At week 30, the baby is approximate18 inches long and weights between 3 to 4 pounds. S/he is able to use all five of her senses, hearing sounds and seeing bright lights in her Ava’s environment, and tasting, touching, and even smelling the amniotic fluid surrounding her. And their toenails have grown and are completely formed. Crazy, isn’t it? We have a little less than 8 more weeks to go till Ava Jr is born, and chances are, she won’t go late. They say that women that experience Braxton Hicks contractions, rarely go longer than their due date. All those practice contractions have to help with something. Right?

This past Bradley Method class was one of my favorites:  Practice Labor.  This exercise consists of 9 different stations. At each station, we practice two contractions for one minute each while holding an ice cube. The ice cube is for intensity. Each station has a different position that we need to practice. For example, one position is using an exercise ball to rock on or roll-over on all fours. The idea is to open the pelvis and help the baby move downward. Other stations include, slow dancing, pelvic rocks, sitting on a chair, leaning against your partner, squatting or sitting on a toilet. All of these positions have key words listed: “relax, let go, breathe in, flow,” etc. These words are for the coaches to help the moms stay focused on the positions. We would just rotate around until we practiced each position.

Our first labor stations was Taylor sitting. This involves sitting on the ground cross legged. It helps relax you and opens the hips. For our first contraction, Ava has her ice chip in her left hand and Kim (the instructor) starts the count. The first couple of seconds are ok. I’m stroking her shoulders, telling her ‘you’re doing a great job honey.’ ‘You can do it. Relax. Focus on your breathing.’ After about 20 seconds of this, she opens her eyes and says, ‘No talking.’ ‘What?’ I say. ‘I can’t talk. Really.’ My balloon of excitement deflates in 3 seconds flat. But, we laugh about it and realize that it is probably better if I just rub her hands and sit quietly. Weep woop.

After about a 30 second break, the second practice contraction starts. Since most contractions during all phases of labor are about 60-90 seconds, I suggest that I could count and I would let her know what we are half way through. She agrees, thankfully, otherwise what would I do? The next couple of stations go very well. I rub her back during the pelvic rocks, she leans on me during the squats, I rock her belly using a scarf. All is well.

The most difficult station for me was the slow dancing. Up to this point all the other practice positions were very mechanical to me: push on her hips, help her hold the squat position, or rock on the exercise ball. The slow dancing didn’t involve Barry White, but I realized that I was PMS’ing and for some reason this was very emotional for me. It was the most intimate and with the PMS, I was a wreck. Fortunately, we managed to laugh our way through the slow dancing and all the other positions.

We have 8 more weeks to go. I am a typical 28 day cycle…so if we do the math. 28 * 2 = 56. 56/7 = 8. We have 8 weeks to go… is it possible I’ll be PMS’ing during labor? Oh, good Lord! I told Ava she needs to hold it or go a week early.

Sweet dreams Ava and Ava Jr.