holy crap.
my midwives say 8 days, but i say 7.
7 days….more or less. sometimes i think more. sometimes i think less.
last night as we were settling down for the night, my huz said, “we made it to 39 weeks! remember when we were at 9 wks?”
at 9 wks we were visiting with family in the hills of tennessee. i remember when i told my dad that week that i was pregnant again and a flash of excitement crossed his face, rapidly followed by a worried expression while saying, “how are you feeling?” obviously he was happy for us and worried, too. just as we were…but by that point, we’d seen and heard her precious little heartbeat pounding away for the first time…something we’d never seen in our previous pregnancies. i remember worrying back then about every little thing…now i just worry about every other little thing.
i was worried about flying. about going through the security screening machine thingie (which i refused and opted for a pat down instead…whether or not this pleased the security staff). i worried about eating enough antioxidants. i worried when i’d forget to drink my herbal supplement. i had a horrible time sleeping through the night, especially falling asleep in the first place. i made a million trips to the bathroom every night. and we had fun too, believe it or not.
at 9wks, i thought 39wks would never come. back in august, march seemed an eternity away. yet here we are…facing laboring and birthing…preparing our hearts and our home to welcome this little wrinkly pink wonder into our lives…practicing with the moby wrap…and, of course, my huz’s continued practice burping of our cats.
what a difference 30 wks of healthy pregnancy has made in easing our anxiety levels…and yet, many days there’s still plenty of worry to go around. but not yesterday.
yesterday, at my 39wk-ish midwife appt i learned:
fundus height is 39cm (perfect!)
bp is 124/66 (lovely)
no protein or sugars in my urine (yay!)
baby’s heart rate is in the 150’s (strong and beautiful)
her head is “very low” (getting ready to labor and birth!)
and, finally–though i knew this already and did not learn it at my appt–i have no (pregnancy induced) stretch marks to date!! this is perhaps the most shocking news of all to me. i once read that if you have stretch marks from adolescent growing or extra weight, that you’d get them in pregnancy; if not, you won’t. doesn’t matter if you use creams or not, etc. well, i am living proof……(so far)…….this isn’t true. so, if you’re pregnant and feeling some burning or discomfort as your belly grows, i highly recommend applying burts bees belly balm liberally morning and night! and i do mean liberally.
that’s all i know for now…39wks and counting. i’ll keep y’all posted!
5 comments
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March 23, 2010 at 9:44 am
K
How amazing Lilly. It’s so amazing. I feel like just yesterday you shared the news- and now you’re a week away! Hard to imagine March is here and you will very soon meet your baby girl!
And I can relate about stretch marks. I got them when I went through puberty but so far save one small stretch mark- none yet *knock on wood* I’ve been trying to hydrate well and moisturize. I use a “jergen’s” one from Target but so far its been good. I think I got the one stretch mark when I was not using it for about a week. Now I’m back to being anal about it. I didn’t think it would really work either. Go fig!
March 23, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Kate
I had tons of stretch marks from puberty that I only noticed a few years ago. All over the sides of my breasts, my hips, some on my thighs, lower back.
And I didn’t get one even though I went to 41+4 before having my baby. I used cocoa butter cream fairly regularly, but I’d read journal articles before that said that basically no creams help prevent them. So I have no idea how I got so lucky during the pregnancy.
And even better – my stomach is pretty close to being normal-sized again only 1 week after delivery. I thought I’d have oodles of loose skin floating around, but it doesn’t really seem to be the case. Just a bit of a jelly belly.
Hope you’re as lucky as me on both fronts! Wishing you an easy labour and delivery. Don’t be surprised when your perineum hurts worse than your contracting uterus in the first few days. And ask for a nice inflatable ring to sit on to take the pressure off the worst spots – it was wonderful, and I didn’t know they had one for the first day I was in the hospital.
March 23, 2010 at 1:09 pm
bwakeling
Congratulations! Hope everything goes well!!
March 23, 2010 at 4:32 pm
K
Haha, I spoke to soon in this comment- I have stretch marks- just not where I was looking :(:( Oh well!
BTW- when going to a midwife and doing things naturally (the ideal way to be sure) what happens if someone goes a week or more past their due date? (Not that this will happen to you!)
March 23, 2010 at 6:47 pm
lillyshephard
sorry to hear about the newly found stretch marks! i’m going to take that as a good reason to stop looking for them on my body. 🙂 i might actually find some!
as for if i go past my guess date….first, there are many “natural” remedies to entice your body to start laboring, like taking castor oil or using an enema; having sex (r/s shows that semen contains hormones that assist the cervix in ripening and triggering the body to go into labor, just as the baby secretes hormones from the inside to do the same); stimulating the nipples; spicy foods; walking, walking and more walking, etc.
i’m allowed to deliver at the birth center anywhere in the five week window from 37wks to 42wks. after 42wks, i’d have to be referred to the medical community. my midwife would still attend my birth at my request. but let me tell you….i will be downing castor oil and going crazy on the sex before it gets to that point. i’m committed to doing whatever possible to avoid induction (just my personal preference)! great question, by the way.