I publish my posts before I have Nelson read them because he's an editor at heart, and I admire his editing/writing ability. However, when Nelson does have a comment about my writing, I do become a little sore and maybe it's because I know he's right and also because this is a blog, not a cover letter or an essay.
So as you noticed in the last blog I posted a photo of Jackie O and Kennedy and above the photo, I wrote "Yay to Weddings and Love." Nelson said "that photo doesn't go with "love." Ok we all know that Kennedy was known for his infidelity. I wasn't thinking of that when I posted the photo. I liked the photo bc Jackie O of course is always so gorgeous and it was their wedding day so it did encompass a wedding and love (at least i hope!)
but in case that photo didn't work (Thanks Nelson), let's go with a wedding that we all loved so dearly:
I do think older black and white photos are cooler though ;)
Do you hear what I hear in the far distance??? Wedding Bells! A year from today our Brother (my bro-in-law) Nate and his lovely fiance Nicole, will be tying the knot. Thank you to them for allowing me to dream of the following:
- Eating any type of cheese or cold meats available (not sure what the menu is but hey if there's antipasta, I'm on it) - Eating any type of fish that's on the menu (I've stayed away from fish bc of mercury and I know I can have the smaller sized fish, but since I'm not a fishmonger, I don't know which fish are small or large or swim in fresh water or salt water) Luckily the last wedding we were at, our Chef friend Judy was at our table and let me know what type of fish they were serving. - Drink caffeinated drinks AND have chocolate all at the same time! wowee - AND THE MOST IMPORTANT OF THEM ALL:
El Vino Tinto!!!! I will drink wine, wine, wine and feel fine, fine, fine. I can't go crazy though because seeing that I will be trying to nurse, I still won't be drinking so I'm sure a couple of drinks will be fine for me. However I am FINE with that :) Or even an ice cold Corona! hmmm. Don't worry, I'll pump and dump the milk (what a waste).
We are looking forward to Nate and Nicole's wedding and to be quite honest, I'm happy to have motivation for me to lose the baby weight as soon as possible. This girl gotta fit in a dress. My only concern is that I hope my boobies can fit in the dress. I hear that after birth the mother's boobs fill up with milk so they are actually BIGGER than while your preggers. Um well my ladies are actually quite big right now. Very big that I can not fit in certain sun dresses bc of them and this was even WEEKS AGO. I'm sure it will all work out and seamstresses can work wonders.
Something crossed my mind today and I would like to let you into my thoughts for just a second and then you must get out of them bc then you'll think I'm nuts and in turn you may start to think like me:
So let's just say that the bridesmaids (I'm one of them) are all up at the alter standing next to the bride, in front of everyone and what if all of a sudden, one of my boobs decide to leak? What would one do in that situation? Hold up the flowers to cover the spill? Luckily the dress is black so maybe it won't show. Well knowing this possible scenario, there are:
NURSING PADS!
Ok now you may leave my crazy thought of the day. Hey I'm just thinking ahead and putting out possible fires ahead of time.
Also I learned today from my dear friend and colleague Susan that the baby will decide when they are done breastfeeding, so who knows if Baby Castro will even be up for it in June. I'm just gonna milk it for as long as I can.... tehehe milk it!
From Auntie Chris. Thank you so much for the stories, and glad to hear you were able to stick with your decision! She said I could post these, so take a looksie!
I was very young 20 years and 22 days I think.
With Clarice I didn’t have any drugs. I didn’t like the effects of drugs on the baby. I took classes but they sucked and nothing can prepare you for the discomfort that labor brings. It hurts…it hurts for hours every 10 minutes. So you cant rest. I remember at the end I was asking Nuno to tell them to give me something to let me rest…and I would promise to come back tomorrow..that was my true thoughts. But it doesn’t work that way. Every woman who has given birth has stories. I didn’t like the thought of a needle in my back. Elaine had one for Nelson and she didn’t like it…gave her headaches I believe. I think she went natural with Nathan (a year after me).
