So, this was the big one, they even requested Ryoji to attend. And luck would have it, we had to wait less than 5 minutes - never had such luck in that office before! Usually it's more like 30 minutes, occasionally over an hour! So we got right in there, weight and blood pressure checked, as always. We were given a copy of my chart cuz apparently we have to bring it to the hospital ourselves. It was fun to review it, apparently my blood pressure has remained rock solid at 110/70 at EVER appointment! Got the baby's heartbeat on the doppler, sounded good and strong as always. She checked the position which is still head down, good news.

The greatest news - I'm negative for Group B Strep! Hoooo-rah!!!! That woulda put huge restrictions on our labor due to the requirement of getting 2 rounds of IV fluids in before the birth. But, no need!! I did ask if it's possible to develop strep between now and the birth, and she said the official recommendation is to test between 35-37 weeks and the risk of developing strep after that AND passing it the baby is VERY VERY slim and I shouldn't worry about it whatsoever. That said, of course the docs will always monitor the baby closely for any signs of illness, whether or not you have strep and did or didn't have antibiotics. So, good stuff, no strep!!

So, with all the check-up business done, the midwife sat down to go over what to do when we go into labor. We were instructed to call the office (they have an answering service for after hours) for any of the following: 1) contractions that are increasing in strength and don't go away with lots of fluids and rest, and are strong enough that you can't hide them, 2) water breaks (you have 24 hours til they are required to induce you), 3) heavy red period-like bleeding. She also gave us every midwife's cell phone number, in case we have trouble with calling the office.

During labor, she said I probably won't be thirsty but Ryoji should make sure I drink ALOT (of water and also watered down gatorade or similar drink), and should eat something light once per hour (ex. fruit, crackers, applesauce, yogurt). She also instructed me to eat CHOCOLATE just before arriving at the hospital, cuz they want the baby super active when they monitor me prior to being admitted. I thought this was funny, being told by your care provider to eat chocolate! Love it!!

She said we should bring: drinks and snacks (they only have apple juice available at the birthing center), our deflated birth ball (this was good news - she said the birth center has a pump, which is not what our birth instructor had told us!), breast feeding pillow, and car seat.

Then, she suggested I start taking Evening Primrose Oil as of today. 1 capsule orally in the morning, 1 orally at night, and 1 NOT orally (*wink wink*) at bed time. This is supposed to help ripen the cervix so that the baby can come down lower in the pelvis and help get labor started. Also, a soft and ripened cervix should dilate and efface quicker during labor. Sounds good to me! One of the side effects can be nausea, so I'm a little worried.

Ryoji headed off to Boston after the checkup for the next 2 days, so hopefully the primrose oil doesn't work too fast! I have 2 more days of work, and I'd like to have a good week off to get everything ready for Akapanchan! Though... 12/12/12 would be a pretty kick ass birthday!!

Everyday I come home to another box or 2 of goodies at our door step - it's so fun!! We got our awesome Britax B-Agile stroller from mom and dad set up with the bassinet, got the high chair which will remain boxed up for the next 6 months probably, and got a shelving unit which we plan to spruce up for bubs. Still waiting for the crib mattress and newborn diapers, which are probably the most key item

Well, this is a little out of order as this was last week, but better late than never! Ryoji and I flew home, no issues thank goodness as US Air is pretty lax about their regulations on flying when pregnant. You don't even need a doctor's note until a week before your due date! And I didn't even have to put up a fight against the new "cancer box" x-ray machine - they pointed me right along to the old style metal detectors which are supposedly harmless to the baby (you get more radiation exposure on the flight itself!)

Well, it was so great to go home and see everyone, and have everyone see my belly in all its massive glory! Dad really came through for us shooting some awesome maternity pix, saving us about $300 from going with a professional (my top 3 shots below) - THANKS DAD!! And Jennifer, mom, and Aunt Debbie threw us an awesome baby shower - it was wonderful having my friends from high school and my family all gather for us. I only see most of them once a year now, so it was a great opportunity to catch up! We played 2 fun games (one was like "Headbands" but with a baby related term pinned on your back". Mine was "diaper" and ryoji's was bottle". Andrea gave us a hint that I was out and Ryoji was in. I guessed correctly right away, but Ryoji's was hilarious - "Am I a boob"?? hahaha!! The other was a baby clothes & diaper changing contest where partners had to hold hands and change it all with only one hand each. Ryoji and I came in dead last, yikes! And the food... desserts... AMAZING!!!  We couldn't answer everyone's #1 question, which was "Is it a boy or girl??" but we were happy to share their #2 question "Do you have names picked out??" which are Kenzo Wilson Tomoyasu for a boy, and Emi Rebecca Tomoyasu for a girl. We'll find out soon!!

