41 Weeks & Waiting On

41 Week Belly (42 cm)

Another week and William is still enjoying his watery world.  Contractions fill my days-- usually not painful, but at times feeling very much "the real thing."  However, they never are regular, nor do they get closer together or more intense.  I do get tired of them, especially at night, or in the morning, after a night of very light sleep, when my abs feel I've overdone it on the crunches.  But with all the "going nowhere" contractions, I was starting to wonder if I was seriously misreading my body-- maybe these weren't contractions at all; maybe I was just feeling Liam stretch?  I had a midwife appointment today, and was gratified that when, true to form, I had a contraction right on the table, my midwife confirmed "oh, that's a good, strong contraction!"  William performed a beautiful heart-rate acceleration and deceleration during the contraction, just like he's supposed to, proving that he just likes it in there. :)

The numbers for the week:  166 lbs (up one from last week), 42 cm fundal height (2 cm gained in one week again-- this boy is apparently growing like, well, a watermelon), good BP & pulse, good glucose & protein levels, no swelling or any other alarming signs.  Apparently William is following in his sister's footsteps of making it quite impossible to "check" my cervix for dilation-- with Eowyn the checks were super-painful or downright impossible until I was very far into active labor-- 8 cm and going into transition!  So there's absolutely no telling if or how much these contractions have "progressed" me.  At least we know his head is very well engaged and he's currently in a great position to deliver.  Now... if he would just decide to "make like a baby and head out" already!

Many of you prayed for us on Sunday when I suddenly was in quite a bit of lower round ligament pain.  One minute I was fine, the next the baby had dropped drastically and I could hardly walk or move without great pain and difficulty.  The Lord heard your prayers and my body adjusted to the new position by the following day.  I've also had quite a good amount of energy.  Tuesday my friend Kristen came over and we swept, mopped, vacuumed and cleaned, and then I pulled Eowyn to our neighborhood playground in her wagon.  Wednesday (yesterday) our friends from Louisville came for a quick visit (they're on a massive East-Coast road trip), and I had the energy to take them downtown to Falls Park and hang out all day. 

Since we're both doing great and I have a history of carrying longer than 40 weeks, delivering a largish baby with no problem and then having that baby seem developmentally younger than her dates would have led us to expect, we have plenty of time to play with before Mr. William is considered "post-date."  However, my midwife is a bit baffled by my body's apparent readiness to deliver, with my baby's apparent unwillingness to commit.  She's also pretty sure this guy is getting fairly, um... large.  She's given us the go-ahead to consider some herbal "pushes" towards active labor-- nothing that will force a delivery if my body or William's is unready, but that just might tip the scale into full-blown L & D.  We'll see.  As of now I'm happy to wait a few more days at least... another night like last night, though, might change my mind. :)  Either way, we are both doing very well and I'm so so so so thankful to be as comfortable and energetic as I am, all things considered!  Check out this blogpost on natural childbirth from my buddy Blythe!

A few pics from the past week:

Avery (5), Nora (6) & Eowyn all with rapt attention at the Library Story Time (the Suitcase Circus)

She's LOVED having little pals to play with

Nora's Nonnie helped them do sillouettes

Eowyn's love affair with bags (full of stuff)-- that's my new diaper bag (from 31)

I love her face as she comes in to "get my brudder!"

Telling William to "Come Out!"