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The virtual address of Jen, Ben, and Sophia Marie
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30 August: Sophia, the Swimmer. (Jen)

That's right -- she has extra liquid in there, and she's taking advantage of it! She moves around all the time -- and I pee all the time!! It's strange to share a body with another person -- somehow more so now that she is considered "full term". Whatever happens to me happens directly to another person. So, now that I have this "polyhydramnios", it's her problem, too. And since he loves us so much, it's Ben's problem, too. We've had some difficult conversations lately about trusting the Father, cesarean sections, and how to care well for each other in the choices we now have to make. All of a sudden all of this got a lot more serious.

 

21 August: Crib bumpers are bad. (Jen)
Ben and I had our pre-natal class yesterday. It was excellent and we are sooo glad that we did it. I have lots more to say about it -- later. For now, I just want to make it known that crib bumpers are "dangerous" -- we had no idea that this was even a possibility. In fact, we didn't want to spend the money to buy them, but felt we had to, for the safety of the baby. Now we have to take them off... ARGGG!!!

 

19 August: Birth Planning. (Jen)

First of all, let me note that it seems like a lot of my friends are pregnant now -- like they planned it this way. I have 3 friends trying to get pregnant (and I still sometimes wish I could put my belly on them and be free of all of this responsibility and weight -- especially because it can be such an emotional and difficult time for them). The following friends of mine are currently preggers: Jen McAlister; Elisa Leahy (she had no idea she was until a few days ago, when she found out that had already completed the first trimester!); J (this one is still a secret); Megan Jenkins; Katie Sampson; Paula Headley; Jamie Headley; Sarah Schmidt-Lee; Haley Storey; and probably more who I can't remember at this moment. These friends have newborns: Sarah Gackle; Elizabeth Sartor; Paisely Forrester; Joy Hemmes; Jen Cairns; Magali Lerasle Girard; Carrie Robinson; Jessica Stearns; and probably more...  :)

 

Now, for our birth plan. We had our "birth planning" appointment with the midwives today, and I have to say that it was much less momentous feeling than I'd anticipated. Other than deciding on the following, the rest of the decisions can and will be made in hospital -- depending on how things are going: will we use active management for delivery of the placenta? use anit-biotics on her eyes? use vitamin K to help prevent damage from internal bleeding in her? That's all... We have our pre-natal class tomorrow -- it's a 6-hour class in our home with just Ben, me, (Sophia,) and the instructor. That should make it all feel real. Oh, and Ben set up the crib on Friday -- it took over our bedroom completely -- just like she'll do with the rest of our lives, I'm sure. Oh, and we need to start trying to find a pediatrician for her. She'll need tet her vaccinations 8 weeks after she's born.

 

Here's a photo update on my belly:

 

     

 

8 August: "Tickling" and TUMS and taking more blood. (Jen)
At our last visit to the midwives, they were still detecting low levels of protein in my urine, so they sent me in for more blood work on August 6th. I had my blood drawn last week, too -- to test my hemoglobin level. Last week it was at 120. This week, after taking iron supplements, mine is at 118. This is not something to worry about at this point. And my kidneys, etc. are totally fine. Yay!

 

I've been having pretty brutal heartburn all day long lately. I've found that if I eat, food seems to calm the burn... but sometimes I just don't feel like eating anymore (especially given that I now weigh more than 200 pounds!), so I take TUMS. Unfortunately, though, the label on the back of my bottle of TUMS says that pregnant women are supposed to take a max of 5 TUMS per day. Now that's a pretty big bummer, as I have to take them 2 at a time for them to tame the burn. And I can count on some burning burps a few minus after I go to bed, so I have to save 2 TUMS for bedtime. I have to say, though, that  am super-grateful that I can take them at all -- they work like a charm!  :)  Ice cream works, too, but not for very long, and I don't want to take 5 servings of that a day.

 

Sophia is now absolutely huge. I have no idea how I'll get her out of me -- that alone will be a large miracle. People keep asking me if I'm having twins. I hope that means that she's ripe and will come out sooner than later. When I was in the waiting room at the lab to have my blood taken again, another pregnant woman and I started talking about our shared "condition". She asked if I knew why people say that babies "tickle" the ribs of their mothers. Nope. I have no idea. There is NOTHING funny about the feeling of her jabbing my ribs, stretching out my rib cage, and leaving no room for my bra between the top of my belly and the bottoms of my breasts (which, by the way, look really small now, in comparison to my huge belly -- it's a strange thing). I have never felt tickled by her -- just poked. I do feel tickled, though, by how I walk lately -- swinging both arms and waddling.