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You are here: Home / Archives for pregnancy

Madeline’s Birth

February 26, 2019 By Becky 18 Comments

Madeline at one day old, still in the hospital. Photo: Lindsey Lowe

When I asked about it on Instagram, many of you were interested in hearing Madeline’s birth story, so here it is! I’m happy to answer questions in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to know more about.

Preparing for Birth

To get ready for Madeline’s birth, I took the Mama Natural Birth Course, which I loved. It covers nutrition and exercise during pregnancy, breathing exercises, comfort measures for natural birth, how to consider interventions and avoid if desired, labor positions, stages of labor, what happens after birth, breastfeeding, and more. Genevieve’s book, The Mama Natural Week-by-Week Guide to Pregnancy and Childbirth, was also an extremely helpful resource.

I also went for lots of walks and went to prenatal yoga every week (if you’re in Chattanooga, the prenatal yoga class I took is with Brenda at Yoga Landing. It’s the only one I could find in town but it’s fabulous! I wish it were offered twice a week). I read lots of birth stories and watched lots of birth videos. At night before I fell asleep I spent time going through the pregnancy and childbirth affirmation cards that came with the Mama Natural course and imagining myself having an easy, relaxed, and natural birth. 

I met with two different doulas and decided to work with Ashley from The Scenic City Doulas. She came to the house for a prenatal visit to go over our birth plan, answer all our questions, and make sure the carseat was installed correctly. I highly recommend Ashley and was so glad we worked with a doula (Ben was, too!). I’ll share plenty more details of how she helped us throughout this post.

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Filed Under: pregnancy

Second Trimester Recap

November 12, 2018 By Becky 2 Comments

This is actually me at 34 weeks, but I was running low on images! Photos by Lindsey Lowe Photography.

I’m already well into the third trimester now, and I can’t believe it! (I wrote this post several weeks ago, when the second trimester was nice and fresh in my mind, but am just getting around to posting it now.) Time moved slowly at the beginning of my pregnancy, but seems to have been gradually picking up speed. Our little girl is due in just 6 weeks, and of course, she could come before then, too! With our December 23rd due date I’m hoping she’ll arrive a few days before Christmas so we can avoid spending the holidays in the hospital, but of course, she’ll come when she’s ready. Whenever that is will be the very best time.

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First Trimester Recap

August 24, 2018 By Becky 6 Comments

Can you tell I’m excited to dress this little girl? Also, narwhals are the new unicorns.

At the end of my lengthy post on getting pregnant after an infertility diagnosis, I promised a recap of my first trimester. Here it is!

After getting a positive pregnancy test on a Sunday morning in mid-April, I called my reproductive endocrinologist’s office first thing on Monday morning. When my hormones were tested a couple of months before getting pregnant my progesterone was extremely low, and adequate levels of progesterone are necessary to sustain a pregnancy. They had me come right in for a blood test measuring HcG (the hormone that confirms you’re pregnant) and progesterone. The results came back later that day: my HcG was 330 (pretty much any level of HcG means you’re pregnant) and my progesterone was 8. The nurse explained that my progesterone level was on the lower end of the normal range, so they wanted to supplement just in case. I was prescribed progesterone pills that I took until I was about 10 weeks, when the doctor said the placenta takes over progesterone production.

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Filed Under: pregnancy Tagged With: infertility

The Path to Pregnancy

August 8, 2018 By Becky 33 Comments

Photos by Lindsey Lowe Photography

I blinked and my pregnancy is already almost half over! I had my twenty-week anatomy ultrasound on Monday, and can feel the baby wiggling around in my belly almost constantly. For those of you that are interested, I wanted to pop in and share a bit about our journey to pregnancy. If you’re just hungry for a new recipe, swing back by in a few days!

I mentioned in my baba ganoush post a couple weeks ago that I received an infertility diagnosis just a few months before I got pregnant, and wanted to share more about it in case anyone else is going through something similar and also to help end the silence in which infertility issues are often shrouded.

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Filed Under: pregnancy Tagged With: infertility

Hi, I’m Becky!

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