Germs at Home

Twist. Turn. Punch. Wiggle wiggle wiggle! This little girl is one active baby. Honestly, the only time I don't feel her moving is when I'm sleeping, although I know she's moving then too because I feel her as soon as I wake up to pee! LOL I'm hoping she does sleep at some point otherwise those first few months are gonna be some LOOOOONG months!

I found this article and wanted to share an excerpt from it, although you can click the link and read the entire article if you'd like:

Normal Household Germs Do Not Affect Mother or Baby
Myth #4 — A hospital is a more sanitary place to have a baby than at home.

Childbed fever killed thousands of women in the 19th century — about the time physicians, who also cared for the ill and dying, began to attend births in clinics. As hospitals became the places to go for birth and death, infections became a plague upon childbearing women and other hospital patients.
About 100 years ago, in Austria, a doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis attempted to lower the number of maternal deaths from infections — as high as 40 percent of those delivering at the Vienna maternity hospital.[1]

Semmelweis discovered that simply by washing their hands between performing autopsies and attending births, the rate of infections caused by doctors dropped dramatically. Semmelweis was ridiculed by his colleagues, and it wasn't until five years after his death that his findings began to gain acceptance. With the advent of aseptic technique in the late 1800s and the development of antibiotics in the 1940s, gradual improvement was seen. [Ed. — As antibiotic-resistant bacteria have evolved so that they are unaffected by antibiotics, it can be expected that this trend will be reversed, and we can expect to see an increase in deaths from hospital-acquired infections.]
In the 1930s, studies in New York City and Memphis, Tennessee, show that fewer women died from infections and hemorrhage during homebirths than died from the same complications in the hospital.[2]

Today, strict and expensive infection control procedures have still not eliminated nosocomial, or hospital-caused infections from common and dangerous organisms, like resistant strains of staphylococcus.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the nation's hospital-regulating agency, The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, is failing to enforce infection control standards — compromising the health of hospital patients: "The Joint Commission allows dangers to health and safety to go uncorrected for weeks, months and even years. Sloppy, irresponsible hospitals have little to fear from the Commission: punishment in recent years has been nearly nonexistent."[3]

Each family becomes accustomed to its own household germs and develops a resistance to them. Since fewer strangers are likely to be present at a homebirth than at a hospital birth, the chances of acquiring foreign germs are less likely in a homebirth situation.
Every effort is made to provide a clean environment at homebirths. Midwives and homebirth doctors wear sterile gloves and use sterilized instruments for cutting the umbilical cord.
Homebirth research studies indicate much lower rates of infection in the mother and the baby than is likely in the hospital. In a 10-year study (1970-1980) of 1,200 births at the Farm in Summertown, Tennessee, 39 mothers suffered postpartum infections, and only one baby developed septicemia.[4]

Calling the hospital nursery a cradle of germs, Dr. Marsden Wagner, European Director of the World Health Organization, warned doctors at an international medical conference in Jerusalem in the spring of 1989 that hospital births endanger mothers and babies primarily because of impersonal procedures and overuse of technology and drugs.[5]

The Birth Gazette, Fall, 1987, review of The Cry and The Covenant, p. 32-33.
The Five Standards of Safe Childbearing, 1981, Stewart, p. 240-241.
The Wall Street Journal, Oct. 12, 1988.
The Five Standards of Safe Childbearing, 1981, Stewart, p. 127.
Mothering, Oct/Nov/Dec, 1989.

22 weeks

Well, um, I've got no excuse now. I'm out of school (for the holiday), and thankfully I passed all of my classes with a B or higher. Come Wednesday, I will be on a flight with Ellie to Sammamish, Washington to spend the holiday with Tom's family. Tom will be flying in the following Monday since his unit only approved a certain time-frame for the entire unit's block leave. We're kinda used to rearranging our schedule by now. We took our Christmas picture a couple of weeks ago and although I'm not a fan of ANY picture of me right now, the picture we kept of Ellie is adorable. I wish I could remember everything that was happening since my last post, but honestly, my brain is completely frazzled at the moment.

Ellie is doing great in school, and depending on what happens with Tom PCSing or not (we're really hoping he does), we may have her tested to start Kindergarten early. Her biggest problems are (1) cutting a straight line and (2) keeping her focus when other kids are talking. If we move, I'm not positive we'll worry about school simply because it just may be too much for her all at one time, but we'll see where the road takes us.

Tom is still Tom. LOL Nothing changes with him! We're hoping that within the next six months or so we'll be getting orders to leave San Antonio, but we're not really counting on it. Other than that, nothing much as happened with him.

