S's birth story

Over the last few days, Chris and I have really begun adjusting to parenthood, affording us a bit more time once more for non-baby related activities (like blogging in my case and cooking delicious breakfasts and stirfries in his :) ). As my first "real" entry since S arrived, I thought I would document her birth as it was an incredible experience - something I will want to share with her when she is a little older! I asked Chris to read through the post as well and add his own comments where details were missing or where I got some facts messed up. :)

Starting where we left off last Tuesday, November 23rd, I'd been having a lot of cramping and Braxton Hicks since my stretch & sweep on Monday night. Soon after I wrote that post, I lost my mucous plug and then we headed into Kitchener for our post-dates biophysical profile ultrasound. The technician who conducted this session was much more willing to reveal specifics than ones we'd encountered previously, including the approximate weight of our child - 8 lbs, 9 oz!! So much for having a small baby like Dr. Schnarr suspected! This gave me some concern about being able to birth her naturally, but I recalled some of the stories in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth where women effectively birthed babies over 10 pounds, so this kept me hopeful. Chris and I headed back home hoping/expecting further progression, but things seemed to have slowed down. The cramps even eased off somewhat that evening. Chris and I watched Season 1 of Hoarders on Netflix while I squatted on my exercise ball in an attempt to get things moving further, but no dice. We went to sleep at around midnight, me feeling a bit anxious with one more day to go before our scheduled induction.

I woke up at around 3 AM Wednesday morning, again feeling crampy and uncomfortable. I was experiencing "waves" every 5-7 minutes or so which I assumed were more Braxton Hicks, as so many people have said that when it's real labour, I "would know". I wasn't sure, however, as the waves felt like tightening sensations rather than pain, and in between them I still felt crampy. I paced around a bit, then tried to go back to sleep to no avail. I ended up calling Beth (our doula) at about 3:30 AM and described what I was experiencing. She thought it was likely early labour, and suggested that I try getting a bit more sleep while I could. Right at the end of the conversation, however, I felt my first real contraction - it hurt and I needed a moment to catch my breath. Beth thought it sounded like the real deal as well, and we decided I'd take a bit more time to see how it developed and then call her back. As it turned out, we didn't need much time as these painful contractions were coming 4-5 minutes apart. I woke up Chris, told him what was going on and we had called Beth back and were in the car within about 15 minutes - luckily our hospital bags were ready to go!

The 25 minute ride to the hospital was less than pleasant, with contractions shortening to 2-3 minutes apart and limited range of movement. I worked on my slow breathing and low tones, however, which helped me manage the discomfort. Chris parked right in front of emergency (illegally as it turns out, however there were more pressing concerns at that point!) and he helped me through the hospital up to 4D Childbirth. I remember crouching down in the elevator in the middle of a fairly intense contraction, which ended up being a position I assumed quite frequently later on. (Chris - when the elevator doors opened, Kristy was frozen in a position and did not want to move. I wedged the door with a foot and it started beeping at us before she was finally ready to keep moving. There were several places from home to 4D where I thought I might be delivering our first child into the world!) We were admitted immediately into Triage, where they checked me and I was already 6 cms dilated! It was GREAT to hear that I had progressed so far already and that the contractions were as manageable as they were. While in Triage, Chris left to move the car and Beth arrived. Apparently they checked baby's heartbeat during this time and I did a lot more leaning / kneeling on the bed, but my memory's a bit foggy here.

I believe I was only in Triage for 40 minutes or so until they found a birthing room for me. Chris and Beth were both there at this point as well as a nurse named Tiffany who was really nice. Once in my room, someone (Tiffany?) checked me and proclaimed I was at 9 cm! WOW!! I couldn't believe how quickly things had progressed! My contractions were coming fast and furious at this point, and I asked to go in the tub. Apparently I went in for just a couple minutes (Chris - she was in the tub for 10 seconds tops!) on my hands and knees and then "got the hell out" (according to Chris). Tiffany was also concerned as I think I made a comment to the effect of the baby "coming out" soon, so she wanted me out of the tub too. Apparently Tiffany also asked us around this point what we'd be naming our daughter (I think she was trying to help keep my mind off things), and I told Chris to tell her. So one of the GR nurses was the first person to learn the name of our new daughter. :)

As an aside, I'm amused how I did all this research ahead of time on what I would be wearing in labour - in the tub, in bed, etc. In the heat of the moment, however, I didn't give a flying crap what I was wearing. I think I ended up with just a tank top and a bra on top and nothing on the bottom, and then switching to a hospital gown some point in the middle of everything. Fashion was certainly the last thing on my mind, right down there with modesty. :) But I digress...

