Bradley Part 3 & 4

Ok, the classes are starting to pick up, but still pretty general. Great information, and we're learning a lot, but still pretty general. Week 3 was just about general pregnancy stuff, week 4 was about the coach's role. Some highlights from the last 2 weeks:

- Experiencing mood swings? Eat a piece of fruit! This is where I really love our instructor, she's great about pointing out the parts of Bradley that she thinks are crap. She said Bradley apparently thinks that every pregnancy related malady is caused by some sort of nutritional deficiency, and fruit is the cure for mood swings. I'm pretty sure Dan would get punched in the throat if he told me to eat a piece of fruit when I'm having one of those days.

- A baby coming out of your vagina is a sign of pre-term labor. No shit.

- Analgesics are likely to just make you high and do nothing to help with the pain.

- Many of the medications commonly administered during labor are in the same family as cocaine.

Um, I think those are the main things. No, we really did go over quite a bit, nothing totally earth shattering though, but good to hear. And I know Dan has been a little skeptical of the whole natural birth thing, but he gets more and more on board every week with all the new information we get. Which is definitely good. He's all about doing things the old fashioned way, and you dont get much more old fashioned than that! Well, unless I wanted to go out and squat in a field and then come back in and churn out some butter.

Some other things of note:

- Holy woah! My feet do not like the "heat". It's been in the 80's for 4 days now, and they are about twice their normal size. It looks like I'm walking around on a couple of pork tenderloins. So much for being the cute pregnant lady walking around in sundresses and flip flops. Shrek feet dont really compliment the look.

- Mmmmm, pork tenderloin.

- It is virtually impossible for me to paint my toenails. I attempted it last night, and had to stop to catch my breath and reposition myself after every toe. Needless to say, I did not get a second coat on.

- Same goes for shaving. If it didnt mean I'd have to let it grow out, I'd just have Suzanne wax my legs while she's at it.

- LessthantwoweeksuntilthirdtrimesterandIdonthaveanythingdoneholyshit!

- Baby is getting a lot more active. I'm starting to be able to see movement from the outside now. Cool. But, weird.

- I think the dogs are starting to realize something is up, Penny won't eat unless I'm sitting right next to her.

25w 2d

Bradley, part 2

Oops, I'm a week late. So last week was our second Bradley class. Dan was back in town for this one, so no more feeling like a teen mother. This one was about nutrition, and to be honest, I was half thinking of skipping it. If it hadn't been Dan's first class, we probably would have. I feel like I know what I need to know about good nutrition, so didn't really see the point in sitting through a 2 hour class. That is not to say I practice good nutrition all the time, but I do pretty well, and feel like I have a pretty firm grasp on it.

I'm glad we went though! I did learn a few things. The class focused around good nutrition during pregnancy, which is (or should be) obviously not the same as good nutrition when you are trying to lose weight/maintain weight/train for an event/etc. For instance, I did not know that a daily protein intake of at least 70g has been linked to a drastic reduction in your chances of developing pre-eclempsia. And pre-E is bad, if you develop it, they pretty much just make you deliver your baby right then and there. We dont want that. There is a whole slew of pregnancy maladies that proper nutrition can virtually eliminate, but that is the biggie.

Aside from the protein, they arent so much concerned with hitting a specific number for calories/fat/carbs/etc, but there is a list of stuff that I'm supposed to eat every day. Including:

• 4 servings of dairy
• 2 eggs
• 2 servings of leafy green vegetables
• 1 serving of other vetetables
• 4 servings of grain, one of which should be whole grain
• 1 vitamin C source
• 3 servings of healthy fats
• 1 serving of fruit

Huh. Not hard, and mostly in line with general nutrition guidelines, but takes some planning ahead. I have ALWAYS been bad about getting my fruits and veggies. I just dont do it. I like raw fruits and vegetables, I am just not nearly as good as I should be about eating them. And the eggs, I like eggs, but who eats 2 eggs a day? That one is going to take some work. I also LOATHE whole grain products. I know, i know, that is not the PC thing to say. You're supposed to think they are super delicious and taste better than white bread. But, they dont. So I will have to figure out a way to choke those down.

