This week the baby is about the size of a watermelon (20 inches) and 7.25 pounds. Ack!!!! That's way too big for my belly. Haha! As baby prepares to join the outside world, they are continuing to build a layer of fat and slough off the outer layers of skin. The vernix and lanugo are nearly completely gone although you may see some traces of it after birth. The placenta is also still hard at work providing critical antibodies to help protect the baby from infections in the outside world. Although, if breastfed, the baby will get many of his needed antibodies from breastmilk.
The Oven
This oven is about to burst, but the door doesn't seem to want to open. Sheesh! Someone call a locksmith!!! I know we're still 6 days away from our due date, but everyone swore I would not last this long. Guess I showed them unfortunately. Haha! I'm trying to cook the perfect souffle, and you just can't rush perfection. Well, that's normally my motto anyways, but more about that in just a minute. First I'd like to talk feet. Yes, those babies are more like tanks right now. Gah! I hope they don't take long to go back to normal after the birth. It's actually getting a bit uncomfortable to walk at times. I can feel the pressure building up slowly and by the end of the day they are done.
The Happenings In the Kitchen
Lots going on this week!!!! Or should I say not going on this week. Depends on how you look at it. Haha! Well, Adam headed out on a flight to California on Wednesday while I had my next OB appointment and NST to monitor the baby. Belle wasn't able to make it this time because she fell victim to the horrible heat of Fresno, CA. Yep, she got heat stroke walking around town. Boo! She's feeling better now, but I'm sure that was no fun. So I trekked it to the appointment alone. I was a good solid 4 cm dilated at that point!! Ack! This baby is going to just fall out!!! They're doing great though. The NST went well and baby is tolerating life on the inside just fine, even with the three contractions I had during that time span. At this point I just wanted to speed up the process a bit. I figured Adam would be here in a few hours, so we might as well give nature a push. I had my nurse midwife sweep my membranes. Not so bad. It hurt just a little. Then I was on my way.
Well, contractions picked up pretty quickly after that and I freaked out. Ack!!!! Adam's still in the air and my doctor isn't on call till this weekend. Maybe the sweep was a bad idea. So I went to pick up the girls, went shopping at Target, picked up my hospital gown, and then went straight home to relax. I didn't want this to happen today. Took me the whole rest of the day to get the contractions to slow down to a halt. I just basically vegged on the couch. Now I'm thinking that was a mistake...
The next day I woke up to bloody show and lots of mucus plus all day (sorry if you didn't want to know that). I thought for sure today was the day!!!! I was having some contractions as well, but not a ton. But Thursday came and went... and so did the 4th of July... and so did Saturday... and so did Sunday... Yep, we're still here waiting. Maybe I should have walked it out on Wednesday. Oh well. No looking back now.
Saturday night my doula came over to my house. OMG! It was heaven!!!! We talked for awhile about the birth first. My fears, concerns, how I saw things going, and things like that. Then she gave me a massage with some essential oils, did lots of acupressure, worked some rebozo magic on me, and left me feeling refreshed and relaxed. Oh so nice!!!!!! I can't wait to pamper other mommies to be like this. Did I tell you all that I opened up my own doula business this past week??? Yes!!!! It's officially open. You can check out my Love & Labor Birth Services web page or "like" Love & Labor on Facebook. I'm so excited about it!!!!!
But back to waiting for baby. Bell, Adam, and I went to see the movie "Tammy" on Sunday. It was so funny. I think baby thought they were missing out because I had a lot of contractions during it. They wanted to burst out so they could see what was going on. Haha! Contractions stopped after the movie though. Boo!!!
This morning we had another OB appointment. Bell, Adam, and I all went to this one. We got to listen to the heartbeat (sounded great!!), measured my belly (2 weeks ahead at 41 weeks), checked dilation (4-5 cm), and did another membrane sweep. We also talked induction. Adam needs to head home for a bit on Sunday and we don't want him to miss the birth or not get much time to bond with baby. Now when I say head home for a bit... I mean all the way back to the UK. Not just down the street. So we scheduled to be induced on Saturday. My doctor will be there and Adam will be there. Then we got home and realized this just won't work. Adam would only get a day to bond, plus my doula's husband is flying in that day after not seeing him for months. If we're going to schedule this, might as well make it work for everyone. So I just called back and hopefully they can get us in on Wednesday or Thursday. Eeeeek!!!!! So soon!!!! Now normally I'm totally against induction for scheduling purposes. I strongly believe that a baby will come when they are meant to and I think that induction just leads to problems in labor... but at the same time, I can't imagine a daddy not being there when their baby is born or having to leave so soon afterwards. So we'll break my water and hope that gets things moving.
