Sleep--I Miss You and Will For a Long Time...

Oh how I wish I could sleep! One thing I look forward to is that when Avery's here, I'll have something to do when I wake up a million times a night! Argh! I know it's common for pregnant women to have problems sleeping but my sleeping problems go back to November 2006. Now I'm wishing I had been more aggressive in finding out what the problem is. I miss the days when I went to bed and didn't wake up until the next morning.

Speaking of Avery...I can't believe she'll be here in like a month! I can't believe that I'm down to weekly visits with the midwife! She's back from Belgium this week too so that's a relief. I will visit her this Tuesday at her office and then the next Tuesday she'll do a home visit and bring me my birth kit and tub. Yay!

I'm measuring 2 weeks behind but that's ok. Her heart rate was a little lower but I think she was sleeping or something. It still sounded good and strong though. The midwife assistant said she was in the perfect position for delivery too. My braxton hicks contractions seemed like they had slowed down lately but I was waking up with them alot last night.

I've been so blessed with this pregnancy! I can't get over it! My biggest complaint is the sleep issue. I don't have the back aches, hip's hurting, legs hurting, feet hurting, heart burn, diarrhea, or sausage toes. I'm not uncomfortable except by the end of the day it's nice to stretch out. I really can't complain and for that I am thankful. I do however have my first mommy mark. :(
Unless you count the scars from my ectopic. I discovered....stretch marks. *gasp* apparently lubing up doesn't always help :) Dang genetics! This is what I get for making comments about not having them!!! But it's ok, they'll fade and they are small and only 1 or 2. I can't remember because I can't actually see them.

I am embracing motherhood and all that comes with it!

*sigh* I am so tired today. Slept worse than usual last night and then around 5:00 am my stomach area (it wasn't a stomach ache but I don't know what it was) started to hurt. I couldn't sleep so around 6:20 I got up and finally around 8 something it started to feel better. Now I'm just kind of achey down low.

Good thing I cleaned the house yesterday so today I can lay low today. I will be on a mission to kill all these flies in my house though.

My trip to Ogden yesterday was cancelled for the 3rd time I think it is now. The car is acting up and I didn't want to get Emma and I stranded. I still kick myself for selling that Toyota!!

Birthing class is tonight. I'm going to have to talk to the instructor about getting CD's of the scripts that David's supposed to go over with me. He's just too busy with work. I had no idea all of the stuff that was involved in this class when I signed up. I'm going to keep trying to keep up with it because I believe it will be beneficial and I paid for it!!

I love fall. The trees in the canyon are changing and I've got my pumpkin spice candle burning. Mmmm. Can't wait to snuggle my little one this fall!!!

35 Weeks!!!!

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Oh my gosh! Birthing time is getting close!!!! I can't wait to meet our daughter! That sounds so weird!! :0)

I'm pooped!

I went and bought some goodies for Avery today! Yay! I had a Wal Mart gift card plus $30 so I went and bought some stuff. I was in Logan all day and now I'm pooped :) I went to Kohl's and bought a maternity dress for $9.60 and it was originally $48!! Love it!

I also went to the dentist and got the last of my cavities filled. He had to give me like 10 shots. I'm not even kidding. He numbed me 3 different times. At one time he was drilling and it hurt so bad I jumped and so I got more. I absolutely HATE HATE HATE the feeling of my mouth and face being numb. Hate it!

A lady from the newspaper is going to be in our birthing class and might ask some people some questions for the paper. She's doing an article on Hypnobabies. I'm having a hard time practicing all of the stuff for class. It's even harder since David's so busy. He's picking up extra hours at work which we both are really thankful for. The parts that he's supposed to help me on are pretty time consuming and he usually home later now and then he eats and then it's always something, like tonight he had to put new gaskets or something on my car. And Tuesday's we've got Bible study and Wednesdays is birthing class. This Thursday the missionaries are coming back. And in October I'll be attending a women's Bible study. Pretty excited about that.

