Impatiently Waiting

Well, here we are at 38+5, as they say in the pregnancy forums, meaning 38 weeks plus 5 days. Here we are, waiting. Impatiently. Sort of desperate, really, to meet our baby and hold our baby in our arms.

We ended up at the hospital last Sunday, because R was having fairly regular contractions, and we don't know what we're doing since she's never been pregnant before. Turns out that was just a test run, and since her cervix hadn't dilated at all, we were sent home. More waiting.

Today, we had an OB appointment. Her blood pressure was high (sort of - certainly high for her), and she mentioned that she had been seeing flashy stars recently, which we didn't think much of because they didn't seem that bad. Well, that got our OB talking about pre-eclampsia, so he scooted us off to Labor & Delivery to have the vitals checked. Baby turned out to have a heartbeat like a champ, and though R's blood pressure was once again high for her, the OB in L&D said it was fine and sent us home. Again. To wait.

The funny thing is, of course, that if you had told us around week 8 that we would make it all the way to 38+5 and have a healthy baby gestating in R's belly, we would have been ecstatic. I try to remind myself of that when I get impatient, or I get worried about whether the baby really will come out OK. R worries a lot, too, since she knows folks who lost babies after stillbirths past their due dates. I try to remind myself that the baby is doing great, and has demonstrated a certain flair for ignoring problems so far, but still, when all you have to do is wait... you worry.

So I work, and we watch movies, and we entertain ourselves by chasing baby's feet around R's belly. We even talk to the baby, trying to encourage an exit. Any time, there, baby. We're ready.

Full Term!

Wow. Words we didn't think we'd hear, but today our little baby is full term, 37 weeks, kicking away and even catching up in size. We'd spend so much time being told baby would be early, and preparing for that, that we didn't even consider we'd be here one day. I guess all that bed rest and restricted activity really does work.......even if it just makes me sore and unable to walk properly! Our last ultrasound showed he's head down and catching up in size (50th percentile!), so no early extraction for this little one, it's wait for labor to begin!

We were still warned that we're at higher risk for an emergency C-section, so to be prepared for that. Because of all the hematoma issues, if his heart rate drops at all during labor (which they'd normally watch for a while and see if it went in cycles) they would opt for a fast c-section. Reading up, I guess it's a sign that the clot could be interfering with the placenta, so better to be safe than sorry.

So pleased and so happy to be here. So concerned and excited for what birth will bring us. Any day now little one, any day.