So, our assignment for the week (and Dan is supposed to do it too) was to keep track of everything we eat, with the main goal of getting enough protein. I have done this off and on over the years, but typically when I'm trying to lose weight or lean up (down?) or something. Through using several online sites, I've found that www.sparkpeople.com is the easiest to use. So I logged back on, and of course had to right away change my daily "goals". Last time I used it, my daily caloric intake was 1,600-1,850 cal/day. Yeah. That one got altered quite significantly.

I actually had no problem hitting the protein goal (except for Saturday, but lunch at the bar + baby shower food + BBQ does not really light up the ol' nutrition scale). Everything else, uh, not so much. To give myself credit though, I did buy some whole grain english muffins, and on Sunday made myself a breakfast sandwich. It would have been much better on a regular english muffin. But whole grain, yay! And egg, yay! And bacon, not so yay. But hell, I had to dress up that cardboard somehow.

24w

5 on Friday

1. Confession: I love the Miley Cyrus song Party in the USA. I feel dirty now that I've said it out loud. But it's true, the radio always gets turned up when it comes on. Back in December my girlfriends and I had our annual sleepover (yes, grown women can still have slumber parties) and I discovered it's not just me! When that song came on, we ended up with an impromptu dance/karaoke party in the kitchen. Nothing better than a bunch of 20- and 30-something women dancing around in their pajamas singing Miley Cyrus songs. I know, it's every man's fantasy.

2. A while back, Nemmie passed along a recipe for a chopped salad. It's actually Ten Restaurant's signature salad. I have never eaten there, but if they came up with this salad, I might just have to. It is seriously my favorite thing to eat, I pretty much make it weekly during the summer. I dont know if it's the mustard vinaigrette, or the blue cheese (mmmm, blue cheese) or what. But I love it! I could eat it every day.

Make it. Eat it. Love it.

Nemmie's Chopped Salad (aka Ten Restaurant's Signature Salad)

Salad:
romaine lettuce, chopped (about half a head)
iceberg lettuce, chopped (about half a head)
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
4 green onions, sliced
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
penne, cooked and diced (not too much, about a handful of uncooked pasta)
blue cheese crumbles, to taste (I love blue cheese, so I dump in most of the container)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, grilled and diced (season with salt & pepper before grilling)

Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp water
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried oregano
dash black pepper
dash red pepper flakes

Mix all of the salad ingredients up! The mix all the vinaigrette ingredietns up, and pour it over the salad! Then mix it all up! Then eat it!

3. My dogs make me laugh every day. Sometimes they are a huge pain in the ass though. Having them around means the house is never clean. They have scratched the hell out of the hardwoods. Walter likes to occasionally mark his territory still....in the house. But even still, they make me laugh every day. The door that leads to the basement is all scratched up, because Wallter gets so excited to go in his crate that he tries to claw his way through the door whenever he knows it's time to get in his crate. The little ledge between the kitchen and family room is all scratched up because when Penny gets excited, she gets on the love seat next to it and paws at the ledge. I have had to give up my favorite blanket for snuggling up with on the couch because Max loves to snuggle with it more. The window frame in the living room is completely destroyed because all three of them go nuts and try to break through the window whenever somebody walks by. But how can I be mad about any of that?!

The previous owner of our house had installed a cat door from the family room to the garage. It is still there. And whenever I come home, if the dogs are out of their crates, the first thing I'm greeted with is Walter's head with his big googely eyes poking through the cat door to see who just pulled into the garage. And Max gets so excited to see you that he jumps in circles when you come home, and half the time damn near knocks himself out by slamming into the wall or the furniture in the process. And little Penny, she's so happy to see you that she practically starts hyperventilating, and she wont go out to potty until she has been petted by everyone. No person is ever that happy to see you.

They always make my day brighter, I cant imagine ever not having dogs in the house.
4. I have to work tomorrow morning, I really dont want to. I hate having to work on Saturdays. I only have to work about 3 Saturday's a year, but I still hate it.

5. However! I am happy just to have a job. This week, Gardner laid of basically their entire planning department. Which has made more than one planner in the metro a little nervous. If Garner was able to eliminate the entire department, what's to say that other municipalities won't soon follow suit?? Everyone is still having to trim their budgets, and since development is still slow, planning departments everywhere are not nearly as busy as usual. What's even more awesome, is that our 2011 budget is supposed to be approved at the end of July. So....if I were to get laid off, it would be about 6 weeks before I have the baby. Awesome. Just what I need to worry about. But, there's nothing I can do about it right now, so I'll just continue to keep myself as busy as possible and hope for the best.

