Getting excited, but still have som fears.

I'm now 28 weeks and 3 days, woo hoo! Our little guy will arrive in less than 12 weeks! I can't wait to meet him. Thankfully in 3 weeks I get another sonogram so I'll be able to get another look at his cuteness. :) The hubby and I are thinking about doing the 3D ultrasound, but it'll probably be around 34 weeks so we can get a good picture of how developed he is.

So last week I took the Glucose Screening Test. Basically it's a test that most pregnant women are given now to check for the possibility of Gestational Diabetes. At the OB office you're given a super sweet drink and in an hour your blood is taken to measure whether the sugar is processed properly. Thankfully I passed the test with flying colors, but the sugary drink was gross! blechh! Especially since you have to drink it all down within 5 minutes of taking it!

Besides that, everything is going well. I met with our doula (natural birthing coach) a couple of weeks ago and we went over a lot of great information. She helped us tweek our birth plan and gave some advice on what to expect over the next couple of weeks, during labor, and also during delivery. I got a birth CD with soothing music which I'm listening to already to keep calm and relaxed. During labor I'll be listening to it as well, and the hospital room has a CD player in it so I'll be listening to it at the big moment too! I also purchased a birth ball which is cool. It's this big blue ball that I sit on daily to help with back pains and to start spreading out my pelvis to prepare for birth. You're also supposed to lean over it to start getting baby in a good position for delivery. Some babies are delivered in a "sunnyside up" position where they are facing the ceiling, and this makes delivery harder/more painful and causes tons of bruising on the little one's face! So by leaning over the birth ball, or anything you can (even a table), the baby's back gradually swings forward, which makes his face point in the proper position. Our doula has such a wealth of information. I'm so glad we hired her!

She also suggested using primrose oil to lubricate my "ho hum" starting six weeks prior to my due date to reduce the chance of tearing. I also have to take primrose oil capsules 2x/day for that reason as well. There are a lot of things that I'm trying to get together. I made a list of what to pack for the hospital stay. Creating the list was exciting, but nerve wracking too! It makes things so real! I must admit, I do get a little fearful of how the delivery will go. I'm nervous about the pain mostly. I am really looking forward to a natural birth so hopefully I can handle it.

Next month we're starting our birthing classes. We're taking 6 weeks of the "Bradley Method" course. I'm sure I'll feel more confident about labor and delivery after the class is complete. The Bradley Method is a a birthing method that teaches that we all can have positive, natural births by learning proper relaxation, natural breathing, propery nutrition, exercise, and getting educated about the process. It also focuses on the "husband-coaching" approach so that the husband plays an active and helpful role in the birth process. Studies show that 90% of Bradley Method moms who have vaginal deliveries are able to do so without pain medication. The C-section rate is much lower as well. The C-section rate is 10%, as opposed to the national average of 31%. Those are some great percentages! For more info, click on: Bradley Method

Well, that's all for now! I'll post again in a few weeks with new sonogram pics of our little jellybean!