I went into mild labor with Clarice at 10 p.m…..missing out on a nights sleep. She was born 10:20 a.m. Which isn’t bad. I went into the hospital at 3 a.m. Nuno actually asked if he had to miss work that morning. Ugh. MEN!!! When in the hospital, I thought whats the big deal..it hurts a little so what. But..when it gets closer and closer and you cant rest between contractions you lose it. You feel like you need a rest…a break to recoup later. But that doesn’t happen. So you have to endure. I asked for drugs…but I had read about all the drugs and new I didn’t want any. They offered Spinal I said no way… they offered drugs interveinesly (spelling) and I said no, cause babies come out asleep and they need to be slapped awake..i didn’t want anything in my baby. But I wanted something to relieve the pain. It never happened and she just started to come out. The nurses told me not to push but Clarice just started to come right out. I said “I’m NOT pushing” but the baby gushes out… back in the day they had to move me to the delivery room and then Clarice came out almost easily. Your bottom gets numb naturally from having a baby…I walked funny for days.
Ok for Neal… slightly different. I learned of one medication that I considered. I recommended it to Sabrina but she didn’t use it. No one I know has ever used it. But I highly recommend it. When having a baby, the worst part isn’t deliver… its labor before delivery. Your dad may be able to advise. He should be an expert. I knew that deliver can wear you down. You lose your strength and your patience. What I opted for was a Cervical block? Don’t think its called that. Let me explain. Drugs through IV go into the baby. Spinal things make you numb. I don’t like either one. I want to push and get that baby out of me. Pushing isn’t as bad as you think…it’s the labor before that, that wears you down. So what I opted for was a cervical block? Not sure that’s the name but let me explain. When the labor gets hard and you get tired… ask for this needle that they go inside and numb the cervix with nova cane. All the pain you feel during labor is in the cervix. The baby contractions effect the cervix and tire you out. So I requested they numb the cervix when it hurt too much. It’s a local. I wont say anything doesn’t goes to baby but it is basically a local. So what happened was I got it once. It lasted for 45 mintues. They did it, they monitor your contractions on a monitor and I didn’t feel the contractions. Then after 20 minutes I barely felt them…then 10 more minutes they were mild…then 10 more they started to hurt… and I said, “ can you give me another shot” they checked and said NO, you are now 10 centimeters…time to push. J So I went 45 minutes without feeling much discomfort and I was able to push and feel the baby come out. Which is a wonderful thing.
People on drugs don’t remember parts of the labor and people with spinal don’t feel the baby coming out, which doesn’t hurt… the worst part of having the baby is the hours before it comes out. I could never convince my own mother of that cause she was of the error where women were put out cold and they used forceps to remove the baby…we don’t want that.
If you are put out, they usually put you out at the end.. and the end which YES is very tedious and tiring, its short and not as bad as the hours of labor before.
I hope you find it helpful…you should ask your dad about what it is that I received. Its not in the back or spine..its internal in the cervix and once the cervix is “open” then they cant give you more… and its up to you to finish the job.
Good luck, hope someone uses this method…I loved it. It was as close to going natural as I know… and I did go natural with Clarice. But I was tired for days and days.. hard to catch up with the loss of sleep that one night in labor all night.
No I'm not running in the NYC marathon and I never will, but I will be treating this labor/birthing process as a marathon. Last night, Nelson and I were talking about possibly doing this birth naturally. Many of you reading this may be saying, "she has no idea what she's in for," "she'll probably change her mind." Well yes, I do not know what I'm in for and hey I may decide to go naturally for part of the birthing process and then get the drugs after dilation. We will never know until the day of, but there will be some sort of birth plan.
Also sometimes I get ahead of myself and somewhat obsess about things way far in advance, however, this labor/birth, I feel like I need to prepare for in advance, just like one would do for a marathon. Also, just yesterday the Birthing Class at the Hospital called me to start scheduling the classes. GULP GULP GULP! Really?? Guess I have to get it on our calendars. They are 4 - two hour classes. Looks like our weekends will be booked in the fall with birthing classes, baby showers, and renovations. Busy busy busy time! can you hear me getting anxious already? I can start with the Lamaze breathing now! But for all good and great reasons :)
Any mothers reading this, can you please share with me your birth plan? Drugs vs. nondrugs. I know everyone and every labor is different but it is good to hear other's experiences. Appreciate the input!
What I am excited about is the hospital. A coworker at my job has given birth to all of her kids at Winthrop hospital and she said it is a great place. They have GOURMET MEALS to choose from! hahaha I'm sure I'll want to eat while going through tons of pain. Of course I clicked on the Gourmet meals section first when I was looking at their website. Hmm yum yum yum. Already thinking about my first meal after pregnancy!
a few things on my list to have in my fridge after the baby arrives:
feta cheese
fresh mozzarella cheese
turkey for turkey sandwiches
SUSHI!!!!!!