Well, time for bed!

Ready for a nap!

Today after church was my church baby shower. It was a good time. I got a lot of diapers which I am very happy about! And the ladies at the church are going to make me a quilt. Each person at the shower is going to make their own square. That's pretty neat.

David went rock climbing in Logan Canyon while I was at the shower. Yesterday, my car broke down in Sardine Canyon. It took us about an hour to finally get out of the canyon and then we made our way to Auto Zone and David scanned the car and replaced something. The kind of humorous thing was that David's brother called a few times about his car that was broken down too. It's nice having a handy husband!

Well, church, dinner and a shower has worn me out so I'm going to do some relaxin'!

Waiting... *edited*

I want Avery to come when she's ready but good grief, I'm ready for her to come! And I have to say that being this far along, I will feel MUCH better when my midwife is back in the country again!!!!

I was going to go down to Salt Lake for a baby expo they have but a friend of mine went and said don't go. She said it was a disappointment this year.

I have another shower on Sunday and then I will be heading to Target on Tuesday with Emma. She's going to go to my midwife appt with me and then we'll head on down and go to Babys R Us and the Carter's store. Can't wait! I want to pick up a smaller sleeper for Avery for when she's born. All my sleepers are bigger than newborn and I want a smaller one just in case she's small. I don't want her to be engulfed by her outfit.

David is so stinkin' cute when it comes to this baby. He's going to be such a good dad. I have no doubts. Avery is very blessed :)

David's grandma said she's going to be so rotten since she'll be the only girl on that side of the family. She's really looking forward to having a granddaughter. I wish money wasn't an object and that all of David's family could meet her right away.

Well, I watched a movie with David last night instead of cleaning up after dinner so I better get on that :)

Oh I think I'll post a video too that's pretty funny. I showed it to David and he said he was going to have to show it to one of his work buddies. Apparently the guy likes pregnant women. We went to the guys house a few weeks ago and had dinner with him and his fiancee. He later told David that he was sorry but he was having such a hard time not staring at my "cute, tight, little belly". David was like "I don't care. Go ahead and look" I thought that was so funny.

34 Weeks--6 Weeks to go!

Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies

Not so Exciting Irving News

I have another baby shower next Sunday. I'm excited! I should be getting some diapers which I'm excited about! They're doing a diaper raffle.

Every thing is good around here. Avery's moving around alot and making me pretty uncomfortable by the end of the day. This morning she is napping more than normal--giving me a break :0)

David finishes up his hunter safety course tonight. He's already passed his test, tonight is just a field day. Then he'll get his license and hopefully get a bunch of meat for us. Vicki's parents are going to let us store and use their deep freezer here so that's a blessing! My grocery bill will be so much cheaper when I don't have to buy meat! Yay! I would still like to get a beef because I'm not too thrilled about deer and elk ALL the time. But this meat will be so much better for us :0)

Here in the next few weeks our friend will be having a little girl and so we're going to fry a turkey for the family. They asked us to :0) I guess the mom loves turkey so they're going to do kind of a small Thanksgiving type dinner. They've never had fried turkey so I hope they like it. They also want to try a smoked turkey but we don't have the wood. It's hard to find around here.

I'm getting super excited about fall. I can't wait to stay inside and snuggle my baby!! I'm pretty excited though, this week Emma and I are going to go to Ogden and I'm going to use my Target gift cards to buy Avery some goodies! Can't wait!

Waiting for THE Day...

David and I have been going to bed early this past week. I'm going to have to quit doing that. Last night we went to be at 9:30...and it was a Friday! Gosh, we're getting old. But he had to go to work today too. Anyways, I generally wake up every 2 hours or so. So the first time I wake up I'm hoping it's later but it's not. It's midnight. Argh. That means it's going to be a long night. And it was. I just can't stay asleep! So I moved to the couch at 6:15 and around 7 tried to go back to sleep but it wasn't solid. I finally got up and made me some coffee at about 8:15. Well, there's a nice play by play of my morning.

