Well, I did not think I’d be writing this post.
Yet, here I am with six days to go and I think this little girl is cosy in there – I don’t get the vibes she is coming out anytime soon!
// What’s been happening //
To be honest, not much. At all. The benchtops have arrived and were installed a few weeks ago, so now we’re just waiting on the splashbacks (although that doesn’t really make much of a difference to anything). I cannot tell you how lovely it is to not be cooking on a gas camp stove, and not have to walk to about three separate rooms in the house to grab stuff just to make dinner.
We put in a breakfast bar in this kitchen and I’ve been loving it. We often eat dinner there and Rosco can sit with me while I cook. Photos coming once the splashbacks are in…
Other than that, I’ve become a bit of a hermit. I just feel comfortable in the house and have become super lazy in the last two weeks.
In other news though, I’ve suddenly found the time to go walking. I have been a terrible role model for prenatal exercise this pregnancy, yet in the last two weeks, I suddenly take up walking?!
I think it is because usually in life I’m running about, here and there, whereas lately I’ve been taking life at a slower pace, so I think by the end of the day I need to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. I never really invested in a pair of maternity shorts though, so I doubt I’m winning any fashion awards. I’d love to know what people think of me waddling about the neighbourhood at full-term!
// My Health //
In truth, pretty good. Placenta is still rockin’ it, fluid still good, nice low blood pressure, no swelling, no heartburn, everything a-ok in the toilet department. I never know how much I can attribute to my genes and how much I can attribute to my diet, but I’m going to say that it is 50/50.
I firmly believe that if I’d eaten more of a SAD diet, a few things may not have been so rosy.
The only thing that I really have a gripe with is sleep. Yeah, yeah, it’s all practice for when the baby comes, but it isn’t tiredness that is the problem – I can happily survive on only a few hours sleep. It’s being uncomfortable and just sitting there with my eyes wide open that does my head in. I just keep reminding myself of the prize at the end and how lucky we are to have made it this far.
// My eats //
My eats have been totally boring.
When I was working, I was quite regimented with when I ate – breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, but I’ve been just grazing throughout the day lately, eating as it suits me.
For breakfast, I’ll often just have toast, sometimes with peanut or almond butter. Occasionally I’ve whipped out a quinoa and blueberry porridge or some pikelets, but I’ve gone right off smoothies lately. I think it is just because of the heat in Perth – I just cannot drink milky drinks in the heat!
Snacks have been whatever really. I’ve been making things like bliss balls, a sweet potato fruit cake (recipe coming soon), and other things like that so I just snack on those, or some carrot sticks, nuts or an apple.
For lunch I went through a phase of making hummus and having that every day in a toasted sandwich with tomato and avocado. Literally. Every.Day. I’ve also been having refried beans with avocado and tomato and using that as a dip with some tortilla chips.
For dinner, it has been nothing knew. Pasta with a tomato sauce, mashed potato/steamed kale and a Fry’s schnitzel (I’d love to say I haven’t eaten any processed food this pregnancy, but that’s a lie – I’ve been breaking out something like this once or twice a week), salad with beans, baked potatoes etc etc.
// The Birth Plan //
I actually wasn’t going to write a birth plan originally. After going through IVF etc, I’ve found it really important to have trust in my medical professionals.
I think it is really easy for people like me who try to live a plant-based, low-tox lifestyle to question the medical profession, and sure, I have moments in life where I don’t understand why things are the way they are (like why we don’t place more emphasis on preventative care and diet, as opposed to managing illness), but the reality is that without trusting my fertility specialist 100% and taking a sh*tload of drugs etc, I wouldn’t be in this position.
So, I made a conscious decision that I would actively listen to what my Ob said. Hence, I was just going to go with the flow.
But, actually she said she wanted one, so I put together a bit of an ideal scenario.
The ideal scenario is that I would labour at home for as long as possible before going in, and then have a whirl at this without any pain medication. I’ve hired a TENS machine, I have listened to some hypnobirthing CD’s (although to be honest, I don’t think hypnobirthing is my thing), and I’m going to try counting etc.
If I can, I’d like to move about as much as I can during labour, and the hospital also has showers and baths in the labour ward. A friend of mine also swears that during contractions she counted up and then down from 30 and that really helped her focus, so I’ll keep that in mind.
The hospital strongly promotes active management of the third stage, so I’ll go ahead with that, although I discussed delayed cord clamping with my Ob and she said that all going well, she has no problems with it. The hospital are big on immediate skin-to-skin and breastfeeding, which sounds perfect.
… and in my last hippie move… I’ve booked to have my placenta encapsulated.
I feel like I’ve had a lot of people in general conversation about pregnancy (without knowing my plans) say ‘did you know some people eat their placenta? ewww gross’ and I’ve just smiled and kept going, because technically, when you have it made into capsules, you’re eating it. My dad thought I was kidding when I told him, a few of the select friends I’ve told have told me I should keep that information to myself and a few other people have commented that technically eating a placenta is eating meat. Yeah, yeah, story of my life…
If you’d have asked me at the beginning of my pregnancy if I would, I’d have told you ‘no’, but as time has gone on, I just think that for $200 I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m not really grossed out by it (let me clarify though – I don’t think I could ever whip it up into a smoothie or fry it – I have booked for someone to take it away, do what they do to it and bring me back some lovely capsules).
Pretty much all mammals do it, many cultures do it and the method the lady uses is the Traditional Chinese Method, it is super high in nutrients (especially iron and zinc), and meant to be great for post-natal depression, milk supply, fatigue etc etc, and I didn’t want to not do it, and then (for example) get PPD and wonder to myself whether it would have helped if I had my placenta encapsulated.
So, I’m going for it. And as for telling people, eh, people already think I’m odd because I’m vegan, so what’s one more thing, right!
