40 Weeks

Today, Oct 7th is my official due date. Only 8% of babies are actually born on their due date so I figure today is the least likely day. Just trying to be patient now. I have given up on all of my extra things to get labor started. The tea, the evening primrose oil, the herbs all of it. I do have yet another acupuncture appointment tomorrow afternoon we will see how it goes. I also have a midwife appointment tomorrow evening. Please don't expect me to have any news from this. They do not check the cervix because it means NOTHING!! It is really only useful information if you are planning a medical induction. Anyway it seems like it will never happen. It's funny I knew within days that I was pregnant, and I knew by 8 weeks it was a boy, but when it comes to his arrival I get nothing. I look at the bag packed for the birtcenter and car seat sitting in the corner in our room and it just doesn't seem the day will come when we will actually be taking them somewhere. *sigh*

Nothing To Talk About

So I had another midwife appointment on Tuesday night. There isn't a whole lot to say about it. Even my midwife commented that we have nothing left to talk about and it's just time to have the baby. I think it was our shortest ever we were only there for about 15 minutes. Most of that was spent with her telling us a story about how she had been up all night delivering a baby. Then yesterday I went to see an acupuncturist who specializes in pregnancy. She was very nice and spent a lot of time doing stuff I hadn't had done previously. She used some tuning forks to cause vibrations on the points in my back, and gave me a massage. She also sent me home with some herb which are super nasty!! I have only taken them twice so far. I'm supposed to take them 3 times a day. After my appointment she said I could come back Friday if I was really interested in getting things started or wait a week. So now I don't know what to do. I don't want to end up going 6 or 7 times it isn't covered by either of our insurance. So as of tonight I'm still undecided if I will call her in the morning or not.

I'm Not Ready Yet

I had a midwife appointment yesterday. Everything is still looking good. She took blood to check my iron level again, hopefully it has improved from last time. I have been pretty consistent in taking my 6 iron pills per day. I asked about starting acupuncture for labor induction. I figured she would tell me to wait another week or two, but she said I could start now. I was really surprised by that, and I'm not ready right now. Just for a little background on this ALL of my kids were born past their due dates. Being 10 days, 7 days, 10 days, and 4 days late respectively with two medical inductions in there. So with my son who was 4 days late my midwives suggested acupuncture as a way to move things along. I went in for an appointment on my due date, and then another one two days later I went into labor the next day. I will never know for sure if that's what did it or not, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try again. I also found it to be the most relaxing thing I've ever done. That alone is worth the money. So I called today and spoke with an acupuncturist who specializes in pregnancy. I decided to wait until next week to go because it will give me more time to get ready, and the more ready your body is the more likely it is to be successful. So wish me luck.

Getting So Close

I had another midwife appointment yesterday. It was kind of scary because she scheduled the rest of my appointments up to my due date. It made me realize how close it is getting, and I still feel so unprepared. I am hoping to find the motivation this weekend to get some stuff done, because the next two weekends we want to get out and do some stuff. Anyway, the appointment went good. Everything is still normal. I asked a couple of questions just out of curiosity like how their on call schedule works. She said they rotate weeks starting every Wednesday, but it can be hard to predict who will be on call because they often change weeks. I also asked what happens when they have more than one person go into labor at the same time because the birth center only has one room. She said it doesn't happen very often, only once that she can remember in the last year. When it does happen she said usually one person will decide to do a home birth or deliver at the other birth center in the area. So I go back again in two weeks, and I will have my iron level tested again then. I will also be 37 weeks...full term. Scary!!

Normal, Normal

That's how exciting my midwife appointment was today. After we were done she said exactly that normal, normal. Blood pressure is good, baby sounds good, baby is head down which is good, and he should stay that way at this point. It was my shortest appointment yet. I go back again in 2 weeks.

Choosing a Favorite

I had my midwife appointment yesterday. It was pretty much the usual. B gave Dare a review of the appointment since he couldn't make it. He said "she asked a lot of questions, and we heard the baby's heart beat". He summed it up pretty good. I must mention that with the midwives I saw when I was pregnant with Brandon I had a clear favorite from very early on. I liked both of them, but I couldn't help wishing that the one I liked better would be on call when I went into labor. I got lucky and she was. I keep thinking I should have a favorite by now, but I don't. I alternate with each appointment who I see, and after each time with them I just like them both more. I guess it's good this way because no matter who is on call on D-day I won't be disappointed.

I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me

So I had my first chiropractor visit today. If only someone would have told me I'd have to get undressed. I always like to have prior knowledge of these things. Luckily I shaved yesterday, but when rushing home to change I left my work shoes and socks on. That was not pretty!! If I had known I would have worn flip flops so not to subject the friendly people at the office to my swollen, sweaty pregnant feet in the socks I'd had on all day. Anyway the chiropractor was very nice, she gave me a full exam, minus the xrays. She also asked a lot of questions. I have to be honest there were times I felt her questioning was borderline psychic friends network. Like she was probing for clues to come up with the correct answers. Once she determined the problems we began the adjustment. When she pulled out her instrument I must say I was not impressed!! She didn't do much today I'm supposed to go back again tomorrow we will see in a few days if it seems to make a difference.

Also Dare pointed out to me that I had blogged about getting a 3D ultrasound and then didn't follow up. Well after speaking to my midwife I decided not to. It was supposed to be done at a training place and they take along time it's a lot of ultrasound to expose the baby to. She said although an Obstetrician would probably have no problem with it she couldn't write the note without warning me first.

Pass/Fail

Well I got the good news/bad news call from my Midwife today. The good news is it seems I passed my GD test with flying colors. Big sigh of relief there, I don't have to give up ice cream. The bad news is I'm now officially anemic. My iron has been low since it was tested around 6 weeks, and I have been on an iron supplement. I really wasn't even worried about this test for that reason, and I'm not sure what happened. Hopefully I can get more detail at my next appointment until then my dosage has been upped again. I also made an appointment with a chiropractor tomorrow. I am actually a little nervous, but I'm trying to put that aside and be hopeful that it will help.

Just a random side note here. A few weeks ago I posted how I often lie to strangers about my due date to limit rude comments. I'm a really bad lier so since I'm in the last leg here I've just been telling people "the beginning of October" mind you I always stress "beginning". The reaction I still get is one of shock, and then some comment like "wow you still have a loooooong way to go". So today I decided to try something different. When I was asked on two different occasions I said "oh the end of September". The reaction "oh wow not much longer". Seriously?

Boring is Good

I had my monthly appointment with the midwife today. Nothing exciting to report which is a good thing. I mostly look forward to these appointments because it means I am 4 weeks closer to being done. Kailyn and Brandon both went with us again B seemed to get bored this time and started pulling out all of his school work in the middle of the appointment. Kailyn was oblivious she only went because she didn't want to miss dinner at the Old Country Buffet afterwards. She sat on her phone and texted the whole time she said she finds the appointments "boring" and listening to the heartbeat "creeps her out". These are not the same midwives I saw with my last pregnancy, and I thought at first they gave off less of a crunchy vibe. I think I may have been wrong because their answer to every little complaint I have has been vitamins. My last appointment I complained about some muscle cramps and she suggested 2 new vitamins so my regimen now includes 1 prenatal vitamin, 3 iron pills, 1 vitamin D, 1 folic acid, 3 fish oil, and a calcium powder. Our conversation on the way home.
Kailyn- "Mom is it possible to overdose on vitamins?"
Me- " I sure hope not"