Onto news about the pregnancy. For those of you who haven't already heard, we found out that we're having another little girl! We're both really excited about this, even if we can't agree on a name. I will be posting a poll to see what name everyone likes best, but I honestly don't think we're going to pick out a name until she's born... that's how torn we are with the names. Things have definitely leveled out as far as how I'm feeling. I'm still sore, but that's to be expected. I have also found that I am no where near as hungry as I was at the beginning of this trimester, so I'm hoping the weight gain starts slowing down a bit.

Other big news about the pregnancy is that we officially hired a midwife to deliver this baby... at home! That's right. We are having this little girl in the comforts of our own home. Our midwife's name is Salli Gonzalez and her website is Empowerment Birthing. There is a lot of information to view if you want to check it out. If we lived farther away from a hospital in the event of an emergency I'd probably not be as comfortable with our choice to have a home birth, but honestly I'm not worried. I know to some it seems new age to have your child at home, and for a long time, that was how I felt too. Now... it feels like the best option and most natural way to have this baby. There will be a birthing pool in the event that I choose to deliver in the tub, or even just as a source of pain relief. I asked a lot of questions about how to prepare Ellie, and what to do about our animals, and the germs in the house, and how to clean before the baby gets here, and what vaccinations I'm going to need, and the list goes on and on. In a nutshell, I'm in good hands. I will go into more detail in the coming weeks, with articles included to help back up what's being said, and hopefully help people see that I'm not absolutely crazy! LOL

I was reading an article on NPR about giving birth at home, and this is one of the quotes from the midwife that I love:

"People talk about how painful contractions are because they're so strong. But what we want woman to know is that the strength of that contraction is the strength of their own bodies. They are as strong as the contraction is. And so they are able to manage it."

Anyone who knows me knows I never do anything the easy way :)

17 weeks

3 weeks since the last blog... Can you see the growth spurt? LOL I even see it looking down now. I'm already getting the "big as a house" feeling, and I'm just now four months along. Its gonna be a long pregnancy! :)

A friend of mine just had her third little boy this past Friday. It definitely makes me ready to have this one. He was so small and innocent. In a word, he was beautiful. I think even Tom is getting that "itch" to have the baby after visiting little Tristan.

As far as my pregnancy goes though, I'm still getting some bouts of nausea, but they aren't horrible. Normally Tums helps and that's all I need. I've been a lot more "crampy" with this one too. Nothing to be worried about, normal pains, just annoying. I am also very excited to say that I've gotten the okay on my migraine meds so I don't have to suffer. I was told that generally, migraine meds are NOT recommended during pregnancy because in LARGE doses, it had "adverse" effects in baby rats. My doc basically said, if you're migraines are only once a month or so, taking the medicine will not produce even the closest amount needed to start any of those adverse effect. I asked what should I do in the event that they're more frequent, (because now she's got me worried about taking these meds). She told me that even if I had to take one a week, it still wouldn't be something to worry about. She said that the effect and stress that my body is naturally going through is MUCH worse than the chances of anything happening to the baby because of taking the meds. I'm trusting her judgement on this one, and ask that if you have an opposing "belief," keep to yourselves. I've got enough to worry about without other people trying to tell me they know what's best for the baby in MY belly.

Off my soapbox. Sorry about that. I've started getting a lot of unwanted advice, and if you couldn't tell, yes, I'm annoyed. This is the only place that I can safeguard against it before it becomes a problem. And yes, I've got people rubbing my belly. Friends, you're okay to do it. Random people on the street....? Please expect me to rub your belly in return while giving you a "how do you like it" look? :)

I've got a massive unit baby shower coming up on Tuesday and there are sure to be lots of pictures with that, but for now, I think I've covered all my bases. There will be more bump pictures in the next month or so (give or take).

14 weeks

Yes, I know, its been five weeks since my last post. Don't be mad. I haven't had a much to write about.

I figured since I had taken the first baby pic at 4 weeks, I might as well do one at 14 :)

Not gonna lie... gaining weight sucks. I hadn't gained much in the first 10 weeks or so, but these last four have been horrible for me! LOL Must. Not. Eat. Everything. In. Sight! I really don't remember ever being this hungry all the time with Ellie. But it may be from not being able to eat much of anything for those first 10 weeks. I kept hoping that I would show early, and um, yea, its happened. I can honestly say that I didn't think I was showing until I saw some pictures of me yesterday from the side... and I could only think... um, wow.

I'm also really emotional. Everyone sees it. Its quite entertaining after I've pulled myself together, because those that know me know I'm pretty good at hiding emotions, especially the really sappy ones! :)

We're still behind our decision to not find out the sex of the baby, and now that I'm officially in my second trimester, I have occasionally thought it would be nice to start picking out patterns and themes. But really, I don't want to know MORE than I want to pick out themes. So the decision sticks. We're also still planning to have a natural birth, but unfortunately due to lack of funds and tricare not covering the bill, the baby will almost definitely not be delivered in a birthing center, or even by a midwife for that matter. It sucks... but it is what it is.

