34 Weeks
6* more weeks to go! This is exciting - I'm starting to think about buying my new non-bellied self clothes again, though the prevailing wisdom of my mom's groups seems to be "9 months to put it on, 9 months to take it off." Immediately after the birth, they say to expect to wear clothes from when you're 6 months pregnant. No celebrity expectations here...which unfortunately means I should hold off from shopping just yet. Other revelations from meeting other moms (stop reading now if you're squeamish): you can expect to spot bleed off/on for about a month after birth, you'll be incontinent for about a week afterwards, and the mesh panties the hospital will give you are awesome for healing and also a form of birth control in and of themselves. Which is interesting - normally when I hear the phrase "mesh panties" I think "sexy-time"...so I'm super curious what hospital-grade mesh panties are like.
* Plus or minus a few weeks, but it's a goal I can at least see.
On my dr's recommendation I bought a pregnancy support belt to try and help the pelvic girdle pain, and it seems to help a bit, but the main factor is still how much time I spend on my feet, and I'm really bad at stopping what I'm doing to go sit down. Yesterday I really overdid it; after meeting another group of expecting mom's and hanging out for 3 hours, I then went on a walk with one who had her baby back in July. Today is not the best day due to that foolishness, but I'm still pretty upbeat about the whole thing, even with the pain. The Bi-Rite S'more Ice Cream pie that C brought me for my birthday helps a lot.
We're going to interview a doula next week - a few friends have sworn by their services, and though we'd met some at a hospital meet/greet and thought we'd be fine without one, after the hellish week-o-pain two weeks ago, C changed his mind. I was on the fence anyways, as it'd be nice to have a trained caregiver there so that when C needs a break I won't be left alone, but also thought it was a luxury that we didn't need. But after that week I realized how easy it is to completely change your mind in the face of actual pain, and also that someone who can help me maintain a positive mood could be a game-changer. The studies are pretty convincing that women birthing with the support of doulas have far less interventions than those without, and I think as first-timers it's useful to have someone backing you up and reminding you of your "plan", especially when your minds are totally elsewhere dealing with contractions. Although I am hesitant to call it a "plan", because that indicates a certain level of expectation, and down that road lies certain disappointment. When I read stories of women who are disappointed about their children's births (and some of them end up going to therapy for this), I feel so sad that they can't see the birth as a "natural" birth. Even if I end up needing pitocin or an epidural or a C-section, I'll still get Baby-G out of it...this is still a winning proposition and 100% natural. In any case, if hiring a doula can help us, it definitely seems like the right choice. There's a small part of me that says "this is the role family should play", but honestly, just because they're family doesn't mean they're necessarily the best people to help you through birth (I love you Dad!), and it'll be nice to be able to really let loose without worrying about destroying long-term relationships. I worry enough about saying mean things to C - in a lot of the birth videos women end up yelling at their husbands. Which is fair and not fair at the same time.
In my mom's meeting yesterday we watched a video called the 3 R's, which was basically a 15-min documentary about 6 different women in labor, and helps get you comfortable with the range of movements/sounds that are completely normal to make. I'm still not super comfortable with all the vocalizations, but that's the idea. There was one woman that I was actually very uncomfortable watching, because she was making such sheep-like bleating noises, until she said through the bleating "I'm.... yoooooodeeeeelling..." and it immediately turned the mood from awkward to funny. Hopefully I can keep a similar semblance of humor through the upcoming marathon...although I have to admit, my innate machismo keeps telling me "this is going to be a piece of cake!" It's only the realistic part of me that admits that I'm going to need every bit of strength and support I've got. We'll see who's correct in a few more weeks.