Graduation From Bean To Blueberry

I had meant to blog yesterday, and was then called to a birth. Lots of birth doula clients rolling in lately. I love it! Last night's birth was a beautiful hypnobirth in the hospital. Lisa and I were wondering why I may be getting more clients all of a sudden. She mentioned that it must be in part because I have more time and energy for new clients since my boys are both in school now, which also gives me more time to nurture myself and be rested for births. (And now I am texting with another client this morning who thinks she may be in early labor. Funny how births seem to double up.) I was telling Lisa that maybe another reason why more clients are coming to me is because this baby wants to be part of lots of positive birth experiences before its born. Whatever the reasons, I'm thrilled to be called numerous times during the week by potential clients who want to meet me. Maybe someday some of them will come back to me later on with consecutive pregnancies when I'm a midwife? What a fun idea!

The pregnancy has been pretty smooth so far. I'm now seven weeks along. A little nauseousness here and there, and I threw up once a couple mornings ago (which was a first in pregnancy for me), but I saw it as a good sign that I am indeed pregnant with what one website says, "a baby the size of a blueberry". I'm also experiencing some discomfort with some veins in my legs. Mostly just soreness, itching, and hotness. They aren't poking out like varicose veins, but they are visible. Lisa is ordering and shipping me some good pregnancy compression pantyhose this week that should help with that. 

I'm feeling pretty happy and vibrant and enjoying being pregnant again. It's exciting feeling my belly slowly grow again. I laid down the other day and felt around for my uterus to see if I could feel it, and sure enough it is slowly expanding. It's hard to tie my shoes with my jeans buttoned and I can't sleep with my knees tucked up close to my belly because it puts too much pressure on my uterus. It's going to be so amazing and fun to hear the heartbeat when Lisa and Brooks are here. I'm really looking forward to spending time with them.

5 Weeks and Counting

The vacation was so relaxing and perfectly timed. There were plenty of pools I could soak in without getting overheated and they happened to be the pools that mostly other pregnant mamas and kids were in, so I was in good company. The only thing that came up that wasn't so fun was the nauseousness. Ah yes, the morning sickness, which I like to call "anytime" sickness because it can appear out of the blue at any time. So that came and went, it usually didn't stay for more than an hour at a time and I couldn't throw up, just like in my other pregnancies. I just had to wait for it to subside. So I breathed deeply, drank peppermint tea to calm my stomach and went for walks to get fresh air, did yoga in the sanctuary (a beautiful warm yurt with lots of nice meditation pillows and yoga mats) or knitted in the library. The other thing I've noticed is that I'm almost always very warm. At night I'm HOT. It's nice this time of year though, especially since our house is so cold. I'm also a little more tired. But overall I feel healthy and good! I've been making it a point to get good walks in too. Today I'll be walking the two plus miles around Lake Padden with my dog, Forest, and a previous client and her almost three month old baby.

I'm about five and a half weeks along into the pregnancy (which is still so weird to me that 'they' count the two weeks before you are even fertile, or in my case, have sperm in you). Every Tuesday will be my "one more week" mark. Meaning this coming Tuesday I will be six weeks along. I called my midwives and we have our first appointment set for December 18th. I will be 12 weeks on that day and hopefully we'll be able to hear baby's heartbeat for the first time. Lisa and Brooks will be visiting December 15th-18th, so it'll be perfect.We'll get to do a little winter celebrating with them, and lots of pregnancy/baby celebrating.

My doula practice has also been really growing lately and I'm thrilled that I have three due dates this month as well as three next month. I would love to continue with two to four due dates every month until June. It feels like the perfect schedule to me and I love all the pregnancy and birth energy that I now share on a different level with my clients. I'm so honored to help so many amazing, strong, beautiful women find their power and be in abundance and trust around their births. I'm hoping I can get back into doula work pretty quickly after this sweet baby is born. I'm envisioning being able to take clients with August due dates.

Let's have a healthy, positive, and joyful first trimester, little one. In fact, let's just make the whole pregnancy, birth, and postpartum sweet and smooth. I'm calling that in.