So this blog entry went from Marathon birthing plan, hospital gourmet meals, to food in my fridge post preggers. hmmmm so a lot on my mind: FOOD AND LABOR, great combo!
I'm sure you noticed that when I refer to the baby I've been saying "he" a lot. Well Nelson and I have a gut feeling the baby is a boy. Our reasoning is pure scientific. Male sperm travel a whole lot faster than the lady sperm, however they do die off quickly and the lady sperm outlive the male sperm. Since I took an ovulation test on a Friday morning, and Sunday evening was the day that the birds and the bees happened, we feel that my wee little egg was just waiting for Mr. Right. just like the video below:
Did you see the little Rose? Nelson's sperms are so romantic! :-)
Regardless we will find out if our instincts are correct on Saturday August 13th at 8am. If the little guy cooperates, he will be able to prove us right or WRONG. Either way we will be ecstatic, but I know there are a few little bets going on, so if I were you, I would say, go with the boy bet! and then give me some of the cash!
On another note, I watched the documentary "The Business of Being Born." I watched it by myself while Nelson was working out, and he asked me the other day if I think he should watch it. Hmmm I'm not sure... There are A LOT of births in the video and I handled them pretty well, but a couple of them were a little more than I expected to see. They were all beautiful moments though! Because of the documentary, the whole birth plan has me thinking. I'm actually CONSIDERING and CONSIDERING the key word here, to TALK about Natural child birth, WITHOUT the drugs. GULP, can't believe I just typed that. Now I want to restate that I'm THINKING about it and haven't made up my mind completely. I have about 180 days to still think about it! The reason why I would not do the drugs is for a couple of things that the documentary brought up. When a woman gets an Epidural, it completely relieves the pain, making you NUMB, which then counteracts with the dilation of the cervix. When the woman isn't dilating according to schedule, then the doctor's administer Pitocin. From about.com:
Pitocin is a liquid medication that is a synthetic form of the naturally occurring hormone, oxytocin. Pitocin is diluted with a standard saline solution an introduced into your body by IV drip.
What pitocin also does is SPEED UP labor and cause more contractions. When that happens, the Epidural tends to fade away, and then the woman would most likely get ANOTHER dose of epidural to ease the pain, and so the cycle continues. A battle between 2 drugs. Then after a certain amount of time, if there's no more progress, the doctor (so that he/she may go home to dinner) may just order the C-section, regardless if there are any complications. C-section is a quick 20 minute procedure BUT it is major surgery. If I can avoid having another major surgery, I will, but if it's emergency and lives are at stake, absolutely do what you gotta do, Doc.
Oh they also brought up the possibility of Pitocin/any meds during birth being the possible causes of certain disorders in children. Now that's one side of the story, so who knows what to believe?!
I would like to do more research on this and talk to mothers who have gone through the whole birthing process. My sis-in-law had drugs for her first and none for her second and I believe her second birth was faster than her first and she could feel her legs after.
I will not be all hippie like and want an at home birth. I believe in hospitals, especially since I've been around the medical field my entire life, but I think knowing all the options and consequences are important.
I feel guilty shopping for clothes just because I know that I only need a few items for a short amount of time, however when a girl feels like she has nothing to wear, you just HAVE to go out and shop until you find something that fits comfortable and looks nice. Last week I went to Old Navy and bought a pair of maternity shorts and maternity white capris. I wore the white capris today for the first time. I can still wear my normal non maternity ones, but honestly they feel tight and who am I kidding? I want to feel comfortable. Here are the ones I got from Old Navy:
They are comfy however it was kind of awkward wearing them today. I was off from work so I went to the city to have lunch with my former boss at NBC. Before lunch, I went to a few stores to see if I could find larger non-maternity clothes bc it ends up being less expensive. During my shopping spree (mini spree) I found myself pulling up these capris the majority of the time. Maybe it's still a little too early to be wearing them? When I was on the escalator in H&M I had to reach in the back of my pants and pull up my pants along with my undies bc I felt like they were falling down, you know like the plumber look. Little did I know that there was a man standing right behind me on the escalator. Ah well! Next time I'll adjust myself behind a rack of clothes or better yet, a bathroom.
