Notes from the week: 12/1
-I think the baby has definitely dropped.
Everyone else seems to have noticed this too (“I don’t think you’re going to make it until your due date!” I don’t either but I’ll have to laugh if I go to 41 weeks without any sign of labor), since the little one used to be snuggled up extremely high and has descended deeper down into my pelvis. And holy hell do I feel it in my hips. This weekend, it hurt to walk around because my hips were in so much pain.
According to Dr. Google, the baby will drop a couple of weeks before going into labor, and causes increased pressure on the pelvis, but also takes pressure away from the ribs. It’s definitely easier to breathe… last week I went to bed wheezing a couple of nights and this week it’s noticeably easier to suck in oxygen. I enjoy that.
While the fact that she dropped (and is head down!) makes me really excited, I also keep telling her to just wait 2 more weeks until she’s fully cooked.
Also, whenever I think of the term “the baby has dropped,” I sing “Drop it Low” in my head. Drop it low, girl, drop it, drop it low.
-We need to find a pediatrician. I’ve been putting it off because Tricare (military insurance) intimidates me. Every time I go to Tricare, it ends up being a day-long event with lots of different offices and piles of paperwork, but ends up being worth it because they’re pretty much amazing. I’ve heard so many gripes about Tricare, but I couldn’t be happier with them. The fact that I had very expensive health care in college makes me appreciate it even more.
Anyway, the longer I wait, the more it’s going to hang over my head as another thing on the to-do list, so I put it in the planner for this week. I’ll have to research different pediatricians here in Tucson (and ask fellow wives who they take their babies to), and make an appointment for us to meet with the doctor and check out the office.
Any tips on what to look for in a pediatrician?
-I seemed to have lost all sense of awareness. Good manners are super important in our family, and Tom was shocked when I walked right in front of a man looking at flowers to grab ours and walked away without saying “excuse me.”
He said “Are you ok? You just totally cut off that man and didn’t say anything.” I didn’t even notice the man was there! Scary.
-When we first started dating, one of Tom’s friends from high school MySpace-d a picture of her pregnant baby belly painted like an Easter egg. Now, whenever he talks about old friends, I say “Wait? Is this the egg girl?” 99% of the time, no, it is not the egg girl he’s referring to. Anyway, at the time I thought the egg thing was extremely silly and now… I want a henna tattoo on my belly.
Maybe a project for the weekend? 😉
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My belly dropped over a month before I had my daughter. Everyone told me the same thing. I was positive I was going to have her 2 weeks early.. She came 2 days early! Lol
Exciting! Glad to hear you are breathing easier. Still early for me (19wks) however my prenatal yoga class is full of gals struggling to get their breathing normal at 36 and 38wks. Babycenter Moms are happy to give out ideas around finding a good pediatrician. My midwife recommended two different ones I am planning on meeting around the 7th month. Since we want to do delayed vaccinations and vaccinations one at a time I wanted to find a doctor that would be supportive of our decisions.
Both Catalina peds on swan and mesquite peds off grant have excellent drs. Catalina accepts more Insurances and has more drs. Dr. Couchman at mesquite is one of the best diagnosticians I’ve seen.
The 2 drs at mesquite were originally at Catalina, but split off due to professional differences.
Good luck!
My two biggest requirements for a pedi: allowing me to follow my own vaccine schedule and easy to see when the baby is sick. Nothing worse than a babe with a bad ear infection and your regular pedi can’t get you in until the next day.
I have no sense of awareness. I am usually on a mission so I often walk right into people, my poor friends are always apologizing for me.
Ohh I’m going to have that song stuck in my head all day now! haha Good luck finding a pediatrician! That’s gotta be a pretty big task!
If she does come early, can you write her off your taxes for the WHOLE year??? Do not forget to check out the nurse!!
yep.
and thanks for reminding me about the nurse- they’re definitely as important as the doctor. i used to love my nurse at the ped’s office when i was little
When I was a kid my pediatrician would ask me about what books I was reading in school every time I saw him…not sure how you can figure that sort of thing out about a pediatrician, but I loved it! 🙂 Also, Tricare is awesome, I’m glad Tom can provide for you in that way…my grandma has Tricare (my grandpa was a Korean war vet), and she just got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. The co-pays, ‘scrips, chemo, etc. is outrageously expensive, but Tricare covers it ALL. Everytime my grandma hands over her military ID and Tricare card, she talks about how “Tom is still taking care of me!” and gets a huge smile…my grandpa’s name was Tom, too! 🙂 He passed away close to 30 years ago and she never remarried, saying he was “all the love she needed from life.” Ok, mush fest over! 🙂
ok, you’re going to make me cry. that is so sweet.
sending love and healing wishes to your grandma- hope she’s doing well <3
I’ve read your blog for a while not, and I knew you’d like the sappy story 🙂 Thanks for the positivity!!!
wow your belly looks amazing! and that henna tat looks fun, at least its a temp one 😉
Gosh, I can’t believe you are almost there! Thank you for taking us along your journey, I’ve loved every second! Hopefully that’s not too creepy, but it’s been as awesome for us as it has been for you! I can’t wait until baby arrives. Sending lots of good vibes your way!
