May 12, 2011

Listen up kid…

…if you ever read this, your mom is listening to a Stanton Warriors station on Pandora that your dad created for her and just got done listening to a kick-butt Crystal Method song, Uberzone, Timo Mass, and now Paul Van Dyk, and expects you to have just as good taste in music if not better. Feel those vibrations, and don’t disappoint! Love you already. :)

Hello third trimester!


What a ride being pregnant has been. They aren’t kidding when they say each trimester is unique.

The second trimester was a breeze, to say the least. Emotions—although high—evened out. The cute baby bump arrived, and no more feeling exhausted and nauseous.

Awe, the glorious second trimester, without warning, with no sweet good-byes—is now gone.

And right on schedule—realized within days by checking the calendar to investigate what the hell hit me—welcome the third trimester.

The wild-chipmunk emotions I know so well from the beginning of second trimester are back (at least I don’t have to get to know them again; just have to adjust to them again), a sudden “large-ness” feeling has arrived (insert sarcastic yay), and a tiredness has come upon me again—like wham!

Good news is, no nausea like the first trimester (so already, third is waaaay better than the first); the kid is growing rapidly, and I am starting to feel his true form, which is fun; and we’re well on our way to meet the little guy!

PS  The wild chipmunk is a single-car roller coaster at Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver that takes lots of tight turns and bunny hops, obscured upon approach, switching between high lateral g-forces and abrupt negative vertical g-forces—thanks Wikipedia—that was a perfect description for describing the emotions!

May 5, 2011

From OB to nurse-midwife

Aaron and I switched prenatal care providers this week. We were working with a traditional OB/GYN. Perfectly capable and nice, but she spent 15 minutes with us at a time and was short in describing only a few possible ways birth could go.

We didn’t feel right for a while, and it’s not because we were working with a doctor or have to have a natural birth. It was because she wouldn’t freely discuss options with us.

So, we searched and searched the OB pool for someone who would be our partner throughout the process—someone who would contribute their invaluable background and experience to our ability to learn and make choices. And although I’m sure there are some OBs out there who would have worked ok for us, given the variables—hospital, insurance, and just plain timing—we just didn’t find one.

In the back of my mind, I was always fascinated by the idea of Mountain Midwifery, Colorado’s only birth center. Not because I was out to have a natural birth, but because of how clear they were in discussing all the possible options and outcomes around having a baby, and that’s why we switch to them.

Other reasons we feel really great about the choice is that they allow you total freedom of movement during labor, (the Children’s hospital in Aurora has similar options, but they are too far away). They have also created a community that Aaron and I both feel really comfortable with—where education, conversation, and mindfulness is present—and where we’re meeting others who were looking for the same thing.

Mountain Midwifery offers totally natural birth, to alternative medicines and herbs, to traditional medicine and techniques. And they are very specific about who they take—you have to be healthy with no issues that would categorize you as high risk. And if an issue comes up before birth, you can tap into their pool of traditional OBs who understand the birth center model, and therefore a model of thinking that works for us. And if something comes up during birth, it’s just a 3-minute ride to Swedish on the same block, and your midwife take you over.

So, that’s our current path. More to come. We start our first baby classes end of month!