So you’re telling me I can make a baby without a doctor?!

I meant to update my blog a few weeks ago. But then I had to pee. Sorry for the delay. Anyway, I’m 35 weeks pregnant, baby is 5 pounds and my uterus is pushing up against my rib cage. I’ve been getting those Braxton Hicks contractions and I have heartburn after most meals. It’s been a real party over here! I’ve also transitioned to weekly prenatal appointments with my midwives.

A few folks have been curious as to how the whole midwife and birth center thing works. When I tell people I don’t see an OBGYN and that I’ll be giving birth in a bathtub, I get this look:

I’m fortunate to be low risk and have an opportunity to experience birth outside of the hospital. I know this isn’t the case for many American women. Plus, I’ve done the whole hospital and OBGYN thing and want a different experience this time around. So, what has my pregnancy been like with midwives? Let me walk you through a typical check up.

After some research, we decided to go with the excellent midwives at South Coast Midwifery. The birth center is located in Irvine and reminds me more of a spa than the place where “ring of fire” will be the climax of my adventure.

First, my vitals are taken as well as all the routine blood and urine tests that would happen with an OBGYN. My check ups are done in one of the beautiful birthing suites. Here is the tub I will be giving birth in:

Here I am doing my weigh in – the scale says “I can tell you ain’t missin no meals.”

After we do my vitals, I meet with a lovely lady named Regina. She is a midwife assistant and doula. Regina talks to me about test results, my general health and my diet.

Next, I meet with one of the three midwives. I’ve had an opportunity to get to know all three since either one of them may be on call when I go into labor. The midwife answers any questions I have, she will also go over my vitals if anything seems concerning (I’ve been anemic this entire pregnancy), how I should be preparing my body for birth and reviewing any homework I may have had to complete. Yes, there’s occasionally homework.

Next, the midwife will have me lay down on the comfy bed for a nice long nap.

I wish! I lay down for an exam and measurements. We also listen to the baby’s heartbeat. The midwife will then have me map my belly and feel where the baby’s head, back and butt are – it’s pretty cool!

We then chat about what I can expect at the next appointment, exercises I should start incorporating and upcoming birth classes at the center. When I was pregnant with Everett, I talked to my OBGYN for 10 minutes at appointments, these midwives talk to me for AN HOUR. I’m all like:

I schedule my next appointment and then there’s lots of hugs. That’s it!

And just a few facts to ease some minds. The birth center is prepared with all the equipment and meds for mom and baby that a hospital birthing room would have. The only thing the midwives can’t do is surgery (c-section). There is an emergency plan already in place if anything goes wrong during delivery and I need to be transported to a hospital (which is less than a mile away.) The midwives also work directly with an OBGYN at the hospital.

Finally, a big shout out to Jeff. He has been incredibly supportive of my birth plan, the center and midwives. He also gets to catch our baby girl when she is born – pretty neat!

Well, I have to pee again. Cheers!

A post about Everett (shocker)

Okay, but still in relation to the new baby and my current pregnancy. Let’s begin with that. I’m 28 weeks pregnant and have started my third and final trimester. Which brings me that much closer to giving birth to my beautiful baby girl and then immediately asking for a drink:

So everyone keeps asking me if Everett is excited about becoming a big brother and what we’re doing to prepare him for the new baby. During the early months we bought some books and watched YouTube videos about babies growing in the womb. But for the most part, when we would talk about the new baby, Everett’s excitement level was about here:

 

 

 

 

 

Now that there is obviously something going on with my stomach, Everett is more engaged. He kisses my belly, says goodnight to his sister and even talks about her at school with his friends.

Everett can’t wait to meet his sister and will be a good helper around the house. But, I know Everett is a busy guy. The new baby will hold his interest for only so long and until she’s actually big enough to play, he has better things to do. Like the other day, for funsies, he opened his dresser drawer and decided to urinate on all his nicely folded pants and jeans. Fortunately, Everett is adorable. He kisses my giant belly button and says it’s the baby’s mouth. Aww.

