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Monday, March 22, 2004
Update
I've got until friday to get it out! Which means they aren't exactly going for my story about wrong dates (that would give me weeks more!) despite much hmm- hmm-ing and nodding when I recite it, but I feel happier than I did yesterday - a whole 2 days longer. Baby did a lovely job on the monitor, everybody exclaimed how genki it is, so I felt very proud. It was rather nice actually, sitting in a darkened room in the hospital listening to about 5 babies' hearts all beating away. The worst bit of the whole experience was the sweet milky tea I was given, so that can't be bad. My midwife carefully researched which doctor I should see by ringing all her contacts, and found one who was very sympathetic - in fact she was lovely and drew me an annotated picture of the baby so I knew what the scan pictures were measuring (according to the scan it is 2.9 kg. According to the midwife's prodding it is 3.9 kg. I reckon it should be somewhere in between...). I turned down the offer of a caesarian for today and stuck firmly to my 'dates are wrong' routine and added some pleading. If it hasn't come out by friday I have to have a pelvic x-ray and an internal exam - if my cervix is ripening then I should be allowed to wait over the weekend but if not I have to choose between induction (with seaweed sticks - don't ask - and a drip) or a c-section. Oh and I've to spend this week being monitored daily, so no fun daytrips for me. Still, I reckon it's worth it. Come on baby! Friday, March 19, 2004
Game plan
I'm fine, the baby's fine, we're all fine. Cameron's fine. The cats are fine. The midwife kept saying 'why won't your labour start', which I really couldn't answer (because the baby isn't ready yet not being good enough.) I've started a 'maybe my dates are wrong' campaign in a last-ditch bid to stave off induction (anyone who is wondering why I have this fear of induction and who is tempted to suggest it might be the best thing, please read this and this and bear in mind that induction will involve giving birth not at my nice friendly clinic where they all know me but at a big scarey hospital where the doctor speaks little english. Of course I am more than happy for this to happen if it is for a medical reason but doing it because the calendar says I'm 2 weeks past an arbitrary date - which (as Kate pointed out below) could be up to a week wrong seems illogical to me. Nobody has ever been pregnant forever, right? Actually, if I was a week wrong in my calculations that would be a good thing as it would significantly reduce the exposure to alcohol it had received as a cluster of cells!) I'm going to an acupuncturist this afternoon who has promised to use big needles (!) in the hope of starting things off, then back to the clinic for more monitoring and a dose of castor oil tomorrow. Joy. Back to the clinic for more monitoring Sunday, then into hospital for monitoring Monday. The plan at present is to induce Wednesday but I am rather clinging to the hope that if the monitoring shows the baby is still fine and happy then that can be negotiated back still further. In the meantime I am stomping up and down stairs and drinking raspberry-leaf tea by the gallon. It is nasty so must be doing some good! Oh, the monitoring. I just sat with my feet in a foot bath while a small physics-lab type machine recorded the baby's heartbeat and my contractions (not sure how it does the latter). I am having some! But they are teeny weeny. They didn't affect baby's heartbeat - this is a good thing, but hardly surprising given that I wouldn't have known about them if the monitor hadn't picked them up. Baby had a good long sleep (30 minutes) which worried her - they usually sleep for 20 minutes it seems - but it didn't seem unusual to me and it woke up for a long time too so I think it's just on a slightly longer cycle than average. Cameron is supposed to be popping back to the UK next weekend for a wedding - if I'm not home from the clinic and my mum and dad aren't here (or if the baby hasn't arrived!) then he'll have to cancel. Maybe it just doesn't want its daddy to leave it so soon after birth so is waiting to spoil his plans? *sorry Max. Cervices and contractions. I'll blog about my webcam and beer again later if you like? Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Hmm. Another checkup tomorrow and she wants to do some sort of monitoring, see if the baby is still fine. Not sure what this will involve; she was pretty vague when I asked, but they will attach some sort of...monitor...and see what happens during a contraction. I did ask how she proposed producing said contraction (seeing that if I was having them then I probably wouldn't need to go for the checkup) and she just said that I would be having them by then. Fairly unsatisfactory but I let it go at the time. Now I'm wondering. I could be there a long time if she's just going to wait for one.
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
last one
 I hope. Here I am at 40 weeks in black and white; 'scuse scruffy T-shirt (Cameron's), iffy hair (been asleep on it) and general dodginess of appearance. Honestly, I usually look much nicer than this (...and I'm sticking to it - I'm miles and miles away and you don't know.)
Bah.
I haven't been ignoring you all and your lovely comments. I was just thinking how strange it was that nobody had commented here since January when I decided to look on the actual site and there are loads! Thank you everybody. Seems my new comments host doesn't email me when people comment like the old one did. Sigh... If anyone had a burning question, please leave it for me again on this post. Tuesday, March 09, 2004
40 weeks
Although by some quirk of the calculations my 'official' due date is tomorrow. Not that I'm expecting anything; less than 5% of babies turn up on the appointed day and this one is showing no signs. Quite happy where it is. I've been walking miles around Tokyo, almost doing what I'm told (the instructions are to walk about 2 hours a day, not carrying anything and enjoying the sunshine and the trees. Yesterday I managed a walk in the park for over an hour enjoying the sunshine and the trees and carrying a very small evenly-balanced rucsac before deciding I needed to buy things and unbalancing myself. Today I did about an hour through tokyo streets with my handbag slung unevenly across one shoulder, stopped for a coffee and a piece of cake, then did another hour before picking up a big bag of groceries and two wicker baskets on my way home. Oh and a new pair of trainers.) Speaking of my new trainers, will I ever get used to being pregnant? Maybe my brain will catch up a few months from now and I'll find myself making allowances for a bump which (hopefully) is no longer there? I picked out my this-season's trainers, asked to try them on - then found I couldn't get to my feet! The shop assistant kind of pretended it was normal for people to have to contort sideways to reach their feet, bless him. I bought them - half a size bigger than normal though, I hope that isn't a permanent change as I'd hate to have to replace my entire shoe wardrobe. (Actually I'd love doing the replacing but would grieve for those that no longer fit.) Friday, March 05, 2004
moving goalposts
The friendly clinic reflexologist, although she says my body is getting ready to have the baby, no longer predicts it will come on Sunday. She reckons we're looking at Wednesday or Thursday next week instead - much less convenient than a weekend, but will provide time to assemble the cot! However, as she also suggested I make an appointment to see her again next Friday 'in case I'm wrong', I am not treating it as gospel. She asked me whether I knew the sex and then whether she could try to tell; apparently her teacher can tell and she is learning to do so. She reckons it's a girl, which gives predictions as follows: GIRL: me (first 7 months), reflexologist, Katy (intuition: she has a 5/6 record), Ally (?), Yolly (haven't got ugly) BOY: me (now), midwife (hmm, and she saw the scan...), no morning sickness Anyone else? Wednesday, March 03, 2004
"Traditionally , a father among the Huichol Indians would sit in the rafters above his labouring wife with a rope tied round his testicles. The wife would tug on the rope with every painful contraction so that they could both share the pain of bringing a new life into the world"
Thanks to my friend Rachel for bringing this to my attention. Cameron has pointed out that the clinic has no rafters - I reckon a stepladder would do just as well?! And while we're on the whole different cultures topic, when I go into the clinic in labour I am presented with a large plastic bag. It contains all sorts of goodies: a plastic sheet for the floor, enormous sanitary towels and so forth - and a small embossed wooden box in which I will keep the child's dried umbilical cord stump. As a souvenir. To me this is nearly as weird as the placenta recipes but, when in Rome... |
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