PS- You’ve been such an inspiration- keeping up with your workouts the entire time…wowza! I can only hope to be as dedicated one day! xx
Ehhh I dropped at 35 weeks and started dilating at 36 and still went to 41 weeks!! Working out until the absolute last day made for a super fast labor though!
I love how all of your photos of your belly are at the gym, you really are a fit mama. I think that you should TOTALLY go for the Henna belly tattoo! I think it is a cute way to celebrate the belly whilst you have it, because before you know it, it’s gunna be gone! Good luck with the paediatrician search too girl.
Even if she decides to stay in there until your due date, that is still SO very close! These next few weeks will fly by for you because of the holidays. I’m so happy for you guys!
I am 27 weeks and thought the “pregnancy brain” was an excuse to get away with things until recently. I washed a load of towels with the lid open on the washer and no detergent in there. I had to rewash them. I’ve also been leaving every light in the house on when I leave a room. That’s not like me so I know it really exist.
P.S. You are rocking the belly!! You look great!
I used to be a henna artist for weddings and pregnant ladies! There were a couple of really fun henna parties that I would go to, and it was like one last final official celebration of expecting the baby. 🙂 I will say though, they look pretty weird after the baby is born, and henna can stay on for as long as 2 months (but likely more like 3 or 4 weeks on the thinner skin that is on the belly). Just make sure you find someone who only uses natural red henna – black henna is made out of a toxic hair dye that harms a lot of people, and most henna artists and users don’t know the difference (since it looks almost black when you put it on).
ahhh. I can’t it’s almost time for her to arrive!! It seems like you were just announcing your pregnancy a few weeks ago.
Your belly is looking super cute. 🙂
Recommend you get references from your midwives as well as your friends who are happy with their pediatricians. See if you AND your hubby can visit the office together during their normal office hours, and ask about their answering service, who handles their after-hours calls, office visits, which hospitals the practice uses, and (God forbid you ever need it) emergency room issues. My hips hurt for the last month of my last two pregnancies, and I was on bedrest for the same time due to early dilation of my cervix (both children are now in their early twenties and very healthy!). Best of luck to your and your hubby!
hiya!
so one of my close family friends is one of the big-time awesome OBGYNs here in Tucson, and I go to these dinner parties with this group of obgyns prettttty often. I could so totally shoot her an email and ask her for a recommendation if you’d like. let me know and i will do it and forward you her response!
I meant for a recommendation for a pediatrician, of course! I know you have the OBGYN part covered =).
You should get Henna on your belly! My dad’s family is from India and its tradition among the women there, it brings good luck to you and the baby. I had it done at my shower and as the artist was drawing both twins in my belly went crrrrazy, kicking and swimming around. So cool.
You’ve definitely dropped!! And people said the same thing to me for like 4 weeks before I delivered. I actually stopped going to my gym and started just working out at home and outside the last 2 weeks because I was SO sick of people asking me “YOU’RE STILL HERE!!??” or “They didn’t induce you yet…isn’t it so late”<—that one annoyed me so much. I was 1 week late but people were telling me I was not going to make it to my due date, so technically Michael and I were on edge for like 4 or 5 weeks hahah.
You look so great though. I just adore that belly!!!!!!
Henna…go for it!!!
Self-awareness and manners….get used to it! I am surprised it took this long to happen. It is scary!!!! Hormones I guess? Mommy-brain/
haha mommy brain has definitely kicked in.
<3
Seriously you are like the most gorgeous pregnant women ever! I think the only way someone could tell you’re pregnant is from the side…otherwise it doesn’t look like your body has changed at all! Can’t believe you’re almost full term!
thank you kaila! i can’t believe it, either.. it’s gone by so quickly!
My vest advice when it comes to a pediatrician is to try to get a referral for who is best with children. To my knowledge, they always try to pawn the worst doctor off on new patients be side everyone is scrambling for the good ones! 🙁
Best.. Ha!
You def have dropped it looks like! And now that song is in my head haha.
Omg gina you are too cute with your basketball belly! You are TINY everywhere else, I love it haha! And I feel you on Tricare…that’s why I stuck with prime so everything is chosen for me. I’m not picky with providers though, I figure if I have a problem with someone, I’ll just request a referral with the PCM. I’ll cross that bridge when I get there because so far, the on post care has been great!
that’s so good you’ve enjoyed your experience so far! i’ve never had a prob with military providers (the ones at fay were AWESOME), so hopefully we’ll have the same thing over here 🙂
You are the cutest pregnant lady, ever!