To tell you the truth, I'm trying really hard to get things going before then. I went to the store and bought an enema. Yep, more horrible information for you all. I've never done one before and let me tell you, it's not an awesome experience. Not horrible, but definitely different. Unfortunately I still don't feel like anything is happening, so I might make another trip to the store for castor oil. Yep, I'm that desperate at this point. I guess we'll see what happens.
Well, contractions picked up pretty quickly after that and I freaked out. Ack!!!! Adam's still in the air and my doctor isn't on call till this weekend. Maybe the sweep was a bad idea. So I went to pick up the girls, went shopping at Target, picked up my hospital gown, and then went straight home to relax. I didn't want this to happen today. Took me the whole rest of the day to get the contractions to slow down to a halt. I just basically vegged on the couch. Now I'm thinking that was a mistake...
The next day I woke up to bloody show and lots of mucus plus all day (sorry if you didn't want to know that). I thought for sure today was the day!!!! I was having some contractions as well, but not a ton. But Thursday came and went... and so did the 4th of July... and so did Saturday... and so did Sunday... Yep, we're still here waiting. Maybe I should have walked it out on Wednesday. Oh well. No looking back now.
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| 4th of July with my Kiddos |
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| My doula and I doing rebozo work. |
This morning we had another OB appointment. Bell, Adam, and I all went to this one. We got to listen to the heartbeat (sounded great!!), measured my belly (2 weeks ahead at 41 weeks), checked dilation (4-5 cm), and did another membrane sweep. We also talked induction. Adam needs to head home for a bit on Sunday and we don't want him to miss the birth or not get much time to bond with baby. Now when I say head home for a bit... I mean all the way back to the UK. Not just down the street. So we scheduled to be induced on Saturday. My doctor will be there and Adam will be there. Then we got home and realized this just won't work. Adam would only get a day to bond, plus my doula's husband is flying in that day after not seeing him for months. If we're going to schedule this, might as well make it work for everyone. So I just called back and hopefully they can get us in on Wednesday or Thursday. Eeeeek!!!!! So soon!!!! Now normally I'm totally against induction for scheduling purposes. I strongly believe that a baby will come when they are meant to and I think that induction just leads to problems in labor... but at the same time, I can't imagine a daddy not being there when their baby is born or having to leave so soon afterwards. So we'll break my water and hope that gets things moving.
To tell you the truth, I'm trying really hard to get things going before then. I went to the store and bought an enema. Yep, more horrible information for you all. I've never done one before and let me tell you, it's not an awesome experience. Not horrible, but definitely different. Unfortunately I still don't feel like anything is happening, so I might make another trip to the store for castor oil. Yep, I'm that desperate at this point. I guess we'll see what happens.
Belle and Adam are waiting patiently for the big day. They're getting things prepared, legal work squared away, and just trying to enjoy their days together before 2 becomes 3. Unfortunately they ran into a little stress along the way. Their poor dog is having problems. He can't walk well, and has a lump that might be cancer. That's why Adam needs to head back. He needs to get his dog in to get an MRI to check things out and then he'll be back to help with the baby. Belle will be staying here though and they've been trying to set up for her sister to join her during Adam's leave. So much to think about! Who knew this would all come down at the same time.
Coming Soon !!!
July 8th - Monitoring Appt. - NST & Ultrasound to measure amniotic fluid.
July 9th-12th - Induction - It's not set in stone yet, but we will be inducing this week.
July 13th - DUE DATE!!!! - Adam heads back home
July 9th-12th - Induction - It's not set in stone yet, but we will be inducing this week.
July 13th - DUE DATE!!!! - Adam heads back home
Don't forget to check out my "Surrogacy" tab at the top of this page to catch up on any posts you might have missed
*Some of the names in this post have been changed and faces blocked out to protect the identities of those involved in this journey*
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