Bizo & Alex proudly showing off their accomplishment of stroller assembly- Yeah BOB!
Good morning friends and family. It is 5:09am and I am in the middle of a nice contraction. Yep, they are still pretty much just "nice" contractions...not serious, not too painful, just hanging out...popping up every 15 minutes or so. Sweet. I was awakened at 3:56am with a contraction and couldn't really get back to sleep since. I thought I might as well document the delight of being 40 wks pregnant, not knowing when the end will appear.
This week has been one roller coaster ride of a week. Shall I recount? perhaps you aren't interested in all the details, but I am, so I'll write them here to be sure I retain the memory of it. Clearly once the little babe actually does arrive, all frustration of waiting will swiftly escape me and I'll be saying, "what was I so worried about last week? He was breech right or did i make that up?" So here goes:
Monday May 18th - Midwife appointment confirms 1cm dilated, head down, strong heartbeat
Tuesday May 26th - Midwife appointment confirms 2cm dilated, head is no longer down...baby is in the "transverse lie" position. I cry. We are presented with our options very sensitively and lovingly by my midwife, whom I love. We can wait, we can schedule a c-section now, we can try an external version (turning the baby from the outside)... We choose to wait w/no intervention.
I cry for the remainder of the day. I'm already fighting a cold and with the crying on top of it, find myself crying, hyperventilating and unable to breathe through the completely stuffed nose. Husband has to come and rescue me, reminding me it's going to be ok, baby is going to turn, we've gotta get through this.... I pull myself together and waste a few hours looking at fun blogs online to keep myself distracted. Most of this day I have spent on the floor on all fours rocking back n forth, laying upside down on an ironing board, doing handstands in the pool at the Y, massaging my belly in a circular motion, walking, and playing music down near my pelvic bone- all in the name of turning this transverse lie baby. I am terrifed of a C-section...AND just really want to deliver naturally, as I did with Alex.
Wednesday May 27th-I continue spending every waking moment obsessed with turning the baby and consumed with "when is this baby coming?" Apparently I started my "descent" much sooner than I should have...seeing as I'm now a day overdue with no signs of any change! What was I thinking? Why did I think I was going to be superwoman and have this baby on time and/or early at that?! Alex was a little early and that definitely played a role....I've determined that the other factor is the numerous unwanted comments from strangers and some not strangers such as: "Are you sure there aren't 2 in there?" "You're still here?! Shouldn't you have a baby by now?" "Wow! You're huge! How many are ya havin?" "
This entire day I am feeling my belly, trying to monitor if there are any changes in his position...I felt his head & spine & butt in the clearly transverse position the day before and was so hopeful that he would move... Sure enough, by that afternoon, the top and sides of my belly became mush and stayed that way....he had clearly moved out of that transverse position...to which direction, I wasn't sure, but I knew he had moved. By the way, I ought to mention that on Tuesday, the day of many tears, I enlisted the prayers of everyone I could think of including 4 church prayer request chains, a radio station, and all friends & family. It was the only way to go- to enlist the saints! I spent that evening walking circles in our small basement abode and doing squats to ensure that baby would stay head down and hopefully encourage his little head to engage in my pelvis. I walked circles around Bizo & Alex while they put together our brand new Bob Duallie Revolution Mesa Orange Double Stroller... We sat together holding hands on the floor and did a family prayer time, thanking God for the awesome awesome gift of this stroller that we could not have purchased without the help of family & friends... what a gift. Alex actually put one whole wheel on by himself- Bizo was so proud and videoed the exciting moment. Daddy and Son working on projects together- I love it!
Thursday May 28th- Midwife appointment @ 9:30am... God is so good- he has turned! I just knew it...I had a feeling, and sure enough he was back to head down, right where he's supposed to be! I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to hear those words- I was not a c-section shoein afterall...there was still hope of the natural birth I had imagined all these months! The midwife sends us home to continue waiting... We had considered an induction, but the head was still not locked into the pelvis at this point, leaving room for him to move even still....SO, we left to wait! Bizo and I had breakfast at Colonial and then I dropped him off to work on the farm. Headed to my mom's house where my mom and I spent the day recording contraction times and walking to try and get labor going. Contractions were definitely increasing in intensity & pain....earlier that day they were every half hour, then every 15 minutes, and then every 10...we thought we might be getting close. Unfortunately they slowed down at dinner time and never really picked back up again with any kind of vengeance.... Home we went, slept I did, awoken by real labor i was not.
Friday May 29th - Afraid to be alone for too long, Bizo spent the morning with alex and I in case this labor thing decided to materialize...HA! We went to the farm and took a long ride on the Gator out into the "back 40"...I had some real good strong painful contractions out there, bumping along on the dirt path :). It reminded me of my journey to kudjip on the beloved unpaved, pothole filled PNG highway 9months prego with Alex- how did I ever endure 3 hours of that? Holy Cow...apparently we adapt to our environment as we must! I got to pee in the wilderness and pretend like I was going to give birth in a 3rd world country! We finished up our gator ride, got some lunch and my energy level crashed...Bizo drove us home and put Alex down for his nap (which he did not take) while I chilled out. My uncle Dave & the kids came over to entertain Alex for me that afternoon while I took a much needed nap... slept for an hour & a half and woke up to another good strong contraction... they were still coming every 15 minutes and seemed to get more intense- "Is this it?" I call Bizo and say, "I think we should call the midwife"... he is on his way home, gassing up the car. I call my mom and I tell everyone that I think this might be it. We eat pizza for dinner... I go for a walk to make sure this is real and contractions continue but the intensity declines... by 8 or so I am convinced this is yet another false alarm and we should wait... Bizo tries to distract me with card games & movies, but I'm too frustrated to engage in the distraction. Behold, I'm right...We go to bed that night by 11ish and awake the next morning to find I am still here and so is my in utero baby. I actually woke up several times to contractions, but again, nothing significant to shout about.
Saturday May 30th- Good morning baby #2...Why are you still in my belly? It's your due date today! Come on out!!! I have good strong contractions through the morning.... I am irritable & frustrated. I make a yummy breakfast full of eggs, honey toast, cinnamon rolls, fruit and juice...we enjoy the lovely breakfast together despite my crabbiness. We play outside for a bit (translation: bizo plays ball w alex in the driveway while I sit & mope on a chair brooding through contractions), alex goes down for his nap after lunch and Bizo heads to the farm to work. I sit on the couch finding the tv to be uninspiring and finally decide to blowdry my hair straight and clean out my desk... This has been the most productive week of my life! We drive to Palatine in the evening to go to my sweet cousin Britta's high school graduation party. Everyone is surprised to see me. I really didn't want to deal with all the comments- especially from strangers...but the encouragement & love from my family proved to outrule the stranger comments...I was glad we went. A good reminder that I have lots of people who love me and care about me and are praying for this baby to come out soona and to be healthy! My energy dives again and I promptly fall asleep on the way home at 8:30pm. I head straight to bed when we arrive home at 9:30. Bizo puts Alex down, brings me my usual glass of water and massages my very tired and aching back. I'm out like a light. I wake up this morning at 3:56am w/ a contraction. I lay back down but can't go back to sleep... Contractions continue every 15-20 minutes or so w varying intensity. I get up and decide to fart around on the internet. I look up mucous plug and 40 wks pregnant and find pictures, blog posts and other people's brooding emotions to be helpful and consoling. I decide I ought to blog about my own exciting week- hoping it will help me keep memory and help someone else stay distracted in their own final hour! It's now 6:10 am and I'm getting sleepy again... I wonder if I'm going to have a June baby? the wait continues at 40 wks 1 day...
