So here we are. Forty-one weeks pregnant and still no sign of baby.
If this egg doesn’t start hatching by Saturday night, the State of New Jersey will no longer let me have my home birth and we’ll be back to the original plan of birthing at Morristown Memorial Hospital. For some reason, me trying to explain this to my very round baby-belly has not been working to encourage things along. It’s starting to feel like I’m running out of time. I’m sure this can’t be helping things.
Last Sunday we had a non-stress test with the Midwives. After sitting in a very comfortable chair for 20 minutes, feet up, watching an awful Sunday afternoon movie, my midwife was happy with the results. Baby is healthy, active, and not showing signs of stress. She gave us a couple suggestions of things to try to encourage things, but there is no rush since baby is doing well.
We mentioned to her that both my sister and I were 13 days late and the midwife suggested it could just be a family trait. She has a patient who’s family generally goes 42-43 weeks and that’s just normal for them. She suggested I could blame my mom for my baby’s lateness (like mother, like daughter!), which is fun but doesn’t help relieve the “is that baby here yet?!” pressure.
Oddly and happily, and with the exception of being terribly sick for two weeks, I’ve been and still am rather comfortable. I still get around rather well, although much more slowly than I use to. My main complaint has been trying to roll over in bed and getting up from laying down. Try rolling over with an 8-pound ball attached to your tummy. It’s not easy! Oh yeah, and my belly bumps into things all the time.
At this point, I REALLY miss not being pregnant, being able to wear normal clothes, being able to enjoy wine, sushi, and tuna steaks. Don’t get me wrong, the random conversations with strangers in stores has been fun. I’ve discovered that not everyone in the Garden State pretends that no one else exists and everyone who’s started a conversation with me has been really excited for me and my baby-to-be.
With it being 6:30 PM on the last day of November, Howeberry will most definitely be a December baby. This also means that’s I’ve been pregnant for most of the last year and I’m really ready to not be anymore. The only month I will have not been pregnant in 2010 is January. Joy…
And so we wait. We wait for my body and baby to decide it’s time. We wait for nature to take it’s course.
That does not mean we won’t be trying some of the suggestions we’ve been given. Tonight, we’ll try Chinese food.
