Weekly Randoms 8/15

seeds_of_joy

Whatever randomness you want to talk about...

cpk3535

I have a sudden business conference to attend and I’m at this dumb clothing point where normal clothes still look almost right and maternity stuff looks weird. Plus, lots of regular fashion looks highly unflattering by itself right now (when did pool coverups turn into “nice” dresses?). Such an annoying time to shop
🙄🤷‍♀️😝

nwshay

We live on an island only accessible by ferry, and they don't run all hours of the night- with that said, it's small. No hospitals here, only a handful of midwives. My hospital and OB care is off island, which isn't difficult to get to most of the time.m, but middle of the night is another story. Anyway, its good to have a back up plan. 

Today I met with a midwife to be my backup and I just LOVED her. She made me feel so comfortable about my options. She can do full care, prenatal, post natal and pediatrics up to a couple of months old so you don't have to leave your house, she also offers unlimited home visits for lactation support, a nurse that will come and help with siblings, house work, meal prep, etc. You can also just use her as back up, or post natal care, the options are endless. 

I have an HMO plan, so I can't see her with insurance, but I can pay out of pocket for any of those options and I think I'll use her in conjuction with my normal care if we can afford it, so basically she will do all of my appts leading up to about 30 weeks, then I will start seeing my regular off island OB to prep for birth, she will be my back up in case I do have to have a home delivery, and she will do all my postnatal/pediatric care at home. Another thing that has been making me nervous is that I had a 4th degree tear in the birth of my daughter, all the doctors have said to have a C-section next and I've just been really up in the air on what to do. I'm terrified of a C-section. She made me feel a lot more open and comfortable with the idea of another vaginal birth, so I'm going to do more research and talk to some more midwives on the topic. 

justkp

cpk3535 Hang on there, you got the job you were interviewing for? Congrats!!!! Also I agree on the clothing, I'm exclusively in maxi dresses for work at the moment with no clue what to do when autumn kicks in a week or two from now!  

nwshay Delighted to hear you had good rapport with your back up midwife! Sounds slightly claustrophobic to me to not have direct access to a hospital 24/7, so I imagine feeling comfortable with your back up option must mean the world! 

ttc3y

@nwshay I’m thrilled to hear that you found a nearby midwife on your island! She sounds absolutely lovely! 

I discovered a tool that can be helpful for women to avoid tearing and episiotomies but it’s only available in Europe. I actually asked my cousin who lives in the UK to purchase and send me one. It’s called EPI-NO. https://epi-no.co.uk/ . Another option that might be therapeutic if you can’t get access to the EPI-NO is perineal massage. 

nwshay

Interesting, @ttc3y I'll check that out. I wonder if there is a difference between that, and pelvic PT, which I'll be starting. Have you found studies on it? Ill have to research it and see if my friend can send me one. 

@justkp definitely a little claustrophobic, but the city is a 10 min ferry to one and a 20 min ferry to a larger one (Seattle), plus you can be helicoptered out if need be. But it does cause more stress than my first baby when I was on the mainland

ttc3y

@nwshay I think the EPI-NO can be complimentary to pelvic physical therapy. It looks like the jury is still out on efficacy and there is limited data on EPI-NO: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4769774/

But when you learn the mechanics of how it works, it seems to follow common sense and it does not seem to have a lot of concerning adverse effects. It certainly doesn’t hurt to try and use it as a preventative tool. 

kristinl492

@cpk3535 I barely knew how to dress myself in a non-pregnant state, let alone in this weird, in-between blob like state. Hope you find something!

@nwshay that’s awesome you found someone you like! I wish I had a practice that I really loved. Mine is a more traditional OB practice with only one midwife. They are a good practice. I delivered my last two with them and everything was just fine, but it would be nice to LOVE my providers. 

nwshay

@kristinl492 I hear you! She unfortunately can't be my main provider. We can't afford that since she's out of network. We haven't decided exactly what we are doing but she will mostly be a backup plan. I don't love our main provider. I wish I did!

cpk3535

Should we start posting hump day pictures? I’m starting to feel/see a more prominent baby bump!! Thoughts? If it’s just me gaining unnecessary weight, I’ll keep it off of the board for now, lol 😂 

fertile-turtle

@cpk3535 I’m game! I‘m in the same boat. I feel like it’s not obvious enough to send pics to my family or anything, but it would be fun to start kind of tracking and sharing with other people who also feel blobby and excited about their mini-bumps!

cpk3535

@fertile-turtle Cool, let’s start next week! I am on my third pregnancy, so I might be more noticeable than others, but I thought it was about time to start sharing ❤️😊😉

seeds_of_joy

@cpk3535 that sounds like a fun idea! 

I think my bump is a mix between 6th baby uterus and I've been eating way more than I need to.

justkp

Totally with you on the bump pic idea!