Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Spinning around...

Today was my last monthly prenatal check up. I say monthly because the time has come to start seeing Dra. A every 2 weeks now!

Everything so far seems to be right on track: baby's measurements are on target, s/he gained 800 grams in a month (gordito/a!) and now weighs about 2 kilos. We saw baby´s mouth opening and closing on the ultrasound monitor...either yawning or gulping down some delicious amniotic fluid for breakfast. 

I was told to continue with my prenatal yoga, but to avoid other exercise that could tire me out. Obviously, I have NO problem with that whatsoever!

I'm at 33 weeks and baby is still sitting upright - although Dra. A didn't seem to worried - there is still time to turn around; but she did say that it wouldn't do me any harm to crawl around for about 10 minutes every morning. Seems like it would be easy, but now that I think about it, moving around on all fours for 10 minutes could be a little tedious. 

So of course I turned to Dr. Google to ask about "ways to make baby turn around" - and only 3 search results were of any use - the rest were sites about "baby turn around" lyrics. I don't know what song it's referring to, don't really care, and obviously I need to work on my search word skills. 

http://mix1041.radio.com/2010/09/10/karsons-breeched-baby/

ANYWAY, so here are some tips to help coax your baby into position. I highlighted some of my favorites, so you don't have to read all: (Oh, and I'll let you know which worked!)

1. Visualizing the baby moving down with the head very deep in your pelvis, several times a day; especially in conjunction with positions and exercises below.

2. Swimming as often as possible. This keeps your body and pelvis loose and relaxed. Do in conjunction with headstand below if you have help.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

What's been keeping me busy?

I've been ignoring my blog. Not on purpose of course, it's just unfortunately keeps descending on the totem poll of all the things I feel I constantly need to get done. My list just seems to get longer, even though I religiously tick off a task a day. Pues bueno, asi es esto when you are expecting I guess.

So what to write about? I guess it is finally time to start mentioning baby stuff; since my world has and is revolving around this particular theme at the moment.

This is the latest photo, at 31 weeks, although today I'm already at 33. About a month and a half to go! Que nervios!

If you happen upon my tweets, you'll see that Mondays for me have become the craziest day of the week. Aside from prenatal yoga, lunch with la abuela, prepping for my English class (then the actual class), we end the day with our birthing classes.

As like most well kept secrets, we found this birthing course through word of mouth. The mouths being our best friends R&R and their new baby A. I guess this is the kind of thing you have to rely on when being new to a city, I would never have found this on my own.

The course is given at CEPAPAR: Centro de Educacion para el Parto (Education Center for Birth). I still remember my first day there {I was barely showing} sitting in this room with all these super pregnant women - I thought it would be forever until I was considered one of them. Last Monday, I realized I am now one of them. There were two new couples who just signed up, and they were probably looking at the rest of us with the same thoughts that I had just 4 months ago.

So anyway, the course is about 15 weeks long - there is a new topic every Monday - from the introduction of psicoprofilaxis all the way to newborn care, and everything that comes in between; including some very graphic video clips that most men can't stomach. But I find it all absolutely intriguing. Next week we have breast feeding.

Prior to the class, there is an hour of couples yoga (my second class of the day) and my gordo's chance to squeeze his perineal muscles. We do all sorts of breathing, sitting, standing, and relaxing exercises to prepare for the big day.

If you are planning for or want a natural child birth and all that comes with it, this is the place for you. You probably need at least an intermediate level of Spanish to understand the course. Or if you are married to a Mexican, he can do all the translating.

One of the best investments during my pregnancy so far. KNOW YOUR OPTIONS, FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Good luck!


FOR YOUR INFO:


CEPAPAR
Cuauhtémoc 111, Tizapan, San Angel
Mexico DF55 50 41 82, 55 50 42 64 
e-mail: cepapar@cepapar.org.mx


SUKHAVATI YOGA
Melchor Ocampo 130, Col. del Carmen Coyoacán
Mexico DF
56 59 41 78, 56 59 47 36

Friday, October 8, 2010

Check out Mexico City!

I love this! Pretty cool place I live in, huh? Not that I needed this video to know that, but it helps to be reminded! :)


Co DIRECCIÓN: LUIS MANDOKI, MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ 
Co FOTOGRAFÍA: ALBERTO ANAYA, ESTEBAN ARRANGOIZ 
Co EDICIÓN: MARIANA RODRÍGUEZ, YOAME ESCAMILLA 
MÚSICA: ALEJANDRO CASTAÑOS

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sonora

The latest video of the state of Sonora was aired on September 13th, right before the Bicentenario celebrations. I wonder if there are more videos to come still...even though we are supposedly done with independence celebrations. The city is already preparing for Christmas and it isn't even Halloween yet.