It's the final countdown!

[Emma]

How did I take it? By that point in the labor I didn’t care about anything except getting that kid OUT! I was only vaguely aware that my husband was even leaving the closet. I had no drugs (my choice) and the contractions were pretty powerful, but I didn’t find it horribly painful. I want to add that both my labors were less than twenty four hours, start to finish.

[Sciread77]

Not only is the song stuck in my head, but Gob from Arrested Development is as well. 

[Lara]

1 hour ago, Emma said:

I didn’t care about anything except getting that kid OUT!

I heard that is a common wish at some point of labor

 

15 minutes ago, Sciread77 said:

Not only is the song stuck in my head, but Gob from Arrested Development is as well. 

I don't really know who that man is, but I'm sure you're in good mental company now

[Sciread77]

20 minutes ago, zenLara said:

 

I don't really know who that man is, but I'm sure you're in good mental company now

He’s one of the idiot brothers who is also a very bad magician in the show Arrested Development. He’s hilarious and incompetent, and The Final Countdown is his magic act theme song. 

[Lara]

May 5 update.

 

Didn't have much time today. Woke up late, then I had a meeting, then it was NF...

 

Goal 1.

Not much. I did some research on my last doubt and it is solved now.

 

Goal 2.

Walking was easier today: 45' although climbing those 4 flights of stairs to end the walk totally killed me. At least, my knee seems to be recovered.

Daily stretches 30'

 

Goal 3.

More or less like yesterday, so better than any day of these past weeks but still far from what I want it to be.

[WhiteGhost]

On 5/5/2020 at 5:08 PM, zenLara said:

I also spent some time accepting my fear.

Don't discount all that time spent doing pain management training WHM!  

[Lara]

4 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

Don't discount all that time spent doing pain management training WHM!  

That's so far away from me... so far I just can't see...

No, seriously, I think all the gains from that are far gone. I'm wondering how much the breathing exercise could help with labor, given that it's supposed to slow down nociceptors. I haven't researched it though.

Sometimes I wonder where did all that courage go. I mean, I was putting myself in a pool with ice in the middle of the winter, and enjoying it, and now I can't even think about taking a cool shower...

[Mad Hatter]

3 minutes ago, zenLara said:

Sometimes I wonder where did all that courage go. I mean, I was putting myself in a pool with ice in the middle of the winter, and enjoying it, and now I can't even think about taking a cool shower...

Ahh the classic trap of comparing yourself to your "peak" than when you started.  Cold showers or not, I see huge amounts of positive changes in the last six months. Courage takes many different forms.

[Lara]

6 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Ahh the classic trap of comparing yourself to your "peak" than when you started.

But... but... I like peaks. Peaks are good. I want more peaks.

 

But you're right, I made changes these months. Mainly I'm better at acceptance. Because that's what pregnancy has, more or less nicely, directed me to. There is no room for plans or long term goals, you're just left to work everyday with what you have and you never now how much you'll have each day. At least, that is how it's being for me. It's been a humbling lesson that has teached taught me a lot, specially to focus even more than before on the process and day to day effort, and forget about results.

Only that lately I've started to become eager about going back into a more normal life: my boyfriend has been using the lock down as a good moment to upgrade his weight training and start with intermittent fasting, and after a few weeks his improvement is visible, and I'm superhappy that he's taken this decisison because I've been waiting for it for years, but I'm so jealous of him. A lot. Some days I don't even want him to tell me about it. I'm sad I'm limited to some yoga and walking, and that there's no way I do anything else, since even that leaves me exhausted.

On the bright side, though, I admit that going through a quarantine as restrictive as this at any other time in my life would have made me go crazy, so there is a silver lining. The lack of energy makes it way easier to stay at home, and also I have had something positive to look forward to.

[Mad Hatter]

10 minutes ago, zenLara said:

But... but... I like peaks. Peaks are good. I want more peaks.

You know that you can't have peaks without lows right  

 

It's awesome that the BF is taking steps to improve! You'll get there too, don't worry.  

[Lara]

May 6 update.

 

Was feeling lazy...

 

Goal 1.

Nope.

 

Goal 2.

