My first babypost – 27 Weeks

Gender: We’re not finding out! There are so few surprises left in life, so we decided to keep the wee one’s gender unknown until birth. You may see me refer to Lil’ Ziggy as “he”, but only because it’s a habit developed from not wanting to call it “it”.

Clothes: I will likely continue wearing maternity clothes after Zig’s born and for years to come. SO comfy. I don’t think I’ll ever buy pants with a fly again anyway.

Movement: I’m happy to say I’m finally at that point where I’m feeling (and seeing!) the kicks and punches all day long. It’s incredible to experience, and Chris has been able to feel/see it a few times now too. I think it makes it a bit more “real” for him. It might also creep him out a bit.

Symptoms: HEARTBURN. UGH what a drag. Tums only works for a little while. Sometimes it starts up after I eat something, other times it starts up if I’ve been sitting too long, or bending over for some reason. I guess the wee one is squishing my innards, sending all those delightful juices back up the way they came in. I’ve also been experiencing pain and stiffness in my hips and lower back. On my right side it’s been a sciatica-style shooting pain, on my left a sharp pulling/pinching when I walk. I’ve been going to physiotherapy for several weeks now and the shooting pain in my right hip is being managed well with daily stretches.

Food aversions: In my first trimester, I couldn’t go anywhere near chicken. The very thought of it grossed me out. I’m very lucky in that I didn’t experience much morning sickness at all, but the things I didn’t like before I got pregnant magically grew worse. For the most part, it was just cooked veggies which was easy to get around.

Food cravings: None really to speak of. As with the food aversions, the things I like most have generally been amplified.

Preparing for birth: I’ve hired on a doula to help me through labour and childbirth. For those who don’t know what a doula is, they’re basically labour coaches who advocate on your behalf before, during and after labour and childbirth. The general level of maternal care in Fort McMurray is lacking rather badly at the moment. It’s not that all the doctors, OBs and nurses here are bad (though there are some pretty awful family doctors up here), it’s just that there is no funding for midwives to start a practice up here (where they would have absolutely no shortage of businesses – over 100 babies are born each month here on average), and too few OBs to handle the workload. I personally want to have a natural birth experience (no pain drugs, and minimal medical interventions like pitocin, for example). Since it’ll just be Chris and I up here, I’m much more comfortable with this decision because I know I’ll have an experienced doula there to help me through it with pain-coping techniques, massage, advocacy, information, etc. Before you go all “wow, what a hippy dippy loser”, I encourage you to research doulas and the benefits having one can have for the family.

And I think that is about it! As I said in my introduction post, I’m hoping to do this once a week to update friends and family on how everything is going in my pregnancy. See you next time!