Bradley, part 1

So. I am planning to have a natural birth. No drugs, no epidural. For some reason, a lot of people feel really strongly one way or another about this issue. There is the group that thinks anyone who tries to give birth without drugs is a complete moron, and there is the group that thinks anyone who gets an epidural is an uneducated fool. Personally, I couldnt give two shits how someone else choses to have a baby, but being that so many people feel SO strongly one way or another, I kind of feel weird even discussing it with anyone.

A lot of people, when they first found out I was pregnant, were like "get the epidural! Dont try to be a hero!" Mmmm, ok. It kind of makes me scratch my head, because so many people seem to think that it's about trying to prove something. It's not. Next time I want to prove something to myself or to the world, I'll do another Ironman. Women have babies every day, that proves nothing. I've done a fair amount of research, and feel that for me PERSONALLY, it's just the best option. There are plenty of statistics and other evidence that led me to feel that way, which I wont even try to quote. But for me, it's just the way to go. I know a lot of women automatically go on the defensive once they hear that you are planning on a natural birth, I guess because they think you are judging them somehow. Trust me, I couldnt care less if have the doctor knock you completely out and reach up in there and pull the baby out.

So anyway, that was my little "disclaimer" before I get to the point. We decided to take Bradley classes, which are a 12 week course on preparing you and your partner for a natural childbirth. I wasnt 100% sold on the idea of committing myself to 12 weeks of classes, and honestly, it seemed a bit unnecessary. But when we met with our doula for the first time (I know, doula doula DOULA), she talked about how helpful they are, espeically for the husbands. I'm more of a "I'll research it and figure it out on my own" kinda gal, but Dan likes the structured learning environments. So he was actually the one who was more for it. Plus, I think he's a little trepidatious about the whole no drug thing. I think he, like a lot of people, are of the midset that doctors and modern medicine make EVERYTHING better. And while that may be true in most cases, there is something to be said for letting your body handle a natural process the way it was designed to. So I think some schoolin' will do him good.

Last night was our first class, and of course Dan is out of town for work. Of course he is. Let me tell you, going to a birth class by yourself makes you feel like a huge tool. I totally felt like a teen mother or something. Now, I had read kind of mixed reviews of Bradley classes, some people have ended up with instructors who are totally militant and all "doctors and hospitals are the devil!". So I was a little apprehensive going into it. I was half expecting to walk into the room and find it filled with a bunch of hippie weirdos. But alas! Everyone is normal! There are 4 other couples in the class, and everyone is totally normal and seems like people I would actually hang out with under normal circumstances. So that's good.

The class was 2 hours, and mainly just focused on introductions and a general background of the Bradley Method. I did learn something interesting. I know a lot of doctors have kind of mixed feelings on Bradley, and now I know why (at least for the doctors around here). Apparently, Gloria Squitiro, Mayor Funkhousers wife, used to be the only Bradley instructor in the area. When she said that, everyone was like "oh God, that explains everything". For those that dont live in KC, the Funk's wife is INSANE. Just google her. So yeah, having her associated with ANYTHING does not help.

After the introductions and background, we talked a little about the basis of Bradley, which is relaxation. Talked about how we can identify ways that have helped us to relax and deal with pain in the past, and went over a few basic exercises. The exercises are meant to help you just relax in general, as well as target specific areas of your body that you'll be using during labor and the birth. There was a lot of talk about how there ARE plenty of things we can do now and throughout the rest of the pregnancy, as well as during labor, to help the baby get into the correct position and to help the whole birth process along. Apparently, and I didnt know this either, you dont want the baby just head down. It should be head down and facing your back. And there are ways to coax the baby into that position.

So really, class 1 was pretty general, but did provide a lot of good info on exatly WHY we'll be learning what we do over the next 12 weeks. Hopefully Dan doesnt miss any more of them, becuase I have had my fill of flying solo at birth class. I feel really confident that I found a good instructor, one who is pretty mainstream and is not going to make us sit in a circle and sing Kumbayah while doing weird visualization exercises.

22w2d