Walking 45'

Daily stretches 8'

 

Goal 3.

No success.

[Lara]

May 7 update.

 

Active and productive day.

 

Goal 1.

Finished writing my birth plan, and added an annex concerning covid-19 procedures. Apparently, some hospitals have been blithely performing c-sections, even when mild symptoms didn't justify them, to the point that some women's associations have issued a document to prevent excessive use of interventions.

 

Goal 2.

Walking 25'. Probably will add more time after our evening walk later. Nope, too tired.

Yoga 30'

Daily stretches 25'

1 miniworkout (1 set) --- 10 squats, 10 dumbbell rows, 10 lunges, 6 knee push-ups, 1' reverse plank

 

Goal 3.

Not very good in the morning, better as the day went by.

[Renate]

39 minutes ago, zenLara said:

Apparently, some hospitals have been blithely performing c-sections,

 

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-on-covid-19-pregnancy-and-childbirth

 

Huh. Odd. The WHO advice is that they even should only be performed when medical reasons justify them. By my reading that only means reasons OTHER than covid.

 

Any idea why? Wishing you don't have to have discussions with the hospital personnel about this.

 

The combo between walks, stretches, yoga and miniworkout sounds delightful. I am going to follow your example and do my stretches!

[Lara]

2 hours ago, analoggirl said:

 

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/question-and-answers-hub/q-a-detail/q-a-on-covid-19-pregnancy-and-childbirth

 

Huh. Odd. The WHO advice is that they even should only be performed when medical reasons justify them. By my reading that only means reasons OTHER than covid.

 

Any idea why? Wishing you don't have to have discussions with the hospital personnel about this.

 

The combo between walks, stretches, yoga and miniworkout sounds delightful. I am going to follow your example and do my stretches!

I was surprised when I saw the new document on the website I've been using as reference, because I wasn't aware that any of this were happening. But when I mentioned it to my boyfriend, he said he had heard about it (and hadn't told me to avoid worries). Apparently they have been doing c-sections automatically to any woman with symptoms, to avoid "problems", arguing that a surgery room is more aseptic, and the contact with fluids from the sick twoman would be minimal (!!). Also a higher rate of medical interventions has been reported, apparently the idea was to make things go faster to reduce contact time, and the presence of the partner is not allowed depending on the hospital. I don't really know who came up with these ideas, but seems government is not responsible for any of this, since they maintain WHO's recommendations as the valid ones.

By the way, the document I've seen contains the same recommendations you posted from the WHO.

I hope I won't have any problems since I'm due end june (let's cross fingers that the baby will stay inside until then) and I guess that by then things will be more or less back to normal.

 

Did you do your stretches?

[Renate]

Ahh okay! I am also keeping my fingers crossed!

 

(It's just. Hmmm. I'd read about hospitals increasing the amount of recommendations for c-sections because of increased fear of legal claims (regular pregnancies being higher risk) and now this? I know too little to have an opinion, though.)

 

14 minutes ago, zenLara said:

Did you do your stretches?

Yesss! Took a while longer because they were back-focused stretches and I really have to be mindful and try a dozen times before I feel safe resting into it.

 

(No back problem history, I'm just a wuss. 😛I get tendons (?) In my back stuck from putting on backpacks/taking off my jacket in the car and it's a mild discomfort but I try to avoid it haha)

[KB Girl]

Did you know pregnancy increases your perception of pain? So it makes perfect sense to me that you could go from getting into ice baths to shunning cold showers. 
 

(Labour is an exception to this, you get pain reducing hormones there!)

[Lara]

15 hours ago, analoggirl said:

I'd read about hospitals increasing the amount of recommendations for c-sections because of increased fear of legal claims (regular pregnancies being higher risk) and now this?

In our case, we always had a too high percentage of c-sections and medical intervention, and it had just started to change in the past 10 years or so. That's why I've been so stressed about not giving birth in the hospital I chose (it closed for a while during the worst of the pandemic), because it's the only place around I know that will respect my choices.

 

15 hours ago, analoggirl said:

I get tendons (?) In my back stuck from putting on backpacks/taking off my jacket in the car and it's a mild discomfort

I think I know this type of back pain. It's not that painful but always feels like a bit more of it and you'll find yourself completely stuck. I've had it in my shoulders and upper back for years.

