Pregnancy Journal

So when will our little man arrive?  Well, I'm sure it will be just in time!  This morning I am 39 weeks and dilated 2-3cm.  I am also 50% effaced, so that is good enough progress for me.  We just pray for a smooth and healthy delivery and a happy baby boy! 

It was a nice Mother's Day with my family this weekend, and everything seems to be ready for our son to come home and join our family.  My apprehensions about how Emma Grace will react to the attention I will need to give the newborn are beginning to go away at this point, and I really feel that she will take to it well.  She looks to be a HUGE help. 

So now it's just a waiting game.  I did schedule a 40 week appt. next Monday at 9am just in case he is truly at home to stay in this uterus, but I don't plan to have to attend it!  I have to say that I really want to be able to attend Emma Grace's 3K End of the Year program on Tues. the 20th at 6:30 pm, so I am really  hoping that he comes sooner than later.  This is too important for our daughter for me to miss!!!  And next year she won't get to be a part of a program like this since I'm staying at home with the children, so I feel this is a huge ordeal that she has practiced and practiced for and I will break out of the hospital if I have to just to attend it!!!  Look out everyone!!

What can I say--he wants to stay where he is evidently...and evidently he likes pushing my bladder out, which is what seems to be happening.  Not a comfortable feeling!  I'll probably have to have my bladder tacked back up like some women do after his birth (or after we're DONE having children, which might be sooner than later!). 

Still what Dr. Risinger called "1cm and a wiggle" and my blood pressure is still good 130/80.  Baby's heartbeat was 150's and his head is what she called "way down" such that he cannot move out of head-down position.    Woo-hoo!!!!  She didn't say I was thinned out any, so it's another week's waiting game.  I go back to see my standard doctor next Monday, so maybe we can schedule an induction that next weekend of the 16th, 17th or 18th if we don't have progress since Dr. Risinger will be on call and I feel completely comfortable with her delivering this little man. 

Wish we could induce earlier, but since Becky will be out of town, it might not be too nice to bring her second grandchild into the world 4 days before she comes back from FL.  But who knows?????  He might decide that it doesn't matter who is in town and who is not--that he just has to come out and NOW.  Wouldn't hurt me a bit!  4-wheeler rides, here we come!!!!!

Yesterday was my 1 week appointment although it only came 4 days after I went last Thursday, so of course we have no more progress...still 1cm dilated.  My blood pressure, tummy measurement, baby's heartbeat (although this time only 120), protein in urine, etc. are all within very good limits, and thank goodness my strept test is negative, so no antibiotics at the hospital.  I'm off to play the waiting game for at least 1 more week unless I have signs that labor has truly started.

I asked the Dr. what signs I am to look for (remember, I was induced with Emma Grace 1 day after my due date) and she said that if my water breaks or if the contractions are 5 min. apart and such that I have trouble breathing/walking then I should call.  I reminded her that I live about 45 min. away and she said, "Well, maybe every 10 min. apart then."  Ha, I have news for her! 

I'm trying to work more 1/2 days now so I can keep my feet from being absolutely too big for any shoe I own, but with high school registrations going on with my 8th graders, I am finding that more and more difficult to accomplish.  I do want to say that the Dr. yesterday said that the baby's head is definitely down in the birth canal and that he had NO WAY to move it to breach position.  So for that, I am oh so thankful! 

Here's to 2 1/2 weeks or less of waiting!  Keep us in your prayers as we go to deliver a healthy son (and that we can choose a suitable name in the process).

Well, we have some progress!  I am dilated 1cm already at 36 1/2 weeks!  Not thinned out any, but I will be checked again next week and weekly hereafter for any more progress.  I am well aware that one can be dilated for WEEKS with no other progress, so he very well could wait until May 19 to come.  But I am definitely encouraged at this point!  I'm predicting a Mother's Day baby!

She did the strept test they do at 36 weeks to make sure I am not positive and will not have to receive antibiotics at birth to prevent the baby from getting it.  We will find out those results next week at my appt.  I am measuring perfectly again and the doctor says the major swelling in my feet is normal and will get worse before it gets better.  She did suggest I work 1/2 days from here on out if I am going to work at all.  So I hope maybe I can get out of here around lunchtime most of the rest of my working days.

The baby's heartbeat was good, my blood pressure was good, and there was about 30% protein in my urine, but they are not worried about that amount at all.  I even asked her about the ice crunching and possibly being anemic, and she was not worried about that at all...that 50% of pregnant women ARE anemic and don't know it.  I told her the internet says the side effects of anemia are low birth weight and premature labor.  Needless to say, he's a big'un and I'm approaching 37 weeks on Monday, so I don't think either of those threats threaten me.  So, I have another clean bill of health and look forward to seeing if our little man will head on out early.  :)  (And I stress the HEAD on out part!)