Did have one big scare while home, which was a tumble down the stairs! Silly me didn't think about wearing socks down the hardwood stairs, and my feet flew out from under me and I bumpety bumped my way down half a flight the day after Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad, and Jennifer came running, looking like they were about to have a heart attack, but thankfully all was fine!

As far as pregnancy symptoms go...

The good:  I love my big old belly, and LOVE that I haven't gotten any stretch marks (yet) to detract from this. Also, getting so excited to meet this baby!! No swelling, well, in the feet a bit but nothing major. Rings and such are completely fine.

The bad: In the past couple of weeks my sleeping has gotten not so great. After an hour or so my hips and legs get sore and I have to flip to the other side, which in itself is getting hard as my body starts to flip leaving the belly behind, haha!! But I have an hourly rotation: left side, right side, middle with right up under a pillow, then bathroom, and repeat. Blegh, not great. Randomly I'll have a 2-hour spell in the middle of the night where I can't sleep at all and I'm just laying there wide awake. I guess all this is preparing me for when the baby is here! I'm also having a bit of a pain under my ribs, it's almost like it's the skin and muscles being pulled down from the weight of my belly. It's quite annoying, but not constant thank goodness. And I get a slight backache from sitting for too long. And still have that major pubic muscle pain when flipping over in bed, standing up, starting walking, etc. But, well, I guess I've gotten used to it! Also, a bit of nausea has come back in the past few weeks. I have to be careful about eating frequently and also what kind of food I eat.

Get excited. At 37 weeks, your baby has reached full term. That means he’s developed his most crucial functions. Of course, he’ll get even healthier and stronger over the next few weeks, so don’t get too impatient. Around week 37, many moms-to-be find themselves organizing cupboards and scrubbing their floors. That’s the nesting instinct kicking in as your body senses baby will be here shortly. It also might be your brain’s way of making sure you’re prepared for just about anything, so you can feel like you have an extra edge on this whole new parent thing.

He likely measures around 18.9 to 20.9 inches (the size of a watermelon) and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds. He's gaining about 1/2 ounce each day. He's practicing some skills: inhaling, exhaling, sucking, gripping and blinking, and he's getting his first sticky poop (called meconium) ready for his first diaper.

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position.

Had a very productive check-up with the midwives today! Got my Group B Strep test done, which I hadn't been looking forward to but was completely painless. Hadn't even thought about the fact that my pants would be coming off, because haven't had to do that since my first visit with the midwives 5 months ago. But I'm sure mine are not the first pair of hairy preggo legs she's had to endure, haha!! Hey, it's winter and shaving is quite an effort these days, don't judge!

Basically, about 30% of women have Group B Strep "down there", but it's harmless to the mom and also is a transient thing that comes and goes. So, they wait to test you around 35-37 weeks, and if you're positive, you have to get 2 rounds of IV antibiotics after you've gone into labor but before you give birth. After that, your baby's risk of contracting the bacteria and becoming seriously ill from it goes from 1 in 200 to 1 in 4,000. If you don't have time to get the antibiotics in before the birth, apparently they have to keep the baby several days (a week??) in the NICU for observation, yikes!!  Because I know there can be tons of side effects from taking antibiotics themselves, and I'd like to labor at home for as long as possible and not have to rush to the hospital for drugs, I really REALLY hope my test comes back negative. But we'll just have to wait and see.

I met with Corrie today, who is my favorite of the midwives. When she came in, she said something like "Is it a girl?" to which I answered "We're not finding out!". But now I have this voice in the back of my head going "It must be in your chart that the baby is a girl!!!" hahaha!! I doubt it, probably it was just her greeting. Everyone loves to guess what the baby is (though almost everyone thinks it's a boy, including 2 psychics - our birthing teacher and my sister's mother-in-law.) Anyway... She confirmed the baby's position which is, drum roll please.... HEAD DOWN! Hooray!!! And she was so gentle in her palpating, hooray for that too! She asked me to take a deep breath in, and then when I blew out she gave 2 solid (but gentle) mashes to my lower pelvis area and then announced, yep, that's the head down there!

