--poop, sout--soup, soat--soap, moot--move (over); papis (spicy); [sounds like ocean without the n] (喝水, drink water...but she uses it for water - all and any kind); a'gn (avocado); mice (knife); gases (glasses); pack-back (back-pack); butt (butt and button); ah-gah-i (I got it); cucapapa (cucumber); nammeh ('I want that') and babao (bib) - not sure how these two came about; and many, many more.

And like 'much' for a lot or very much. The other day we were getting up in the morning and she wanted to bring the four stuffed animals she sleeps with to the living room. When she handed me her dog I said that she could carry them if she wanted to bring them out, and she looked at me and said "muuuuuuuuch" (Common mom, can't you see I have way too much to carry? Can't you please help me this time?).

Or 'back'. She loves to look meaningfully at us, nod her head and say emphatically 'back, back' (I'll be right back), then walk away so she can come back and say delightedly 'baaack' (I'm back).

And 'two' for any amount more than one, and when she's excited or serious about it, she adds her two hands, palms open and out, around shoulder or face hight, and emphasises with them when she says 'two'.

And then we have the opposites: Help you = help me, and vice versa, and 'hochu (hold you) means please hold me (up) so I can do something (wash hands, put something away, get something, etc.).

One of the cutest things, though, is 'another'. Example: she sees a bus. "Bus!" She sees another bus: "A'-a' bus!" and then she sees yet another one: "A'-a'-a'-aaa' bus!"

We are seriously LOVING this stage.

She also currently loooooooooooves playing outside, wearing her turquoise shirt (with a dinosaur riding a motorcycle on it) and purple pants, people watching, rocks (still), describing what she sees at all times but especially when looking out the window (lady, bus, car, truck, tractor, dog, kid, a'-a'-a'-aaa' of any and all of these, play, ball), discussing things in size (big, or big with a shake of her head for 'not big') and color (red, gee-grean, boo-blue, papoo-purple, pick-pink, yellow, a'ju-orange - and several of these in Norwegian as well), jumping (especially on the bed, and landing on her bum like she's going to participate in seat-wars), running, sliding, going on swings, throwing rocks into the ocean, drawing, reading, playing with play-doh (only has my home-made stuff as of yet) and duplo, and pulling her little catapillar around (which she calls a-pus...octopus).

.

birth-day present

I saw this other pregnant mama post about a blanket she was crochetting for her baby - made of granny-squares - and got totally inspired.

I love knitting and sewing, and have crochetted before - but like a billion years ago and only simple, simple rounds or something, can't even remember. So I started a hunt for instructions (easy enough to find), and then youtube'd for videos on how to perform the steps in the instructions, as they were totally unfamiliar to me (double crochette, single crochette, slip stitch...everything basically).

Through this I stumbled upon an awesome owl-granny square, and as I absolutely love owls (seems I'm totally unoriginal in this love by the way), I decided to incorporate it into the blanket. This led to more youtube-searching in order to be able to follow those instructions too (half double crochette, triple crochette).

[one of the squares in the blanket]

 

Did a test-run with some yarn from my mom to practice the skills, and found that I would need about 5 x 7 squares to get an 80 x 100 cm blanket (approximately). Saweeet. Totally doable.

After the test-run I went and bought some yarn in the colors I wanted, and went at her. After the first square, however, I realized I had not bought the right kind of thickness in the thread, as I was suddenly bumped up to a 7 x 9 squarer~. That's a lot of squares to crochette!

But on I went.

[WIP]

 

I did come across some problems with some of the owls. First off, they took looooooong. Not a problem so much, but I like to finish things quickly, and so it was more of a confirmation that I had made the right choice of not making a blanket with just owl grannies. And then there were the white owls - they looked kind of ghost-like or something (see pic above, top row second from the left), but Judge suggested a black dot in the middle of the eye, and wahbam, problem solved.

As I am a big fan of efficiency I am uber happy I stumbled upon some great ideas during my searches. For example, I followed this guy's instructions on how to weave the ends in as I went (so I wouldn't have a kazillion ends to sew in after), as well as used his method of completing things in stages (bunches of centers at a time, then coordinate it so I could do a certain color as much as possible, etc):

I also followed this lady's method of continuous connection, so I completed four out of five rounds on each square, and then did the last round in one go for all 63:

And lastly I used this method for the final boarder in order to try to get it smooth (partial success, partial fail, as my squares are not all the same size).

[Leona being a helpful big sister and testing out the finished masterpiece for me]

 

I have to admit I am quite happy with the final results. Yep yep. Pat on back.

.