Reflection (About the blogs)

When I first started doing the blogs I was really confused at first because I barely understood what had to be on it. On that same day I asked Mrs. Magyar what I would have to do to get this done and then she explained to me perfectly what expectations I needed in the blogs. I was thrilled to know that I had to read and then give my thoughts about the book and how It relates to me and what I'm going through. I'm glad I did this blog because it really gave me a place to type down all my thoughts and feelings about my pregnancy. When I started to type down everything that goes on in my daily routines it made me more comfortable in everyday life that I had this opportunity to express all my emotions and pain that go on with all the different reactions and changes in my body. I love doing blogs its just wonderful because its where I put all my information to the world and let them see how hard and so difficult being pregnant can be and also how having a baby can be a beautiful blessing for you and your partner. My blog explained everything I went through and will go through during the upcoming process.

Things To Remember

When my son arrives I would need to take a lot of responsibility in spending time when him and always being their to guide him through everything. Especially because I want him to grow up with a mother and father to protect him and never give up on him. Sometimes its hard for teenage girls to always reminds themselves that theirs a baby on the way because now all she would think about is the human being developed in her tummy. Nothing else matters but the baby. Always remember that having a baby is a serious process it takes two people to make one and when that happens both parents would have to take control of the matter, and lead it to where it will take them. Many mothers don't really appreciate the gift and blessing they receive, as for me I received my son on February and it just changed my life big time. I'll make sure of it that when my son is born I'll tell him all about my experience and having him in my uterus for 9 months straight. I would let him know how much pain it really put me through ever since day 1 when I found out he was in there waiting to be developed. My boyfriend and I are just so exited with the baby on the way because it gives us more time together and it puts us in a position where we always have to take things serious and to know that its all "real" this is not something to be joking/playing around with. We got to grow up and do things the way they should be done.

How Parents Feel

During my process of being close to labor I feel really supported because I knew from the beginning that I was never alone. I feel very comfortable with talking to my mom about a lot of things that I'm going through because I know shes been through the same exact process of having me as her daughter. I know that things get rough at times but, I learned to never give up even if it starts to pressure/stress you out. Knowing that someone really cares about you makes pregnancy for me a lot easier, mostly because I know that when I need support I have those people to turn to when ever possible. I don't have to be one of those girls who have no one to depend on. I'm glad I had 9 months to talk things out with my boyfriend and get everything set up for our "Son" when he arrives. Even till today I have my aunts and girl cousins to guide me through everything that occurs though on out the pregnancy. Its like I'm never alone theirs always someone waiting to help you even if you need a hand or not! there always independent and loyal to do things I would ask them to do. I'm just thankful for everyone who supports me any where I go. For example my teachers at school and my family in Hawaii.

The Circumcision Decision

While I was reading about baby's being circumcised it really caught my attention at that very time, because I remembered when my mom used to tell me that its really important to get my baby circumcised even if it means right after he is delivered at that very moment. To me I think that circumcising any baby is not a big deal because either way their going to be healthy. When I was in Ms. Mowers class she had talked to the class that she was against circumcising baby's because she said; why should you cut off the skin when you can just keep it in case you get into a situation where you loose skin on your back or face and you need extra skin to cover it up. So she told me that boys could just use the skin from the tip of their penis to cover it up because it stretches really wide and it enough to cover a serious injury up. After hearing all these things I still had my own decision to make and that was to have my son get circumcised because its against my religion if the boys don't, they have to get it done in order to be clean in front of "God". I think that its not going to hurt a lot because their baby's and its a really quick process that the doctors would have to do.

(Chaper 8 page100)Pain Relief Medication

When I was reading this girls experience, it was just so scary to hear how labor was for her. It rang a bell when I had read that you have options and choices about pain medications. Whether you wanted an epidural its when they give you shot on your back to make you go to sleep and not have to feel any kind of pain. To me I think that after reading these pregnant teenagers thoughts about the epidural made me think if I would consider the epidural during labor or maybe not. Its a hard decision for me because I had an aunt that had an epidural shot and as of today she faces more pain than ever. She can't carry her own kids because of the epidural shot she had done for her first baby. I'm confused but, I'm still thinking whether to get one, who knows if I might get it that's if I can't take the pain anymore. I would have to talk to my doctor about pain relief during labor. I'd rather make my choices before my labor begins. So therefore I will tell her my options and opinion about the medications.

