41 Weeks

Hello. If you can imagine, I did not want to be writing this post. But here I am, at 41 weeks. I do have to remind myself that in our birth class, the doula told us that the average gestation for a first baby is actually 41 weeks and a day (I think), so this is not abnormal. But it does suck.

This week was not very fun at work. I'm so extremely tired of comments from everyone. One of the biggest things I'm looking forward to is to be treated like a person again, and not just a pregnant lady. If I hear, "You're still here?!" one more time I may scream. I am also just progressively more and more uncomfortable, with lots of pressure on my pelvis, achey back, swollen feet/legs, sporadic contractions, and general tiredness from poor sleep each night. I do have some amazing and understanding coworkers who made Friday much better for me by bringing me offerings of food: M&Ms, a scone, donut, and some Oreos. :)

On Thursday we had a midwife appointment that did not go as well as I had hoped. Although to be fair, I think I would have been disappointed if they had told me anything but, "She's coming out right now! PUSH!" haha...  They checked my cervix, and it was only 1 cm dilated and "pretty thick" effacement, and Baby's head was at -2 station, which is not very low (diagram of the pelvic stations below). I was really disappointed to be overdue and not have made much progress at all (I've heard of women being at 3 cm and like 40% effaced a month before they were due). Now, they did reassure me that sometimes your body can move very quickly, so the progress I had made could "mean nothing," and it was possible to quickly go into labor and progress from 1 cm to 3 or 4 in hours or something. But still, the news was discouraging.

So now we have an appointment for Monday morning, when they will check me again to see if I've made any progress over the weekend, and also do an ultrasound to mostly check on the fluid levels in the amniotic sac. From what we find out on Monday, we have multiple options:

• If fluid levels are low or baby is in any kind of distress, we induce on Monday.
• If I have made some progress (more dilation, etc.) we could still induce (if we chose to) or we could wait to see if I go into labor on my own this week. But on Wednesday, we'd have to be transferred from the midwives to the OBs, because I'd be higher risk the longer I go overdue. I'd prefer to be with the midwives, because I've met them all and prefer their style, but this isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me, mostly because I know I'd have our doula Shawna with us even if we don't have the midwives. I would likely not go past the end of the week without being induced if I didn't go on my own though, because they don't like to go too close to two weeks over because of increased risk for the baby.
• Increased risks could be the baby passing meconium (their first poop) in the womb and then inhaling it and getting it into their lungs, baby getting too big, issues with the placenta (since it's not meant to last much longer than for a full term baby), and probably more that I don't know about/can't remember.
• If I have made little to no progress, I think we might consider inducing early in the week. I talked through some options with Shawna, and she said very little progress by 41 weeks could be an indicator that something's not right or just that my body needs a little help, so it may be wise to consider induction by Wednesday so we stay with the midwives and to also not put the baby at any more risk.

Even though induction wasn't in my ideal birth plan, I'm definitely not opposed to it now. Shawna walked through a lot of what we could expect and options we could choose to make the birth as close to what we originally wanted as possible, which made me feel better. I was originally afraid that induction would automatically equal pitocin and epidural and then greater chance for a c-section. But we have options and I'm so glad we have Shawna to help us navigate it all. And at this point, I just need to get this baby out, so however that happens, I'll just have to deal with it.

So after the rough doctor's appointment, I had a rough night on Thursday with not much sleep, but on Friday work went pretty well (all the offerings of sugar helped), and I left a couple hours early to take a nap and relax, and then Caleb and I went out on our last pre-baby date night to Cheesecake Factory. Then on Saturday we got some stuff done around the house (mostly Caleb did things), and then went up to Ames to a cookout and to play lawn games with some friends before watching the ISU vs. Iowa game at Torrent Brewery. Getting out of the house and seeing people was exactly what we needed. It was a beautiful day outside and we had fun with our friends, and it took our minds off things for a while, which was great. Today we're mostly just relaxing, but have a couple people coming over to visit.

I'll try to post tomorrow with what we hear from our appointments, but we'll see how things go. And I'd like to keep posting after Baby comes, but I'm assuming it won't be a big priority for a while. But watch on Facebook for the official birth announcement - we promise we won't keep you all waiting too long after she's born! Until then, wish us luck, and thanks for all the support along the way!

Honestly don't know how I would have made it through pregnancy without this guy. He makes me laugh when I'm sad, gives great foot rubs, surprises me with treats and flowers, and cuddles as much as he can through my pillow fortress. :)

Me on Wednesday. Immediately after taking this picture I said, "I don't know why I smiled. It's a lie." 

On Saturday. Pretty much everything is hard to do when you're 10 months pregnant.