Hangin' In There

All is well here, thank G-d. I've been seeing the chiro and babe is quite low (I've had almost no heartburn!!!!). When I stand, baby's bum is only a few inches above my belly button. I felt pressure on my cervix for the first time ever a few days ago while riding in the car.

Sugar control has been pretty easy. I cut out all wheat and wheat products. Obviously I'm off sugar, too. It's totally doable at this point. I can still eat fruit in combo with protein and some on its own (melons). Quinoa, spelt, rye, and kamut are grains my body tolerates well so far (haven't tried any others). At first I felt hungry all the time until I realized there were grains out there that worked for me.

I'm hemming and hawing about the Group B strep test. I was barely positive last time ("scant growth"). This time my midwife gave me a protocol to follow that helps keep down the GBS, but it sounds like a huge hassle considering all the rest of the things I'm dealing with. That said, I don't think I'd go to the hospital for the prophylactic antibiotics unless I was totally rife with the bacteria. I just would like to know so that I can keep an eye on babe if I am GBS+.

I'm feeling more and more like this birth will happen at home. I'm starting to ask the necessary questions and make the necessary preparations. I've decided to set up the birth pool we bought just in case. Not sure I'll want to be in it, but my doula thought it would be a nice option. I have a feeling that gravity will play an important role for me in birthing since baby drops noticeably the more I walk during the day then floats back up at night when I'm lying down.

I had a dream the other night where I was telling someone I'd had a dream that I had a repeat c/s. In the same night, I dreamt that I had baby at home and she came out fast and without any pain... In the dream I called my mom and told her that giving birth didn't hurt at all...

I'm currently 35.5 weeks. At this point in my first pregnancy, the Hippo was 2.5 weeks away from being born (though I didn't know it at the time). It's a little crazy to think of it that way, especially since I'm planning to be pregnant for at least 5.5 more weeks.

All in all, I feel fantastic. The only time I really feel pregnant is when I'm bending over or I'm rolling over in bed. If I'm out walking, I feel awesome and have had very few low-energy days.

The Hippo and I belong to a group of 5 moms and toddlers. Until Friday, all the moms were pregnant for the second time. The first mama had her baby at home in the water on Friday. I'm next by due date and the third mama is due about 2.5 weeks after I am. The other two aren't due until March. All of them had vaginal births the first time (yippee!!) - even though one babe was an undiagnosed frank breech. Let's see if we can make it 5/5 vaginal births this time! I also have two friends due in December - one with her third (first two were vag) and one with her first.

Off to bed!