Experiments in Life

Yes, I am still pregnant…

Yesterday was my official due date. It came and went and we still have no baby to hold. But, that is okay. She will come when she is ready. I am currently trying to deal with this the best I can. The plan to induce is still in place if she isn’t here by June 11th. In fact, I will go into the hospital in the evening on June 10th (8-9 PM) or so and my doctor will come up to the hospital and break my water once her kids are in bed. It’s really comforting to know that she would come and do that for me even though she isn’t on call. Of course, she is on call this weekend and said that this weekend would be a great time for me to have a baby. She said that if I can’t handle things and am not doing well to come in this Sunday and she would break my water that night. So, Emily could be here as early as June 5 or as late as June 12. I’m going to hold out as long as I can. It just depends on how I am doing mentally and physically. If you’ve not heard, I plan on going as natural as I can during labor and childbirth. Because of this decision, my doctor encouraged me to wait the extra week and not be induced until June 11. However, June 11 is written in stone. She will not let me go over that, which is probably a good thing. I am so lucky to have such a supportive doctor, and husband as well. Jonathan has been really great throughout the whole pregnancy, but he is really shining right now. I couldn’t ask for a better husband

So, here’s the information you’ve all been waiting for:

I lost 1 lb over the past week (total pregnancy gain 13 lbs)
Blood pressure is good
Heart rate was 140
Measuring at 36 cm
The baby is definitely in the head-down position
Cervix: a ‘good’ 3 cm dilated
Effacement: 80% (we think-the doctor forgot since she was stretching my cervix)
Station: not sure, I’ve had a lot of hip pain and pressure, and since I lost a couple of cm, we know she has dropped further into the pelvis. My guess is she is definitly lower than -1.

My doctor stretched my cervix for as long as I could tolerate it. Jonathan was impressed as to how long I could bear it. It is more uncomfortable to me than painful, although there is some pain and definite discomfort afterwards. We are hoping that this will further dilate me and cause contractions to start. So far, I am pretty consistent in that when I do have contractions, they are always 5 min. apart and the same length in duration. Unfortunately, I manage to have 3-4 good contractions and then stop. So, we will have to wait and see if my labor will start on its own. I guess Emily is just taking after her parents and being stubborn!

So, that’s the update for this week. I do have an appt. scheduled for next Wed. We are hoping that we will not have to keep it. Of course, we were hoping not to have today’s as well. Oh well, all in good time.

Maybe this weekend…

Well, so much for progress…

I gained 0 lb over the past week (total pregnancy gain 14 lbs)
Blood pressure is good
Heart rate was 140
Measuring right on for 39 weeks (~38cm)
The baby is definitely in the head-down position
Cervix: 2 and some cm dilated (not quite 3 cm yet)
Effacement: 70%
Station: -1

So yes, I did progress some since I am now 70% effaced. Up until this point, all she said was that my cervix was soft, this is the first time she has mentioned effacement. She stretched my cervix a little again so I’ll probably have some mild contractions over the next day or two. Last week after stretching, I was really sore and had a few random contractions by Friday afternoon.

There is not much else to report. We were all hoping I would be further along with the dilation, but she will come in her time. I’m trying to be patient. I was doing well until this week. I do believe things are finally beginning to take there toll. I am very tired now and beginning to look that way. My doctor did give us what she called a ‘light at the end of the tunnel date’. If I am still pregnant by June 9 or 11, we will induce. My doctor is pretty adamant about not letting me go further than that. So, at the most, I only have 2 1/2 weeks left. Perhaps something will happen by the end of the week or over the weekend. We’ll just have to wait and see.

We’re hanging in there though. Some days are just better than others. Yesterday was good, but today is not as good. At least I have work to keep me busy. We’ll be sure to let folks know if anything starts happening, but it looks like it is going to be a little while longer before the fun begins.

The next doctor’s appt. is next Thursday, the day after my due date. I am hoping that we will not make that one, but only time will tell. So, look for another update on the 31st.

Progress at last!

I gained 1 lb over the past week (total pregnancy gain 14 lbs)
Blood pressure is good
Heart rate was 140-150s
Measuring right on for 38 weeks (~37cm)
The baby is definitely in the head-down position
Cervix: 2 cm dilated
Station: -1 (yes, it’s possible for this to change)

So, finally I have something interesting to report. I am a whole 2 cm dilated, actually closer to 2.5cm but my doctor decided to err on the side of caution. Things are starting to happen. Our Emily did manage to move back up some, last week she was at +1 station, but my doctor reassured us that this is normal. Babies have a tendancy to move up and down some before labor. My doctor is also confident that I will not go past my due date. So, based on her cofidence and experience, we’ll be having a baby in the next couple of weeks or so. She also stretched my cervix a little, which could speed things along.

