my belly 10 days before the baby was born
Impacted Farts & Hot Baths
Several times during the second trimester of my pregnancy I found myself in excruciating pain. This pain was more intense than anything I had ever encountered and my internet searches turned up nothing helpful. I still don’t know why this happened to me or even what it was but the closest description I ever found was a quote from Ina May Gaskin in which she described this pain as “an impacted fart.” Thank you Ina, it was reassuring to know I wasn’t dying or having early labor. Here’s what I wrote about it in my journal the first time it happened during week 22 of my pregnancy:
“Man what a miserable horrible time i’ve had this morning! From 6:50 til about 9am I was in excruciating pain- mostly in a hot bath which helped a bit- it was like labor pains, regular contractions of stabbing pain about 30 seconds apart which lasted for 10-20 seconds or more. It was like a knife in my anus, just horrible gas trapped stabbing pain that made me pant and moan and swear and whimper. A pain I couldn’t get away from since it originated at my butthole and shot upward. Sometimes one of these pains would culminate in released gas which was a relief but also painful. It was agony, the worst pain I’ve ever been in. Panting and kneeling in the bathroom, unable to sit or stand or kneel or lie down, unable to escape. This does seem to be trapped gas cause I also burped and was finally able to poop after 2 hours in the hottest of hot tubs, which was a relief since it had been too painful to even sit on the toilet to pee!”
This pain returned another 3 times during the second trimester and the beginning of the third trimester and then disappeared as mysteriously as it had arrived. I changed my diet all around trying to avoid any gas-causing or constipating foods and maybe that helped. I followed most of the recommendations for foods that work best for the different blood types (Eat right for your type). I also thought that perhaps walking it off would help, or doing some of the birthing stretches and positions that are recommended for labor (hands and knees, side lying, rocking, birth ball etc.) All of these things hurt and none of these positions felt good. Mostly I just swore really loudly the entire time saying “Fuck you!” at the top of my lungs to my pain. Then I realized that it worked better for me if I said positive things like “I love you Pain! I love you Fart! Yes! Good! Love!” at the top of my lungs. Go figure.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME: My advice to anyone experiencing this kind of “impacted fart” pain is to get immediately into a hot bath and stay there until you feel better!
Fetoscope
One of my favorite things to do during my second and third trimesters was to lie down in bed and eavesdrop on my baby’s heartbeat using a fetoscope. Hearing my baby's heartbeat throbbing away in there like a far away tiny techno party was such a comfort.
I got my scope from precious arrows home birth supply. https://www.preciousarrows.com/Economy_Fetoscope_p/36000.htm
Folic Acid vs. Folate
At the start of my 3rd trimester my husband and I attended a birth class at the hospital. After months of taking prenatal vitamins and hearing my OBGYN nurse harp on and on about the importance of getting enough folic acid it came as a completely unpleasant shock when our birth class teacher casually mentioned a new study that seemed to indicate that the rising incidence of tongue and lip ties in newborns was linked to the increased use of Folic acid during pregnancy! Ahhhh how frustrating and horrible! Apparently Folic acid is the man-made synthetic version of the naturally occurring B9 vitamin. You can get B9 in your normal diet from leafy greens, avocados, brussels sprouts etc. but pregnant women need more of it to ensure that their developing baby gets a sufficient amount of B9. Because Folic acid is a synthetic vitamin the human body doesn’t handle it as well and has trouble converting it into the active form of vitamin B9. This un-metabolized folic acid can build up in the developing fetus and form unnecessary tissues like the extra tight and thick frenulums that are the cause of tongue and lip ties. Most prenatal supplements have Folic Acid in them but there are a few brands that use naturally derived Folate. I used the prenatal organic brand GARDEN OF LIFE which was great except the pills were hard to swallow since it was one large pill. Luckily I discovered their chewable gummy version and that solved all my problems in one delicious multivitamin candy! https://www.gardenoflife.com/content/product/mykind-organics-prenatal-multi-gummies/
WHAT WORKED FOR ME:
Switching to a delicious chewable pre-natal multivitamin that used naturally derived folate instead of synthetic folic acid.
Gestational diabetes testing
So, the hospital wants to screen all pregnant women for gestational diabetes. Ok fine, that’s a good idea, but do we really have to drink that disgusting orange sugar syrup in order to get an accurate test? The answer is NO thank goodness there’s an alternative! I asked my OBGYN about this issue and after some insistant poking and prodding she revealed that they do have a second option for hippie women like me who don’t want to consume a gross orange hospital sugar syrup. On the day of the test you simply do this: go in without eating breakfast, get your blood drawn on an empty stomach, then leave the hospital and go out for breakfast! That’s right, go enjoy your alone time at the nearest diner or cafe! When I took the test I went out and I got a breakfast wrap with egg, avacado, goat cheese and arugula as well as a nice cup of milky black tea. Then after you’ve finished eating head back to the hospital and get your blood drawn again and that’s it! So much more fun and way more delicious! Plus the blood sugar results are probably more accurate since most of us don’t drink a giant cup of orange sugar syrup on an empty stomach for breakfast! IF for some reason your test results come back and your glucose levels are in the red zone you’ll have to go back in and do the test again their way with the orange syrup, but at least you got a nice leisurely breakfast out of the experience.
WHAT WORKED FOR ME: ask your OBGYN if you can take the gestational diabetes test using a normal breakfast instead of orange sugar syrup. They get the accurate results they need and you get to feed yourself and your baby a nice healthy breakfast instead of a giant sugar slurry.
