Bobby's Sunday Summary

No Baby Yet

Not Quite Ready Yet

Another visit to the midwife's office, this time I met with Ray Spooner. Conditions are not yet favorable for a scheduled induction this week. There's no telling when this boy will make his grand entrance, but it probably won't be today. Or tomorrow. Or even the next day. I was surprisingly okay with that news. The uncertainty of all this is driving me nuts, but now I know that I'm not on the brink of spontaneous labor. The whole point of going through a medically UN-necessary induction is convenience, right? If I went ahead and scheduled an induction before conditions were favorable, it could lead to way more hassle and intervention than I ever imagined. A power struggle with my body is NOT convenient. Soooo, we'll wait another week and check again.

Yes, I'm tired. Oh baby, I'm uncomfortable. And I'm secretly begging to be released from all of my day-to-day responsibilities...food planning/prep, childcare, house management...but somehow all of that is made a little bit easier by knowing that it's just not time yet. I'm in that strange limbo land between 1) wanting to plan my life and 2) enjoying the natural rhythm of life. It's kinda funny that my appointment today happened to satisfy both sides of my diametrically opposed psyche.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Well, Life still goes on.  This week has been both fun and stressful.  Susan is getting closer to having the baby.  We had a bit of a scare on Saturday.  She had some contractions but they went away.  We also had a lot of fun this week.  On Wednesday we went out on a double date to Radio Maria.  It is kind of an odd restaurant.  But we had a gift certificate so we took some friends out and we ordered about 10 different types of tapas.  Everything we delicious and it was a lot of fun to eat new interesting foods and have an adult conversation.  I also got to have lunch with Alice at school on Friday.  Every so often the kids can invite an adult to eat lunch with them, and Alice picked me.  It was fun.  It was also interesting to see how many kids got McDonalds for their special lunch.

Just for Lara

My sister recently sent me this note:

I'm craving a picture of your fresh-laid eggs…  Not urgent, just if you get a chance…

Love,
Lara

I'm happy to oblige. Again, I'm not sure how much of my 'farm life' to share on this blog. I don't want to bore people, y'know :) But if you ask for it, I'm happy to deliver. 

Here's a little video I shot the last time I went to gather eggs:

I let the ladies out on Thursday afternoon and they escaped to our neighbor's front yard while I was distracted with guests. They haven't been out since, hence their eagerness to hop out the pen door. Especially Roo.

Here's our current fresh egg stash. Oldest at the top (about 5-6 days old), newest at the bottom:

And here's me happy to deliver...

Midwife Visit at 38 weeks

The midwife I met with today was Kristi Higgs. A lovely lady. Bogah is head-down and sitting hiiiiiiigh up out of the pelvis. That long torso of mine gives him a little extra space. He was so wiggly this morning that Kristi couldn't get a good reading on his heart rate. It's somewhere between 120 and 190 bpm :) Bogah mostly arches his back and wiggles his limbs like a nest of snakes. I am delighted he doesn't hook his feet under my rib cage like Robert did, though he does have a knack for stretching my pelvic bones apart a bit. Kristi estimates his weight at about 8 pounds right now, which easily makes him the largest baby I've had so far. Alice was 6lbs 13oz by this point (already having been born at 37 weeks), and Robert was born weighing 8lbs 6oz at 40.5 weeks (not for another 3 weeks from now). By his due date in three weeks, it would not be unusual for Bogah to gain another pound and a half. Do we have another chunky monkey on the way?

I asked the midwife all of my questions about being positive for Group Beta Strep (GBS) and what that means risk-wise for the baby and such. I'm feeling much better. The one piece of information that made it all better for me was this: 95% of the GBS bacteria is dead within 90 minutes of IV antibiotic treatment. That little piece of data came from a study of actual GBS+ women in active labor, receiving IV antibiotics. It was a tough study to perform, and it was done 15 years ago, but the data point is now there in my brain and it brings significant comfort. All the official CDC guidelines recommend 4 hours of IV antibiotic treatment, but 90 minutes is a significant wallop. I'm pretty sure I can make it to the hospital with 90 minutes to "spare." It's certainly more likely than four hours, anyway. And even if I don't get the full 4 hours of IV antibiotics before Bogah's birth and the official guidelines require Bogah to stay in the hospital for 48 hours of observation instead of 24 hours, I will personally know that 90 minutes was good enough for me and I won't be freaking out about cerebral palsy, blindness, and deafness the whole time. What a relief.

Why wouldn't they let me talk to a midwife 2 weeks ago on the phone for 2 minutes?! Grrrr. There is no secret way to access the on-call midwife, by the way. If you kindly thank the nurse for her information, express understanding, and politely insist that you still speak to a midwife about your concern, then the nurse will forward your non-urgent question to the on-call midwife who may be able to answer it during the day, or may not get around to his/her messages until 11:30 that night. That's disappointing, but better than a complete shut-out :)

Simply being GBS+ is not enough of a concern to warrant an induction. I knew that much when I went to my appointment today, but I asked about my "precipitous labor" pattern, wondering if that would change the game. It does. Rapid labor alone is a sufficient reason for a pregnant woman to receive a scheduled induction, should she want one. And if my exam next week reveals any physical progress towards labor, they will allow me to schedule an induction at my earliest convenience. And that's the whole reason I would choose induction, you know: convenience. Convenience and control. I will admit that I shuddered at the idea of inducing the birth of my first or second child simply for convenience and control. Nowadays, though, I'm finding the induction route quite seductive. And it's all about convenience: choosing the day and time, knowing Bobby will be right there in time the whole time, arranging adequate childcare for Alice and Robert, maybe (just maybe) getting some pain control measures in place for the birth, and flying my mom out soon afterwards to help with recovery. No midnight calls to nearby friends and neighbors, no last-minute changes in the school pick-up routine, and no terrifying possibility of giving birth in the car.

Despite these obvious conveniences, I'm not quite ready to accept the induction route. It's not medically warranted in my case. It seems so forced and artificial in some ways. I was chatting with Bobby about this last night and he reminded me that clothes and houses are artificial, too. He's got a point. I do enjoy a natural flow to life, but I'm also a notorious planner. And I thoroughly enjoy convenience and comfort :) We all have our personal priorities and limitations to consider, yes? So, I'll be considering this week. Lots.