Playful Rooted

Well, gang, we’re at thirty-six weeks and counting. As truly surreal as it still is, things are getting real.

I’ve planned, prepped, and frozen a month’s worth of meals. The nursery is juuust about done. We have three (!!) car seats installed in our car now. And I spent an hour last week scrubbing all the little crannies of our shower with a toothbrush; pretty sure the last time I did that was when baby Sawyer was on his way. (Did I even do that when he was on his way?) All of this nesting can only mean one thing: baby girl will be arriving soon.

I really mean it when I say that everything about this experience has been surreal. From the moment I found out I was pregnant, it didn’t seem real. And then alllll of the stuff we’ve been through these past few months, all of the back-and-forth with ultrasounds and genetic testing and meeting with specialists, and ending up where we are now, with our baby girl actually coming into the world in just a few weeks? None of this has felt like reality.

The last part of pregnancy is never easy, but this time around I’ve felt like I have had some major catching up to do. I spent so many weeks in limbo that I wasn’t even in the mindset of preparing for birth until very recently. So now it’s sort of a rush to the finish, which feels very foreign since I am a planner in every aspect of my life. I’ve been super distracted by all the “to-do” items these past couple weeks; Luca’s getting way too much screen time, Sawyer isn’t getting enough of my focused attention, and my mom guilt is set to full blast. But the house is finally almost ready to bring a baby home! Now if everyone could just stop living/working/eating/playing here until baby arrives, that would be great. 😉

All the house stuff is one thing, but I’ve also been focusing hard on the more important elements of birth prep: getting my body and mind ready for the big event! And, wow, it’s a lot of work.

Several people have suggested lately that after such a tumultuous pregnancy, it doesn’t matter how my baby is born. She’ll be born and that’s all that counts. Someone even told me I should just go ahead and schedule a Cesarean because that’s the easiest option. (Because major abdominal surgery is easy??)

Well. Sorry friends, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Birth matters. (I could write a whole post on this, but I’ll bite my tongue for now.) And it’s really important to me to give this baby as gentle and natural a birth as possible, especially after such a difficult journey this time. As my dear friend Kelley recently put it, I have had SO MUCH taken from me during this pregnancy, and birth is the one thing over which I have some control, some say. And of course I don’t know everything about how this birth will go; maybe I will end up with an emergency C-section! But I’m going to do everything in my power to make things happen as smoothly, naturally, and un-complicatedly as possible. To that end, here are the things I’ve been doing to prepare:

Birth Prep

Tea

I’ve been drinking tea like it’s going out of style. There’s good evidence that drinking Red Raspberry Leaf tea can have positive effects on birthing, such as toning the uterus, shortening the duration of labor, and making interventions like artificial membrane rupture, vacuum or forceps delivery, and C-sections less likely. Kind of a no-brainer! I’ve been drinking regular RRL tea along with this Third Trimester tea and this Labor Prep tea. Our kettle has been working non-stop.

Dates

I. hate. dates. I truly hate them. But research suggests that they’re quite helpful to women who are getting ready to deliver a whole human being from their bodies. So I’ve been choking down 75 grams of dates a day; the best way I’ve found is to blend them into a smoothie. Even though they’re somewhat palatable this way, I still dread consuming my dates every day. They. Suck. Not having to eat dates anymore was one of the best parts of being done being pregnant after I had Sawyer, and I’m certain it will be the same this time around!

Spinning Babies

This is an indispensable resource for every expecting mama! Spinning Babies has SO much valuable information on how to get your baby into the best position to birth easily and naturally. It’s all about proactively preparing for birth and focusing on good body mechanics throughout pregnancy. There are tons of tips on specific situations too, such as flipping a breech presentation, rotating a posterior baby, belly mapping, etc. I bought the Daily Essentials program when I was pregnant with S, and I know it made such a difference in his quick birthing. I have an anterior placenta this time around, which can increase the chances of baby being in a posterior presentation at birth, so I’ve been performing these moves again every day in hopes that she’ll decide to snuggle up in an occiput anterior position. Fingers crossed, big time.

Chiropractic care

I should have been to the chiropractor months ago, but as mentioned, I wasn’t anywhere near the headspace of preparing for birth until now, so this is another one I’m playing catch-up on. I’ve been going for adjustments twice a week and will continue until birth (and after!). My sacrum moves out of place VERY easily when I’m pregnant (my last chiropractor horribly compared it to a kickstand on a bike) and, holy moly, it hurts when it’s out of place and when the doctor moves it back to where it should be. Those loosened pregnancy ligaments make it both painful and super important to get adjusted. It should also help with delivery if all the parts of my pelvis and spine are actually in the correct location when the time comes. 😉

Exercise

I’ve been doing this truly awesome Empower Your Pregnancy program, led by my own physical therapist (who is great; locals, if you’re in need of in-person physical therapy for any reason, Morgan is the bomb dot com). It goes through 20 days of core and pelvic floor exercises, and once you’ve been through the 20 days, you can repeat the whole thing or pick and choose things that you liked from the program and continue doing them throughout pregnancy. I very much recommend this program to any fellow pregnant mamas. I wish I had known about it during my previous pregnancies!

