40 Weeks (BUILD A BEAR) - 3.0: April 13-16

 

• Made it to the due date! I went into labour with Emilia on my due date in the evening, and had her less than 2 hours after midnight, so I consider that a due date baby. If I stay pregnant past 2am I will be pregnant for the longest ever!
• Our doula put in a special request to make it to the due date as she had a couple other moms to be who were overdue last week. Alright. We did it... now baby, it's time! :) I want to meet you! See how much you weigh! See if you're a boy or a girl!! See if you have hair! See if you are going to have brown eyes or blue eyes! See if you have your brother and sisters' lips! 
• At 40+1 I was having lots of cramping and discomfort. I have never wanted to go to the bathroom and see blood (bloody show) so badly in my life. Anything to tell me it would be today or tomorrow or some time!
• It was absolutely beautiful weather, so I did lots of walking and hanging out outside. Also lots of resting and napping. 
• I had a midwife appointment on April 15 (40+2), and I was planning to get a sweep. I let my doula know, as it would likely put me into labour that day and she challenged me on it. She asked me to really consider why I was wanting to get a sweep. The risk of getting it is that it would put me into false labour. What are the risks/benefits/alternatives? What is my intuition telling me? What happens if I do nothing? She was just encouraging me to think about it and make an informed decision instead of one based on me feeling uncomfortable. It did make me think. A lot. I don't normally like being challenged, but I really appreciated it this time. I came to the realization that the reason I wanted a sweep was because I wanted to feel some sort of sense of control over the whole situation. Also due to some anxieties about baby being safer earth-side at this point, being past due - something in my gut was telling me it was time for her to come out. I decided not to go ahead with the sweep, and to wait until baby is ready on his/her own. She would have 100% supported whatever decision I made, but after discussing it, we agreed that maybe I'd just have Nushin (the midwife) check my cervix so that I know where we're at with dilation and ripening. 
• So! The midwife appointment...
• Weight: 150lb (+29 lb from the very beginning of pregnancy)
• My BP: 100/60
• Belly measurement: 40 cm
• Baby HR: 140 BPM
• Cervical dilation: 2-3 cm and pretty ripe (soft). 
• Cervix was down to 1cm (that's the effacement process) and way out front. AKA, it was ready to have a baby any time! 
• Nushin agreed that a sweep wouldn't be necessary. It would probably work, but things were looking imminent anyway and we just needed baby to drop into position a bit more and it would be go time. 
• I asked her what she thought about how big baby is. She was feeling around and said, "Oh... I'd say probably 7-8lb!" Well that sounds doable to me! Maybe it's a good thing she was very wrong haha. 
• At 9:45pm the day of my midwife appointment, my water broke. The rest of that story is to come! :)