Yep I'm still pregnant - 40 weeks and 3 days

So I’m 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant, I anticipated my next blog would be my birth story but I decided since I have so much time on my hands these days to post one about the last months or so.  Not many of my friends went late – I’ve actually watched quite a few go early and as everyone has their adorable bundles of joy, my bambino and I seem to just be staying put for a bit longer.

WARNING: over sharing and graphic explanations below, read at your own risk.

At 37 weeks I went in for my weekly doctor’s appointment and my wonderful midwife checked to see if I was progressing.  First let me tell you getting “checked” is not overly comfortable.  She was shocked to report that I was 3cm dilated and 10% effaced.  She said that she would be surprised if I made it to my due date and would anticipate me to go into labor in the next week.  Well this news was quite a surprise to us, we went home rechecked the hospital bag, laundered her sheets, finally put up stuff on the walls of her nursery and started the waiting process.  Oh and a something of note – when you get “checked” there is a good chance you’re going to have spotting and terrible cramps the rest of the day/night.  I felt horrible that whole night.

My 38 week appointment (notice I had not gone into labor) I went in and saw a different midwife.  She said she was not going to check me as there isn’t a whole lot she would do at this point.  That morning I woke up and felt a lot of pressure down low and the baby rolled, I brought this up to the midwife and she went and got the ultrasound machine.  Thank goodness her head was still down, or in Amy’s words “way down”.  I kept thinking if she’s been head down since 20 weeks and moves now that would be so frustrating.

At my 39 week appointment (yep still pregnant) I met the final midwife in the practice that I hadn’t met yet.  She was AWESOME!  I liked her a lot and quickly found out she’s on call Fridays and Sundays – for some reason I’ve been obsessed with figuring out the schedule of which midwife is on which days so that I’ll know going into it who will deliver the baby.  She checked me and reported I was at 3.5cm and 70% effaced, she did say she was able to “stretch” me to 4cm (yep sounds super pleasant, huh???).  She was so excited by the progress.  She did recommend a membrane sweep since I was dilated so far along to get this party started.  A membrane sweep (skip if you have a weak stomach) is where they put 2 gloved fingers inside your cervix and loosen the amniotic sac from the cervix.  This works great for some women, sends them into labor within 24-48 hours and some it does nothing.  She mentioned she was extremely aggressive with me and that I did wonderful and if I was able to go through that she thinks I go do it without an epidural (yeah right lady).  It was soooooooo painful, my legs were shaking, tears in my eyes, it was miserable.  I went home and promptly lost my mucus plug.  Really thought this was going to work for us!  This was also the time that my boss required me to begin working from home as it was a bit too risky to have me in the office.

At my 40 week appointment (so obviously the membrane sweep did not work for me) I got to see my midwife again.  After her check we were 4 cm and 80% dilated, she completed another membrane sweep.  This one didn’t hurt nearly as bad, she was a bit baffled as the baby’s head is right there and ready to go.  She cannot schedule us to be induced until 41 weeks which would be 10/7, we talked about this – I really really want to go naturally but need to balance that with what’s best for both me and baby.  She happens to be the one on call on 10/8 so I asked if we could push it back a day.  I mean I’ve been pregnant FOREVER what is one more day?  She agreed as long as I came in to see her on 10/7 for a stress test.  So we left the appointment and went home. 

At about 3:30 I started having really mild contractions, I started timing them but they were all over the board.  My contractions continued for the next 15 (YES FIFTEEN) hours.  Some were manageable and uncomfortable and some were bring me to my knees, can’t breathe bad.  People have asked what they feel like – here was my experience.  The mild ones were like 4x your worst menstrual cramp.  The bad ones I experienced so far (I hear they get worse) started in my right hip, went through my stomach with sharp cramping borderline pains and lasted about 2.5 minutes and then ended up in my back.  After hours of this we finally found a routine – my friend Ashley made me a rice heat pack, so when I was having a bad one I would have to get out of bed and stretch or walk or lean on something (I could not lay down b/c of my hip hurting so bad), as soon Bart saw this he would get up and heat up the rice pack and put it on my back right in time for when it moved to my back.  Man I can’t begin to explain the love for my husband that night.  I would try to sleep in between as they were pretty inconsistent but he couldn’t – he literally sat in bed, watched TV and waited for me to help in any way he could.  He was really awesome.  The crappy part was he had interviews the next day starting at 9am – we went back and forth on if he should go and at about 1am we made the call even if we didn’t go into labor he would be so exhausted BUT we were fully anticipating being in the hospital having a baby during that interview.  At about 4:30 am I called the midwife on call – my contractions were only 6.5 min apart but I had been having them for 13 hours and didn’t know what more I could take.  She said unfortunately they won’t admit me until they’re 4 min apart and to call back when they’re 5 min and we will come up with a plan.  Well at about 6:30 am they drastically slowed down and by 7:30 am they completely stopped.  STOPPED!  After all that time and all that pain they STOPPED!!!!!!!!  WHAT THE F?!?!?  I called back in at about 11:30 and told them what happened and they said it was perfectly normal but they fully anticipate I’ll be in within 24 hours to deliver the baby.  This is one night I will never ever forget and will also be a little extra grateful to have this husband by my side. 

So now its 4 days later – still no baby.  I’ve had more emotional moments this week than I can begin to count.  I feel anxious and worried and nervous and really really bored.  I’ll have some intense contractions and then they stop.  Bart watches over me like a hawk – not wanting to step too far away just in case.  We’ve walked around for hours, tried spicy food, other intimate things I won’t mention as I don’t want my family reading that part and nothing has happened.  At this point I’m just looking at it like I’m being induced at 10/8, that is the day and if it happens before then, great but I can’t keep hoping every day and then being so disappointed every day.  It’s an obsession – I can’t think about anything else. 

My one bit of advice for people with friends in this situation – my biggest pet peeve is when people ask me “When are you going to have this baby?”  I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW!  NOONE WANTS HER OUT MORE THAN I DO!  Great things are “how are you feeling?”  “Can I come over and entertain you for a while?”  “Want to go to dinner?”  “Want me to bring you cookies?”  All of those are wonderful calls and texts to get J.

So that’s where we stand as of now.  We can’t wait for baby’s arrival.  I can’t wait to compare the contractions I’ve been having with labor and how much worse they get.  I can’t wait to see what she looks like and what her little personality is and try to figure out how the heck to raise a child.  Can’t wait to get this party started!!!