 

Spare heir and hair did

Look! I’m back! Life has been pretty cray these last few years. Here are some quick updates:

• Everett is 41 months old. Isn’t that super obnoxious? If you’re still counting months after 24 of them, stop it.  Ain’t nobody got time to do the math. Anyway, Everett is in pre-school and obviously the smartest kid in class.  At least that’s how his teachers preface our weekly chats regarding his playground shenanigans…
• Jeff and I have been married for 5 years now and in 2013 we purchased our first house! We’re a good #lifegoals team.
• And then you know the same old jazz: Work, commuting, birthday parties, road trips, running, friends, family, Vampire Diaries, and so on.
• I’m pregnant again.

Oh, what? Just a bullet point for the second baby? Everett got an entire blog. I’ll get around to talking about the new baby. But first, let’s talk about me.

Second pregnancy is different than the first pregnancy. I had a lot of restrictions during my first pregnancy that I just scoff at now. I mean of course I don’t go skydiving or get drunk at happy hour. But there are so many rules, likely made up by the man, to keep a pregnant woman down. Here are just a few examples of “rules” I now break:

• Raw fish. Serve it up please! Feel free to add an egg over easy while you’re at it.
• Coffee. I stick to decaf as much as I can.
• Deli meat and soft cheese. If I want a ham sandwich, I’m going to have one.
• Hair coloring. Got my hair colored a few weeks ago. This pregnant woman is looking stylish.
• Heat. I don’t go into saunas or anything but I still do my intense long jogs. This website advises pregnant women to check their temperature at the gym every 20 minutes with a rectal thermometer. No thanks.

Of course I take good care of myself, eat right, down lots of organic vitamins, stay hydrated, and keep up with all my prenatal appointments.

Okay, now to the new baby. I’m due October 17th so I’m already half way through my pregnancy. See photo of baby:

As you can tell by the leg, I’m having a girl. She is perfect and healthy. Stay tuned for more…

Silver Medals And Half Birthdays

One of my favorite things to do when I’m having trouble sleeping is go online to various mom discussion forums and participate in the crazy that is super hormonal post-partem females.  For the most part, the topics are pretty tame and are stuff like “Help! My Baby Hasn’t Pooped In 4 Days!” or “OMG My Baby Just Rolled Over For The First Time **PICS** LOLZ!!!” But I don’t care about these posts because I mainly go on to read about controversial topics like vaccines, formula vs. breastmilk, circumcision, ear-piercing, letting babies cry to sleep, spanking and a hand full of others.  I mean its like Christmas if someone posts something like “God Hates Formula So I Choose Not To Vaccinate My Daughter Unless She Gets Her Ears Pierced.”  Women go bat-shit crazy online about these issues and it’s prime entertainment.  Anyway, finally to my point, the mom board is also where I learned about Boobie Medals.  The Boobie Medals are basically virtual accolades for the length of time you continue breastfeeding.  So at three months you get bronze, 6 months silver, 12 months gold and 18 months platinum.  Congrats to me because I recently earned my Silver Boobie Medal.  Oh and I guess equally as important, Everett is now half a year old!  Here we are celebrating:

Back to breastfeeding, because I know its a titillating subject (Ba Dum Tsh).  Now that Everett is six months old, folks are asking how much longer I plan on nursing.  I get the feeling that it would be totally acceptable if I said “Actually, we’re stopping today!” But it wouldn’t be acceptable to me because my breast milk is awesome and magical and I’m not ready to take that away from Everett quite yet.  (Dropping Game Of Thrones reference in 3, 2, 1).  Now am I going to be like Lady Stark’s weirdo sister, Lysa, who was breastfeeding her man child in a very creepy way?

Of course not! Nevertheless, my breast milk continues to be Everett’s main source of nutrition and he still benefits greatly from the antibodies, especially now that he crawls around and sticks everything in his mouth.  A few fun facts about breast milk: breast milk changes all the time to meet the exact needs of your baby month to month, day to day, even hour to hour.  Furthermore, extended breast feeding protects against diabetes, asthma, obesity and high cholesterol during adulthood.  It also makes smarter babies!

