25 Weeks

Your baby is now about 1 ½ pounds and measures around 12 inches long. You are closely approaching your third trimester and the final stretch of your pregnancy. Now is a great time to investigate and start birthing classes if you haven’t already done so. By now, people may be noticing that you are pregnant. Maternity clothes may be a necessity, although you may still fit into some of your pre-pregnancy, looser clothing.


[So... can you notice I'm pregnant? Ha hahahahaha]

Taste buds are developing at this point and the baby even is able to distinguish sweet tastes. Blood vessels are developing in the lungs to prepare for their vital function after birth, but for now they are filled with amniotic fluid and are practicing breathing movements. Breathing is controlled by the nervous system.

If you were to shine a flashlight on your abdomen, the baby will turn their head toward the light because the optic nerve is now working. Fingerprints, toenails and fingernails are fully formed and the spine is straightening out. Bones are continuing to harden at this time.

Vernix, the waxy substance that covers your baby, is forming at a rapid pace. This protects their skin and helps regulate body temperature.

I started attending my midwife's childbirth education classes this week. It is very interesting, as it is very unlike a class I'd expect to take in Canada. But I think it's very worthwhile for building my relationship with her and also to learn about the birthing culture in Mexico!

The classes are twice a week for 2.5 hours per classs. I'm unclear how many weeks there are in total. Four? Nine? I can only make two weeks/four classes. The first hour and a half is light exercise, breathing exercises (hee hee hee haw lamaze type breathing), massage and relaxation. The last hour is the talk. Yesterday she covered the reproductive systems and typical traditional hospital birth. It creeped me out to see the images of women flat on their backs, legs in stirrups, fully draped, only betadine-scrubbed perineum visible. Um, doctors, there's a woman attached to that vagina!

Tomorrow we'll cover a natural birth and note the contrast.

I asked Lucia how many births here in Mexico are like the traditional hospital birth she discussed. She said the majority! Then she said well actually, most of them are c-section. She looked back in her log and probably 75% of recent students ended up with c-sections. The WHO guideline is about 10% c-section rate.

I appreciated how she took a holistic approach to discussing pregnancy; instead of isolating it as a condition, she also discussed anatomy, menstruation, conception, and sterilization. I didn't agree with her assertion that you need to do 'retraction exercises' to an uncircumcized boy's foreskin. She was very pro-breastfeeding which I appreciated, though she did state that women need to toughen up their nipples leading up to birth (the source of any pain during nursing is actually an incorrect latch, not sensitive nipples).

There was some discussion of ultrasound; she mentioned that I had declined because of my concerns about risk to the baby. She asked one of the Dads, who is a doctor, what his opinion was about that. He said that there are no conclusive studies of risk/damage to the baby (true) but that there is some evidence of a link between ultrasounds and reflux. Lucia told me later that she's believed that all along and was gratified to hear a doctor acknowledge it.

I just wrote my birth plan and emailed it off to Lucia. It will be very interesting to see what kind of objections and debate it raises with the OB and pediatrician (whom I haven't yet met). I'm not going to stress about it... I'm not going to stress about it.... ;) I'm actually glad for the opportunity to get everything out in the open and work out any conflicts well ahead of time. All of my requests are evidence-based and I can provide them with studies and papers to back it up.

Now that the weather has cooled off a bit, I am feeling fantastic. Sleeping great, good energy, good attitude.

Clothing is a bit of a problem right now. Almost all of my maternity pants are baggy and/or unflattering. Many of my tops either don't cover my whole belly or are baggy and unflattering. I did buy a cheap t-shirt to cut off and use as a shirt extender which works quite nicely. I have some one-size-up regular pants which I wore post-partum last time which look good but start feeling pinchy in the waist after a few hours. I have some extremely comfortable but pilly goucho sweats which I wear a lot around the house, and I have a couple of maternity skirts which are quite comfortable but not appropriate for every occasion. All that said, I'm grateful to have a collection of mat clothing at all, and it's only a short time more that I'll need them, really.