32 weeks!

At 32 weeks my baby's bones are well developed but still quite soft. Rhythmic breathing movements are present and the central nervous system is developing. The baby is accumulating body fat while he/she learns to regulate his/her own body temperature. Up until now, I have had an impeccable pregnancy, very little nausea, very minimal weight gain, no real change in energy level...

However, a week ago I began having some interesting symptoms that my doctor did not seem the least bit concerned about. I was going blind. Not literally blind, but 3 or 4 days on one week my vision began to blur, I could not see straight and clear, and I felt weak, a bit dizzy, and out of sorts. These episodes were almost always followed by an excruciating head ache that could only be dealt with by a dark space and a few hours of sleep. My doctor's response to this was, "Go to the eye doctor."

So I did. It was there I found out I have perfect vision, with no problems in the iris or imbalance in the tension of the eye. It was there I found out that what it sounds like I am experiencing is called: Aura Migraine. Apparently these are common in pregnant women due to the extra amount of hormones floating around a soon to be mommy's body. The blurry eyes are a warning sign of what is to come. What neither the eye doctor, nor my obstetrician told me, and what I found out on my own, is that migraines are a common part of the third trimester of pregnancy, BUT... are usually indicative of low iron levels! So I upped my iron and cut out my every once in a while coffee and my every day piece of chocolate and have not had an episode since.

Now knowing what stage of growth my baby is in, it is only logical that even the slightest stimulant could cause the central nervous system to go overboard, which is probably exactly what was happening.

Other prego news: I have started my pregnancy gym class! I go twice a week to do cardiovascular exercises that strengthen and ready my body for labor. We work the specific muscles that will be necessary at the moment of labor, as well as the breathing methods that will be useful to help me through the process. It is a great group of soon to be mommies and I really like going!
Then on Tuesday nights Claudio and I have started going to informative lectures about labor and parenting. We have gone to two classes so far and they are super interesting. The first was all about exactly what happens at the moment of labor and all of the different methods that exist to deliver a baby. The second was all about anestisia, something I have chosen not to have. If I was decided agains having the epidural before the lecture, I am far more decidedly against it after the lecture. What a scary scary process!

These are the dangers:
Epidural typically involves using the opiates fentanyl or sufentanil, with bupivacaine, Fentanyl is a powerful opiate with a potency and side effects 80X that of morphine. Sufentanil is another opiate, 5 to 10Xs more potent than Fentanyl. Bupivacaine is markedly toxic, causing excitation: nervousness, tingling around the mouth, tinnitus, tremor, dizziness, blurred vision, or seizures, followed by depression: drowsiness, loss of consciousness, respiratory depression and apnea. Bupivacaine has caused several deaths by cardiac arrest when epidural anesthetic has been accidentally inserted into vein instead of epidural space in the spine. Epidural correctly administered results in three main effects:

• Loss of other modalities of sensation (including touch)
• Loss of muscle power (hence, a risk of falling)
• Loss of function of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls blood pressure

The worst part is that during the lecture, the question was asked, "does the drug pass to the baby?" And the answer is a definitive "YES!"

I would rather feel all the pain 100% than take the risk of the epidural.

And that doesn't include the side effects and aftermath:

• Epidural slows down labor significantly because it lowers the blood pressure whereby decreasing both adrenaline and oxytocin, the hormone necessary for dilating.

Studies have shown a delayed onset of breastfeeding and shorter duration of breastfeeding in babies born having used the epidural. If the baby takes longer to latch on, the milk takes longer to come in, if the milk takes longer to come in, your levels of oxytocin are lower causing all sorts of problems in the magic that is the human body.

Tonight we will be going to hear the lecture about newborns. Lets hope it is far less scary than last weeks seminar.