I will try to continue to use my belly bands too. They are a life saver and I think everyone should invest in them for thanksgiving. You can unbutton and even unzip your pants and the band still holds up your pants. Still a little awkward at first, but I wore my jeans on 2 days last week with the band and they felt fine. From the mini shopping spree, I bought a stretchie skirt, a pair of stretchie shorts, and 4 tank tops, ALL NON maternity!
On another note, it's week 14! My belly is popping out a little but sometimes more at the end of the day which i think is more bloat than anything. Starting from this week on, the books say you can possibly feel a fluttering, aka quickening. 14 weeks may be too early, and 18 weeks is usually a good time to feel, especially if it's the first pregnancy. I'm on the look out and sometimes when I feel something, I ask out loud, "Is that you?" Regardless if it is the baby or not, I know it has to do with our baby making all these changes. And I just felt a little thing again as I just typed this. Kinda feels like a little twitch. My uterus is growing as I type!
Ok time for bed! Tomorrow I'll be swimming during lunch at work. The baby's swimming in around in there, so I figured I could join him :)
Nelson went out for drinks after work today and since I could do whatever I want, I gave myself a mani and pedi. I was watching reruns of "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant" on TLC. Seriously? You didn't know you were pregnant???? I don't believe this at all. I knew SOMETHING was up with my body the week we found out we were pregnant. It was just funny to watch all the reenactments. One of the nurses said "You just delivered a baby in your pants!" I couldn't stop laughing. Seriously this show is a train wreck, but I can't stop watching. A woman delivered a baby in the bathroom at an Amusement Park! The baby fell on the floor while she was standing up! CRAZY!
I never had to say those words above to anyone, but I have to repeat them to myself sometimes. As the first trimester comes to an end (my doctor said that after 12 weeks, you're in the 2nd), I've come to realize that my body is making a whole lot of changes (and not the most appealing). I won't go into gross details, but those who have experienced pregnancy or will experience it, will know what I mean. And a big Sorry to Nelson who has to witness it all :)
This past weekend we went up to CT to visit family and this was the first time we were able to spill the beans. THANK GOODNESS. We were dying for such a long time to tell everyone. When I went up there, everyone pretty much said that I didn't look preggers yet, which I appreciated, BUT I feel fat! It was common to hear "your waist is the first to go." Honestly I thought I would be fine with it at first since there's a reason why your waist is growing daily. However, when I log on to Babycenter.com or TheBump.com and see that some ladies LOSE weight during their first trimester, it makes me feel like I'm a fat cat or something. I've gained about 5-6 pounds and you know that's not just the baby. This is normal weight gain during the first trimester, I know but it's still JUST the first trimester!
I'm noticing an increase in appetite which I know that should only be expected but for lunch today I had a bowl of lentils with veggies and even brown rice. That should fill you up for hours right? 2 hours later, I felt my stomach grumbling. And water just doesn't do the trick. I've already had 96 ounces of water today so I know it's not dehydration. This baby wants food!
We don't have cookies in our house, Thank God!
Well all i can do is try to eat healthy as possible and get in the exercise I need, both which I've been doing. But hey, if I want a burger or a slice of pizza, I'm going for it, well the baby is going for it! Stat!
Here are the pics from last week sono. Today we went for ANOTHER sono! We've been seeing this little guy a lot lately. Nelson will have to upload those photos too. It was so cool to see his profile. Got to see his nose, legs, brains, feet, hands. He even looked straight at us. Nelson couldn't make it to this appt bc of work, so my mom came in with me during the sono and my father hung out in the waiting room.
Whenever I see the number 11, I think of Nelson bc that was his soccer jersey when he played. So how fitting it was to see our little wee one kick around in my tummy on our week 11 visit to the High Risk Doc. My obgyn suggested that I would see the High Risk Doc bc of my history with Hodgkins, BUT the obgyn was also saying that I was sick 10 years ago and it shouldn't be a problem so she was just erring on the side of caution. We actually were exciting for that just bc it would give us another chance to take a sneak peak at Baby Castro.
The appointment went great and the when we were looking at Baby Castro, he started to move around. My heart skipped a beat and both Nelson and I had our surprised reactions out loud. The technician said there must be a dancer in the family since he's dancing around like that. Thanks to Nelson we will have another Michael Jackson dancer in the fam and maybe a great soccer player too!
Haven't had a chance to scan these photos, but once we do, will update in a few.
