Well, I never thought I'd be saying this, but we are now 38 weeks along and have STILL not had our little girl. We really might be having a Christmas baby!
Since my last post, we have had a couple more ultrasounds, just to keep an eye on our fluid levels, etc. and although they are still low, they have not decreased and so some of our concern over that has diminished. My cervix has pretty much thinned to nothing and the doctor says that can feel the baby's head, it's just right there when he checks me. She has been that way for a couple months hence so much pressure I think. In the ultrasounds I've been able to see my cervix and pushed right up against it is her little head of hair - impatiently (and now patiently) waiting to make it's debut.:)
I was taken off bedrest and all my medications last Thursday (36 1/2 weeks along) and we thought for sure we'd have had her within a couple days. Finally, last Monday night (37 weeks along) I began having regular contractions and coupled with the regular pelvic pressure that I've had throughout the pregnancy, we decided I had better go to the hospital. We got there about 10pm and found I was dialated to a 3 and having contractions every 3 minutes. We thought for sure this was it! And I was relieved, it seemed we'd have the baby at a perfect time. In my mind I kept thinking anywhere from 36-38 weeks would be perfect - if we could miraculously have her then I thought we'd be far enough along that baby should be healthy and fine but not too far along for baby to get too big. That might sound crazy but again, my body just has a hard time with pregnancy period - when the baby gets too big I tear terribly (and we're not even talking big - my biggest baby was only 6lb. 4oz. and I tore to a 4th degree) and I really want to avoid doing that again. Should we run into that again, we end up worrying about other complications and are even thinking about needing to do a c-section. I know, I'm a never ending basket of problems, but truly, we never thought we'd even have to worry about this side of things when we were so worried about the baby coming early!
Anyway, you can imagine my dissappointment when throughout the entire night, even though the contractions continued every three minutes, they never got things moving or advancing and by 10am they even started to spread out a bit more. We decided to just go home until either the contractions got completely miserable or my water broke or something. Really, I was totally bummed that the hospital wouldn't help things along a bit (like break my water for me or something, I mean we were there, ready to go, and again, we don't want the baby to get too big) but their policy is that they won't help in that way until a pregnancy is 39 weeks along. Ahhh!
When we came home and picked up the kids, (who had stayed the night with a friend of ours) I told Cash that this little baby must have a personality like his - always teasing us.
Since that night, I haven't hardly had any contractions, I've pretty much felt better, slept better, etc. since, gosh, I don't know when! Apparently our little girl has finally gotten comfortable and now that I've been taken off bedrest and all my meds, and CAN have her safely, she's decided to wait. :) It's just so funny - you feel like you should have an idea about the way things should work by baby number three but for me, each pregnancy has been so different it is still so up in the air.
All in all, we are very grateful our baby girl has made it as far as she has. She should make it through things healthy now and we couldn't be more relieved! The longer she waits the better - for her - for me not so much. I'll tell you what, my body has been through the ringer for this little girl, but that's what we mother's do right - we sacrifice much for our children, however, the rewards are great and I am truly grateful for the opportunity and blessing!
So...until next time...which will likely be a post about our baby girl...we wanted to throw out our well wishes to you and yours this holiday season:
WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
