Baby White Week 40

So here I am, the day before "D" day. Trying not to obsess. It's hard when you have to answer questions about your due date about 10 times a day (work days).

I've not had any real signs that labor will start. Other than back and foot pain :) At my appointment this week my midwife reminded me statistically first babies are 41 weeks and one day. So she is guessing the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Starting next week I'll only work in 4 hour shifts, 2-3 days a week. Or none at all depending on how I'm feeling. I'm not on the schedule after tomorrow. But work is available if I want it.

My midwife says everything looks good and as long as the baby is happy, she is happy. No matter how momma feels :) I lamented quite a bit this week. The day before my appointment wasn't a great one. She was like "now remember, feeling big and tired is no reason to be induced." I assured her I was nowhere near wanting an induction. But if there was a natural way to do it, I would! She said unfortunately none of the natural methods are 100% effective all of the time. I asked about putting Evening Primrose Oil on the cervix. A lot people recommend doing this nightly. She told me she would only want me to do it once a week, because we want to keep the risk of infection low. If I never said, my Group B Strep was negative. This is good because I won't have to worry about getting antibiotics during labor or worry about increased risk of infection if I have prolonged rupture of membranes.

I asked a little bit about what the plan would be after my due date. I almost had her check me to see if there was any progress. She and John didn't think that was necessary. The reasoning is sound, and she's shared it with me before. She could check me, I could be dilated and effaced some, but still not have the baby for another 2 weeks if I'm not in actual labor. Or she could check me and find no change and then I'd be even more discouraged and it would make it even harder to wait. Like she says, you can be 4cm for two weeks or you can be closed and thick one day and have a baby the next. Most everyone at work thinks it's pretty radical not to be checked :)

So if I'm still pregnant at my next appointment, I'll likely get 15-20 minutes of monitoring just to confirm that all is still well with Sophie. And if I'm still pregnant at the appointment after that, she'll check my cervix. That's when we'll probably start discussing ways to encourage labor to start. I don't relish the thought of waiting that long. But I want to do what is best for Sophia and me.

I only gained a pound the last week. With all the eating we did during camp, I was very pleasantly surprised. My vital signs and urine dipstick were all fine. I am swelling a tad but that is normal. I'm trying to be really good with my fluid intake.

Sleep periods are down to about 4 hours max. And if I do go that long I'm in a fair amount of pain on my waddle to the bathroom. I've been having a lot of nightmares, and that was making sleep even worse. But I've been praying about that too and thankfully they are going away. Between nightmares, potty trips and taking a while to go back to sleep after each wakeup, sleep was getting fairly poor. But it's improving again thank Jesus (literally!).

I'd avoided new stretchmarks until recently, but this last month I've gotten some around my belly button. Oh well, nothing to be done. I'm just thankful I don't have a husband who focuses on things like that. Everything that makes me feel fat, tired or ugly he just says "No you're not ______, you're pregnant." So sweet. He also still thinks I'm just as pretty and lets me know it :)

When we went to our appointment this week we sat across from a grandma and grandson who were waiting on momma. I noticed that the baby's legs looked funny. Later John told me he learned the baby was born with only one bone in each shin/lower leg. Unfortunately to be able to walk he'll have to undergo bilateral below the knee amputations and wear prosthesis. So sad :( But the grandma said it will be done when he's still very young so it'll be all he ever knows. To think just one of two bones missing makes all the difference.

Today is my mother-in-law's birthday. She was hoping she and Sophia could share. I wish I could make that happen! My mom would also like to come home for Thanksgiving, but can only take off for the birth. So many days she could come that would make everyone else happy. Unfortunately she doesn't know that :) Her control of our lives has already started! Haha.

So here I am this week. Hopefully I won't have to take another photo. We shall see.

Oh and I can't wait to get to the salon for a cut and color!! Hurry up Sophie! :)