I may nurse for a year, maybe two or maybe until Everett self weans.  Everett is growing up so fast and most of the time he doesn’t want to be held, he wants to chase the dog or pull himself up on furniture.  It’s really only during our nursing sessions that he will be still and let me hold him as long as I want.  And maybe it’s all the oxytocin in my body talking, but even when I’m frustrated as hell with nursing, as soon as Everett latches on I realize that in the scheme of things, my time to be this close to him is limited.  It’s then that my breast feeding commitment doesn’t seem so laborious.

Enjoy pictures of E-man!

Messy Eater!

Beach Day!

Family Nap

Mmmm

Baby Steps

4th Of July!

First Meatball!

Dimple!

Was he ever this small…

Not As Bananas Anymore And Meant To Post This In May

At 14, I was going through my awkward stage which included braces, A-cup bras, tortured poetry and sloppy first kisses.  I was also somewhat of a fencing prodigy, like a Jedi:

(Not Pictured: Jennifer Nakao)

I was so good that I earned a trip to the Junior Olympics in Oakland which, at the time, was 3000 miles away.  Obviously the competing part was a highlight but it was the plane ride that I was most excited about.  I had never, ever been on a plane.  My family went on trips all the time, mostly across country, but we did it gangster style.  We piled into the station wagon with a cooler and some spending money for Sonic Footlongs.  That plane ride was the coolest thing in my universe.  In Everett’s universe, travelling on an airplane is as exciting as a Tuesday:

During our flights to and from the east coast in May, he complained very little, slept comfortably and melted the hearts of all his fellow travelers that had at first looked upon him with great fear.  His relaxed disposition during our journey helped me realize that I also needed to chill the fiddle out on oh so many things concerning my son.

The weeks leading up to our trip were nerve wracking because I was so sure that we would not survive getting off our carefully constructed and zealously followed daily routine. And the fact that we were throwing in a 3-hour time difference was like stabbing me in my epigastrium.

 (Not me)

Of course, I wasn’t always like this.  Before I had Everett my schedule was basically go to work in the morning and go to bed at night and everyday I was late for at least one of those events.  With Everett, our daily schedule had been precise and non-flexible.  If I was at the grocery store longer than expected, I would drop entire baskets of food to rush home for nap time.  On the weekends, I would hyperventilate if bath time was getting pushed back because we were visiting Jeff’s parents too long.  It was incredibly stressful and often times lonely because no one quite understood how imperative staying on schedule was for me.  It was a mixture of some sort of coping mechanism and post traumatic stress from all my sleepless nights during Everett’s first weeks on earth.  Of course I didn’t tell anyone this because I don’t talk about my feelings.  Well, except right now so take a picture.

Alas, when my family landed in the Dirty Dirty we spent a week basically off schedule and Everett did fine.  He slept through the night in our hotel, and at my Grandma’s and at the lake.  He ate up the the constant attention from his Grandpa and didn’t get one mosquito bite.  When we got back home I welcomed a familiar sense of freedom, something that I had not felt since going into labor.  Of course, we still maintain a daily routine but I don’t have kittens if Everett’s day doesn’t go as scheduled.  I’m much more fun to be around.

Special thanks to my Dad for the amazing stay at the lake and to my Grandma for always making my heart warm and my tummy full!  Below are pics from our trip.

Family Picture:

Everett and Taylor (my youngest brother)

Another Family Pic! 

You Can’t Tell But I’m Super Sweaty!

Everett and Great Grandma

Grandpa (my dad), Jeff and Everett

Everett and Uncle Donnie

Jeff’s Favorite Activity…Not Catching Fish

Mama and Everett

Pause Button

Figured I would start this post with what the public is demanding, pictures of the best looking baby on the planet.  You’re welcome.  Everett is an incredibly busy bee!  He’s almost 4 months old, almost 18 pounds and almost finished with high school.  Well, not really the high school part but he’s growing so fast it’s starting to feel like graduation might happen tomorrow.  I’ll be the sexy mom in the front row that all the other moms are pointing at whispering “No way her son is graduating.  She must of had him in middle school.”

