Check-Up

Chubby and I had a check-up and we both seem to be doing well.  My blood pressure remains low and my measurements are on track.  Chubby's heart rate was between 145 and 150.  While trying to determine his position, the midwife got him all stirred up and he gave her a few swift moves!  His head is turned downward, but his body is going more diagonal than it is vertical.  His head is not engaged yet, which is okay for 32 weeks.
My midwife wants me to make an effort to eat fewer carbs and sweets since my first glucose test was high.  I guess even though the long test came back normal, because the short test was high it indicates that I should be monitoring the sugar in my diet.
We also discussed having me drink a combination of teas that are known to help strengthen the body going into labor, help the uterus contract during labor, and help with bleeding after birth.  Because I lost so much blood after Sarah Graves' birth we want to make efforts to reduce that this time.  It would make the birth a much more joyous event and help with a quicker recovery.  There are four teas: nettles, oatstraw, raspberry leaf, and alfalfa.   There are recipes for mixing the loose tea and making a drink with it that doesn't sound bad.  I had to order the tea in its loose form, but I bought some bags of the individual ones at Whole Foods and they taste fine.  Not medicine like some of the teas I tried for increasing milk supply.
I asked her opinion on the vitamin K injection and she had some thoughts about it.  First, that the oral dosage has not been proven ineffective, just they don't know a lot about the dosing of it for it to be effective.  Second, the oral is very hard to get as most pediatricians feel strongly about the need to inject it, even those that support alternative vaccine schedules.  She did agree with me that the chance of a brain bleed goes up after the first few weeks, so there is time to let the vitamin K build up on its own and that vitamin K does not pass easily into the breast milk, so breastfed babies do not get the high levels of it that formula fed babies get due to the formula being fortified with very high levels.  She sees about half the parents decline the injection and hasn't seen any issues from that choice.  Useful information, but we still have to make a choice.
The other thing I inquired about is hospital policy on children visiting and I was so happy to hear that there is no policy against SG being there.  She can come in whenever we are ready for her.  I don't think I want her in there for the actual birth, but I want her to be one of the first ones to see her brother. She has been so anxious to meet him and I just can't imagine her not seeing her quickly after he arrives.

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