My Pregnancy Week 31 - by Betsy Cherry Twin Cities Maternity Photographer

4/11/2014

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Posted in: PROJECTS | MATERNITY | JOURNALING | FOR PHOTOGS | PHOTO SHOOTS

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SELF-PORTRAIT HOW-TO: I had fun taking my weekly pregnancy photo shoot outdoors. I was hard to run back and forth from the camera to my standing spot for each shot, but it was SO nice to have the sun on my back and wind blowing through my hair. I did not use a flash, but kept the ISO at 100 and the shutter fairly low to let in plenty of light for my face and compensate for having my aperture at 5.6. In Photoshop I had to darken the background just a bit so that it wasn't overexposed. I had to juggle the fast-moving setting sun, the camera, and my energetic son that kept trying to get in the shot. And sometimes he did, a few of which were keepers! It was a fun trial. More photos from this fun shoot are included at the end of this blog entry.

WEEK 31 MONTH 7 | APRIL 11TH - APRIL 17TH
B A B Y C O C O N U T

Friday, April 11 - I listened to one of my Hypnobabies tracks tonight and fell asleep again. Sheesh. It is possible, though, that I'm actually in a very deep state of relaxation and am coming out of at the end. My plan is to listen to that track tomorrow, skipping over the hypnotic induction. That way my conscious mind will have heard everything too. I felt quite a few practice pressure waves today, as I have been the past week or more. Every time I feel one I simply remind myself its just pressure, not pain, and I focus all my energy on relaxing that part of my body and sending natural anesthesia to help release some of the pressure. Within seconds the pressure is gone. Its a wonderful and welcomed feeling because I like having lots of chances to practice the techniques I've been learning about.

Saturday, April 12th - Today our little family drove up to Nadia Cakes shop to buy some specialty cupcakes. It was a nice little trip for us on a beautiful day. I think my little Baby Coconut enjoyed the cupcakes as much as I did. She was moving around like crazy, dancing inside my belly. Speaking of, I tried to get Landon to at least look at her moving today while he and I were vegging in my bed. But he was too distracted with his awesome Leap Pad, learning letters, to look up. He really missed a lot of movement! She was pushing and kicking out in every direction. I really hope that one of these days he can see and feel her move. My friend has decided to host a Blessingway for me. I am calling it a Mother's Blessing Celebration since it will be focusing more on God's role in my journey rather than the sacred Navajo traditions a Blessingway is built upon. I will be surrounded by women that are very important to me as they help prepare me for birth and this new path of motherhood that i will be walking. I'm very excited about it since my friend's Blessingway was so meaningful and beautiful.

Sunday, April 13th - Today i started class #3 in my Hypnobabies course. I'm learning to create my own anesthesia so that as pressure waves become stronger during birth, i can relax my body more and more and allow the pressure to help her come out instead of fearing that they will hurt. I can't wait to perfect such a skill so that I have an even more enjoyable birth. Birth is not meant to be as painful and scary as our culture has deemed it to be. Birth is meant to be beautiful and my body has been designed to do just that.

Monday, April 14th - I had a strange dream last night. I can't remember everything, just that she was born WAY too early. I woke up relieved that she was still inside my uterus growing and thriving. If she listens to what I tell her, she will stay in for much longer than 31 weeks.

Tuesday, April 15th - All day today she's been kicking, punching, and twiddling on the right side of my belly with her back pushing out from the left side (from my view). That means she completely turned herself around. I don't know if she'll stay on that side, but its good to know that she CAN move. I want her in an ROA position, with her back outward on my left and her head down looking towards my back. She's been opposite of that for months. I just started listening to a Hypnobabies track for posterior babies that includes messages about her turning to the anterior position. I think my thoughts are reaching her because this is the first time since feeling her move that i've felt her back on my left. Good girl.

Wednesday, April 16th - I've been feeling lots of practice pressure waves today. Well, in actuality I've been feeling them many times a day for weeks. I don't mind them. I welcome them because each time i feel one I utilize the hypnobabies techniques I've been working on. I typically will stop whatever I'm doing, sometimes close my eyes, breathe very deeply, while saying to myself that all my muscles are relaxing and that natural hypo-anesthesia is moving to that area to help me feel comfortable. As soon as i start thinking those things, i picture waves of light and peace running down my body and over my abdomen. Then i can feel the pressure slowly dissipate. This helps me become better at the techniques and become more confident that this will be a very wonderful and comfortable birth.