Since I have no cramping or any kind of early labor signs, she cleared me to head to Charlotte for Thanksgiving. We had purchased "cancel for any reason" travel insurance just in case, but soooooooooooooo glad everything is going well and we can go home! I can't wait to see everyone and have a yummy Thanksgiving and our baby shower!!

Our next appointment will be in 2 weeks - at 37 weeks I'll officially be far enough along to delivery at the Birthing Center! She said that Ryoji should come to that appointment, cuz we'll go over what to do when I go into labor and all that. With his schedule though, it'll be tough, but hopefully he can make it. We also have our consultation that week (December 4) with the pediatrician we think we're gonna go with. And I really gotta set up an interview with some day cares... so much to do!!!!! And only 12 more days of work to go! ^_^

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe or butternut squash) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

Watch what you say! Your curious baby is listening in to your conversations at 34 weeks -- and might enjoy a lullaby or two -- so go ahead and sing to him. Some say that baby will recognize songs mom sings while he’s in the womb, and may even be more easily soothed by them if he’s used to them once he’s on the “outside.” At week 34, you might breathe a little easier, since baby may descend lower into your pelvis and give your lungs some space. (Ahh!) Of course, some babies don’t do this until the day they’re born, so we’re not making any guarantees. The pitfall of this descent, of course, is even more pressure on your bladder, so be prepared to make even more trips to the ladies room over the coming weeks.

Had my check-up today - 1 week later than scheduled due to the craziness of Hurricane Sandy. Speaking of Sandy, I met with Sandy Woods today who was the only midwife in the practice I hadn't rotated through to yet. She was nice enough, but I like the other girls better for a couple of reasons. 1) She seemed quite ditzy - she had trouble calculating my weight gain, at one point being about 5 pounds off and saying I need to gain more weight, and I had to correct her. 2) She is quite a bit older, which I would normally see as good because she must be super experienced and wise, but she couldn't work the mechanical chair to get me reclined with my legs up. 3) This one was the most compelling reason for disliking her on my part - she HURT ME during her palpating of my tummy to find the baby's position. I mean - OWWWWWWWW she was REALLY mashing in there to try to find the baby's head. I thought she was gonna like break my water! That said, she was the only one of the girls who was able to actually manage a guess as to the baby's position, which she thinks is...

HEAD DOWN!!! Go Akapanchan go!!

So, she confirmed what me and Ryoji had been thinking (though she said she's not positive) - butt is up top on my right side, just below my ribs. Feet are out to the left side, where I get the knuckle-dragging feelings (which are getting sharper and sharper day by day, sometimes actually painful!!), body is lying down a bit to my right side (hence the random off balance look I've seen my tummy get a couple of times - photo below), and head is right down center where it belongs - yippee!! Now if Akapanchan will just keep in this position, and rotate so the back is facing forward for the birth - all will be right in the world!!

In HypnoBabies news, I have been a bad girl, way too lazy. Only practicing like once a week, when I should be doing it every day. Oops. The other night I laid down for bed and my back was really really uncomfortable, it was strange! Almost painful. So, I thought, OK, let's try turning off my "lightswitch" and releasing the hypnosis anesthesia... hmmm DID NOT WORK. So, getting a bit nervous. Should probably practice more...

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (size of a pineapple or durian) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

Yesterday, we attended 2 mandatory classes to make us eligible to use the Birthing Center at SLRHC. They require you to take their "Intro to the Birthing Center" and "Early Discharge from the Birthing Center" classes, which ended up being extremely informative but it felt really odd to pay $40 a head to basically be informed about their policies and procedures. I guess if they didn't charge, then they'd get way too many people who weren't committed to it? Or they just want money...

There were about 20 couples there in a big conference room, and the teacher, Janet, was just the nicest sweetest lady! I had brought a list of questions, and she covered nearly all of them through her presentations which was great! So, let me go over the basics of the birthing center!

