More pics and about today

Today was a full day as i also had my first apointment with a midwife at the hospital where i'll be delivering. It's a small maternity with only a few rooms and there's a real neighborhood feel. The midwife (the "head midwife" in fact:) explained how they try to keep everything as "natural" as possible, not pushing anything on women, not even suggesting an epidural if they don't want one. Apparently their rate of epidural is only of 45% which amazed me (!) and that of C-sections is 16% so that's a good sign. I might be crazy but i'm considering the no epidural option...don't know maybe i won't be able to hold up to the pain and be screaming for it but i'm going to prepare in that direction. So it was good to hear the hospital is going to be supportive if i choose to do that. They also let women wander around, walk, squat, do whatever they need to go through labor, their motto seems to be as little intervention as possible which is good with me. I learned that in france midwives are usually delivering babies- other than if there's a pb or a c-section's required- otherwise they try to keep it between us "gals" as she put it. And also they can keep you at the hospital up to 12 days after the delivery if you need/want to (!), most women leave sooner but usually after 4 or 5 days which is way longer than in the US. She gave me some info about prenatal classes - some "theoretical" and some aquatic classes at the swimming pool which i'm eager to get into - have to wait a month or so more for that. And i got to ask some of my crazy questions including what about episiotomies? and do women really do #2 on the delivery table? (some of my worst fears other than a c-section:) and she was really nice about all of it. I guess it's her job and maybe all midwives are nice but i feel relieved and good about this choice of maternity.

Verdict's in: it's a girl!

Today was the 5 months ultrasound (aka echographie in french) and I was nervous but everything's ok. The doc took 100+ measurements and cuts of all the organs: brain, hart, counting fingers on each hand, even the little feet which is probably the picture I understood the best. These cuts are hard to figure out man! even Lucian who used to this weird cuts and plans was having a hard time, what do you mean you can see it's a view of the nose from under?! all in all everything's normal and we're very thankful for it! the doc said it's likely it's a girl but she was on her butt so it was hard to tell for sure...hey, we'll go with the girl for now and start thinking about names! I have to admit i was hoping for a boy given all the girls in my family but i'm delighted to have a little girl too! and she's a bouncy one - definitely been feeling a lot of action in my belly in the last few days.

In 2 days...

We get to find out the gender of that baby that's in my belly and has been moving around some more lately! and more importantly we get to make sure everything's ok thanks to the ultrasound. Can't wait!! That will also be the first time Lucian sees the baby "live" - he's seen the very first ultrasound pictures and heard my recaps from the doctor's visits but it's not the same, i'm excited he'll be there. And! the same day i have my first visit with the midwife - and i have a laundry list of questions, but most of all i hope she's a nice lady cause i doubt i can ask for a change...fingers crossed.

The weight thing

It's been bugging me. It's almost like i'm on a diet now! I mean i eat healthy but healthier than before i was pregnant and i hardly allow myself any deviations from the rules (No sweets! No sauce!, No fat!) so pretty much as if I was on a diet. According to my doc i should gain in total about 10 kilos which makes 22 lbs and i'm already at 7 kilos which considering i'm half way there would make for much more than 10 kilos as I understand i'm supposed to put on most of the weight now until the D day. But, according to BabyCenter the avg weight gain for my BMI is 30 lbs! which equals 14 kilos and that would mean i'm about right with my 7 kilos, so thank you BabyCenter!:) i can't help but notice the french air on the side of less while the US is on the plus side, hum i should have expected that. Me, i'm just trying to find someone who is going to tell me i'm ok.

I'm wearing suspenders!

Never thought i would have to wear those ancient "devices"... my grandpa was the only person i knew who wore suspenders! but now i'm the other one. Had to, otherwise I'd be pulling my pants up all the time and with my belly getting bigger it would be every 5 minutes when standing which didn't look too good when i was out in the street or in a store. Of course i'm wearing pregnancy pants but either jeans or regular pants fall down cause they don't have a strong elastic waist band. So the suspenders are the only solution i came up with and they're working ok, the trouble comes when going to the bathroom which i have to visit every 20 mins right now. Nothing can be perfect!:)

The little bubbles

That's what it feels where baby decides to move around. A very unique feeling...last night i could almost follow the bubbles around my belly, first to the left then to the right, it was exploring everything! I say "it" because we don't know the gender yet. We get to find out on the 5 month echography on March 27 and i can't wait!! I will help me make what's happening inside my body more real. I had thought before getting pregnant that i wouldn't want to know but now I'm sure i do! and then we'll get to start thinking about names which i'm super excited about.

Too big?!

Just saw the doctor on friday for my 5 month exam. It's just the begining of the 5 month cause i'm at 19 weeks and apparently i've put on too much weight too fast!! i'm already at +7 kilos (15 lbs) while I should be at around +4 kilos only! everything else is good but i was really bummed as the doctor made a big deal about it saying it could cause pbs later in the pregnancy. He told me to stop completely all sweets, candies, ice cream, etc. but the pb is that i DON'T eat those things, at least not regularly. I eat a ton of fruits and veggies and consider i have a very healthy diet. But i'm going to have to watch it even more (not what i thought of this time of pregnancy) and forget about making any more chocolate mousse:( And i'm also going to start fast walking every day. I go to the swimming pool already which is good cardio but only once a week given the time it takes, so i'm going to add a daily walk --i'm very excited about it actually. I already started yesterday and it felt really good. Outside of the weight discussion, the best part of the apointment was hearing the baby's fast heart beat, surreal!:)

My taste for chocolate has returned!

I'm not sure whether i should celebrate or cry (i cry for everything these days!) but up to a couple of weeks ago i couldn't have considered eating anything sweet or worst chocolate!! amazing for me who LOVED chocolate before i was pregnant and would eat it on a regular basis. All I've been feeling like up to now is savory food: meat, fish, veggies -- i've been eating well and had removed all sweet stuff from my diet and the best is that it wasn't a sacrifice, i really didn't feel like it! it's crazy how much this process was changing my tastes. Also stopped coffee all together because it would make me nautious and i had to buy toothpaste for children with strawberry flavor cause the taste of mint made me cringe! (still does)
But it looks like baby has decided to investigate into the world of sweets now starting with chocolate!! Last night i made a chocolate mousse for a friend who was visiting and proceeded to make up for lost time by eating a huge portion. Of course it didn't agree with my stomack and i had trouble sleeping. Maybe i'm going to take it easy on the chocolate and ease back into it:)