This morning I've been reading birth stories and watching Hypnobabies births on youtube. I love it! It encourages me alot. I just can't wait to hold my little girl and neither can David. I don't go to the midwife this coming week but the next and then I start coming every week. The midwife and her assistant will make a home visit probably for my 37th week visit. They'll bring me my birthing kit and tub. Oh my gosh I can't wait!

She's been moving around a lot this week and she gets the hiccups alot too. They can be felt on the lower left side of my stomach, which is where her back is. She's made my right ribcage pretty tender right now as that is where her feet usually are. I can't wait to see these little feet that have been jabbing me :)

I love how my body is changing. I love that my body knows what to do. Isn't God amazing? It's so incredible that your body knows what do do during something it's never gone through. I like being pregnant. I love my belly! So does David :)

I'm kind of wondering if she's going to come earlier. But I kind of like the date November 2 now. Funny. It would be cool if she came on a weekend so David wouldn't have to miss as much work. But the weekend before is Halloween weekend and I don't want a Halloween baby!

I can't wait to make phone calls that she's on her way! I want to see her so badly!

So Tired

It's so hard for me to get going in the mornings! What is this??

I had my childbirth class last night. There's 5 couples in it. One couples names are Anna and David haha. I'm the furthest one along. One of the mom's is as big and maybe a little bigger than me and she's due the end of December but it's her 3rd baby too. The other 2 moms are due January and February and aren't even showing yet. The other couple missed last night so I don't know about them. We practiced some relaxation techniques and someone was snoring like crazy! I think it was one of the girls. I'm sure had David been there, he'd have joined her :0)

So I tried to filet some trout last night. Our neighbor brought us more. I couldn't remember exactly how the lady showed us how to do it. So I started cutting but wasn't doing so well so I quit before I butchered it all up. David's going to have to remind me how she did it. But this week he has no time so maybe I'll freeze them. And yesterday was the first time since I was a kid probably that I touched a fish and it was gross. Really gross.

David is all pumped up about killing some deer and elk this fall (and a wolf, bear, moose, quail, pheasant, rabbit and any other poor little or big creature he can get). I wish he'd hunt cow and chicken. So I'm supposed to call the cannery today to see what I've gotta do to get an appointment there.

Well, that's all I know.

Baby Class Tonight!!

The mornings suck with this cold thing I've got going on. Ugh, I wish it would go away. I'm great during the day, it's the night and morning that sucks.

Went to the midwife yesterday but she wasn't there because she was with a laboring mama so I just saw the assistant. She's so sweet. I love how comfortable the two of them make me feel and how I can pretty much spend however much time I want to there. No in and out type thing. The assistant forgot her measuring tape so she couldn't measure me. Oh well. We'll try again in 2 weeks. I'll see her too, not the midwife since she'll be in Belgium. Then I come back for weekly visits the week after that.

I told the assistant how my belly seems to be getting softer. She said that's good, it's probably my hormone Relaxin (funny name) making my muscles and ligaments relax and stretch. I told her that my Braxton Hicks contractions are starting to feel different. They don't hurt, they're just....different. She said that's good too. She said my body is preparing!! She said it was really good that I'm so in tune with my body. I don't really see how you wouldn't be in tune with it but after chatting with my friend, it seems that with some people it is possible :0)

I'm so excited to start class tonight and learn these relaxation techniques. I need them because the closer I get to delivery, the more anxious I get and I don't want to be fearful about it! I wish David didn't have to miss the first class. He's taking his hunters safety course with a bunch of kids haha! He sits with Austin's little sister who's 10ish. I don't know how old she is. He's really looking forward to killing anything with fur on it.

Well, about a month and a half and we'll have a new addition to our family!!

33 Week Pictures

I just realized I'm wearing the same shirt in these pictures as I was in my last set 2 weeks ago. Oh well :0) For you Okies, am I bigger than when you saw me? Doesn't seem like it.