The birth center is on the 11th floor, directly under and connected by a private staircase to Labor & Delivery (L&D). They only have 3 rooms, but with an average of 35 births per months it is extremely rare for them to be full. (if they are full of laboring/pushing, or JUST having birthed moms, then you'll just have to go to L&D unfortunately). They keep a nursing staff ratio of 1 to 2, but you have a nurse with you 1-1 during pushing. There are 2 birth stools and 2 wedges (to help you sit more upright in bed) per the 3 rooms, and each room has a regular bed (they said queen, but looks more like full) - not hospital beds. You must bring your own birth ball, for sanitary reasons apparently. Each room also has a jacuzzi which moms and dads are encouraged to use, but water birth is not permitted. You get one private room for the entirety of your stay: labor, birth, and post partum. After birth, you must stay a minimum of 12 hours and average is 12-18 hours - you are permitted to stay only 1 night post partum in the birthing center. The husband is encouraged to spend the night in bed with mom, with baby at the side in a little bassinet. There is no nursery for birthing center babies - so no option of "rooming out" - it's always "rooming in" and actually if the baby is healthy they'll never be taken from your room! You might be moved earlier than the 12-18 hours if the room is required for an incoming laboring mom. If you need to stay a 2nd night for emotional ("I'm not ready to go home!!") or for medical reasons, we'll be transferred to the regular post-partum floor for the 2nd night in a semi-private room (unless you want to pay $900 extra for a private - um no thanks!!).

To be eligible to use the Birthing Center in the first place, you have to take the 2 classes I mentioned, as well as a general and complete birth education class (which is why we're taking the Lamaze course at the hospital). You have to be within 37 weeks 0 days and 40 weeks 6 days, no exceptions. You have to meet a multitude of health requirements at admission, of course, as they only will accept truly no-risk "clients" (not patients, cuz we're not sick!!), including that the baby must be head down. They want you to stay home as long as possible, ideally not rocking up til you're in active labor at about 6cm. This scares me, since we're about an hour from the hospital (and I'd much rather be done with the horrific tax ride before the labor is at it's peak of intensity!), I don't want to go too early or too late, and as first timers it's gonna be really hard to know the difference!!

So, you call your midwife and they supposedly help you know when it's time to head in and they'll meet us there for admission. We'll either meet at the birth center or on the next floor up in L&D, where I'll be strapped up to the fetal monitoring device for 20 minutes, have my blood pressure checked, and get the dreaded internal exam (checking dilation/efacement). Assuming all looks good, and there is a room open, then you're checked in and good to go! Reasons you would be transferred out of the birthing center include: 1) you want an epidural (they can only give tylenol or a shot of narcotics stadol or demerol in the Birthing Center, no epidurals), 2) you have no progress over 2 hours, 3) you dilate less than 2 cm over 4 hours, 4) you push more than 2 hours with no significant progress or more than 3 hours without delivery. Apparently 1 in 5 women will transfer out of the Birthing Center for one of these reasons, though their cesarean rate is only 5%, compared to the hospital's rate of around 30%.

Many policies differ from the L&D, such as you are allowed to eat and drink as you wish, are not required to have an IV or even a hep lock, and can have up to 3 supporters with you during the birth (not including midwife/nurse/etc). Optionally, if you want, they can give you an IV if you're very dehydrated, can give you the IV antibiotic treatment if you're Group B Strep positive, can give you a local anesthetic for post-partum stitching up, can give oxygen to mom and/or baby, and can give a shot of pitocin to help the uterus contract post-partum if needed. The arithomiacin eye ointment and vitamin K shot are both state mandated but can be delayed toward the end of the 1st hour post-partum, and you can delay cord clamping if you choose to do so. Standard practice is baby is put immediately on the mom - skin to skin - and encouraged to breast feed immediately (which helps to expel the placenta and get the uterus to start contracting and shrinking). A really high level NICU is located just one floor up, which is reassuring.

There is a pantry with a fridge and microwave we're allowed to use. But unfortunately no open flames and no plugging in of electronics!! This really bummed me out as we were thinking about stringing up some Christmas lights to make a nice warm environment, and of course playing music and/or our hypnobabies tracks during the labor. They said some people do plug in dying phones or cameras and usually don't get yelled at, but I'm thinking Christmas lights would be quite obvious and a big no-no... Maybe we'll go out and get some LED battery operated tea lights? Or maybe I won't really care about that kinda stuff when it comes down to it! haha!! Each room has it's own temperature control, which is awesome!

A car seat is not required for discharge, unless you're using a private car. That said, they highly recommend one since it's much safer. So we'll probably borrow the carrier/car seat from Ryoji's co-worker.

Soooo... that's the birthing center in a nutshell!! Any questions?? ^_^