When I was in middle school, time was like tree sap.  It took forever for very important milestones to happen such as summer vacation, understanding geometry and my boobs to sprout.  After college, time definitely took steroids and now that Everett is here, it’s like a speeding locomotive out of control!

It must have something to do with witnessing the rapid growth of a brand new person.  I wake up in the morning and the pajamas that fit Everett last night are now stretched to the max.  And his stomach…its comprable to the universe in that it’s always expanding!

Of course, he’s not only growing at a super human rate physically, but also his learning ability is uncanny!  He can do something new and exciting every single day and the progress he makes is astounding.  Last month he was trying to figure out where to put his arms so he could roll over, this month he’s a champion roller and is now trying to crawl!  If I had his discipline and no nonsense determination in undergrad, I would be president…of THE WORLD.

I enjoy watching Everett grow, its very much like those time lapse plant videos on the nature channel. Though, when he falls asleep in my arms after nursing and I get to cover his beautiful face with butterfly kisses, all I really want is for time to somehow stand still.

And just in case you haven’t seen this:

Everett Laughs At Fox

Sleep?! Psh, I’ll Sleep When He’s 18.

Unless you’re my friend on Facebook you’re probably having Everett withdrawals so I’m going to start this blog with photos.  If you are my friend on Facebook, you have most likely unsubscribed to my posts because my wall is exploding with all things baby.  Either way, enjoy!

Yes, he is quite the looker just like his parents!  Which is why everyone is so eager to be around him.  Now that Everett is two months old, I’m becoming a little more comfortable with family and friends occasionally holding him.  I’ll be the first to admit that I have been a bit of a germaphobic mess since Everett came along.  The public now refers to me as “Hot Hands Insanitizer” and I throw down with anyone who coughs within a one mile radius of my baby.

Needless to say, its not only germs that cause this incredible anxiety but pretty much everything and anything that could potentially be lethal to Everett.  Am I talking about car accidents, earthquakes, floods, zombie attacks?  No, those “catastrophes” are cake walks.  I’m talking about the dangers of Everett sleeping in his crib, sleeping with me, sleeping on his stomach, getting too hot, getting too cold, cuddling with a blanket, or being near a fluffy pillow.

SIDS stands for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and is sadly a very real and scary thing that can happen to babies.  I didn’t know much about SIDS until I became pregnant and now that I have Everett, I still don’t know much about SIDS because no one really knows exactly why it happens.  I do know, however, what can suffocate my baby and what is obviously toxic but somehow the word “SIDS” gets thrown into the mix, rather loosely, and common sense becomes something you have to buy back from Babies R Us.  So thankfully for all us paranoid parents out there, baby product manufacturing companies have teamed up with the medical community to cleverly market an array of merchandise that can reduce the incidence of SIDS.  New moms, its time to break out the piggy banks because here is a list of products necessary to help prevent your baby from succumbing to SIDS:

Angelcare Video, Movement and Sound Baby Monitor System: $299.  Sounds an alarm if your baby stops breathing.

Naturepedic 100% Organic Crib Mattress: $259-$399.  No harsh chemicals in manufacturing, mainly concerning fire retardent, which some experts say can be linked to SIDS.

HALO Sleep Sacks: $21.99 each and you need several in various sizes.  Your baby CANNOT sleep with a blanket!  What kind of mother are you?!

CoSleeper Bassinet: $129-$299.  Bed-sharing has been linked to SIDS yet bed-sharing has been linked to preventing SIDS.  Oh it’s so confusing!  The answer, an expensive bassinet that connects to your bed.

Pacifiers: $3.49-$7.99.  Sucking on a pacifier while sleeping in crib has been said to decrease incidence of SIDS.

There are other products available as well including mattress pads, propping pillows etc…but where one trusty internet site praises these products another site says they’re useless in preventing SIDS.