Still got muffin tops hanging out :0)

My belly's in the shade but I think it might be bigger! Way to grow Avery!

33 weeks

This week your baby weighs a little over 4 pounds (heft a pineapple) and has passed the 17-inch mark. He's rapidly losing that wrinkled, alien look and his skeleton is hardening. The bones in his skull aren't fused together, which allows them to move and slightly overlap, thus making it easier for him to fit through the birth canal. (The pressure on the head during birth is so intense that many babies are born with a conehead-like appearance.) These bones don't entirely fuse until early adulthood, so they can grow as his brain and other tissue expands during infancy and childhood.

I seriously can't get over how close it is until little Avery is here! I have been so blessed during this pregnancy! No major aches or pains and probably such a relief for David...no crazy emotions! This pregnancy has been really easy and I pray the rest goes just as smoothly and that the delivery does as well. My midwife is leaving this Friday to go to Europe and will be gone for 2 weeks. I've got to find out today what I do in the event of early labor...who do I call? I'm excited to meet with her today to see how my little girl has grown. People look at me in shock when I tell them how far along I am. It's fine by me if she's small as long as she's healthy! Plus, the fact that I'm not HUGE has probably contributed to my lack of serious discomfort. At least, that's what makes sense to me :0)

I was supposed to go have some cavities filled today but I cancelled because I've got some sort of cold/allergy thing going on. It sucks. Getting cavities filled sucks too. After my experience the first time, I'm not looking forward to the second time. David's fillings were a breeze.

Anywho, I'm gonna keep sitting here and sipping my hot tea. I gave the blueberry tea a break today and am drinking some pomegranate green tea. It's good but not as good as the blueberry!

Trout

Our neighbor went and caught some trout the other day and gave David and I about 3 of them. He had already cleaned them and cut their heads and fins off. His wife showed us how to filet them and how they like to cook them. So, last night David cooked them. We had no egg to batter them so we called Vicki to get her tilapia recipe. We figured it would taste good on trout too and it did.

I don't like fish. I can take a couple bites of it and I'm done. But this trout was really good and had no fishy taste at all. I can eat that fish :0) We also got some corn from our neighbors garden and it was good too! I LOVE corn. Mmmm.

I went to Wal-Mart yesterday with Emma and tried to do a baby registry because their online system for it is incredibly stupid. Well, they only do it online now so it was a waste of a trip. I showed Emma the problems I was having with their website (ex: there's nothing on it) and she decided she wasn't going to register her baby there. The only problem is, they sent out my shower invitations that said I am registered at Wal-Mart. Oh well.

David starts his hunter safety course today and it's all week so he'll miss my first childbirth class. That's kind of a bummer but oh well. I'm super excited anyway.

And now that I'm coming near the end of this pregnancy, the tiredness has come back :(

Can't wait to meet this precious little girl though!! I'm wondering...will she be an October baby or a November baby??

I Had To Get Out Of The House!

Today David came home from work and I wanted to go to Bear Lake for a shake and a burger. So off we went. I had a delicious burger but was too full for a shake :( Then we went up this canyon in Paris, ID and saw this spring gushing out of the side of a hill. My pictures turned out kind of crappy.

Look! Fall is coming!!

David and I picked our jalapenos today :0) I'm telling you, we're growing a garden for pixie's or something!

Don't Want To Do Anything!

Friday+tired+sore throat=no motivation whatsoever.

I think sore throats are one of the worst things ever. I was up so much last night and awake for long periods of time. I never sleep well which of course contributes to my already genetically predispositioned under eye circles. I've been drinking some delicious blueberry tea. It has caffeine in it so I'm trying to limit it.

And it's Friday which means it's the start of the weekend, right? I like to go all out :0) Time to relax!

Tonight we'll be heading to Logan to hang out with one of David's work buddies and his fiancee. I better perk up before then!

