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Friday, August 29, 2003
thirty-six weeks - 02:25 PM
i had my regular obstetrician appointment yesterday. i'm now going weekly. at the beginning you go once a month, then every two weeks, then from thirty-six weeks (which is today, officially) you go every week.
all my appointments, so far, have been easy & normal & shown everything to be going to plan .. well, except for the one appointment i had after my twenty weeks ultrasound which showed that there was a second placenta. that wasn't a worry at the time though, as long as there was no bleeding or anything unusual going on as the pregnancy progressed. it's still not really a worry until monday, when i'll be having another ultrasound to check where that placenta is lying, to make sure it's not in the way. if it is in the way then my doctor says i'll have to have a caesarian rather than a natural birth. i'd prefer a natural birth, but what really matters is that rudegere & i come out of the experience happy & healthy.
at my previous appointment, he pointed out where rudegere's head was, right down low in the pubic area, & i felt around down there. initially i put my hands quite close together, but the obstetrician took my hands & placed them much further apart, & i could then feel each side of rudegere's head. it rather surprised me at how big it is.
during this last appointment i asked him if he could tell which part of rudegere was lying where, since all i really knew is that his head is down low. he felt along the right side of my belly & told me that his back was against that side. his feet are on the left side, so when he's been trying to poke holes in me, it's been his little feet or maybe his knees. i've also felt & seen bumps at the top right, so that must be his bottom. he has such a tiny little bum. it always makes me laugh to see a baby's bum without a nappy on. they look like they have such large, bouncy bottoms when they're wearing nappies because of all the padding, but then when they're naked, their bums look so tiny. it's very cute. 
my pregnancy book says that rudegere could be about 49 centimetres long by now (that's just over 19 inches). that's a hell of a long body to be cramped up in that tiny space. no wonder he's been shifting around a lot lately. he must be desperately trying to find a comfortable position.
even though i'm still enjoying being pregnant, i have reached the stage where i wouldn't exactly mind if he decided to arrive anytime soon. when i went into false labour the other day i was actually mildly disappointed that he wasn't going to be making an appearance after all. at thirty-five weeks, as i was then, the hospital informed me that they wouldn't necessarily try to stop it if i had indeed gone into full blown labour. it is early for him to be born, but not so early that he would be in any great danger, since he's got most of his fat stores by now to help keep him warm & his lungs & other innards are all developed enough for him to survive quite happily.
i was talking to him before when he was poking me & i patted him on what i believe to be his little bottom. i mentioned to him that he must be rather cramped in there & that if he wanted some more room to stretch out then i wouldn't mind if he decided to be come out soon. after all, i told him, the rest of the cot was delivered today so once his daddy helps me to put it together, he'll have somewhere to sleep & we'll all sleep in the same room to keep each other company & stuff & everything will be good.
i don't know if he was convinced or not. i haven't had any contractions yet, so if he's decided to come early, then perhaps he's still working on it. if not, then i guess i'll just have to be patient.
he's poking at me now. maybe he's waving hello .. or perhaps he's still trying to get comfortable. then again, he could just be telling me not to slouch so much because it's making his living space even more cramped.
Don't be scared Coralie, practically every woman does this childbirth thing, and some do it many times. Before my first baby was born, I heard horror stories and I was scared. I can tell you one thing for sure, the minute you see that baby, you will remember nothing except the joy of being a mom.
I see you already told him yourself about the outside world being bigger
Dear Coralie, I do wish you so much luck with this pregnancy - my little son Beaudean popped out at 29 weeks gestation and scared the crap out of my wife and myself. Everything turned out ok except for us not being able to take our son home from hospital for about 8 weeks - but you are gonna be ok - just believe that and you'll do sweet and fine.
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you think her head feels big now? wait until it's stretching you wide open