39 weeks - FULL term :)
I'm still in pregnancy purgatory, don't get too excited. I don't have much to report, but I wanted to post for the sake of completeness - if there's one thing I learned from the run-up to Maya's labor, it's that I'll forget (or misremember) everything about it if I don't write it down somewhere.
Everything has been pretty much the same for about a week - lots of bloody mucous, contractions that never really stop but also never really progress, and a general feeling of barfiness and intestinal distress...what fun. So after feeling pretty down the last few days about the lack of progress (especially since I know I'm reasonably dilated already!!), I woke up this morning with a conscious effort to be more grateful and thankful for things. Today I am very grateful for making it to 39 weeks. When asked throughout the pregnancy what my "ideal" birth situation would be, my immediate answer has always been that I want an uncomplicated vaginal delivery between 39 and 40 weeks. If you make it 39 weeks, you're at the sweet spot for simultaneously maximizing low stillbirth rate AND low infant death rate (see below) while still ensuring that your baby's lungs and immune system are fully developed and that they can totally coordinate the "suck, swallow, breathe" triad necessary for nursing. 39 week babies are golden babies, according to the literature :)
So while my chances for a successful VBAC go down with each passing week, it doesn't get really bad until after 40 weeks. Sometime this week is still my preferred time to have this baby, when all said and done, and the week is just beginning. Six whole days left to go, in which labor could totally happen! That is definitely something to be thankful for :)
Today we repeated the pregtastic bird walk that we took in late November 2013 when we were similarly awaiting Maya's arrival - albeit with MUCH warmer temperatures this time. The current temperature is 63°F, which is unheard of for mid-February in the North Country. Maya is currently out at the park with husband wearing a sundress (I did make her bring a hoodie and some pants, but I couldn't actually get her to wear them out of the house). This photo below was taken earlier this morning when it was a bit colder, but not much! Mostly birding here sucks in the winter, but today we did see two awesome species: a bunch of hooded mergansers in absolutely screaming plumage and an American woodcock, which we almost never see ANYWHERE.
I don't know when I'll update again - if there's no change in labor status, then probably not until after my midwife appointment on Thursday. At that point, she and I will be planning an end game (she favors induction, I think, and I simply think all possible options are shitty and don't want any of them!). All my mom and I have left to do around the house are basically amassing the freezer meal stockpile and I desperately need to clean my room, and that's about it! All the clothes and baby paraphernalia are 100% ready to go. All we have left to do is simply...wait.
Everything has been pretty much the same for about a week - lots of bloody mucous, contractions that never really stop but also never really progress, and a general feeling of barfiness and intestinal distress...what fun. So after feeling pretty down the last few days about the lack of progress (especially since I know I'm reasonably dilated already!!), I woke up this morning with a conscious effort to be more grateful and thankful for things. Today I am very grateful for making it to 39 weeks. When asked throughout the pregnancy what my "ideal" birth situation would be, my immediate answer has always been that I want an uncomplicated vaginal delivery between 39 and 40 weeks. If you make it 39 weeks, you're at the sweet spot for simultaneously maximizing low stillbirth rate AND low infant death rate (see below) while still ensuring that your baby's lungs and immune system are fully developed and that they can totally coordinate the "suck, swallow, breathe" triad necessary for nursing. 39 week babies are golden babies, according to the literature :)
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| I forget exactly from where I pulled these data since I made this a while ago, but take home message is that 39-40 week babies are totally awesome. |
So while my chances for a successful VBAC go down with each passing week, it doesn't get really bad until after 40 weeks. Sometime this week is still my preferred time to have this baby, when all said and done, and the week is just beginning. Six whole days left to go, in which labor could totally happen! That is definitely something to be thankful for :)
Today we repeated the pregtastic bird walk that we took in late November 2013 when we were similarly awaiting Maya's arrival - albeit with MUCH warmer temperatures this time. The current temperature is 63°F, which is unheard of for mid-February in the North Country. Maya is currently out at the park with husband wearing a sundress (I did make her bring a hoodie and some pants, but I couldn't actually get her to wear them out of the house). This photo below was taken earlier this morning when it was a bit colder, but not much! Mostly birding here sucks in the winter, but today we did see two awesome species: a bunch of hooded mergansers in absolutely screaming plumage and an American woodcock, which we almost never see ANYWHERE.
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| Same birding lake, same parking lot, same fat belly, same outcome of no labor! |
I don't know when I'll update again - if there's no change in labor status, then probably not until after my midwife appointment on Thursday. At that point, she and I will be planning an end game (she favors induction, I think, and I simply think all possible options are shitty and don't want any of them!). All my mom and I have left to do around the house are basically amassing the freezer meal stockpile and I desperately need to clean my room, and that's about it! All the clothes and baby paraphernalia are 100% ready to go. All we have left to do is simply...wait.
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