Office visit on 3/31/10 @ 35 1/2 weeks: Started the appointment by stepping on the scale, like always. Only notsomuch like always, I bumped into the front of it with my enormous belly and promptly fell off. The personalityless nurse (who we usually secretly hope we don't get) laughed out loud. I think it even cracked her shell because a couple minutes later she actually started a conversation about Easter egg hunts and the Easter bunny. Milestone at the OB office.
Attempt #2 indicated that I now weigh *!& pounds. GOOD HEAVENS.
Into the tiny exam room we went. Beached whale status now official. Sermons walked in and promptly started to giggle. Had he seen my weight!? Did I have toilet paper stuck to my shoe? No. He was laughing at the size of my tummy. Fabulous.
When we started this journey, Sermons kept commenting about how "good pregnancy looked on me" and about how "well I was carrying little Cooper". All of a sudden he has been enlightened that I too, am the size of a small bovine, and have cankles the size of Texas.
He measured. Poked. Proded. (Still 1 cm but now 50% effaced.) Then informed me that, due to the preterm labor roller coaster, he will give me until 37 weeks to have the baby on my own. After that he is leaning towards a c-section. Now, while all along I have had an enormous fear of pushing this baby out like a wild banshee, all of a sudden I have decided that I CAN and WILL have him naturally (read: with epidural). What I don't want, is to have him naturally at 40 weeks, after 4 more weeks of contractions and bowling ball-like pressure. Also when he is approximately the size of a toddler.
A friend commented recently that she feels women often try to "prove their reproductive prowess" by talking about the size of their baby boys. (Sorry Abby--but I found your comment quite thought-provoking.) I just want to clarify that I have no such reproductive prowess (had to google that word) to prove, I am just amazed at how anything goes from the size of an appleseed to a watermelon and at the end of the journey, you are somehow magically prepared to pop it out of you without commenting about how large it has gotten.
So here's hoping that he comes in the next 2-3 weeks, all by himself. Hear that sweet Cooper? Daddy said he will buy you a pony if you are a good boy because he is SO ready to hold you. :)
Working 4 8-hour days now and ABSOLUTELY love love love it. So much more relaxing. What a difference getting home at 5 is from getting home at 7. I think this will be my post-baby schedule as well, and for that, I am tickled pink.
Friday brought about more contractions and some, ahem, other changes that are not appropriate for the blogosphere, so we called Sermons and asked if we could come into the office for him to check on things. "To Northside", he said. SERIOUSLY!? Chris insisted on packing his "go bag" to which I told him "Noooo--you will jinx us!"
So down to Northside we scooted. Initial plan was to stop the contractions again with the injections, but after we got there and saw the strength of them and learned that they are still changing the cervix, Sermons made the call to "let the good times roll". So we got discharged to come home and wait on sweet Cooper. 36 weeks and counting. Could be tomorrow. Could be sometime in late October, when I am approximately 84 weeks pregnant.
Haha - to clarify, it was nothing that you ever said to spark my "reproductive prowess" comment. It's a totally in-general observation that doesn't stop at birth, that's annoyed me since the moment I got pregnant with L-man...in fact, it's worse when baby comes out and you're constantly comparing him to other boys his age wondering "is he going to measure up??" Because if he doesn't, SURELY that makes you less of a woman with genes inferior to those of the general population.
ReplyDeleteAs far as popping that thing out of you, it doesn't matter if it's 6 pounds or 12 pounds....it's still way too big for its route (especially in the shoulder area), be it a 4-inch incision or a 1cm-in-diameter tube, and that makes anyone a woman in my book!
:)
dude, babies are hard--whether 6lbs or 16...i will say though that LONGER babies (at least *I* think) are harder...there's only so much room in there, you know?
ReplyDeleteand i am so glad i got that 8lbs, 21" girl out of me at 37 weeks--i can't imagine 3 more weeks of *that*. lord!! my cousin, jenna, was 23" long and 13.2lbs--can you EVEN imagine? oh.my.god.
oh, and c-section not a bad dealio at all. i was actually soooo relieved when we decided at 31 wks to have. b/c of pre e (and subsequent eclampsia) they were able to already have me on the meds i needed so i wouldn't seizure or stroke. i'm so happy i did, but i know they are not for everyone. :-)
saying prayers for you all!!! good luck + god bless!