Update from T Minus Ten Days (Not Really... If Only!)

I'm ten days out from my "guess date" but there's no telling when Lentil will actually arrive... the outside window is forty-two weeks, I reckon, which is August 20th. Praying it doesn't go that long. Please Lord!

Anyway, I'm finally having weekly visits with Catherine, my midwife, now!

All looks good. I gained another pound, my blood pressure is holding steady at 100/60, and my fundal height is 39 cm. Oh, my hemoglobin and hematocrit rose nicely from the iron supplementation, and I am Group B Strep negative. So I don't have to get antibiotics during labor. Excellent.

Unfortunately, as I had suspected, Catherine confirmed that Lentil is in a posterior position. Despite time spent on my hands and knees (without having any fun at all), and diligently sleeping on my side. I'm tired of the damn cat-cow poses.

Also, although the OB chief resident had forgotten to mention it to me (though the covering midwife informed me after I left the hospital on Monday, via phone), my amniotic fluid levels were a little low at 6.6... unknown units. I've been drinking tons, so Catherine wants me to try to rest more. Not the worst sounding idea ever... I get so tired these days, schlepping around in the heat.

Personally, I think the resident just wasn't particularly knowledgeable, and didn't search around all that hard for fluid. The last time I had an ultrasound with an ultrasound tech, she really hunted for fluid. But I don't mind. Because it means I go for a biophysical profile and non-stress test next Monday (basically, an ultrasound checking for amniotic fluid levels and for the baby to be making practice breathing movements, I think, from what I've read from other people's blogs.)

There's a little part of me that thinks, gosh, what if I just happened to not remember to drink enough water (or iced raspberry leaf tea, a uterine tonic, which is actually what I am swilling by the quart these days)???

I think if it weren't for the issue of really wanting my sister to be here for the birth and postpartum period (she arrives Sunday, at 39 weeks, 1 day, unless I go into labor before then... in which case, she is ready to jump in the car and drive post-haste from Massachusetts, about a four and a half hour drive), I wouldn't be so antsy. Though part of me is just excited to move to the next step, even without the issue of my sister. Still, I'm grateful that I'm not nervous or agitated about it anymore. Just eager, really.

Anyway, Catherine is having me start taking a homeopathic medicine, Caulophyllum, to help prepare my cervix. I take five pellets, under my tongue, every thirty minutes for two hours, twice a day. No eating or drinking during this time, either... but then I got a reprieve for water. Two hours (or two and a half?) is a long time to go without drinking in this heat. I got very thirsty trying to do this earlier today... especially since I went for another grass-fed burger and fries after acupuncture today... so good, but now I can barely even eat half the burger and a few fries before getting full.

She also wants me to see a chiropractor, to help turn the baby anterior (facing my spine, instead of facing my belly button... to avoid a long and painful back labor) as well as soften up my pelvic. Apparently Lentil's head still isn't engaged in my pelvis -- she could barely feel the head on pelvic exam. (Yes, I asked her to do another pelvic, just to make sure the resident didn't miss anything. And she promised to pass along feedback about how terrible that pelvic exam had been.) Unfortunately, she agreed that I wasn't at all dilated or effaced. I need that baby's head to press on my cervix to make progress on that front.

So between the acupuncture, chiropractor (which will be a totally new experience for me), and BPP/NST, I will be pleasantly busy for the next few days! Especially since I may do the three-days-in-a-row-to-stimulate-labor acupuncture treatment next week.

Pregnancy is becoming a full time occupation.

It's very lucky I don't have much else going on. I can't for the life of me imagine how folks handle the exhaustion, never mind the appointments, while taking care of another child as a single parent. My hat is completely off to you ladies! (Thinking of you, Claire, at the moment, with a two year old and a newborn... and not allowed to lift the toddler due to your C-section! WOW! And congratulations!)