Cousin R drove me to the hospital this morning for further monitoring. So very good of her to provide such an efficient chauffeur service!
Midwife Julie was wonderful, and did a lot to reassure me and reduce my anxiety about the treatment we will receive on Monday. She was respectful and engaged and enthusiastic and was happy to answer any and all questions. She volunteered information and told me what she thought about things. It was such a relief, and such a big change from Wednesday. She even complimented me on my ‘low demand haircut’!
The results of the monitoring were all good. My blood pressure is stable and good, McBean’s heart rate trace is perfect, though it took almost 10 minutes to actually get a decent reading due to his moving around and running away from the monitor! Levels of amniotic fluid are a little lower, but Midwife Julie explained that it was still well in normal range, and why it’s so variable, and not always the most accurate measure to go by. Apparently they measure the fluid because if the placenta starts having trouble, the baby’s kidneys are the first things to stop working efficiently, and because the amniotic fluid is predominantly made up of baby wee at this point (ew!), the levels will drop if the kidneys aren’t working properly. But measuring the levels is hard, especially with such a wriggly baby like McBean, and different results can be obtained just minutes apart. She said the absolute most important thing to be aware of is his continued movement. And he’s wriggling around like crazy all of the time, so I know he’s fine in there!
I asked about the dangers of continuing the pregnancy beyond 42 weeks and refusing induction and she very bluntly said that the concern is that the placenta fails and the baby dies. And that’s why they do the monitoring. She suggested that she thought induction is still the best option at this point though, even if McBean seems to be doing alright as that can change fairly quickly. But she prefaced it all by saying that it was her opinion only, and completely my choice. And I actually felt like she meant that.
A funny moment during the ultrasound – apart from the constant kicking and wriggling and shifting and generally making things difficult – at one point Midwife Julie said, ‘Oh he’s definitely a boy and an exhibitionist at that!’. She showed me the boy bits on the screen but I couldn’t really make it out. Is nice to have such confident confirmation though!
We also had a conversation about dilation and effacement and she reassured me that it can all be happening without any awareness on my part, especially with a second baby, and the lack of any blood does not mean a thing. It was good for me to hear this, and it even gave me back a smidge of hope that something may possibly happen by itself before Monday morning. Especially given how wiped I feel this morning, and the awful nausea that has made a resurgence all of a sudden, and the ache in my lower back. That said, it’s probably all still nothing.
Last night we had a bit of drama. While I was making a really yummy extremely spicy curry, and Lazyboo was making yummy chocolate cookies from eggs that she’d dropped and cracked, extremely bad very loud music started up next door. When we looked outside, there was a tarp in our neighbours back yard, complete with strobe lights. Our hearts just sank and we were extremely apprehensive – our neighbours’ parties are just awful, and we were really concerned that the whole thing would upset my newly regained sense of equilibrium and relaxation. We made efforts to deal with it, but the music kept getting worse, and louder, to the point where I had to yell for Lazyboo to hear me in our living room, and the floor was vibrating from the bass. McBean was going mad, flailing his arms and legs constantly and I really felt that the whole thing was distressing him (despite me being able to mostly remain fairly calm). So we called just about everyone we know trying to find a place to escape to. But 9:30 on a Friday night is not a good time to just drop in on people! And it’s not as if we could go to a bar or something – I’m 42 weeks pregnant! Our lovely friend K came to our rescue and provided us with tea, good conversation and a quiet place to be for a couple of hours, even though it was late and she was tired after working all week and caring for her adorable 1 year old JLP. It was fantastic to catch up with her before all the imminent upheaval, and we are ever so grateful for the refuge she provided. By the time we got home (at about 1am) all the people were gone and the street was once more dead quiet. Lovely.
I can’t believe there’s only two more sleeps to go. The excitement that I’ve been pushing away for weeks is beginning to build!
1 more seep by the time you get this!!!
oh, you have to love the neighbors with parties at the most horrible times!
the babe will be here soon and quickly into your arms! the excitement is building!!
Ahhhh….1 more sleep!!!!! I’m so excited….have I mentioned this?? Hope all goes smoothly if you don’t post again…………….. xoxo