Chapter 8 (Signs of labor)

In this chapter it really frightened me to know whats going to happen when I'm in labor. This chapter taught me a lot about going into labor and what I should do when this happens. Knowing a few things about "Early Labor" can be easier when you know more about it instead finding out late. I learned that your uterus has to be 3 to 5 cm wide in order to have the baby come out. I also read the signs of labor is when you feel gush of warm water coming out of your uterus and when you start to have contractions about every 10 minutes in an hour, those are signs that the baby is on its way. Knowing all these information made me more complex because I won't have to worry about panicking when something goes wrong. Its like knowing all the specific and important information's before it occurs at that exact time. I thought this was a great thing to know so when I'm having contractions I should count the time from the beginning of the contraction to the beginning of the next contraction. I know now that if it was real labor then the contractions won't go away. The last thing that stood out to me was that when I go in my mid-wife would have to know what my interval and duration of my contractions.

My Early Contractions

During the last few weeks of my eighth month I started to have contractions in my belly, it felt like my uterus was making a fist. I could see my belly getting hard and moving as my son pushes up on it or starts to kick a lot more often. I had no idea what to do when I started to have these pains in my stomach, I felt like the more I moved around the more the pain would strike me. When I felt my first contraction I was exited because I would space out and wonder if my baby would be born on that exact day. However I knew it was a false labor, but I would still take it as a exercise before I do the real thing. It really did scare me when I experienced my first contractions because it really hit me that my baby was ready to come out to the real world and finally see who his mommy and daddy was. My contractions led to no sleep at night and I would get up every hour to walk around or go sit down some where no one is at. Overall I thought that it was cool feeling my baby moving around, kicking me it really didn't bother me a bit, it just gave me a lot of excitement in my heart and soul.

Prepared Childbirth

When I first went into my childbirth class it really frightened me a lot because I didn't know what was going to be expected. At the same time I was really exited to find out all the different routines and strategies that these nurses would teach us. I would wonder how I would do with all the skills that I will learn from taking this birth class. I'm still taking this class if you are wondering, the things that I'm learning in this class so far is "what to expect". Childbirth is really helping me out more then I ever thought of. It helped me prepare for the better and then for the worst when I go through labor and delivery. My aunt is my coach. I feel way better about it because I'm really comfortable working with her because she is a part time mom as well to my little baby nephew. My aunt coaches me with the skills that our nurses give us, she was really helpful with anything I needed. She would help me get up from bed and walk me around early in the mornings. I was so active every morning because she trained me to do all sorts of things that really taught me a lesson. I was really happy I had a coach because they help you with what ever I needed and they completed my needs and wants about what will happen while I'm in labor and they also talk to you about how things are like when the time comes.

Prepare a Birth Plan

When I was at my doctors appointment my mid-wife had spoken to me about birth plans. She had asked me all these questions about "Who I wanted in the room during my delivery of the baby?" and "Should my child be circumcised?". There were so many different questions being asked and I thought to my self they were all important. So when I got home it really warmed me about what I wanted to do, it took me a while to figure things out whether "I wanted to breast feed or bottle feed my son or not". Before she asked me these questions I already knew what to say to her, Yes, I'm going to breast feed and no, I wasn't going to circumcise my baby after he's born. My mid-wife always spoke to me about all the important things that a baby needed after birth. So I listened to all her comments and replied back with great thoughts. It's hard to understand and get it in my mind that the baby is near I'm really stressed out and still trying to figure things out. I know what has to be done because with my mid-wife on the side she keeps me company and advises me about a lot of things. So I'm exited about that. She gives me great options and choices of what to do and it just makes me realize that I'm never alone and theirs always someone wanting to help me through my toughest times.

Eating Right For Baby and Me

On my third month I had already quit smoking, drinking from then on I had to stop drinking soda and eating junk food because in my mind and heart I wanted a healthy baby. To do that I had to give up everything I wanted and worry about what kind of food my son needed
to become really healthy,so I started to eat more fruits, vegetables, and sometimes milk I knew that if I wanted a healthy baby I would have to do everything to make sure he was okay in my stomach. I started to eat foods that I thought I would never eat and during my pregnancy I hated fried food and even heavy meat like steak and fish it wasn't really tasty and all it made me do was throw-up every single time I would try to eat it. Everything had to do with my child it wasn't about me anymore I had to do my best to eat healthier and to stay away from foods that I figured would not provide my son any good. While I'm eating all these healthy foods I also had to still take my prenatal vitamins to keep my baby growing well. While I'm going through this my mid-wife had given me a list of foods I couldn't eat and coul eat. For example, I couldn't eat Fats, spicy foods, drink coffee, noodles, chocolate, spearmint and peppermint because she said it would all contribute into causing heartburn's, so I had to look to my self and train my self to not eat or drink these things because it would harm my baby "so I did" and I think that my baby will come out wonderful and handsome just by doing all these things I feel relieved and filled with joy that I tried my best.

