The Pink Kit

Our doula has got us going through "The Pink Kit", which is a booklet, DVD and audio CDs which go through birthing. Primarily, the bit we are going to focus upon is the body awareness and birthing positioning parts.

Essentially, the more awareness Naomi has of her body, and principally, her pelvis and the muscles surrounding it, the more she can work with it during the birth.

So, last night (and this morning, coz we woke too early) we did some of the stuff on the DVD.

It was pretty good, although a lot of the time we were laughing at the fashion choices by some of the models/demonstrators, and the Kiwi accents didn't help much either.

"Teek a brith dipply un... and out egin....."

Hello baby!

SO proud of her!

I was SO proud of Naomi. She really got back into it so quickly. We had an initial 'sleep breathing' session which we both did. Very relaxing and we got into it straight away (we both continue to use this from day to day... very useful to reduce your heart/breathing rate during a triathlon!)

Anyway, then it upped a level and it was soon up to me to guide Naomi through it... so essentially, to lead her into a trance-like state. I was nervous, but it worked a treat. It was pretty amazing when Kayte (our practitioner) was asking Naomi to open her eyes, and she couldn't (a good indicator that she's in the zone).

However... it's not all as freaky as it sounds. It's really just yoga-like breathing, and confidence in your body and that it knows what it needs to do. After our first birthing experience, we're even more confident in how well it will work this time.

Hypnobirthing Refresher

Today Cory and I had our Hypnobirthing refresher session with Kayte who we did our course with during our last pregnancy.

We went through all the breathing and visualisation techniques which all came flooding back from last time once we got started. We also did a debrief on letting go of fears - so that was good as I am anxious about having another caesarian and really want to have a VBAC. It was funny though as BB#2 had been a bit quiet for the last couple of days but when I started with the breathing and relaxation it just went nuts and was kicking all over the place. I think the extra oxygen and relaxed state gives the bub energy.

Another visit to Nicola

I had another visit today to see Nicola. Everything is going well - I am measuring 27 weeks which is good given that I am almost 27 weeks! Blood pressure is good and bubs heart rate is excellent. I have my Glucose test in 2 weeks. Seeing that I had to do the fasting test last time I am just doing that one this time.

Genevieve loves visiting Dr Nicola and this time decided to play doctors as well and went and sat with Nicola on the doctor's side of the desk.

Countdown!

According to our dates we now have 99 days to go until arrival!

However, if you take Genevieve as an indicator of what to expect then we now only have 12 weeks to go - that is 84 days folks!

I now officially have 11 weeks of work to go - not that I'm counting.... MUCH!

Trying to catch the movement

I am sitting here watching TV and BB#2 is giving me a few kicks. I know my belly is moving but everytime I look down at it the kicking stops and then as soon as I look away it starts again. Cheeky!

24 weeks and viable!

Well we have just hit the 24 week mark and bubs is now considered viable. This means that if BB#2 is born any time from now it has a good chance of survival.

We have now progressed from feeling kicks to actually seeing them! Last night I was lying on the couch and the side of my belly started doing little jumps. They were just small but I could definitely see it moving.

Flutter-kick

Naomi is increasingly feeling little flutters and even kicks from time to time. After seeing the little bugger on the screen at each ultrasound, we're not surprised. BB2 sure is active!

Anywayz, from time to time, I'll gently plonk my hand on her belly to see if I can get some of the action. Over the last 6 weeks or so... nothing.

This morning - [bump]

Tee hee hee

New bottles

Following on from learning about BPA, and the fact that our (almost exclusively) Avent stuff is full of it, we're keen to replace them.

Got a couple of these at the recent Child and Baby Expohttp://www.adiri.com/

Quite different from a normal bottle in many ways. One of the fundamental ways is that the 'lid' is the base. It has a one-way valve in the 'lid'. You turn the bottle upside-down in its lid to fill it. When the bub is feeding, the valve is at the other end, so there's less air ingested.

Oh, and they're BPA-free, of course.