I think we are as ready as we can be. My bag is mostly packed for the hospital and most everything is cleaned the way I want it. I still need to clean our bathroom and vacuum and dust the main areas again, but I figure I’ll get to it this weekend if Emily doesn’t have any other plans. I’m trying not to stress too much over the dust and dog hair, but this nesting thing is going to be the end of me. I have been so anxious to come home and do things around the house after dinner every night this week. Luckily, Jonathan has been my calm before the storm, as always. Just last night he looked up at me and said, “But it doesn’t have to be done tonight” and that was it. I sat right down and didn’t move for the remainder of the evening. I don’t know what I’d do without him, well that’s not true. I’d be scrubbing floors and dusting

Pretty soon we’ll be holding our baby, we are so excited. We are going out to celebrate our anniversary tonight, so hopefully Emily will wait until at least tomorrow Jonathan did have a talk with her earlier this week about this. We’ll just have to see if she listened.

Oh, in other news, my belly button is about to pop out. It’s trying really hard to become an outie, but it’s not quite there yet. We’ll just have to see if Emily comes before or after it pops

There is not much else to report. My next appt. is for Wednesday, May 23. We’ll be sure to let folks know if something happens before then.

Well, it had to happen at some point — Emily’s nursery is finally put together to a point that it is usable. We still have not determined where we are going to hang the quilt and we still need to pick up a small bookshelf, but if we had Emily tomorrow, we could use the nursery if we needed to. With that said, for convenience sake, we probably will not use the nursery for the first few weeks. It would just be too much of a hassle to hike up and down the stairs to feed and change the baby every two hours. So, we will likely be bringing the pack-n-play downstairs so that we will not be navigating stairs in the middle of the night. Once she starts sleeping a little longer, we will move her upstairs to the nicely finished nursery.

Well, not much has changed in the last week but here are the new stats:

I gained 0 lbs over the past week (total pregnancy gain 13 lbs)
Blood pressure is good
Heart rate was 140s
Measuring right on for 37 weeks (~34.5 cm)
The baby is definitely in the head-down position
Cervix: closed yet somewhat soft
Station: +1

I am uncertain as to the correctness of the station. I didn’t really think you could be that far along but not dilated or effaced at all. I am in the process of researching this, but it may be possible. I’m certain I heard the doctor right because I repeated it back to her and she nodded her head in agreement. Regardless, she said the baby’s head was ‘engaged’. So, that’s what I was told. People at work have been commenting about how it looks like the baby has dropped some, so…

Basically, I think Emily could come at any time. I just have to actually start labor first But who knows, I could be 0cm today and 4cm tomorrow. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Stay tuned for next week’s update

Oh, and congratulations to Misty and Stephen on the birth of their daughter Liza. Welcome Liza!

We are getting really close now at 37 weeks! This picture was taken as Ashley and I were preparing to go to our second and final childbirth class. I hope to get pictures of the nursery up this week. I still need to clean up the crib and get it put back together before everything is ready.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

I gained 0 lbs over the past 2 weeks (total pregnancy gain 13 lbs)
Blood pressure is good
Heart rate was 140s
Measuring right on for 36 weeks (~34 cm)
The baby is definitely in the head-down position
Cervix: closed yet somewhat soft

So, no baby this week, or next week either

I knew that the baby was head down and moving further since I have suffered from moderate pelvic pain and pressure the past couple of days. However, she has not yet ‘dropped’ as the saying goes. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can really be done about the discomfort other than have the baby. So, we will just wait for that to happen. Hopefully the pain and discomfort will not get too bad before the end.

People keep asking me if I’m miserable yet, the answer is simply ‘no’. Although things are starting to get uncomfortable or slightly annoying, I am not completely and utterly miserable or ready to not be pregnant anymore. I’ve rather enjoyed being pregnant and will be somewhat sad when she is no longer attached. I know that I will be happy, but I won’t be feeling her move inside of me anymore. That is just something I’ve gotten use to the past few months. I’m already a little sad that she isn’t as active, but I understand she is running out of room. And she still throws a fit every once in a while just to remind me that she can

Last night, my mother and I took a much needed trip to Babies R Us. We exchanged a few items and stocked up on ‘ugly’ outfits for Emily to throw-up on and get messy (in the words of my mother). We also picked up a few last minute things like grooming supplies and car seat accessories. I think we are almost ready to bring home a baby. Tonight will consist of washing clothes and sheets so that we can make up the crib, which Jonathan so kindly put together while we were out. I was so excited to finally get to open things. I had been holding off on the items we had received from showers just in case I needed to exchange them at the last minute. So, after months of watching all of this baby stuff collect in the nursery closet and being unable to open things, I went crazy last night. We opened everything we bought at the store as soon as we got home. I’m sure Jonathan thought I was nuts

Well, that is all that’s happening around here. I am now far enough along to start going to the doctor weekly. I will be checked for progress from now until I have the baby. However, I have decided that the whole getting checked part is totally overrated

So, stay tuned for weekly updates from now until the arrival of the site’s newest star, Emily Nicole