Trip to Greece at 27 Weeks

There's no special belly shot for this week because when I hit 27 weeks we were on our way back from Athens. We spent three wonderful days there, ate lots of cheese and savory foods, and had excellent baklava. It seemed like the perfect time of year to travel there - no crowds and temperate weather. The Greek people we met were always extra nice to us after seeing my protruding belly - people gave up their seats, smiled a lot, and I even got two good luck gifts from a couple of shop owners (including one to ward off the evil eye)! Now that we're back, I have a couple of appointments to monitor my low platelet count - hopefully all has normalized - I feel great. I am beginning to slow down a bit more though, and I had to take a lot of rest stops while we were walking around Athens.

In other news, this coming Thursday is also not only Thanksgiving but our 7th wedding anniversary!!!

26 Weeks, more classes

We had our last parentcraft class on Thursday at the hospital - I thought it was better than last time, but three hours of the evening does get to be a bit long. We got a tour of the hospital and got to see the facilities for delivery, which were pretty nice. Next week begin the classes just for pregnant mothers-to-be at the smaller, local clinic. I'll get a chance to meet other women who are as far along as I am, which will be really nice. Other than that, the belly doesn't seem like it's getting a whole lot bigger these last few weeks, though the belly button threatens to pop out at any moment.

Prenatal Classes

We had our first prenatal class last night at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, where I’ll be having the baby. The class lasted three hours! There were about six other couples there and we were all at varying stages of pregnancy. Since I’ve read so many books, the class wasn’t as helpful to me as I think it was to Pedro – but it did answer some of our questions pertaining to giving birth specifically in England.

It was reassuring that the midwife giving the class didn’t seem to promote any one type of pain medication, like I expected. I had heard that they don’t really like giving epidurals and encourage drug-free births – but this was clearly just hearsay. As for me, my mind is pretty open about it. Before I got pregnant, I always just assumed that I would go straight for the epidural, but I like the idea of having an active labor and being able to move around a lot more outside of the bed to aid in delivery. So we’ll see when the big day comes just how I feel about it!

Tuvimos nuestra primera clase prenatal anoche en el hospital (tres horas!), donde yo voy a dar a la luz. Habian seis otras parejas ahí, y todas las mujeres estaban en varias niveles del embarazo. Desde que yo habia leído muchos libros sobre el embarazo, la clase no era muy útil para mi, pero creo que Pedro la disfrutó mucho – aunque yo creo que esa clase contestó nuestras preguntas sobre como es a parir especificamente en Inglaterra.

La comadrona no recomendó ningun tipo de droga contra el dolor, como yo pensé. Yo habia oído que la sistema aquí alienta nacimientos naturales (sin drogas) – pero, eso no es la verdad. Nos dio mucha información, y tengo una mente mas abierta.

25 Weeks