I’m not 100% sure what my point is except that even with all the products in the world, those first few nights with Everett, I would have still stayed awake watching him sleep.  And even today I snuck in during his nap just to watch his chest move up and down.  Maybe I have a case of “First Time Mom” or maybe media and marketing exacerbate my paranoia but either way, it hurts my heart imagining anything bad happening to Everett, especially something perhaps within my control.

Anyway, the baby is up from his nap now so we’re going to have tummy time on his changing table where I will leave him to play with string and glass.  Of course I’m going to wash my hands first.

The Mama Kool-Aid

Just in case you live under a rock:  Everett is here!!!

This is his “I’m serious” look which also happens to be his “I’m pooping” look.  He’s so adorable, even when he soils three diapers in five minutes.  I’m pretty sure he does this on purpose to make me crazy:

Oh but I love him so, so much.  Becoming a mom has definitely been a game changer, its like always drinking tasty hot chocolate.  Of course not every moment is the stuff of Hallmark cards.  I’ve cried, I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been scared, I’ve been confused, I’ve been sleep deprived (am sleep deprived).  If only taking care of infant Everett was as easy as delivering Everett.  I mean labor was so fast and not painful at all!  My water broke and then BOOM, Everett was here a few minutes later.  Just kidding!  I was in labor for 24 hours and I asked the doctors if they could take my appendix out again instead.  Anyway, I’m going to tell you the full birth story complete with graphic video.

Eww gross, you kept reading.  Don’t worry, no video here.  I’m only going to summarize with an easy to read timeline:

Sunday, December 18 at 5AM: Contractions start.

Sunday, December 18 at 1:45PMish: Water breaks.

(A very long day, night and then morning)

Monday, December 19 at 1:21PM: Everett is born!!

One of my early blog posts discussed birthing somewhere other than a hospital because I was considering options like my home or a birth center to deliver Everett.  Well, if I could find a DeLorean and go back in time I would likely have chosen to give birth in front of America’s finest at my local WalMart rather than at the hospital.

What was so bad about the hospital?  Actually, a lot but I’m going to focus on the main culprit.  Monitoring.

Monitoring was incessant and most of the time unnecessary.  As soon as I checked in I was strapped to machines.  One to monitor my contractions and the other to monitor the baby’s heart beat.  The contraction monitor was pointless, I can feel my contractions and am able to tell you when they’re happening, how long they are and if they’re getting stronger. I also have an iPhone app for it!  As for the fetal heart monitoring, okay…but the monitor would fall off my body whenever I moved, which was often because I had to pee every two minutes.  By the way, none of my birthing classes warned about the never ending pee thing.  Anyway, every time the fetal heart monitor fell off the nurses had to rush in and adjust and more often than not they picked up my heartbeat and not the baby’s. Because the nurses came into my room all the time, they interrupted each one of my attempts to find a happy place, whether it was rocking back and forth on a birthing ball, looking out at the city lights, focusing on my husband’s voice, I could never find my “ideal position.”

So did all this monitoring help?  I don’t think so.  What it actually did was mess with my head and stress me out.  When things weren’t going as planned, according to the nurses and doctors, it made me feel inadequate and scared.  I found myself staring at the machines for guidance instead of listening to my own body.  The computers were running the show, Matrix style, and I didn’t have a red pill:

I know that not everything can go according to plan, especially giving birth, so I definitely learned a few lessons for next time (a long, long, time from now).  Altogether, I have a new respect for my body since Everett came along.  That my body can grow life, bring life into the world and then nourish that life is truly remarkable.  Hospital or no hospital, delivering Everett was no less amazing and without a doubt, the best moment of my life.

BIG props to my SEESTER for all the support she gave to Jeff and I during the entire process ❤

One Is The Loneliest Number…Meh

No baby yet.  I have been pregnant for 39 weeks, 2 days, 11 hours and 43 minutes.  In case you’re thinking to yourself “you still have about a week before your due date, why so impatient?”  Well, its because at the doctor’s office last week I learned Everett is at (likely over) 8 pounds and if he decides to wait around for my due date or later, I may give birth to a 10 pound man-child with facial hair.  Eeek!  I don’t even feel close to being in labor. Honestly I could participate in a food court flash mob right now and dance my heart out to “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”  Maybe that will force Everett out of my womb.  C’est la vie, nothing to do but wait.