 

15 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Did you know pregnancy increases your perception of pain? So it makes perfect sense to me that you could go from getting into ice baths to shunning cold showers. 

No, I had no idea. I had noticed, though, that only a few weeks into pregnancy and I started to be very sensitive to cold (and I still am).

 

Something unusual is happening with baby's position, and I don't know what to think or do of it. She turned head down a few weeks ago and has remained like that, most of the time. But the last 4-5 days, I've found her head up every morning when I woke up (it is so nice to wake up to a small bowling ball banging against your stomach 😅) and a little while after getting up, she gets back to be head down. Today it was the same, although she hasn't turned down yet. I don't know if this is common, but it's probably nothing. I guess she'll find some stability again.

 

--------------------------------

Didn't do anything in the morning. I'm feeling what I did yesterday. Took a nap before lunch. Little chickpea was already head down when I laid down, but was head up when I woke up. A while later, I felt her moving back into upside down position. Maybe there is something that bothers her when I lay down?

[Lara]

May 8 update.

 

Goal 1.

Washed nappies.

 

Goal 2.

Walking 20' + 70' = 1h30m

Daily stretches 17'

 

Goal 3.

Not good. I've been checking the news now and then along the day.

[KB Girl]

It's not very common, usually in first pregnancies they don't have enough room to move like that at this stage. But i guess you just have a big swimming pool in there

 

[Lara]

6 hours ago, KB Girl said:

It's not very common, usually in first pregnancies they don't have enough room to move like that at this stage. But i guess you just have a big swimming pool in there

 

I guess she might be small for her "age", since I'm small myself, but I'm not exactly sure about how much room she has, given that for the last two weeks I've been able to follow the line of her limbs at many times, and can caress her knee with my finger when she pokes me (I love all of this!). I'm a bit worried that she will get stuck being on her feet and won't be able to flip again if this lasts for too long, but at the same time I have things enough to worry and I don't want to add more weight on my shoulders, so I'll try to just enjoy her somersaults.

 

 

Second time this week I can't sleep. Got out of bed to have breakfast because I was feeling hungry, but then my stomach didn't seem to agree with my choice of food. In any case, I decided to eat only a bit and stay hungry, rather than throwing it up all again. Let's hope it ends well.

 

Didn't mention it on my update but the walk in the evening was lovely. We headed for the country (there was less people in the city than other days, but still) and I suggested my boyfriend to leave the trails and go straight ahead like in the old good times, and there we were completely alone. The place was full of little bugs and the grass was high, the weather was perfect... and the silence... It was a bit tough for me to keep the pace, but for the first time since we started going out I felt like I was walking instead of just dragging my feet. I seem to be recovering some stamina.

[WhiteGhost]

9 hours ago, zenLara said:

Washed nappies.

Isn't it still a little early for that, or are you just practicing?  

[Quirky Quinn]

4 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Isn't it still a little early for that, or are you just practicing?  

 

Yeah - I'm sure you'll get plenty of practice in a few weeks!

 

 

[Lara]

4 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Isn't it still a little early for that, or are you just practicing?  

lol, noooo. It is recommended to wash cloth nappies 3-4 times before the first use. Something about increasing inner tissues' permeability.

[Renate]

44 minutes ago, zenLara said:

Something about increasing inner tissues' permeability.

 

Ohhhh I remember something like that.

So you are using washables? I follow an instagram where a (alternative fashion model &) mom is constantly showing off her colorful nappy & wrap collection. Looks cool.

[Lara]

16 minutes ago, analoggirl said:

 

Ohhhh I remember something like that.

So you are using washables? I follow an instagram where a (alternative fashion model &) mom is constantly showing off her colorful nappy & wrap collection. Looks cool.

Yes, washable ones. We chose them thinking of avoiding skin irritations and also because it's the most economic option for us right now. I hope it will be easy to manage, I'm a bit unsure of how much work it will take compared to disposable ones. Everyone says it's barely nothing, but barely nothing can be a lot when you're sleep deprived, amongst other things...