As of the time I am writing this, our beautiful, baby girl was born almost two weeks ago on April 11, 2012. I am still giving thanks to God for my little family of three.
I wanted to back track and record what happened about a month prior to her birthday. During my 33 week baby appointment the last week of February, I had glumly gained 4-5 pounds since the prior 2 week appointment. While it is not an ungodly amount, I could not accept that I gained that much in so little time. Even though I would rather spend my days being tired on the couch, I began my trips back to the gym at least twice a week.
At the 35 week appointment, I happily only gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks. Thank you, gym!
At week 36, it was time for me to get checked for group B strep, a bacterial infection that may harm the newborn if not treated appropriately. I found out a week later that it was thankfully negative.
The midwife also checked my cervix and told me that I was 50% effaced, meaning my cervix was thinning, and the baby was at 0 station, telling us that the baby was already engaged in the pelvis. She was pleased that the baby had made her way down as she did. I was as well, although I was not aware that those numbers could be detected at this point. Do I need to thank the gym again for the effacement and baby being at 0 station?
At 37 weeks, the midwife found that the baby had changed positions into posterior. The little babe had her back against my spine, which is not preferred as it makes for a more difficult labor. When the midwife threw out that I could possibly have a c-section if the baby does not turn, I was not thrilled. She recommended positions to get this baby to turn around. I also consulted with my doula and a dear friend, who I know has had posterior babies before. I started to spend a lot of time on my hands and knees!
At 38 weeks, the baby was still posterior unfortunately. When the midwife checked my cervix this time, I was now 100% effaced, 3 centimeters dilated, and the baby was still at 0 station. She continued to encourage me to do certain positions to get this baby to flip around.
I asked her if she thought that I would have my baby by Easter. She was fairly convinced that I would have her before Easter. She predicted my water would break before the contractions begin, as she could easily feel the bag of waters when she examined me. Russ was even supposed to travel to the Wheeling area for work the next day, but was able to stay behind on the off chance that I could go into labor. I called into work that morning and told them of the latest findings at the appointment. I wanted to make sure I would be covered if I went into labor before that weekend. I called a co-worker who will primarily be playing charge in my position while I am on maternity leave.
By Easter weekend, I still had not gone into labor nor had my water broke. I even went to the OB floor Saturday night to get checked, thinking that the occasional vaginal discharge I was feeling could be that my water broke. But nope. Just normal vaginal discharge. I was on my feet as much as possible all weekend. On Sunday, I had taken the stairs up four, five, and six flights at three different times throughout the day. Since the last appointment, I was so ready for this baby to arrive!
On Easter Monday, the midwife had called to check in to see how I was doing. Same as when she last saw me. The next day at our final 39 week afternoon appointment, the midwife immediately came and did the meet and greet, taking over what the LPN usually does. I got on the scale for the final weigh in of 146 pounds. Wow, did I really gain 40 pounds over these 9 months? The DQ blizzards probably added to that as of late.
When the midwife was feeling my baby belly, she could tell that the baby did indeed flip back around. Thanks be to God! I did have a funny feeling early that morning when I was in a knees to chest position in bed. I suddenly felt as if I had to vomit and quickly sat up, though the only thing I had that early morning was water. Perhaps that was when the baby turned?
When she did the vaginal exam, the midwife found that I was 5-6 cm dilated now. With her two fingers, she told me that she was going to help the bag of waters to break. I was secretly hoping she would. I didn't know if she was going to whip out the crochet hook looking instrument to break it, but soon enough, the gush I always hear about, happened right there in the OB office! The gush seemed to go on for at least 5 minutes. I just laughed at the mess and the reality of my waters finally being broken! Russ kept asking where all the water was going. I guess he couldn't see that it was going down the other side of the exam table, not near him fortunately. The midwife told us to go home, shower, eat, pack, and that the contractions should be starting in a couple hours. So we did as were told.
The labor story is soon to follow...
No comments:
Post a Comment