Fall is around the corner. I can't wait for the fall colors to show. I wish a certain someone (I won't list any names *coughcoughAMYcoughcough*) would come visit this fall and drink some yummy drinks and see some pretty sites with me! Nopressureatall. I'd even show little man some cows. Lots of 'em. I'd show him an oreo cow cuz they're my fave!

Well, guess I'll go find something to do.

Things To Do

It's cool outside and rainy. The sun popped out for about 2 seconds and it's gone again. That's ok, I like the rain. I just wish it would keep raining rather than just be cloudy and wet.

Sunday my friend Emma and I are going to go to Wal Mart so I can make a baby registry there for a shower I'm having at church. I tried to do it online but they're online registry thing is weird and I don't think it shows everything they have. I couldn't even find a package of baby spoons online. So we'll mosy on down on Sunday. I like to go to Logan on Sunday's because there's hardly anyone out...especially at Wal Mart. And then I think sometime next week we'll venture on down to Ogden and go to Target, Babies R Us and the Carter's store. Good thing Emma's pregnant too! She's having a boy :0)

Well, there's not much going on around here. David and I have just been watching alot of movies. He's been looking into becoming a certified weld inspector. He'll get paid more. He's also interested in becoming an ultrasound tech for welds. I think Emma and I will go sight seeing during the week. It'll give us both a chance to get out of the house. I feel bad for her and her hubby because they haven't got to see much of the beauty that's around here. I don't think they venture too far off the path between Preston and Logan. So we thought we'd drive around and check some things out. I really wanted to take them to Lava to float the Portneuf River but time has gotten away from us and I think it's too cool now but David doesn't think so.

Well, I'm out.

Preparations

I got word today that my friend is being induced today and will be meeting her baby Lily today. I'm jealous :0) Not of the induction part but the meeting her baby part.

Yesterday I bought a storage box and got most of my supplies in it for the birth. I want everything to be ready and in one spot for when I go into labor. I've still got about 8 weeks or so left but you never know what can happen and she might come early (or late) but I want to be prepared. I don't want us to be running around gathering things when I'm in labor :0) So I bought a cute pink tub and have sheets, pillow cases, diapers, receiving blankets and sleepers ready to go! Like I said, I've got some more things to get but I'll do that here in the next few days. I'm so excited! Some things I'll get closer to delivery time, like drinks and snacks for labor time.

I start my birthing classes next Wednesday! Yay!

Other than that, nothing new going on with either of us.

32 Weeks

By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

It's getting so close!

My Garden

Hehe, here is my little garden. It's over run with tomatoes right now. The tomatoes are still small and green. My one neighbor said that tomatoes don't usually get ripe until September here. The other neighbor said hers weren't doing too well. Our friends in Utah already canned theirs. Don't pay attention to all the junk around the garden either.

This garden below is my neighbor to the west of us ( I think). I had to be sneaky when taking this picture since he was in his garden. Don't mind all the wood either. It's my other "bad" neighbors. There's quite a bit of wood here that you can't see that he had been storing in our yard for the last year. When Austin told him he had to move it because they were going to put in grass or something, the guy moved it to my neighbors yard. That guy said he could store his wood there for 2 weeks and then it was his for fire wood. The other guy agreed. Well, that 2 weeks came and went about 4 months ago and it's still there, leaving a nice dead spot in my neighbors nice grass. See, the "bad" neighbor, doesn't want the wood in his yard, I'm presuming for the same reason. So, David doesn't like "bad" neighbor at all since he has no respect for anyone else's property. It makes David so mad that they guy left his junk in our yard for so long without ever asking Austin first. Then the "bad" neighbor always puts his trash can in our yard at the curb. He keeps it out there all week. So, like every day David goes over and pulls the guys trash to the street. The guy said that when the sod came in he'd quit putting it in our yard. He has for the most part but every so often we'll find it back in our yard. It's almost amusing how mad it makes David. Whew, that was long.



