We began our Birthing Education classes this past week. My first comment to Rachel when we reached the car was, “Are you sure we can’t get a refund?” Being in the healthcare field(s) and being well-read, educated individuals, Rachel and I found ourselves in a dramatically different place than two out of the three other couples. I’ve written in the past about our experiences in Greenfield- a small town community of hard-working, middle class individuals; there’s an estimated population of 13,736, which they report 91.6% to be white, non-Hispanic. Needless to say, and my point, is that Greenfield, despite being a decent place to live, lacks culture and diversity. We were the only lesbian couple in our class, and definitely the oldest couple. We’ve decided that we will pick and choose a few more of the classes to attend, but by far, we don’t need to attend the next five, two-hour sessions.
Rachel has successfully reached week thirty-one. She continues to feel healthy, her belly continues to grow, and thus Lucy Elizabeth is well on her way to a health birth. “What to Expect” says that Lucy is on a roll, meaning that she is growing at leaps and bounds- she should measure an impressive 18 inches and weighing in at more than three pounds. But, we can expect her to gain at least three to five pounds, possibly more, before she is born. During our last ultrasound, Maggie (our favorite midwife), said that she is in the seventy-six percentile for height and weight, and further concluded that she would weigh approximately 8 pounds, 8 ounces at birth. YIKES- that’s not a small baby, nor does it seem the “two vessel cord” is effecting her growth rate- Thank God! We’ll have yet another ultrasound on March 19th, 2009- we’ll again, post more photos then!
Again, according to “What to Expect,” Lucy’s brain is working in overtime these days, developing faster than ever. Connections between individual nerve cells are growing at a frenetic clip, and Lucy can now perceive information from all five senses. Of course she can't smell anything right now, but that's only because she’s submerged in amniotic fluid and needs to be breathing air to get a whiff of anything. I think it’s amazing that the first things that Lucy will smell is Rachel, and that is partially the reason why the mother-daughter bond is so strong and will hopefully become Lucy’s favorite scent. Right now, Lucy is very active in Rachel’s ever-growing belly- she’s making faces, hiccupping, swallowing, breathing, pedaling with her little hands and feet along Rachel’s uterine wall, and even sucking her thumb. Some resources actually say that some babies suck their thumbs so vigorously while in the womb that they're born with a callus on their thumb (what a little sucker!). Hee hee hee!
For some time now, Rachel has been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions- these contractions are literally like a “dress rehearsal” for the actual birthing contractions that will occur at a later time (hopefully around the beginning of May). What happens is, Rachel’s uterine muscles are flexing in preparation for the big job they'll have to do in the near future. They’re reported to be caused by pregnancy hormones sending messages to the body to (very slowly) start the childbirth process. Braxton-Hicks contractions usual last about 15 to 30 seconds, but sometimes as long as two minutes, and causing Rachel’s abdomen to become very hard and strangely contorted (almost pointy). When this happens, we palpate Rachel’s belly to guess what part of Lucy’s body we’re feeling at that moment- we will never know the actual answer, but it’s certainly a fun game and it helps take Rachel’s mind off the uncomfortable nature of the contracting muscles.
Lastly, we have concluded the planning phase of the baby shower with MUCH assistance from Rachel’s sister, Elizabeth, who lives near Washington DC. We sent a combination of Evites and paper invites- mostly, our friends received Evites and our family members (or individual’s without computers) received paper invites. We owe Elizabeth a HUGE thank you for her hard work and keen ability to decode our complicated lists of family members and friends. During this process, Rachel and I have been repeatedly reminded of the wonderful group of family and friends that will help welcome Lucy into this wonderful world!
Thank you to everybody!
