Here's me last night.
Tomorrow is my due date, but only about 6% of women give birth on their due dates so I'm not holding my breath. I went back to work this week, no use wasting my maternity leave waiting for a baby. Fortunately, the scheduler has been kind to me and I haven't had any L&D shifts. Today, while reviewing charts at our private office with one of my colleagues, we had a phone call from a lady who is 31 weeks pregnant asking when she should go out on maternity leave. I looked at Katie and said, "I'm 40 weeks tomorrow and I'm still working. I don't think I can keep from snapping at her. Can you handle this call please?" Turns out the lady works at Jiffy Lube so her belly will be getting in the way of oil changes sooner rather than later so it wasn't a totally insane question. I probably still would have told her that I delivered a baby at 37 weeks so suck it up! Good thing I know my limits, huh? :) Shawn also got the flexibility to take 2 weeks off whenever baby comes so we are both good on the leave front.
Last week, my friend Kathy did a belly cast for me. I think it turned out great. It was funny though when she asked if I wanted breast and belly or just belly because both gets a little personal. I laughed at her because we went to midwifery school together and practiced pelvic exams on each other. It doesn't get much more personal than that! Her baby is about 2 so this is both of our casts side by side. Mine is the one on the right.
I'm definitely feeling more uncomfortable. I am now sleeping with 6 pillows; 3 under my head for the heartburn, one under my belly, one behind my back, and one with an extra blanket stuffed inside between my legs. Shawn likes to reach over and pat my head now and then as he can no longer find me to snuggle. The last two days I've been feeling really nauseous and gassy. I've taken 4 doses of Tums today alone. This morning I had oatmeal to try to start things off nice and bland, and still had heartburn by 10. My back is aching, but mainly the upper part, and I am very tired all the time. I am still getting up 3-5 times a night to pee, it's just taking longer to get back to sleep because I have to rearrange my multitude of pillows every time.
At my prenatal visit yesterday, the midwife was telling me about one her patients who lost her baby at 38 weeks. People often forget that I am pregnant too and that shop talk is not always the best! So this morning around 4am when I got back from peeing and realized I hadn't felt the baby move for 2 potty runs, I began to panic a little. I poked my belly a bit to wake baby up, and then gave up, grabbed my stethoscope, and lay on the bathroom floor listening to the baby's heartbeat for a while. Then I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up and sorted through more baby clothes. I went back to sleep around 5:30, before my alarm went off at 6:30 for my morning clinic day. I'm pretty tired.
Shawn took this picture two weeks ago and I think it's just beautiful. I was feeling very big, but not too uncomfortable yet.
I am looking forward to baby being here and getting more of my body back. I think I am as ready as I'm going to be. I continue to stay calm and not rush things so as to reduce the stress hormones that can inhibit labor. I am getting bombarded with phone calls of, "are you in labor yet?" and "is the baby here yet" and am practicing my calm, relaxation techniques so as not to be too stressed and snap at everyone. Like I would really have the baby and not tell anyone! People also think that babies just fall out and forget that I will be in labor for a long time so everyone will have plenty of warning. Average labor for a first time mom is about 14 hours. I think I'll be fine on the notification side of things.
Shawn and I continue to practice our relaxation techniques and guided imagery/hypnosis and I think it's going well. I am able to put myself into a very deep relaxation and have been able to mentally remove my back pain. I recite birth affirmations every day, and am feeling confident that I can have an unmedicated birth.
No comments:
Post a Comment