This garden below is my "bad" neighbors. It's a really nice garden and in fact, the rest of his garden is directly behind my house. He now owns part of what used to be our lot. I guess he bought a part of our backyard from the previous owner, so his yard is L shaped now and ours is shorter because of it. His whole backyard is really nice.

So far though, we like all our neighbors, except the one I just mentioned. An elderly neighbor 2 doors up brought David and I some homemade plum syrup the other day and it's good :0) And this morning this other elderly neighbor who has given us some really good cucumbers and corn came by and asked if we'd like to come over and have some refreshments and play a game tonight. I think I heard him telling David that he usually gets together with the neighbor who gave us the plum syrup but he couldn't tonight, so he came and asked us! Looks like we'll be playing some dominoes or something tonight with him and his wife. He's a really nice guy. He tills people's gardens every year and let's you use his tractor and hands out his produce. He rides his bike through the neighborhood. He's a cute old man :0)

Well, I guess that's all for now.

Our Peppers

A friend I worked with gave David and I alot of pepper and tomato plants earlier this summer. David hastily planted them in a container garden. Now, David and I have no knowledge of gardening at all. At. All.

David planted everything way too close. We pulled some plants but well, our garden is kinda funny. I'll have to post pictures of it.

We have these little bell pepper plants and they never grew. David picked them today and they're so cute!

We also have miniature jalapenos but we haven't picked them yet. Live and learn right? Maybe next year a neighbor will take pity on us and give us a hand.

Woohoo!!

Yesterday Vicki emailed me a listing for a breast pump for sale on craigslist and last night I went and picked it up! Yay! It was only $75 and they sell for $200-$250 for this brand which is supposedly the best. I got all new parts with it, still unopened and a new cord and new bottles. And it comes in this nifty bag :0) I love buying baby stuff! Now I just need to clean up the bag.

David is only working half a day today and gets Monday off. We're pretty surprised he gets half of today off. He's going to go spear fishing for carp for a while. Tomorrow we're going to go to a welcome home party for his buddy that got hurt. He's glad to be home but I think it's hard too now that he's back in real life and old things are hard to do now. He's doing good though and we still have hope! The way that he fell, he could have snapped his neck and died so we're glad he's still here :0)

My Target gift cards are burning a whole in my pocket and I want to go spend them! But I'm going to wait to see what I get at my other shower and then go get whatever else I need.

TARGET NEEDS TO BUILD A STORE IN LOGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just A Little Video

Just a Little Info I Find Interesting

Almost one in three first-time deliveries now via c-section

Mon, Aug 30, 2010 (HealthDay News) — The rate of cesarean delivery in the United States continues to rise and steps are needed to reverse the trend, a new study finds.

From 1996 to 2007 the rate of cesarean delivery climbed by more than 50 percent, and "one in three first-time mothers are now being delivered by cesarean delivery," lead researcher Dr. Jun Zhang, of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said during a press conference Monday.

In addition, more women than ever before are having repeat C-section deliveries and the rate of medically induced deliveries is high.

"We found that 44 percent of women who attempt vaginal delivery have their labor induced," said Zhang, who is a senior investigator in the institute's Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research. "In this [induced] group the C-section rate is twice as high as women who have spontaneous labor."

He also noted that many cesarean deliveries were done at an early stage of labor, before the women even had a chance to spontaneously deliver.

The report is published in the Aug. 30 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Like any surgery, C-section comes with risks, explained Dr. Salih Yasin, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

"First, cesarean section is not just having a baby; it is having a baby through major surgery. So there is a chance of bleeding, infections and longer healing and recovery," said Yasin, who was not involved in the new study. There are also the long-term effects of repeated cesareans on the uterus. "You end up having many more cases of cesarean-related hysterectomies and transfusion and maternal death," he said.

While these consequences make up only a small percent of cases, "we are noticing an almost 10-times increase of those significant complications," Yasin said. "We need to make sure we are doing this surgery to the right patient for the reason -- the right timing for the long-term health of the patient," he added.

