Baby #4 Update

I'm 41 weeks pregnant today. Can you sense the excitement in my words? I never thought I'd be this late. We were all certain baby would be here by the end of August. Guess he's stubborn. But I'm more stubborn. I will win. He will not stay inside much longer.

This was me at 38 weeks.

We had a sonogram today. It's standard procedure at 41 weeks, to be sure baby and placenta are all ok and it allows the doctor or midwife to decide if it's safe to keep waiting as long as 42 weeks, or if they should induce right away. The placenta looks good. And fluid levels are fine. But baby didn't do as great on his test. A perfect score is an 8. 4 means trouble. Baby got a 6. He lost a point for lack of movement - which is NORMAL for him that time of day. He's a mover and a shaker, but only during certain times of day and at the time of my sonogram, he's usually sleeping... I wish I'd known he was expected to perform, I would have downed a chocolate shake before the appointment ;)  So, anyways, my midwife isn't concerned about losing a point for not moving much. But he lost the other point because he's "breathing" more than he should be. I didn't know, till this pregnancy, that babies practice their breathing while in the womb, and our little guy is a bit too good at that trick. My midwife said it's actually a good thing. It means he's very ready to come out! The bad part comes in waiting much longer, because babies this ready tend to start declining in health in the next 48+ hours if not born. So we have 48 hours to have a baby. If he continues to be disobedient, my midwife will call her backup OB Sunday night and schedule an induction or csection at the hospital. Which I'd much rather avoid!

Here's some photos from our sonogram. Disappointed? Yeah, us too. We knew we'd see very little because he's squished in there. But I had no clue we'd not be able to make out anything! The tech said it's because his bones are denser now and cast shadows. Interesting.

On the left is his heart, on the right is the top of his head.

Baby is measuring right on schedule, and guesstimated at 9lbs even. We shall see if the sonogram machine is right - I've never met a mom who was told anything even close to the actual weight of her baby based on a sonogram. I hope it's right. I really don't want a 10pounder! And this late in, that's my fear.

The tech was unable to get a picture of the baby's face, as he's in the proper birthing position, head engaged and facing downward. Don't get too excited. He's been in that position for 5 weeks now. Yeah, that's not a typo. FIVE weeks. We had good reason to think he'd be here by now, huh?

Baby just hasn't been ready. Or maybe mommy's been too stressed? Maybe both. My body is more than ready. Without getting into all the TMI details, lets just say my midwife said she hasn't seen a cervix as ripe as mine in years. So what's the hold up, buddy?!

I've had whats called prodromal labor for 3 weeks now. It's more than braxton hicks, its real labor. That just stops for no reason. Almost nightly I have contractions that are 5 minutes apart for 2 hours, and then stop, regardless of how I try to keep it going (and I've tried just about everything). This last week all has been eerily quiet though... making me wonder that maybe next time it starts up, it'll be the real thing?

Monday night I took castor oil. Uh huh, I was desperate. It's one of the two things I hadn't yet tried. Castor oil milkshakes... not so yummy. And the 2nd one tastes worse than the first. Lucky for me, or unlucky, not much happened. I had contractions for a while that evening and then all stopped. No explosions. But I did have an interesting conversation with the cashier who asked me why I was buying castor oil. What is up with nosy cashiers!? Do they really want to know about their customers bowel movements?!?

Anyways, all has been too quiet since Monday night. Baby is moving at his normal times, and no weird symptoms for me. So all is well in that regard. For that, we're grateful! But Gramma came to meet, and help, with baby. And her flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow - and still no baby. Did I mention stress? No pressure.

So I met with the midwife again today and she's no longer a happy lady. She had her game face on. She's serious today. Baby WILL come this weekend. Or else. She left me with a boat load of "goodies" to take every 15 minutes. Awful tasting stuff that should kick-start labor. It's the last thing I haven't tried. So, bottoms up.

My midwife said once I'm having good contractions, she will break my water. It's kind of her last resort. The most severe thing she can safely do for a home birth. But, unlike OBs, she won't do it till labor has begun. I'm 4cm, bag of waters is bulging and baby is at the 0 station, so I'm right there on the edge - hopefully these tinctures push me over and baby comes fast tonight.

So if you're reading this and haven't heard yet that there's a newborn in our family, would you say a prayer for baby and I? That I can relax, labor starts soon, and baby comes safe and fast. Pray for the kids and Gramma, too ;)

Hopefully I'll be sharing photos tomorrow of the 6th member of our family :D