Week 17!

Week 17: May 18, 2012

135 lbs, Bust 34 ½, Waist 34, Hips 39

I had an ultrasound on May 15^th, and it did show low placenta, but, fortunately, not previa.  It should move by week 20.  95% of the time, the placenta moves and doesn’t cause a problem.  I have my next ultrasound on June 19^th after our vacation.  I was cleared to travel to Alaska and drive to MN and back (before and after our trip to Alaska).
I interviewed doula Gaylea Mcdougal http://mcdoula.com/ , founder of Alpha Childbirth http://alphachildbirth.com/  and she seems awesome.  She is very reasonable, very encouraging and very helpful!  One “selling point” of Gaylea is that she will labor at home as long as possible, to avoid early and prolonged intervention.  She also lives very close to me, which will make that easier.  She told me about the Dr. Brewer Diet http://www.drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/ , which is supposed to prevent preeclampsia, among other things.  The idea is that it keeps blood volume stable, which keeps other organs from trying to compensate for low blood volume, thereby causing other problems.  It focuses heavily on protein.  Gaylea also recommended ½ body weight in oz of water a day!  The protein (80-100 gm a day) and water alone seems overwhelming, let along fitting anything else in!

We also discussed VBACs and all the myths surrounding VBAC (how “dangerous” it is).  The statistics are very skewed because they include any uterine complications (even minor ones) in the 1% uterine rupture rate.  As a result, that is a greatly inflated percentage.  For more info go to VBAC facts http://vbacfacts.com/vbac/ . 

Another good resource is ICAN http://icanofnashville.webs.com/ .  Gaylea is close to booked, so I need to decide fairly soon, but I am pretty confident God sent her to me!