Pregnancy Journal

So kind of a disappointing appt today- I haven't made any more progress. We discussed what would happen doctor-wise if I went over my due date. He will be leaving town 2 days after my due date, so if I don't have her before then, I will have a different doctor for her birth. The thing is, it will most likely be this doctor who I've heard bad things about and whom I've met myself and gotten a bad vibe from. He's really nice, I'll give him that, but I don't have much faith in his doctor-skills. When I saw him a long time ago about my PCOS and possible infertility issues, his first suggestion was to do surgery. That freaked me out, surgery should never be a doctor's first suggestion. I've also heard that the NICU nurses talk smack about him amongst themselves. And finally, Honey knows of two guys whose wives have had "really bad" experiences with him, as well.

So anyway, rather than risking getting him as a doctor, I'm going to be more proactive about getting my labor going. I'm going to be drinking raspberry tea and taking evening primrose oil, and will even try to get out to the gym to walk on the treadmill for a little while at a time (walking hurts). I also have a massage appt for this weekend, and will be begging her to hit all the trigger points "they" warn pregnant women about. I know some or all of this may turn out to be a crock of dookie, but I'm willing to try it all. As far as I'm concerned, labor and delivery can be scary enough without Dr. Frankenstein being on the receiving end. Forget that!

Ok, sorry it's taken me almost a week to update this one. At the last OB appt I found out that I'm already 1cm dilated and her head is "where it needs to be" (I assume that means engaged in the pelvis, but maybe he just meant she's head-down). I asked if he was making any bets yet and he said he bets he'll see me next week (for our appt). I asked if that meant I had her for at least another week and he said yes, and that I should try not to go over my due date because he's leaving town 2 days after that. (No pressure there.) So I guess that means I could very well still carry to term and not be early. If I do carry to term, I hope she's not the "close-to-9-pounds" he predicted at the ultrasound. 7 pounds is good enough for me!

Since it took me so long to enter this update, we all only have to wait until tomorrow afternoon to see if I've progressed any further. Hopefully, I'll do that update sooner, rather than later...

Today we did another ultrasound, this time to measure her and see how she's growing. She's estimated at 5.15 lbs, and her EDD (according to the machine) is July 29th. The doctor says she'll be between 7 and 9 pounds at birth, and he's leaning more towards the 9 end. He also says she could be up to two weeks early. She's turned head-down, which is a relief for me because this hospital in Yuma doesn't try to turn breech babies. If they're not head-down, it's an automatic C-section. I go back in another 2 weeks, and then it's once a week after that up until D-day.

So that's it. Mom and baby are doing fine, we're both gaining weight at a healthy rate and she's where she needs to be. I'll try to put up more pictures later. (I'm almost 45 inches around- can you believe it?)

We got to tour the maternity ward the other day- I'm so glad we did. Although we were in a group of about 40 people, the tour guide did an excellent job of answering all of our questions. Overall, I was very impressed with the hospital, and I realized leaving there that I felt this huge sense of relief. I hadn't even realized how apprehensive I was feeling about the whole birth experience until that moment. I'm a researcher by nature, so I have tried to be as informed as possible about everything pregnancy-related, so getting to see where everything's going to happen, learn about the hospital's philosophy on childbirth, etc. really makes me feel as though I'm not going into this completely blind. Interestingly, it was also a relief to be in the presence of this maternity nurse who does these things everyday. Although this is a huge, intimidating first-time thing for me, these ladies do it every day- I guess that realization just really took a lot of the mysteriousness out of it all for me, in a good way.

Anyway, psychology aside, the digs are impressive. There are 52 rooms, so I don't have to worry about laboring in the hall. (Whew!) The beds cost $17,000 apiece and are able to convert into birthing chairs, complete with several different handle styles to accomodate most positions a woman may want to get into. (They even have handles on the back of the headboard, for those women that are experiencing back labor and find the kneeling position most comfortable.) Each room is private, and has its own full-size tub and shower. (Yay!) All healthy-baby postbirth procedures are done in-room, and the baby rooms in with us for the duration of our stay. The fathers are allowed to stay overnight, and will only be kicked out at the mother's request (or, if they faint, they become a patient and will miss the entire thing). Pretty cool, huh? So anyway, that was it.