31 posts tagged “pregnancy”

What won't you miss about 2007? 
Submitted by uncagedbird.

I won't miss being stuck at home.  I spent three months under house arrest in the middle of my pregnancy, resting so that my placenta could reattach and only leaving home when I had to see the doctor.  The world went on but I took a break from it.  When I was allowed out again everything was exciting - the progress at the construction sites on the way to the Multiplaza Mall, a new Bagelman's location, the locals going about their business, bookshops, the new Automercado in Escazu - all fascinating.

And I spent the whole year in San Jose.  I haven't left the country since our trip to San Andres Island in January.  And I haven't left town since we drove to Sarchi in February just before I found out I was pregnant.

I've done a lot of travelling in the past few years and am not used to being grounded for so long.  I had to get my fix vicariously, through Travis's trips to South Africa and Vancouver, and through Roewan's road trip across Canada.

This year I want to go to Vancouver and Saskatchewan and maybe even to New Zealand if we get really confident about travelling with the baby.

I'm still in the limbo of pre-labour, having small contractions in bunches every few hours, but not moving on into active labour yet.

Perhaps it's time to break out all the old wives' tales and go driving on bumpy roads before having sex while eating pineapple and spicy food.  Actually that seems like a bit much work, so I'll probably just settle for walking around a lot and waiting for the baby to make her move.

My doctor tells me that he won't leave me any longer than Thursday morning.  If the baby's not on her way by then, I'll have an induction.  I'd rather not be induced, but I'm pleased that I only have at most a couple more days to wait.  I'll be even more pleased, however, if I go into active labour sometime before then.

So my official due date has come and almost gone without event.  I'm in a pre-labour state still, having mild, irregular contractions, and feeling that heavy, dragging sensation that you sometimes get before a bad period.  My body is definitely getting ready, but nothing major has happened yet.  I expected the onset of labour to be a more dramatic affair, but I'm easing in very very slowly so far.  The drama will come later I suppose!!

I've talked to the doctor every day since Thursday.  "Are you having contractions?" he asks.  "Is the baby still moving?"  To this point, my answers have been "sometimes" and "yes".  But I hope the answer to the first question changes soon.

I've reached the end of week 40 now.  People are looking at my belly and asking me if the baby's due pronto.  Muy pronto is my answer, any day now.  Or they're staring at me bug-eyed and then averting their eyes before I make eye contact with them.  I'm obviously looking quite startling these days.  I don't feel as extravagantly shaped as I look, so it's interesting to see how people react to me.

I saw Dr Urcuyo again this morning.  He did his usual poking and prodding, which I can't say that I much enjoy, and told me that my cervix is opening and the baby is moving nicely.  "Have you been having contractions?" he asked.  "Yes," I said, "I've had pains like period cramps."  We have progress - the process of labour has begun.  Wow!!  We just might be parents, Travis and I, by early next week.  I don't quite believe it still, but I'm excited.

We had an ultrasound as well, to check the baby's vitals.  She's well and happy, wriggling around in my belly with a good supply of amniotic fluid and a strong heart beat.  She's also bigger than I think I'd like.  Over 8 pounds.  Of course ultrasounds aren't very accurate when it comes to weight.  The official measure was 8.5 pounds + /- 1 pound.  I'm not even going to think about the possibility of a 9.5 pound baby - I've decided that she's going to be about 8 pounds and I'm going to stick with that story....

We went to see my Ob/Gyn yet again this morning.  He poked and prodded me and announced, "You're not ready.  Come back again next Thursday."  I am ready, though, more than ready to stop being pregnant and meet my baby.  But it would seem that the baby's not in agreement and is planning to stick around at least until her official due date (which is next Saturday).  My job now is just to wait until she's good and ready to emerge. 

Unfortunately, I'm not the best waiter in the world.  Since she's been at term (after 37 weeks), I've been getting impatient for the pregnancy to be done.  I've enjoyed my third trimester and have felt healthy, energetic, and even glamorous.  But I'd like to stop now.

We saw a brand new baby in the doctor's waiting room today.  A tiny, blacked-haired, blue-wrapped boy baby.  His head would have fitted nicely in my cupped hand and he had beautiful little hands and feet.  I wanted him.  I wanted mine.  But, I'm taking deep breaths and practicing patience...