LOL “Drop it Low” – I’ve never seen the music video before, those are some serious dance skillz! I just remember the song from the Healthy Living Summit 2010 Zumba party 😀 That was one of my favorite dances we did!
henna belly….so cool! Do it!!
“Any tips on what to look for in a pediatrician?” — YES…someone who you totally, completely feel at ease with. As much as you are at ease w/ your midwives, that’s how you should feel with the pedi b/c you will see this person A LOT in the early days. Even if you are not vax’ing or are doing delayed vax, you will still be going lots for checkups and for any random stuff that pops up so make sure you just feel in your core, very comfortable w/ this person and that he/she shares your values, ideals, goals, and isn’t pushing certain decisions on you that you wouldn’t feel comfortable with, whatever those are for you.
You look great…and I doubt you’ll make it to your due date either!
thank you for the tips, lovely <3
I wish I lived in Tuscon b.c I LOVE henna-ing pregnant bellies. Ok, that sounds creepy, …..but it makes for absolutely gorgeous black and white photos. Do it!!
aww i wish you were here too!
i think i will do it 🙂
You look great!!! And I’m so sorry about the hips… that part was NO fun! I was not prepared for my hips aching that badly!!
I hate to say it but the pain in your hips is probably here to stay. I had the worst pain for the last couple of weeks of my pregnancy – luckily my daughter came over a week early. Working out could definitely help make your labor fast … Mine was 6.5 hours from start to finish.
As for a pediatrician – with our TriCare we didn’t get much up a choice besides their list of providers. I ended up getting the pediatrician who discharged us from the Army hospital. She has been incredible! What I love is that she talks to Emmalyne when we go see her (granted we’ve only been in for her 2-week check-up so far). I will say with TriCare and appointments they have always gotten us in the day of if we needed to see someone. Em got a weird rash and they got me in within a few hours 🙂
Good luck with interviewing 🙂
i hope so! i love hearing success stories from women who stayed fit and had fast labors. gives me hope 🙂
also great to know about the pediatrician- so glad you have a good one<3
xoox
Your daughter’s name is Emmalyne? How funny! My youngest daughter (she’s 10) is named Emmalyn 🙂
You are seriously the cutest pregnant lady out there! I can only hope that my belly is as cute as yours when I have a baby – many years down the road! 🙂 Happy holidays!
aww thank you, friend!
We aren’t even going to discuss Tri-Care. Seriously, it can be really good to you…or it can really suck. I have had both experiences in our 16 years being active duty with three children. Best of luck.
haha you’ve officially scared me.
We have had great experiences and not so great experiences. What I have learned through the Tri-Care process is to do your research and don’t give up! 🙂
Oh..and labor..I have had three GREAT labor experiences. My first was 7 days early and 7 hours and 43 minutes. My second was 7 days late and 8 hours and 20 minutes. My last, bless her, was one day early and labor was….13 minutes! She was almost born on the side of the autobahn in Germany!
13 minutes!!!! WHOA! that is so crazy.
i’m so glad to hear you had great labor experiences- that always gives me hope 🙂
You’re telling me! She was born in the observation room. In Germany, it’s old school..they have an observation room, labor room, delivery room, then recovery room before you are moved to the post-birth floor. Well, needless to say, I didn’t have to move around to all those rooms! 🙂 I don’t even remember any real “pain” during any of my three childbirths. I remember a lot of pressure and some cramping..but nothing that I couldn’t handle. I had all three naturally. My husband actually missed the last one! When we arrived, he pulled into the emergency parking and wheeled me to the third floor. While the nurse was checking me, he ran down to move the car. When he came back up, surprise, it’s a girl! LOL
We LOVE our pediatrician’s office. There are 6 doctors and so far in the past two months we have only seen our main one, but like them all. The nurses are WONDERFUL!!
One thing that made me sit the fence on picking this office was that they DO NOT do any sort of delayed vaccination or spread out schedule and make it very clear.
We still chose them regardless. Also, I thought it was very important that my daughter have a female doctor. I grew up and had two male doctors in the practice I went to. Difficult to deal with when I was in my teens and still going. Good luck!!
I dropped at 28 weeks.
I delivered at 41w3d.
Yeppp… definitely doesn’t mean that much!
We picked our pedi based on friends’ recommendations and did some online research on the office afterwards and we couldn’t be happier!
I’m not sure how much flexibility you have with your pediatrician selection, but I would personally recommend finding a place where you can familiarize yourself with one (or very few) doctors. The first practice I took my daughter to was a revolving door of 10 pediatricians, and they shuttled patients in and out like cattle. It was so horrible and impersonal. I switched to a single physician practice after 2 months, and it has been amazing! He single-books his patients, so he’s never pushy or in a hurry. He explains everything thoroughly and is really open to working with us when we have specific requests or changes that we’d like to make to her care. My daughter had emergency surgery back in January and he called my cell phone well past normal business hours (on a Friday night) just to check in and make sure everything had gone well!