My First Ultrasound

When I had my first ultrasound I was very exited to find out what my baby was going to be, when we went into the room they had told us it was a "Boy". I was so happy that I started to cry out tears of happiness and joy because it was just so emotional and wonderful to see him moving around in my stomach. At that time he was on his belly crawling around and sucking on his thumb; I could see him kick when looking at the screen. It was just so beautiful to also have my boyfriend, mom, brother, boyfriends mom their to support me through the process I'm going through, it just made everything feel so alive and so real at that very moment. I couldn't picture such a great blessing to have shared that day and time with my family and also with my boyfriend and his mom. Having my son kick me every second, minute and hour of the weeks, months made him more real somehow because I got that opportunity to know and feel that hes hanging on in their waiting to come out. My boyfriend and I always discussed how our son "Kason Jayren Dixie Perez" would look like and I think we kind of have some ideas of how he would look like, but we would rather wait until he's born to really see how beautiful he will look like.

Dealing with Backaches

On my fifth month I started to have back pains from morning, noon and night it was just none stop each and every day. It was hard for me to focus in class and sit for a long period of time because I couldn't even stay still for half of the period and I couldn't stand for a long period of time as well. I felt like I just gained a whole lot of weight and it was just pulling me forward in the beginning of my sixth month. Sometimes when I'm at home I try my best to walk around outside and keep fit, but it was just so complicated because I had back issues, for me it was way too dramatic to the point where I couldn't get any sleep or any rest because it caused me a lot of soreness from my body on down. I also couldn't do any kind of exercise because if I were to start stretching my stomach would feel upside down or my back would start having sharp pains. When I got to the middle of my sixth month my boyfriend started to massage me a lot often for about two and a half hours I couldn't take the pain any longer so I asked him to do me that favor of massaging my back and making things work better for me so he did what I asked and it was just wonderful. Being pregnant and dealing with so much pain throughout the whole pregnancy isn't fun, but I know that in the end it's going to worth going through.

Limit The Fat

Since this is my first pregnancy I feel like I gained a lot of weight and have a lot of stretchmarks. To me I know that I gained more weight than I expected because when I hit my sixth month I started to eat more then I did when I was 1-5 months. During those months I couldn't stand the smell of food I hated waking up to cooked food because it bothered me so much. But after my sixth month I started to eat up everything, like I started to eat fried chicken, fish and all the meat I would smell. I didn't worry about what I ate, just as long as I wasn't throwing up anything and feeding my baby. The next 4-5 weeks I went back to my mid-wife to check up on how the baby was doing and how I was doing, she had told me that baby's heart beat is normal and that I gained about 20 pounds during the middle of my sixth month I was so shocked and didn't know if I'm ever going to loose any of it after the baby is born. I'm still worried about having all the weight on me after my son is delivered. At this point on I should only worry about eating fresh fruit, peanuts, eggs, yogurt, more milk and protein so that way I would stay fit and not gain all the other extra weight I shouldn't have.

What I Didn't Know

I'm still reading the book "Your Pregnancy & Newborn Journey" while reading throughout the book I read about "Varicose Veins and hemorrhoids" They are caused when in normal veins, valves in the vein keep blood moving forward toward the heart. With varicose veins, the valves do not function properly, allowing blood to remain in the vein. Pooling of blood in a vein causes it to enlarge. I never knew what it was so one of my teachers had told me in order to stop this from happening to me or anyone else I would have to "Avoid standing or sitting for a long period of time" and "Avoid wearing tight clothing from waist on down". Reading about these kind of things made me panic a little because I would never have known anything about it if I never read this book. To me its like taking chances to go through the pregnancy and not even know what comes along with that decision. Whether it would be to have heart burns or varicose veins which scares the life out of me. Learning what to do and not do to prevent it from not occurring on my body was worth it because I wouldn't want to walk around with legs that have varicose growing on them and having to deal with how my body will look like after my pregnancy.