little feet, big sky

OMG. I have a baby girl! Pics to come soon, but she was a healthy 7 lbs. 8 oz. at birth. The home birth went well, but she was stuck at about +3 after about 3 & 1/2 hours of pushing. (Thank god I didn’t know I’d been pushing that long!) I was super active in labor (which was good), but so exhausted by then that the decision to transfer to the hospital for a vacuum-assisted delivery was an easy one. The car ride was sheer hell, but the L&D staff at Cedars-Sinai was great. I had five minutes to try pushing, and if that didn’t work, our doctor was for a c-section, so I agreed to the epidural. It took 10 minutes to kick in, I had 5 minutes of blissful relief, and another 5 minutes of pushing with the doctor’s help and she was born.

I honestly felt I had the best of both worlds and am extremely happy with how things went. Of course, finishing off the delivery at home would have been best, but this was a close second. She got little, if any, of the effects of the epidural, and my being pain-free for the delivery and after meant I could instantly put her to the breast, as well as advocate for her best interests myself in the hours later. Totally awesome.

More to come in a bit!

Sorry for the absence. Things are still going well, I think. The baby is dropping a fraction of an inch at a time, as I find myself with more abdominal cramps, lower back pain and more running to the bathroom to pee a quarter of a cup, even though I’m drinking so much more fluids. :-)

I’ve been busy working on a redesign for this blog, as Blogger templates are entirely fugly. I’m almost done with the design/HTML, and next up with be integrating with Blogger variables so the whole thing works. Kinda fun actually. I love small, easy projects like this.

I’m ordering some last minute things this weekend, too. Like AA’s baby karate pants (3/$30) and some comfy undies ($6) for me to wear post-partum. I also ordered a Gypsy Mama / Wrapsody Bali Baby Breeze ($67) for myself and since the spouse would probably be overwhelmed by the learning curve of wraps, I got him the Ergo Baby Carrier ($92) with the Infant Insert ($25). Not cheap, but both can be used from newborns to three-year-olds, so I hope to get some good life out of them. I already have a Moby Wrap, but even just trying it on in an air-conditioned house on bare skin felt hot, so I wanted another wrap that would be more comfortable in our god-forsaken L.A. summer heat. (I’m sure the Moby will be cozy and comfortable in cooler weather here.)

I bought them together through theslingstation.com, which has great information on babywearing, and a huge selection of carriers. They also offer free shipping on orders over $90, which is pretty cool and have a very comfortable return policy.

I’m hoping the babywearing thing works out. I always wanted to wear Harley as a kitten, a la Bucky Katt from Get Fuzzy. :-) Not that I’m that crazy, of course, but I’m sure I’ll get a lot less strange looks wearing a baby.

Impatient little bugger that I am, I’m starting to get frustrated that the baby has yet to “drop”. I can feel him/her getting lower, as my hips start to ache more and I feel more “pelvic pressure”, but I still look like I’m carrying high. Bleah.

I try to be reassured that some babies wait until labor to engage, or that you might not lose your mucus plug until labor starts. But I know this is unlikely. As a first-time mom, I worry that the baby is just too damn cozy in there. :-( I know too many moms that ended up with cesareans because the baby didn’t drop, or labor just never started and I’m frustrated that I’ll end up like that. I just want to have this baby at home; is that too much to ask?

I found on a thread on the Mothering forums that recommends things like walking, squatting, sitting on a birth ball and even dancing & “bumpy car rides”. *sigh* I’m sure I’ll try some of these things, but can you tell I’m getting depressed already?

Fuck.

Enough already – time to get showered & dressed for the day. I have a chiropractic appointment today, and I want to get all the baby things washed. I have cloth diapers to prewash and that will definitely take the rest of the day.

All I’ve been doing this weekend is sleeping! Oh, with some occasional laundry tossed in. I had a craving for ramen yesterday, so we ended up at my favorite ramen stop in L.A., Atch-Kotch, on Fountain & Vine. I ordered my favorite: shoyu ramen with garlic, hot & spicy, fresh egg, fried chicken and nori. Mmm. (You start with basic ramen and add your own toppings.) It’s always so good that the owner, Yosh, knows to pack up the last dregs of soup for me to take home, no matter how little is left in the bowl!

The spouse and I are off to the Grove to go to the Apple store and try and get my poor-battery-life iPhone replaced. (Wish us luck; the last time I tried this at the Century City one, the guy tried to tell me my four barely-used email accounts were sucking up battery life. Doh.) While we’re there, I’ll get in my walking around; I’m so not a mall shopper, so we’ll probably wander around the Farmers’ Market. I’m sure I’ll end up having the roti chanai at Banana Leaf, even though I know the rotis are frozen rather than fresh and the curry is generally bland. (Hey, when you’re almost 30 miles from the only decent Malaysian restaurant in Southern California, you get desperate sometimes.) I also noticed somewhere that the Gumbo Pot has beignets? Are they any good?

Some of my other favorites places to eat in these last few weeks:

• The Bowery. Had the Bowery burger, medium, with St. Andre & grilled onions. All sized to fit on a toasted English muffin bun, it was the perfect portion for a tiny pregnant tummy.
• Fabiolus. Ah, order anything here, everything is good! Eat half and save the rest for the midnight snack – most things taste just as good the next day, especially the pesto dishes.
• Buddha’s Belly. Haven’t been here yet, but it’s bound to happen, since I’m dreaming of the Tom Yam Seafood Soup and a side of their fabulous Seaweed Salad.
• Bossa Nova. Brazillian cuisine with a huge menu. I really enjoyed the Willy’s Burrito with shrimp, to-die-for fried plantains and their cheesebread is awesome.