My daughter was a micro-preemie, and I realized quickly how important it was to have a doctor who knew her as more than a name on a chart and really understood her as a patient.
Drop It Low is my favorite Zumba song! We did a lower body routine to the song, and it kicked my butt! That song is now on my mp3 and gets played every time I need to be pumped up!
You are still adorable by the way! The belly is so cute.
How excited would it be if the little lady made her appearance right before Christmas?! That would be the most amazing gift of all time 🙂
What I did was just find a doctor that had a good schedule — mine is available weekends, including Sundays! All the other details don’t fall into play until you actually meet them — and there is nothing wrong with switching a few times until you find a personality that you can deal with. Group practices can be good – they will all familiarize themselves with your LO eventually and there is always someone covering for vacations and such. Most offices have electronic medical records so all your baby’s info is accessible to to them.
Good LUCK!
You look great! Do you have any stretchmarks? What are you using to prevent them?
thank you! none on my belly (knock on wood!), on my boobs, yes. i’ve been using loccitane supple skin oil, and a lotion bar (with shea butter, coconut oil, cocoa butter and almond oil) that i bought at the farmer’s market. i like the lotion bar better than the oil
Some of the things I love about our pedi and would recommend are:
*open-minded and realizes different things work for different families- she offers holistic alternatives to meds, allows delayed vax, etc.
*breastfed each of her 3 children for 18+ months, so is not quick to suggest supplementing and also has an in-house lactation consultant
*welcomes email questions and responds quickly
*rooms have couches instead of examination tables (one room does, in case it’s necessary) and no one in the office wears scrubs or a doctor’s coat, as to not develop “white coat syndrome,” it’s a nice, welcoming, casual environment
*we are shown directly to a room, no sitting in a waiting room- some offices offer sick and well waiting rooms instead
Good luck!
Wow! You look GREAT! I’ve been following your blog for a couple months and just posting for the 1st time. I’m 27 weeks pregnant so it’s been fun following your journey! I hope I look as great as you when I get closer to my due date!
thank you, you look amazing yourself! your arms are fantastic 🙂
You’re lucky to be in Tucson–we still miss our pediatrician.
Mesquite Pediatrics is amazing!!!! Their staff is incredible, Dr. Couchman literally saved my daughter’s life by diagnosing her with a heart condition after birth, and Dr Cochran is phenomenal. We started with Catalina Pediatrics with our first daughter, and left after really negative experiences (ie, dr making bets with staff about how quickly he could do well-baby checks).
whoa! good to know! thank you
You look amazing!
Hey Miss Gina this is Carrie-from-Miami…there are more awesome ladies named Carrie commenting, so I think i’ll add my last initial lol…
Just wanted to say, the boo boo lip picture from above is absolutely adorable…I don’t think i’ve ever seen a picture where you’re not smiling or mugging like a movie star with the Pilot! You look great…you are in such amazing shape. You have been my weight loss inspiration (72 lbs. now!!!!) and when I have a baby (in the next 2 years hopefully) I plan to follow many of your guidelines for that!!!
A healthy Mom makes for a healthy baby!!! 🙂
thank you, carrie!!
and congrats to you for your weight loss success- you are amazing
You should totally get an expiry date style henna tattoo with your due date instead! Like a “best before” or something 🙂
Pediatrician – i’d decide whether you’ll vacinate or not. Decide if you want someone who’ll take a more natural approach, or prescibe you medicine. When you know the answers to those things, it’s much easier to find someone you like!
that’s a good point! we’re going to vaccinate, but spread them out. a natural approach is also really important
BEST rendition of Drop It Low: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inV8plprPT8&feature=related (esp. 1:19-1:35)… I DIE laughing every time I see it! 😉
Oh my gosh! You have to get a henna tattoo! I got one on my giant 38-week belly and it was so cool! I am currently pregnant with my 2nd and I think I want to do a henna party with this pregnancy for me and my friends.
I work in a peds office!!! 🙂 My advice would be to ask other moms on base, get a list of maybe the three most recommended pediatricians, and set up meet-the-doctor appointments with each one (before you deliver *if* you can, since typically your first well visit is when Baby is 2 weeks old and you probably won’t have a chance between birth + 2 week check up — AND it’s a bad idea to bring Baby into the germy doc’s office more than you have to, at least when she’s that young). Make sure their schedules are pretty open, that they always get sick visits in the same day, that they can schedule well visits within two weeks at the most just in case you forget….and make sure you really like all the nurses since you’ll deal with them A LOT throughout Baby’s childhood! And of course, *always* go with your gut =)