Heartbeat and Hiccups : Midwife's Visit

At our last midwife's visit we talked more in depth about the "Active Management of the Third Stage" (where they give the mom a shot of pitocin(or some other contraction inducer) after the baby has been delivered) and I told her that my gut feeling was that I didn't want to do it even though the midwives were recommending it. She said that we could play it by ear. Women with longer labors sometimes deliver the baby and then are too exhausted mentally and physically and that their uteruses (uteri?) just sorta go kaput causing a slow placental delivery and not so many contractions afterwards (which help in bringing the uterus back to pre-pregnancy size.) So we will see how things go once the babe has graced us with his presence. We have written in our birth plan to please talk to us about this "active management" so that we can have the choice of doing it or not depending on our circumstances. I like having conversations and being able to make a choice based on our unique circumstances so this is a good addition to our birth plan.

We talked about the Beta Strep thing again and Mike asked whether or not taking antibiotics would disrupt my flora, especially since I rarely take antibiotics. (I don't think I've taken them since the '90s.) She said that I would be given penicillin and that it is an antibiotic that is not a very broad spectrum antibiotic therefore it won't wipe out every single iota of bacteria. If they time the dosing of it right (I think 4 hours before delivery would be ideal) there shouldn't be much worry about my good flora being absent. If I end up taking more than 2 doses then perhaps taking some sort of probiotic would be helpful. She said that I can take that before delivery and after delivery if I'd like. I can eat more yogurt or take something like Jarrowdophilus which has beneficial probiotic strains. This will not harm the babe either. Yay for that!

We went over when I should call the midwife. 1) When my contractions are 10 minutes apart - just to let them know that something is afoot. 2) When my contractions are 3 minutes apart - which would mean I would hop over to the birth center for the crazy part and the delivery. 3) Water breaks or 4) Baby hasn't moved in awhile

We did our weekly heartbeat check up with the Doppler. Instead of his heart sounding like his regular, fwumpfwumpfwumpfwump, it sounded more like this:

fwumpfwumpfwump<HIC>fwumpfwumpfwumpfwump<HIC>

fwumpfwumpfwump<HIC>fwumpfwumpfwump<HIC>fwump

He had the hiccups. It was cute. I told her that he gets them a lot. The midwife (this one got her degree from UNM! Go Lobos!) said that hiccups are a sign of wellness. Yay for hiccups! I told her that the first time that I felt them I thought they were really sweet but now when I feel them I try and get in a different position to see if I can help him get rid of them. She said that they aren't as annoying to the babies as they are to us big people. I didn't ask her how she knew that (this is also not the first time I've heard this). I am just gonna take her word on it and stop standing on my head in attempt of helping him get rid of the pesky hiccups. (I don't really stand on my head.) Anyways, his heart rate was around 150 which is good and normal.

He is still hanging out upside down (like a little bat) on my right side where I feel most of the kicks and punches on my left side and to the top.

The time is near baby, the time is near!