In the new study, researchers working with the Consortium on Safe Labor collected data on cesarean delivery throughout the United States using data from almost 229,000 electronic medical records from 19 hospitals.

They found that 30.5 percent of all deliveries were done by cesarean section in 2007, including 31.2 percent of women having their first child.

Among women who underwent C-section due to an abnormal or difficult childbirth or labor (dystocia), half of the deliveries were done before the cervix had opened less than 6 centimeters -- early in the labor process, Zhang said.

Among women who had a cesarean delivery before going into labor, about 31 percent had a uterine scar from an earlier pregnancy. A uterine scar can be caused by many conditions that damage the uterus. In some cases, scar tissue can prevent the uterus from fully dilating, thus resulting in a C-section.

However, almost 29 percent of women with a uterine scar did manage to have a normal vaginal delivery, the researchers noted. And in these cases, vaginal delivery was successful in about 6 out of 10 cases.

There are many reasons that could help explain why the number of cesarean deliveries is rising, the researchers said. These include women delaying childbirth until they are approaching middle-age, increasing obesity rates among pregnant women and the increase in multiple births due to the use of fertility treatments.

Also, when a woman has already had one C-section, doctors are likely to deliver her other children the same way. That's a practice obstetrical experts have been trying to curb, however. In July, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued new guidelines stressing that many women who've had a C-section may be candidates for vaginal birth in future pregnancies.

Litigation concerns on the part of doctors may be driving the trend towards C-sections, as well. Many obstetricians fear being sued should something go wrong in a vaginal delivery, the researchers noted.

"To make a significant impact on the high cesarean delivery rate in the United States, the focus should be preventing unnecessary primary cesarean deliveries from several aspects," the researchers wrote.

First, there needs to be fewer induced deliveries, and performing a C-section in cases of problem birth should not be done before the start of labor -- especially in women having their first child, the researchers said.

Vaginal delivery after an earlier cesarean should be encouraged, if possible, and there needs to be an accepted standard among physicians that indicates when a cesarean is needed, they added.

"Finally, increasing access to, and patient education on, trial of labor in women with a previous uterine scar and improving the [delivery] success rate are urgently needed," the researchers said.

Zhang noted that one limitation of the study is that the sample the researchers used is not necessarily representative of the United States as a whole, since much of the data came from teaching hospitals, which tend to see more complicated pregnancies than community hospitals.
For his part, Yasin said he wasn't surprised by the findings.

"That's the way things are," he said. "We are inducing labor more than we should. We are not being patient with or giving adequate time for women who are in labor. We are intervening before giving the patient every chance possible."-- Steven Reinberg

17 Weeks and 31 Weeks

Wow, time flies! Baby Avery is growing!

2 months and 1 day

Here's the clothes that Avery got from the shower. This isn't even all the clothes. Not to mention the ones I already had. I'm also having another shower.

I can't believe that in a few short months she'll be here. I know she may not be here in exactly 2 months and 1 day but close enough :0) I can't imagine what life is going to be like. I'm so excited for fall/winter so I can snuggle my baby and drink hot drinks!

Went to the midwife yesterday. Avery's heart was going strong at about 160. She's changed positions and her back is along my left side and her feet are over on my right but I already knew that as she kicks me there all the time. Speaking of kicking, Avery finally got some good jabs going on the other night and so I grabbed David's hand and woke him up and he finally got to feel some good movement. Then it happened again and he said "Hannah, you've got to quit waking me up. It startles me." Oops hehehe. So then the next day while I was finishing up cooking dinner she was kicking up a storm and he felt her and the look on his face was priceless. I'm so glad he finally got to feel more than a little flutter. He's going to be a good daddy :0)

My childbirth classes have been postponed and so now I won't be finishing them up until 10 days before I'm due. Not crazy about that but oh well. I just hope she doesn't come more than 10 days early so I can be sure to finish the class! I know for first time moms they usually come late but you never know what might happen.

I just can't wait to see her!