According to the comedians at BabyCenter.com, Everett should be comprable to a mini watermelon but we’re going to skip ahead to week 41 and say he’s more like a pumpkin:

   Breastfeeding is going to be tricky with the two teeth Everett is already sporting.  Scary.

So what do I do with my time now that I’m simply playing the waiting game?  Well, besides cleaning, I am currently enjoying what I refer to as Jenn Time.  For those of you who know me at least a little, you know that I tend to be a bit introverted, well, a lot introverted.  All of my purple life I have been perfectly happy doing most activities alone.  I like working out alone, taking walks in the park alone, shopping alone, going to the movies alone, driving alone, sitting on a bench alone and before I got married my perfect evening consisted of myself, a bottle of wine (okay, 2 bottles of wine) and episodes of Veronica Mars.

I realize that once Everett is here, Jenn Time will be hard to come by for many, many, many years and thinking of that does make me a little sad.  I’m already crazy about Everett and I can’t wait to hold him in my arms and then pass him to my darling husband for a diaper change.  I’m sure that will trump my alone time any day.  Actually, what I’ll miss even more than my precious Jenn Time, is my time alone with Jeff.  A few nights ago we ate a late dinner together then lounged on the couch and watched a comedy DVD.  It was simple, fun, warm in his arms and no one interrupted our time together.

Jenn <3’s Jeff 4-ever

I Grant I Never Saw A Goddess Go; My Mistress, When She Walks,Treads On The Ground

Is it December 23rd yet?  Not quite but at 37 weeks I’m officially full-term.  Hooray!  Everett is over 6 lbs and is as long as a stock of swiss chard.  Don’t know what that is?  Neither did I so here is a pic:

Last week Everett was a crenshaw melon (Westside!!) which is a much more attractive food than swiss chard.  And since we’re on the topic of attractiveness, I have somehow managed to make 9 months pregnant look pretty glamorous as you can tell from this breathtaking belly shot:

  I’m surprised Motherhood Maternity isn’t knocking on my door right now insisting I model for their clothing line.  I’m still shocked each time I see pictures of my stomach.  Its ridiculous how drastically my body has changed in such a short amount of time.  To put it in perspective, here I am this past summer right before beginning my second trimester:

  I miss that bikini, I also miss my pre-pregnancy body.  Yes, I know pregnancy is beautiful and I’m glowing and my breasts are now a more respectable size.  But I’ll be honest, besides finally meeting Everett, numer 2 on my list of Top Reasons Why I No Longer Want To Be Pregnant is…wait for it…because I no longer want to be pregnant.  Hopefully I didn’t make all those “I love being pregnant and bringing life into the world” women faint with that statement.  But let me run down my pros and cons list for you:

Pregnancy Pros: Everett moving inside me, the first 5 months were funsies, bigger boobs.

Pregnancy Cons: back ache, pelvic ache, so long girlish figure, maternity clothes, sleepless nights, people only talking to you about pregnancy and babies, people always touching your stomach, people saying things like “Wow, you’re HUGE!” and “Are you going to have that baby now!”, shaving my legs is comical, moving really slow, having to pee every 10 minutes…and believe me, this list could go on and on for quite some time.

Don’t get me wrong, when I get past the physical repercussions of pregnancy and my own vanity, I realize being pregnant is the most amazing occurrence in nature.  I mean, how astounding is it that I can grow a life-form inside my body that starts out the size of an appleseed and comes into the world a 7-to-8 pound person with a heart and lungs and personality!  Of course, as soon as I grasp this awe-inspiring revelation, I have to pee and I’m quickly back to “grrr pregnancy.”  Jeff tells me every day that I should enjoy these last few weeks because I’m going to miss being pregnant with Everett.  I’m skeptical and usually don’t respond to this sentiment.  Though, he’s probably right since he’s so completely accurate about the other thing he says to me every day, “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”