20 Weeks. The big 2-Oh my goodness......

I am a couple days shy of 20 weeks pregnant.  That is approximately halfway. Yikes.  I'd like to say it has flown by.  In some ways it has, in others, not so much.  The beauty of early pregnancy is that the baby seems so.far.away.  It is an ambiguous, future being.  Sure, you have a due date (we all know how I feel about those) but it is far into the future.  Now, I am skating downhill and I am feeling the pressure.

This pregnancy is different from Porter's.  I was busy buying up e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g I thought babies needed, looking forward to baby showers, reading books.  This one, I am more realistic,  I have a one year old to run after, I work full time have a house etc.  So it has been relatively easy not to be so pregnancy focused, especially because I have had such a low risk, easy pregnancy (Thank you God!).  But now, instead concentrating on what needs to be bought, I am concentrating on shifting my mentality

As this 20 week mark approaches, I am shifting my focus to baby, baby, baby.  I wanna take primo care of myself, my health and start preparing for the birth. Baby Scarlett will be born at home with our fabulous midwife, her student and our amazing doula.  I am wholly committing the last half of my pregnancy to focusing on mental birth preparation.  I have a lot of what I call "birth fear".  I am in awe of and have great respect for the natural childbirth process.  I believe in it 100%.  But, that doesn't mean that I don't fear the intensity of the experience, the pain of the contractions, the unknown.  I do, even though I have done this before.  I listen to natural birth stories and I am revitalized and re inspired.  I remember the "birth high" felt immediately after, the closeness I felt with my husband as he got me through the most intense moments of my labor, the transformative experience of having a human being move through you and into the world.  Nothing in the whole world like it. But I am still scared.  The best I can equate it to is a roller coaster.  I am not a roller coaster girl until I get off the ride.  I feel like pregnancy is like climbing that first hill, you know but you don't know what is coming.  This hill is the tallest, the hardest.  You may know that the ride will be exhilarating, fun and intense, but you have to get over the first hump first. The first hill is still scary and daunting to look down from. But, like always after you are done, you wanna run up and do it again.  That is how birth is for me. So, I am doing everything I can to prepare myself for that hump.  I know you can never know 100% but preparation never hurt.

So..... whats the plan? Couple things.....

On my birthday, I start my first  of 6 hypnobabies childbirth preparation classes.  I feel like there is a lot of misconceptions about hypnobabies.  It is a way for women to relax and handle childbirth better.  It is NOT anti-Christian, you cannot do anything you don't want to do, you are not out of control.  It is simply a method to teach your body and mind to relax together and remove the fear out of birth.  It is intervention prevention.  The results are incredible.  It is like anything else, it takes practice.  I will have to practice daily, it is a partner coached method, so Neil will read me passages.  The result, 70% of women using it report childbirth as being intense but not painful.  Especially in early labor. It can help people like me immensely! I have read some incredible birth stories and an extra bonus is the teacher is a good friend of ours!

 Fun hypnobabies facts:

● Most of our moms use fewer drugs or no drugs, which means less risk of side effects for you and your baby, due to elimination of the Fear/Tension/Pain Syndrome, and using post-hypnotic suggestions
● Most Hypno-mothers have shorter labors since there is less resistance of the birthing muscles when pain and fear are minimized or eliminated.
● Hypno-Moms generally have much more energy throughout first and second stage, due to your total relaxation throughout the birthing process.
● Blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature can be lowered and nausea, back and hip pain eliminated with hypnosis during pregnancy and labor.
● There are fewer interventions for failure to progress and therefore fewer complications during labor for our mothers and babies.
● The deep relaxation in Hypnobabies sessions has also helped many a nervous birth partner to enjoy their partner's pregnancy and childbirth, and the skills that the Hypno-couple learns for relaxation and hypnosis will benefit them for the rest of their lives.
● As a Hypno-Mom, you are easily "deprogrammed" from the usual negativity of childbirth stories and scenarios you may have heard or read, by way of training in Hypnobabies classes and audio CDs which have positive messages and hypnotic suggestions. This automatically allows you to have a much more positive attitude and confidence in birthing. It is truly a gift that you are giving yourself, an amazingly easy way to enjoy your pregnancy more and actually look forward to your baby's birth!

Also, I am going back to yoga.  I am shooting for a 2-3 times a week.  It is a good thing to do mentally and can help a lot for childbirth prep.  It is a great mental support for hypnobabies as it needs a lot of mental focus as well.  A low impact, stretching exercise will help me stay fit and flexible.  I did it 4 times a week all throughout pregnancy with Porter and it improved my health so much.  Exercise has been harder this go round, but I am re-committing in the latter half of my pregnancy.  Even if I do half the class, anything is better than nothing.

Diet.  I am not really bad now, but I want to be much more conscious of it going forward.  Eat more protein, take my vitamins diligently, give in less to cravings, eat fresh produce. Less eating out, more home cooking (ok less comfort cooking, more health cooking).  I do all of these already, but I just want to me more focused on it.  It will help with my energy, keep Scarlett healthy and fuel me properly for the birth.

Sleep more, stress less.  I am going to try and take it easy when I can.  Ask for help when I need it and not try and be Superwoman.  Already I am slowing down.  My back hurts a lot.  I can't move as well.  I just need to take this in stride.  Rest when I can even if it is a few minutes.  I need to trust that the plans I have set in place will work out and I need to take this very small blip of time and focus on growing my family.

Lastly, make it to my mommy groups more consistently.  My midwife runs a pregnancy support group every other week, called Nurturing New Bellies and my doula runs a New Moms support group as well.  I went this last week and it felt so good to be in the company of like women, be able to talk freely and get all the support you need.  It is wonderful.  It is great to take time out to just focus on my pregnancy and my new little girl. It makes a huge difference in my attitiude and mental state. 

On the whole, I am SO excited to meet my little lady.  I am thrilled to have two kiddos.  I know the ride is worth it.  But I also know preparing helps someone like me handle things better.  Wish me luck.... the next 20 weeks are sure to pass much more quickly than I know!