Yesterday and Today
Monday, October 20, 2008 at 07:34AM Yesterday I spent a good part of the afternoon hanging out with a couple of my girlfriends... in the sizable [and currently dry] inflatable pool in the spare room where I hope to spend the early stages of active labor. Mister Nygren came in to find us lounging there and, without missing a beat, asked whether we'd like him to make us some mojitos.
Neither of those friends are mothers yet, so they spent a lot of that time picking my brain about the biology of pregnancy and the logistics of birth, giggling at each other's questions as well as their own. (One confessed that she'd always assumed the umbilical cord just retracted into the body after delivery like a tape measure; this emboldened the other one to admit she'd always thought of the placenta as something that just dissolved rather than an actual organ that the body created just for this occasion.) I loved being able to tell them things about the physiology of labor and birth that eased their fears about the eventual possibility of experiencing it on their own.
I was reminded of the methodology prescribed for when your dog or cat is expecting a litter: you set up a "happy place" for them -- someplace comfortable and private -- and then spend time with them there, giving them extra attention and offering them special treats, so they won't want to go anywhere else (e.g., the middle of your bed, the expensive rug under the dining table) when it's time to deliver. As I spoke the thought aloud to my friends, they exclaimed, "Aww... we're special treats!"
Indeed they were.
That was yesterday.
in just over an hour, though, I'll be back in my OB's office for my weekly round of pee tests, fetal heartbeat screenings and quizzical looks. :) If there's a legitimate medical issue that calls for intervention, I have no doubt they'll tell me the instant they know. And as much as I enjoyed the time spent yesterday in my "happy place," that was yesterday. If today we find out that my daughter would be safer out than in, then today I'll be having a baby.
Prayers would be deeply appreciated. Keep you posted.
mrs. nygren
Maybe tomorrow, but not today!
To the chagrin of the OB staff, today was another unremarkable checkup. All my levels are still within range, and the baby's heart is strong and steady. They left me on the fetal monitor an extra long time today -- "well," the physician's assistant kept saying after eyeballing the printout again, "I'd like to see just a couple more accelerations" -- and I suspected she hoped to keep me on the monitor until she saw anything that could justify an immediate delivery. As she was in the middle of saying it a fourth time, the strip of graph paper finally ran out. In that moment, I knew my suspicions were right... and she knew I was going home still pregnant. Again.
As always, I assured her I'd call if anything came up... and that otherwise I'd see her in a week. "Dr. D will be back in town tomorrow," she replied. "I'd expect a phone call from him." I don't think she intended it to sound so much like "just wait till your daddy hears about this!" as it did, but I had to fight back a giggle just the same. "Sounds good," I told her. "Thanks!"
Reader Comments (3)
I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night... so baby or not i'll be taking a nap in my room. I don't even think birth would wake me up!