Distraction is one good option.  I've been reading The Economist from cover to cover every week, as well as writing pages and pages in my diary every day.  And I've worked my way through eight or nine books in the last ten days.  There's nothing like a greedy bout of binge reading to make the world a better place.

I reread Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's take on the apocalypse, as well as Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman's story about the trickster god, and was much more amused by both books this time around than the last time through.

And I finally mustered up the courage to read The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.  The movie with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson was so sad that I had never been able to bring myself to read the novel, but I bought a copy last weekend and read it early this week.   And I'm glad I did.  Kazuo Ishiguro is a fabulous writer.

The book is unexpectedly funny and extremely well-written, which helps take the edge of the tragedy at its heart.  But tragedy it is even so.  Ishiguro's main character is a masterpiece of repression and the willful suppression of self-awareness.  The reader becomes aware of the ruination of his life, the waste, the misplaced loyalty, the missed opportunities.  But he is unable, in the end, to confront himself honestly or acknowledge the limitations of the rigid rules he has lived by.  It's harrowing stuff, made all the more so because it's so understated.

Travis and I were sitting in our lounge a couple of nights ago, watching nothing in particular on TV.  The baby kicked me so I looked down at my belly which now fills all the space from hip to hip and pelvis to breast bone. 
"I used to look like I'd swallowed a basketball,"  I said, "But I think I'm bigger than that now."
"Yes," said Travis.  "Now you look like you swallowed the hoop."

One of pregnancy's most intriguing side effects is the ever-expanding cleavage it produces.  My boobs tend to fade into the background because of my impressive belly, but they're imposing objects in their own right these days.  I got a bit of a shock when I realised they'd passed through mango size, but now they're closing in on melon size.  I'm a small-breasted type normally, so my sudden acquisition of D cup boobs is a tad startling and rather fun.  I've bought myself a couple of glamorous maternity bras to celebrate.

 

I've just been for an ultrasound and yet another visit to my Ob/Gyn.  According to the ultrasound technician, the baby has gone head down.  Yay!!  I'm very relieved. 

I think I felt her turn actually.  On Friday night I had nasty stitch-like pains all down my left side which left me breathless and unable to find a comfortable place to sit or lie.  I could tell she was moving, but I had no idea whether she'd just turned sideways or had actually tipped her head down.

Dr Urcuyo poked and prodded at me and concluded that the baby's head hasn't dropped into my pelvis yet and that my cervix is still closed.  "You're for early November," he told me, which fits with the due date.

We're so close now - it's hard to believe.  After all the waiting and wondering of the first half of the pregnancy, the second half has raced by and I'm suddenly nearly finished.  I'm excited and nervous, both looking forward impatiently to meeting the baby and not looking forward to the great unknown of labour.

Here I am - unbelievably round now (just when I think I can't possibly get any bigger, my stomach pops out again - it's grown noticeably this week) and badly in need of a haircut.

The most dispiriting headline I've seen all week:  Enormous Milla shows what NOT to wear when you are pregnant    It's from the British newspaper The Daily Mail, which seems to be a gossip rag, but even so...

Fortunately Milla Jovovich is out and about and proud of her burgeoning body.  She's due any day now, has put on about 70 pounds, and in the photo accompanying the article, looks fantastic as well as thoroughly pleased with herself.

I imagine that for many Hollywood women, pregnancy is the only time in their lives when they get to eat normally and you can hear the glee with which people like Jennifer Garner and Tori Spelling talk about enjoying their pregnancies and gaining weight.  But the pressure to be slim even during pregnancy, then back in top shape within weeks of giving birth, is insane.  Since I've been pregnant myself, I've noticed the proliferation of articles about celebrity x or celebrity y losing all their baby weight in 6!! weeks and the pictures of famous women looking impossibly slender well into their third trimesters.  It's not helpful or healthy, especially when you're trying to come to terms with the rapid and dramatic physical changes pregnancy brings.

For the first few months, my bump surprised me when I caught sight of it in the bathroom mirror - all that expansion didn't really seem to belong to me - and I felt heavy and awkward.  Just over half-way through the pregnancy, though, something changed and I stopped feeling ungainly and started feeling glamorous.  Now, the bigger I get, the more I feel like some kind of fertility idol, all round and fecund.  Neil Gaiman captured this much more celebratory approach to pregnancy with a passing comment on his blog a few days ago.  He mentioned his "Bloomsbury publicist the magnificently pregnant Lucy Holden".  Magnificently pregnant - I like that!!