39 Weeks: Any Minute Now

Well, there was definitely part of me that never believed I would be here. Nora was born at 39 weeks at around 3:30 a.m. so I never wrote a 39-week post for her pregnancy. And until recently, I just assumed that this baby would be coming at or before 39 weeks, too. And ever since I saw those two pink lines on a pregnancy test and calculated my estimated due date, I really thought I’d have a July baby, not an August one.

But unless something unexpected happens in the next 27 hours, an August baby this will be.

You know what they say about expectations, right? *sigh* It’s my own fault.

Anyway, at this point, I’m just hoping not to go over 40 weeks. Come on, baby.

And that’s all I’m going to say about being impatient and how much I am READY and how OHMYGODGETTHISBABYOUT. Because I’m sick of talking about it, so I’m sure you are tired of hearing about it, too.

39 Weeks Pregnant

This week’s photo is not the best representation of my belly because the shirt is too flowy and I didn’t pull it taut underneath, but OH WELL I AM OVER IT. All things considered, I think I’ve done a decent job documenting this pregnancy given that it’s baby #2, I have a toddler to care for, and this pregnancy definitely hasn’t been as smooth as my first (you know, terrible first trimester sickness, appendicitis at 22 weeks, etc.).

At my doctor’s appointment last week, my blood pressure was still low and perfect, so apparently the high blood pressure reading I had back at my 36-week appointment was just a fluke. In my pregnancy with Nora, my blood pressure continuously crept higher and higher every week, which led to talks of induction. This time, not so much, and for that I am grateful, obviously. I also had a lot more swelling during the end of Nora’s pregnancy. I had frequent bouts of “Fred Flintstone” feet, and I have not had that problem at all this time—not even once. And whereas I had to give up my wedding rings at 32 weeks with Nora, and this time I am still able to wear them now. Go figure.

I have kept forgetting to report on weight gain, but total weight gain as of this morning is standing at about 25-26 lbs. I gained 26 lbs. with Nora, so I am right on track. Obviously if I have to go another week or two without birthing a baby, I’m likely to put on a couple more pounds, but whatever. If I go past due, the weight gain is going to be the least of my complaints, believe me! :)

I broke down and actually threw a few things into a hospital bag this weekend. Before that, I had been thinking that the less prepared I was, perhaps the more likely the baby was going to make a little bit of an early appearance, haha! Also, based on my experience with Nora’s birth, I don’t really NEED anything from home for the birth, so I just was not all that motivated to put items of clothing—especially since I have so few that comfortably fit me these days—aside and out of daily rotation.

We also finally worked out some of the contingency plans for when the time comes. What’s going to happen if I’m at work, what will happen if it’s the middle of the night, what if Nora is at home, what if she’s at daycare, etc. Probably all good things to discuss so there aren’t any moments of panic when things do finally get real.

On Sunday night, I slept like absolute crap. I got up SIX TIMES to pee within a matter of 5-6 hours, and the last time I was up (at 5:15), I couldn’t fall back to sleep to save my life. Needless to say, I was pretty miserable on Monday morning. And then I got to work and I was overly emotional for no reason at all. I was sitting, crying at my desk, all the while thinking, “You are a crazy person. You don’t even WANT to be crying right now. You’re not even sad. Why are you crying?” Hormones are a bitch, that’s all.

My next doctor’s appointment is on Thursday morning. I’ve been walking the neighborhood every day, trying to walk this baby out. I’ve been adding spice to my food whenever possible. So at the very least, I hope that if I make it to Thursday’s appointment, I hear a good report regarding progress because holy hell, all of this effort has to be doing something. I know she’ll strip the membranes again, too, so hopefully that will be the thing that finally gets things moving, eh??

I am so ready to know if this baby is a boy or a girl. We are solid on a boy’s name, but we still aren’t certain for a girl. I wish we were going into it at ease with a name picked out for either one, but for a girl, I just can’t pick yet. And there’s part of me that wonders, of course, if we’ll even need to worry about it—because hey, it could be a boy!—so I don’t really want to stress out over it too much unless we have to cross that bridge, you know? I think we have it narrowed down to two, so if a girl pops out, it will just be a matter of making a final decision. And in that case, I hope her little face speaks to me and makes it easy, and that I’ll just know which name is supposed to be hers.

I’ve been reading birth stories like crazy. At this point, I’m so interested in what other women felt before labor. Did it come on slowly? Were there lots of “warning signs”? Or did it come out of nowhere? Obviously I’m particularly interested in that part of it right now since I haven’t really been feeling any of my own warning signs and I’m trying to remind and/or convince myself that yes, it’s possible that labor really could just start at any minute now. Keeping the faith, you know.

Of course, although I am terribly excited and anxious to get this show on the road, I’m also still scared about how this is going to rock my life. I know that 95% of the change is bound to be wonderful, obviously, but there is the sleepless nights/sore boobs/newborn craziness to consider as well. Not to mention the uncertainty of how Nora might act up or change because of the impact on her life as well.

Tonight, I took advantage of the fact that I’m still pregnant and took Nora on a “date.” It was a super simple one—we were only gone from home for 45 minutes. But after eating dinner at home, I took her to Wegmans to pick out a special cookie for a treat. Just the two of us.

It was funny, too, because this morning Nora was whining a little bit about not wanting to go to daycare today, and I told her that I needed her to be a good girl because if she was, we’d go on a date tonight. She said, “What is it?” and I told her she’d just have to wait and see. Then, Michael ended up picking her up from daycare after work instead of me. I thought maybe she’d forget about what I’d said this morning. But I should have known—she has the memory of an elephant these days. I guess she said to Michael, “Where’s Mommy?” and he said, “Why, do you want to go somewhere?” Nora’s answer was, “Yeah, go on date now!” It made me laugh so hard. I realized then how much trouble I could potentially get myself into by setting her expectations like that (what if I had gone into labor??) but it also meant so much to me that she kept that promise with her all day and that it was the first thing she thought about/asked about when Michael picked her up. So sweet.

Enough rambling. As you can probably tell, my mind is racing 100 miles an hour these days. So much to wonder. So much to think about.

Here’s hoping that I end up in a labor & delivery room very, very soon. :)