Learning to just go with the flow...

I think Alex is trying to teach me how to just let go and trust everything will be okay. I had my weekly ultrasound and midwife appointment today.

From the begining of my pregnancy, I had decided that I wanted a natural child birth. This is actually a very different than what I alway thought I wanted. I had always said that when I had children, the doc better be chasing me in the door with the epidural. Then I got pregnant and it was like a switch got flipped in my head. I started researching everything and realized how much better it was for me and Alex to have as natural of birth as possible.

So over the last 10 months, Matt and I have been preparing for our child's entry into the world. We have selected a fantastic midwife, taken our natural childbirth class, hired a doula to help during labor, and have been mentally and physically preparing for the upcoming birth.

Well, today I found out that I may not get my natural birth. Not only is it possible that I will not have a natural childbirth, but I also may end up not getting to labor at all. I am 40 weeks and 5 days into my pregnancy, and if I do not go into labor by Wednesday morning, I am scheduled to have a c-section. This is just about the worst senerio I could have come up with, and now it is my reality.

We are going to do everything we can to get labor going in the next few days. Tomorrow my midwife will strip my membranes, and Saturday if I still haven't gone into labor, I will drink the birth drink. I am okay with going into the c-section at least knowing that I did everything I could to get him here naturally.

August 9th came and went....

I am officially one day past my due date. Yesterday was August 9th, which was our EDD (Estimated Due Date). According to my Bradley class, most first time mothers who plan on natural childbirth go 10 days late. Ugggggg, I don't think I can take another 9 days of waiting.

Matt is also not a big fan of waiting. He really wants to see his son and start being a dad.

We spent the past weekend going to the Forest Hill Farmer's Market on Saturday morning and the Watermelon Festival on Sunday morning. Both were fantastic! The farmer's market was fun and we were able to pick up some fresh veggies, and chocolate cake mix. I have developed this infatuation with chocolate cake since becoming pregnant. We also met this really cool woman who makes cloth diapers. Matt and I are both upset by the amount of waste our child will produce in his first two years of life. We are seriously considering at least supplementing with cloth diapers at home. The ones that the woman makes are really cool. They snap on and off, and are the diaper and cover all in one. They also grow with your child from 8 lbs to about 28 lbs. So in the long run, they would save us money too.

Sunday, we went to the Carytown Watermelon Festival. It was very hot, 97 degrees, but we had a great time walking around. Matt found these really cool barrels that you can put whiskey in and age it. Supposedly, you put in cheaper liquor and then let it age for 3 weeks or so and it come out tasting like the more expensive version. They are oak barrels and seemed very well made. Matt is now infatuated with them. We walked around for about 2 hours, which was the time limit placed on me by my midwife, ate lunch at Nacho Mama's and went home. I have never been so tired. I was telling Matt that I wasn't that tired after completing my Olympic Distance tri. I took a nap and spent the rest of the day resting and hoping to go into labor.

It is now Monday morning and I am still pregnant. I guess we will have to wait and see when Alex decides to make his grand arrival. There are lots of people anxiously awaiting his arrival.

39 weeks Prego

We offically became 39 weeks pregnant on Sunday. I delveloped high blood pressure approximately 2 weeks ago and was placed on bedrest for the duration of my pregnancy. Luckily, my BP has come back down in the two weeks since I was put out on bed rest.

Yesterday, I went for my weekly ultrasound to check on Alex's progress. We found out that he is a rather large baby, somewhere between 9 lb 11 oz and 10 lbs. Yes, you heard correctly, we are potentially have a double digit baby.

He is healthy and very active, and so far the midwives a very happy with his progress. There is a slight concern about his shoulders and the possibility of them getting stuck during delivery, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Welcome!

I wanted a way to capture the adventure that Matt and I are getting ready to undertake. This seemed to be a great way to do that.To back track just a little bit, Matt and I found out that we would be welcoming a new addition to the family back on December 2nd. Matt still likes to make fun of the fact that it took 3 test and google to convience me that I was reading it correctly. Needless to say, we where both suprised to see that we were going to become parents. It was quite by accident that we even found out. I had suffered a bout of depression following the death of my grandfather and aunt earlier in the year and was concerned that maybe it was coming back. I had been very emotional, tired, and feeling just run down for the previous week. I had made an appointment with my doctor and just wanted to be able to say with 100% certainty that I was not pregnant when he asked. Boy was I suprised to find out that I was indeed pregnant.

The last 9 months have been an crazy flurry of activity for us. Matt got a new job in Richmond and moved back home in January, we put our house on the market that month as well. I got a new job in March and also moved down to Richmond. We sold our house in May and have been preparing for our new addition ever since. Note to self: Do not move while pregnant ever again.

My pregnancy has gone pretty smoothly. My first trimester was a little rough. I missed having Matt around, had morning sickness, emotional mood swings, back pains, gave myself food poisioning, and spend two weeks in bed sick with a upper respitory infection turned sinus infection.

Second trimester went by very smoothly. I had more energy, stop throwing up, and was able to start feeling like a human again. Matt and I were even able to take a couple of camping trips and go white water rafting down the James River.

We are officially due on August 9th, 2009. We have decided to name our son Alexander Tyler Broxterman. Alex for short.

We are planning a natural, unmedicated child birth. In preparation for this, we have selected two wonderful mid-wives to be our primary care provider, a doula named Sara to help us through labor and delivery, and have surounded ourselves with a great community of parents to be who are also looking for an natural, unmedicated birth.