No Words Wednesday

May your song always be sung...

Well, my plans to sit down and write a letter to Little Guy to mark his first month were overreaching, to say the least. I'm hoping to finish up a week-by-week summary for Saturday, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share the few songs I find myself singing over and over again to him as he nurses, sleeps, or fusses.


"Forever Young," Audra May and the Forest Rangers.

Of course we have to use the Sons of Anarchy video. I might not be able to get out on my bike this summer, but I'm not ready to put it up on Craigslist just yet either. Little Guy needs to know he has a Motorcycle Mama.

No Words Wednesday

The labor story...

So, I figure I owe you all the birth story. It's fairly long, so feel free to skim and just pick-up the highlights. 

Ok, so at my 38 week appointment, my midwife offered to strip my membranes. She was pretty enthusiastic about it, too, which is kind of crazy because most medical caregivers won't consider any sort of intervention -- even a mild and safe form like membrane stripping -- until 39 weeks. (Full-term for babies is 37 weeks, but due dates can be off by up to two weeks.) (Also, a note about membrane stripping -- I made a clicky link above, but the short version is that membrane stripping is a process where the midwife or doctor uses his/her fingers to gently separate/lift your bag of waters from sitting on the uterus. If the woman's body is ready, and the baby, too, it can stimulate labor. If not, it pretty much doesn't do anything except maybe give you some cramps. It takes about 15 seconds, and it's fairly uncomfortable, but not awful. I'd do it again.)

A lot of women are sick and tired of being pregnant by the time they hit 37 weeks, which is why my midwife offered to strip them at that appointment, but I was actually pretty comfortable. I really didn't want to deal with any sort of intervention, but Mr. Zookeeper's schedule was presenting a bit of a problem. He was going to be home from Friday, February 25 until March 7, then he was taking off for a six-week trip out of state. My due date was March 4, but I had a feeling I would go late (most first time moms do). So, I told the midwife I would let her strip my membranes. I figured we would strip them on Friday, February 25 (at my regular appt) and then again on Monday and Wednesday of the next week. That way, we would probably gently ease my body into labor by my due date. I honestly did not think it would work on the first try -- I was just way too comfortable and I didn't have very many signs of impending labor.

I was wrong. 

No Words Wednesday