I’ve been on a fruit kick lately, and one of my absolute favorites is watermelon. Cold, chilled, crisp, sweet watermelon. I used to be a huge fan of honeydews, but not while pregnant, apparently. The spouse has been good lately in keeping chopped watermelon ready-to-eat in the fridge for me. :-)

Watermelon eases heartburn and reduces swelling; its high water content (92 percent) and fruit sugars alleviate morning sickness and dehydration; and the minerals it contains can help prevent third-trimester muscle cramps. – Watermelon Wonders onFitPregnancy

I’m have one of those days – the kind where nothing seems right, even food. After opening all the cupboard doors and staring for a while, then opening the fridge and staring for a while, I was almost ready to turn to a lonely packet of ramen out of desperation. I didn’t really want something hot, I wanted something cold and creamy, but not sweet like a smoothie.. ah, gazpacho. Here’s what I put in mine…

• 1 clove garlic, peeled & roughly chopped
• 1 slice of Ezekiel sprouted bread, crusts removed and chopped into squares
• 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp. flax seed oil
• sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Blend to desired consistency. (Add water to thin; add bread to thicken.)

I would take a picture of the serving I just made, but it’s in my tummy now. Maybe I’ll try making a cold corn chowder later…

I know that in the last few weeks leading up to my due date I’m supposed to be resting, but it’s hard! I still need to get the bedroom organized, put together a diaper bag, an “emergency” hospital bag, etc. But st the same time, I don’t want to be at home. I keep thinking of errands that I can go run, people to meet up with for lunch, and stuff that really isn’t more important than me resting.

According to my favorite pregnancy calculator, I’m current 37 & 4/7 weeks pregnant. Now should be about the time for the baby to drop, so I’m trying to do everything I possibly can to encourage that. The acupuncturist did a some points to help with that, and starting today, I’m going to make myself walk every day.

This is harder than it seems to be, for me, at least. Here are some of my fabulous excuses for not walking more often, all of which elicit much eye-rolling from the spouse:

• It’s hot. By the time I wake up and get dressed, it’s heating up enough that it’s too hot to go for a walk outside.
• In the afternoon/evenings when it’s cool enough, I’m too tired.
• We live on a bit of a crest of a hill. Which means that walking in either direction requires an arduous walk uphill. (Okay, okay – only arduous when you’re 8 months pregnant.)
• Walking around the neighborhood is boring.
• Walking around the neighborhood while listening to something on iPod/iPhone is only slightly less boring. (I used to love this. While pregnant, I find it oddly annoying. No idea why.)

Now, I realize these reasons would never get me out of hell, but they’re all quite true, to some degree. Still, I realized the importance of walking to get the baby to drop, even as the 21-year-old in me shrieks at the thought of voluntarily doing something to shift a bowling ball into my pelvis. So I’ve figured out a plan that only someone in Los Angeles would think of: I shall drive somewhere nice to walk and walk around there instead! :-)

Some of the locations I have in mind are: the beach, near Malibu; Huntington or Descanso Gardens; Sunset Plaza; the Grove; Aquarium of the Pacific; and West Hollywood.

Any other tips/advice for getting the baby to drop? Factual tidbits or old wives tales welcome!

As if nutrition during pregnancy isn’t confusing enough, there’s more than plenty misleading advice on eating fish while pregnant. Some say eat more fish, as it’s a great source of lean protein and high in valuable omega-3 essential fatty acids, important for brain development and more. Others say to avoid it for possible mercury contamination, possibly linked to autism and other developmental disorders, or for environmental concerns with overfishing, etc.

So when standing in front of the seafood section at the grocery store, or when eating out, how do you know what to choose?

I’ve come to rely on the Green Guide’s Smart Shopper Fish Picks, from National Geographic. It’s a handy list of seafood choices ordered into three categories: YES fish, NO fish and SOMETIMES fish. YES fish are selections that are either low in mercury (L) or not overfished or farmed destructively. SOMETIMES fish are either moderate in mercury (M) or recovering stocks, and NO fish are either farmed destructively, overfished and/or high in mercury (MM). The list makes distinctions between species from different locations (ie., Atlantic vs. Pacific cod) which helps to make local choices, as well as other important facts like farmed, trap-caught, wild-caught, etc. For example, while Atlantic mackerel is low in mercury and listed as a YES fish, the note that it’s “purse seine-caught” reminds me that this method of fishing often captures other than the intended catch, such as dolphins or turtles, and also can lead to catching more than can be transported or processed, leading to waste and overfishing. I don’t think it’s a fair tradeoff for my child to be mercury-free and healthy, if there’s not much of a world left for him or her to enjoy!

On a side note, I would suggest pregnant women stay away from farmed fish. While it may seem like the healthier or more ecologically-friendly option, farmed fish often are limited in room, which makes them more susceptible to disease, which in turn leads to the use of antibiotics. Not only does that imply our consumption of said antibiotics, but run-off from fish farms contaminates fish and sea life in the wild.

If you have a mobile web phone or PDA, add a bookmark to the mobile version of the Fish Picks guide: m.thegreenguide.com/fish.mhtml.

Personally, I’ve been disinterested in most fish while pregnant, though I’m still happy to eat shellfish and such. Has anyone had any interesting stories with eating seafood while pregnant?

It’s because there are no comfortable shoes in sight when you leave your Crocs 300 miles north at your mother’s house and your Tevas are just too much on/off work to wear around the house. Bleah.