Story! In another lifetime, when I worked for a software startup in Chicago with a lot of other cocky young 20-somethings, one of our older coworkers accidentally sent an email to the ENTIRE company saying that one of her New Year’s resolutions was to strengthen her pelvic floor. Of course, we were all like, “hahahah omg that’s so gross and embarrassing.”

Well, fast forward about ten years and a lot of us are having babies and…..we get it now, Susan. We get it. You gotta work that floor.

Anyway, in addition to that, I’ve also been doing P.Volve prenatal workouts when I have the time and/or energy. I do still really LOVE P.Volve and its focus on low-impact but high-intensity workouts. I’ve been slowly collecting a bunch of their fitness equipment (this is the best resistance band ever!), and I really can’t wait to try some of their postpartum workouts. Until then, I also purchased this Body After Birth program from my physical therapist, which I’ll be doing for the first few months postpartum.

Hypnobabies

Childbirth hypnosis sounds pretty trippy, but honestly, practicing Hypnobabies has been saving my life lately. I practiced this program with Sawyer as well and always said that if I EVER happened to get pregnant again, I would 100% proceed with Hypnobabies. (I will point out that when it came time for Sawyer’s birth, all my practice kind of went out the window because I was trying to do it all on my own, which didn’t work. This time, I’ve hired a Hypnobabies-trained doula, and I’m confident that she’ll be able to help me make the most of all my practice during baby girl’s birth.) Practicing Hypnobabies is a really time-consuming effort (at least two hours a day), but it’s been HUGE in keeping my anxiety at bay and helping me to feel prepared, confident, and even excited for birthing this bébé.

Third Trimester Survival

So preparing for a natural birth is one thing, but even if I weren’t, there are some things that have been keeping me somewhat sane (hahahaha) and somewhat comfortable (hahahaha) throughout these last lovely months.

Blanqi Compression Wear

I have a couple Blanqi maternity tank tops and a pair of support leggings, and I have a real love/hate relationship with these things. First, they really do provide amazing support, especially as the baby belly gets B I G G E R. But with that support comes a ton of compression, which both makes my belly look eeeeeven bigger than it already does and also makes me very hot and sweaty in this crazy heat. However, I would still recommend these (both the tank and leggings) to any pregnant mama. I have several other compression wear items, and the Blanqi ones provide the most support for sure. I’ve already stocked up on some of their postpartum support items for after the fact.

Belly Bandit

On days that I don’t want to wear a Blanqi tank, I use my Belly Bandit for support. It’s a lot easier to put on and take off, so if I just need some extra lift while I’m doing housework or going for a walk, it’s super convenient. It doesn’t provide as much support as the Blanqi wear, but it’s a big step up from nothing, and it doesn’t make me as sweaty and uncomfortable.

Heartburn Tea

Back to tea! I get the WORST pregnancy heartburn and have tried so many things to help (I’m not a TUMS person, but I’ve tried kombucha, apple cider vinegar, baking soda, papaya enzymes, avoiding “trigger” foods, etc. Almost nothing helps). It’s truly miserable when even a glass of water gives you horrible heartburn. The best remedy I’ve found is this Heartburn Tea. It’s not a miracle worker, but it does make a big difference in calming the storm.

Tubby Todd All Over Ointment

Does anyone remember when I was in the last weeks of my pregnancy with Sawyer, and I got a horrible case of pregnancy-induced eczema? I gave birth to him with atrocious, itchy, painful rashes everywhere from my neck to my knees. I think that was my biggest stressor during my whole pregnancy with him, which is totally laughable now, after everything I’ve been through this time. (It really was miserable though.) Anyway, I was reading a few weeks ago that if you have eczema during one pregnancy, it’s likely to happen again in subsequent gestations, and…..sure enough.

I got a tiny bit of sunburn at one of Luca’s soccer games last month, and that was enough to trigger an eczema reaction. Of course I panicked, remembering my previous experience. But this time, we had already been using Tubby Todd All Over Ointment for Sawyer’s skin issues from Scarlet fever, and that stuff seems to help him a ton, so I figured I’d give it a go. And it has REALLY made a difference. I still have itchy patches on my legs, but they haven’t spread anywhere else, and that is a gigantic blessing. This ointment works so much better than any other remedy I tried last time. It gets thousands of awesome reviews from other happy consumers, too. I love it and will keep it on hand at all times from now on.

Earth Mama Belly Butter

Ah, more itchy skin. I never had any belly itching issues with either of my boys, but this time around….oh my word. As this belly has stretched for the third time, it’s become SO itchy and uncomfortable. (I feel the need to point out that I’ve gained far less weight this time than with either boy, so it’s pretty rude that my skin is feeling so much more uncomfortable and has acquired MORE stretch marks than the previous times. Uncool, nature. Uncool.)

I’ve experimented with a few belly oils, and I’ve tried the All Over Ointment, too, but the best thing I’ve found for this particular issue is this Earth Mama Belly Butter. The consistency is great, like a cross between a lotion and an oil. It smells amazing, it sinks in quickly, and it doesn’t leave stains on your clothing. And it helps with itching…as much as it can, really. Jury’s still out on how much it helps with stretch marks, but I’ll take what I can get.

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And that’s that, friends! I am SO ready to be done being pregnant. Ready to meet our girl, ready to start a new (if somewhat scary) chapter, ready to be done with all these pregnancy shenanigans. And now we wait!

xo!