Henry’s (and Halia’s!) World

Today was a beautiful, sunny day, and I spent the day in serious nesting mode . After the birth of Henry I noticed a worsening in my seasonal allergies so I clean and change sheets, vacuum and dust relentlessly to somehow help, but it is a tough battle.

So while all the cleaning in the world is keeping the house 100% dust free, just being in a cleaner environment makes me tired, and one can only hope for a much better sleep tonight. On an equally positive note, the constant moving around kept rocking baby to sleep, so it looks like I may have unintentionally set myself up for a disco dancing baby tonight , but that’s ok as long as he/she is ok.

I have done tons of reading on hip pain in pregnancy, and just may be missing something, but after 9-hours of intense cleaning involving carrying, and walking up and down stairs an uncountable number of times, I feel no improvement in my back or hips. It does bother me that this pain is always here, and the birth of the baby seems like the only solution to feeling better which is a pretty painful and crummy way to spend the summer , but its all for a good cause and will be over soon!

One of the forums that I frequently read had a discussion about natural childbirth and the movie “The Business of Being Born” with Ricki Lake as a real interesting movie to watch about the business of child birth in the United States.

At the time of its release in 2007, there were plenty of free copies that could be viewed online (and another reason I dislike this small town in NC, the closest Blockbuster is a hour away grrrr), so two nights ago switching through channels imagine my delight when the guide featured “The Business of Being Born!”

I was just in time for the credits, but if you are DirecTV customer Show Time is showing this film over the month with the very next showing at 8pm tonight. So my early weekend treat is a bowl of plain popcorn and movie night tonight; about any pregnancy related show is on my favorite list right now, and its just for another three months and it will be out of my system.

I am so excited, my last monthly appointment is tomorrow morning, and then its every two weeks thereafter! A big reason for my excitement is that I’ll get to talk to my midwife about some problems I’ve noticed since my last visit.

Without knowing that I was pregnant at the time, I got a prescription for reading glasses, forgetting that as with everything pregnancy related, the eyes get thrown out of sync, so even when I use my glasses, I still have blurred vision occasionally. I don’t believe it has to do with my eyes being overtired, as I take plenty of breaks throughout the day, but I guess I just need the reassurance that it is nothing more serious.

Looking over the records from my previous pregnancies, the pattern I saw was that by 30-weeks I was 3 cm dilated, and I have been experiencing erratic contractions (one’s I have been unable to talk through or walk) with no one activity starting them. Thankfully my CNM is aware of my history of pre-term labor, and they seem confident that I won’t need to be transferred to a perinatologist for the duration of my pregnancy.

While I loved the doctor that delivered my three children, the idea of bed rest, terbutaline, and weekly checks is no cake walk, so here is to an uneventful appointment tomorrow!

A weird combination, but both phenomenons that have taken the family by storm.
During Henry’s pregnancy, my allergies had been bothering but were still bearable till I delivered, and they went haywire!

I was put on Flonase which greatly offers relief. What I found interesting was that the state of Virginia (Central and Southern) are prone to higher levels of allergens, so guess my dismay when I found out that Greensboro ranked number two for cities with high allergen levels, ugh.

So now not only do I deal with that stuffy feeling, Henry and the princess may have seasonal allergies as well so its off to the doctor later this week for a diagnosis.

WebMD has a wonderful article on seasonal allergies;

Survive Spring Allergies - You Can Do It!
Spot Your Hidden Allergy Triggers

I actively practice Feng Shui and Reiki, and this week have started yoga as a family sport, and the kids love it! Of course we can’t strictly abide by the rules, but feel it is a great way to spend family time while working our minds and bodies.

Haven’t been on here as much as I’d like, but we’ve been busy!

Henry is in full terrible 2’s form, going from very happy to very grouchy in a second :), but I notice much more happier moods than his siblings.

He loves to help out, there is never a moment where he’ll see me doing house work and not ask if I need some help; he’s

A fan of Sesame Street, like most in his age group, adores Elmo, and we even got him his own Elmo bubble bath and it takes everything to get him out of the tub,