Oh, I forgot! I felt the baby definitely kick for the first time last week which was pretty exciting. I had felt a couple "pops" before that, but this was definite kicking. It was a nice reassurance. I haven't felt much since then, a kick here and there, but all very sporadic, and normally when I'm half asleep and have woken up to pee.

I think that covers all the basis. Its late, but I wanted to get this post up. Now... its time for bed.

9 weeks

Not too much has changed with the pregnancy, but that's a good thing right? I'm no where near as nauseous as I was a few weeks back, but its still a daily annoyance. I think my sleeping issue is more of an issue than my nausea. I am absolutely useless to anyone after 4 o'clock or so. If I take a nap, I generally wake up grumpy, and then I can't sleep well at night. If I don't take a nap, I can barely think because I'm so tired, but I sleep VERY well at night. The latter is the option I've been choosing.

It isn't all bad though. I've started having dreams about the baby. Not often, but two so far. Both of them involving a little boy, and always introducing him to my family as "Jackson." For those of you reading this hoping I'm going to have a little boy, don't take this as a sign. I had NUMEROUS dreams while I was pregnant with Ellie that I was having a little boy. I don't see much into now. I don't feel either way about what this baby is. Another girl? Awesome, I'm good with girls. A boy? Awesome, it'll be fun (and will shush Daddy up)! I'm not compelled to find out either. I feel so old-fashioned by waiting, but I'm more excited about this choice than about picking out paint colors or clothes. I'm not going to ask anyone to buy us clothes or other baby goodies, simply because we aren't finding out. I know its more fun to shop for a little girl or a little boy, but keeping the excitement in the pregnancy feels right to me. I don't need to plan. I'm a just-go-with it kinda gal anyway.

Ellie has had a couple predictions. The first (and more common) prediction is that its going to be a little boy with red hair and mommy's eyes (brown). The other, and more entertaining, prediction is that mommy is having a boy AND a girl. Yea, not gonna lie. That prediction scares the crap outta me! LOL If it is, then it is. I can't say it something I've ever hoped for though.

I had my first OB appointment, which was absolutely ridiculous. I didn't see a doctor at all. Didn't take my weight. Didn't take my blood pressure. No temp. Nothing. Just sat down and filled out a bunch of medical history information, gave some blood, and made my appointment to actually see a doctor. As of right now, I believe my appointment will be during my 11th week, and Tom and Ellie will be there to hear the heartbeat so I'm actually very excited about it. To know there is something in there, really in there, causing the nausea... causing the cramps... causing the incessant peeing... it'll be wonderful. Plus, the expression we'll get from Ellie is guaranteed to be priceless.

So yea, this pregnancy hasn't started off as smoothly as Ellie's, but this is a different baby. And with that, even the bad looks good.

Photography Class

Even though this is being posted on Thursday, I felt the desire to post some pictures that I've taken in my photography class. I by no means think I'm a great photographer. I've got a great friend who showed me some pretty awesome things a camera can do if you know what you're doing. I'm also not going to invest in a SLR camera until I know that its something I want to do more than just occasionally. The first three are pictures for an assignment that was based off of anything we wanted, we just had to really work on getting a good contrast.

The next three are pictures from my current assignment that has to deal with texture, line and pattern. Again, we were focusing a lot on contrast.

(if you're wondering, those are snake eggs)

This last picture is actually a picture I took with the intentions of using it for my tlp assignment, but upon some constructive criticism decided against it. But... I still really like it, and I did some creative editing. Can you see what's missing?

Yarn Along {four}

Please don't think I've been ignoring this. Things are pretty busy with Tom not here and my life has been taken over by the pregnancy, school, and home life. Every day seems pretty similar to the day before so I figured a good place to fill you in would be on the craft I've been knitting (off and on). This is also being linked to Yarn Along over at Ginny's Site.

It was coming along very quickly, and then my motivation dwindled as my nausea got worse. I haven't really done much to it since, but I do know its almost done. If you're interested in the pattern, I bought it off a raverly merchant. The pattern actually include 6 different cables, and since this is for a little one, I turned the cable into a single piece (an owl). I'm planning on putting two small brown buttons in for the eyes, but I may just use embroidery floss. I'm still pretty excited about the end product.

The other section of "yarn along" is actually what I'm reading. I can safely say the only thing I'm reading is what's being required of me by my professors, and honestly, its not worth talking about. :)