I haven’t been posting much because there has been a lot going on. A lot. Some good. Some bad. Some kinda boring like spending 30 minutes a day practicing hypnosis. Yeah, I’ll get to that but first let’s start off with the good.

The Good

We got our new RV. You can see pictures of all 400 square feet here or if you prefer here’s a video tour. Aside from the decor looking a little generic (it feels very impersonal like a hotel room) we are loving it. There is so much more space and the kitchen is amazing.

Residential Fridge fifth Whell Heartland Gateway 3650BH Kitchen

The full size fridge has changed our life. No more playing Tetris after coming home from the grocery store. We even renewed our Costco membership. So that’s all good.

We’ve been traveling around in Florida hanging out with friends. Our first stop was a full time RV family rally. About 40 families who live full time on the road in their RVs like us were there. That’s just the kids at the rally in the picture above! It was a lot of fun even for an introvert like me. A few days later we headed over to Orlando to spend a few more weeks with other families. The boys have made a lot of new friends so that’s good too!

While we were in Orlando my nomad friends, some who I have known and some who I had just met (even a few I just met that night), threw me a surprise baby shower! I was in shock! These are the type of things I’ve come to accept that I miss out on by living on the road except I didn’t. What a blessing!

I mentioned last month that I was going to start blogging for a company. I started writing for Go RVing. It’s a trial partnership but so far it’s been a lot of fun and feels like a perfect fit. You can check out my posts on their site.

The Bad

Now for the bad.

My OBGYN was diagnosed with cancer and is taking a leave of absence. So sad.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.

First of all to be diagnosed with cancer is terrible and I’m so sad for him and his wife. At the risk of sounding selfish, I panicked about who was going to deliver our baby. I was 32 weeks along and we moved to Florida specifically for this OBGYN because he has such a high success rate with VBACs (vaginal birth after cesearean). My doctor in CA was no longer allowed to perform VBACS due to a hospital ban on them. Since I have already had one successful VBAC (before the ban) with a midwife from my doctor’s office in CA, my doctor there said, “It would be criminal of me to give to you c-section.” His words. I’m not going to spend the time right now debating women’s rights, medical liability, and the like. I’m just going to say the risks of complications of me having another c-section outweigh the risks of me having another vaginal birth. I’ll agree to a c-section to save my or our baby’s life but I will NOT be cut open due to oppressive hospital rules or for someone else’s convenience. Period.

“Coincidently”, the day we found out about my doctors’s cancer we had met with a midwife earlier that morning. I was hoping she would either be my doula or could recommend one. I had a doula with both of my other births. Considering the unfortunate turn of events, we decided to go with her as our care provider for the remainder of the pregnancy. So while it is very bad news about my doctor, I’m thankful we found someone who will take me this late in pregnancy and and does not want to cut me open. I feel very blessed to have met her when we did. Not only does is she very kind, she is very experienced.

I want to share more about VBACs later. Many women don’t even realize that a vaginal birth after a cesarean is not only possible but most of the time (not always) a safer option than a repeat cesarean. There is a growing movement of women standing up for their birthing rights!

The Blah.

So between getting a new RV and finding a new healthcare provider, I’ve been doing lots of stuff that some of you might find blah. Of course, I don’t find nesting, exercising, and preparing for baby blah but I realize a lot of people do. :-)

Stuff like reading birth books (I’ll do a post about the best birth books later), researching strollers, and nesting in preparation for our baby nomad. We are getting excited. It sure is going to be different raising a baby in an RV with limited space. I’m looking forward to not having all sorts of baby crap that we don’t need laying around.

Along with the nesting and research, I’ve been practicing self-hypnosis using Hypnobabies. Hypnobabies believes in peaceful comfortable birthing. There is so much unnecessary fear surrounding birth, most of it put in place by our culture. It reminds me a lot of the standards of beauty women are expected to maintain. Like those standards, I don’t buy it. I’m retraining my thinking to believe that birth is a beautiful, sensual, bonding, and peaceful experience. As part of this preparation, I’m spending roughly 30-60 minutes a day practicing self hypnosis. Hypnosis is not what most people think. It’s not like the cartoons you saw as a kid or about losing control. In fact, all of us experience various states of hypnosis every day! It’s quite the time commitment but, not only are there some really great reviews online, I’ve had a few friends talk about how much they enjoyed their births almost pain free. Their stories were enough to convince me to give it a try. So I’ll let you know in a few weeks how my experience with Hypnobabies goes. :-)

Speaking of baby, my last post I mentioned Thing 3 was breech. I’ve been doing Spinning Babies (told you some of this was boring) for the last few weeks and I’m pretty sure he has turned. Not only am I pretty certain I can feel his bum and legs in my ribs, yesterday I used my dad’s stethoscope and found his heartbeat at the bottom right. I even counted the beats and it was 138 bpm. While I’m sure my count was off, it’s close to the 140 bpm that the doctor had been recording at my last few appointments. I have an appointment with my midwife this afternoon and hopefully she can tell me if I’m right!

Yesterday, I went to the chiropractor for the first time ever. I went to someone who is Webster certified. I have read good things about chiropractic care for optimal baby positioning. (There’s a lot of baby talk today!) Thing 2 was born posterior which means his face was facing up when he came out. Posterior, or “sunny side up”, babies often mean gnarly back labor for most women. Typically, a baby is born anterior with his face facing the backbone of the mother. That way the smallest part of the head goes through the pelvis and the skull isn’t grinding against the spine. If possible (Pleeease Lord!) I’d love to avoid pushing out another posterior baby so I headed to the chiropractor. She said my sacrum was crooked which doesn’t surprise me after taking a very bad fall on my snowboard last winter. Again, I’ll let you know how it all goes after the birth.

33 weeks

34.5 weeks

Lastly, I’ve been keeping up with my workouts. I’m still doing 2-3 kettlebell workouts a week, a few days of yoga, and a decent length walk every day. I wish I could show you something exciting but really it’s just been about consistency. There have been no feats of strength or impressive numbers, just me and my kettlebell hanging out a few times a week.

Well there it is the good, the bad, and the blah. :-)

Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Tried Hypnobabies? Worked out with kettlebells pregnant?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States.