Following the tub I spent about an hour and a half in transition. Coping with the contractions was very challenging at this point. According to Chris, I swore 5 times (3 effs, a shit and a goddammit) and bit him once. :) ( Chris - she also bit the bed and left a mark that would stay there for the rest of our visit) I also recall saying "I can't do this" several times as well, which I believe was somewhat deliberate as we learned in our prenatal class that if a woman feels this way during transition, she should vocalize it as it actually helps her push through. (Thanks Tracey! :) Chris, Beth and the nurses were great this whole time. Beth told me I *was* doing it, and Chris kept telling me he was in awe of me and I was amazing. I leaned on both of them a lot as well as over the bed, and spent some time in the hands & knees position. I was trying to maintain the slow breathing and low tones I'd been practicing, but this was hard and I often just ended up wailing my way through the peak of some of the most intense contractions.

A number of things happened during transition. Dr. McQuaig broke my water, and mentioned there was meconium in the fluid. (Beth quickly reassured me that this didn't necessarily mean anything was wrong with baby.) They asked if I wanted an epidural and I turned it down, and they checked me again and determined that a bit of "cervical lip" was in the way preventing me from pushing. (The contraction during the check was the most agonizing, presumably because I was semi-upright on my back. Ladies it's so true - this is the worst position to labour in!!!) I believe Dr. Raby ( Chris - nope! it was still Dr. McQuaig at this point) took over at around this point and did some "manual manipulation" to help move the cervical lip away from baby's head. Then they told me I could start pushing, which was such a relief! They suggested hands & knees position, I believe because I was comfortable with this and they thought I could make good progress this way. The doctor told me I'd have to be very effective with my pushing otherwise they'd need to medicate me to help baby out, which made me that much more determined to do whatever I needed to do to get her out on my own!

The pushing stage lasted about an hour. This part felt *a lot* better than transition. It was hard work, but thankfully my short labour left me with quite a bit of energy to get 'er done and it felt great to be at this stage so close to meeting our little girl! It was definitely intense and somewhat painful at the end when she was crowning, but not nearly as bad as I imagined it could be. Beth and Chris encouraged me to touch her head and at first I said no as I wanted to focus on the task at hand, but then Beth suggested it one more time so I reached down. Her head felt all warm, soft and wrinkled - what a crazy, surreal feeling! Just after this point, they had me flip over on the table so Dr. Raby could deliver our baby. (I can't quite remember how I managed this, though my guess is that it was more than a bit awkard and challenging!) About 5 minutes and some pulling and prodding later, I saw our little baby's head and then body twisting and turning its way out. Tears of relief and joy immediately trickled down my cheeks - S was finally here!

Unfortunately due to the meconium, they had to cut the umbilical cord right away and take her to the examination table to suction her airways and perform some quick checks. Beth and Chris stayed with me during this time ( Chris - I ducked away to make sure everything was okay with S after I knew things were good with Kristy) (which felt like forever, though was only about 4-5 minutes or so in reality). Once they were finished, they laid her on my chest and it felt wonderful to be able to cuddle, kiss, smell and love our new baby. :)

I did rip a little during the delivery so Dr. Raby had to do some "repair work", and I also had what they referred to as a "soft uterus", so they put me on a pitocin drip to help deliver the placenta and reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage. All told, my feet were up in stirrups for a good 30-40 minutes after the delivery, but I couldn't care less as our baby girl was here with us, and she was healthy!

All in all, I'm so happy and grateful about how S's birth unfolded. I had a wonderful support network, I was able to get through labour without medication according to plan, and the mere 4 1/2 hour duration left me with plenty of energy for the delivery. Chris said I should be careful who I say this to as I could make some enemies, but I disagree - I think we need more positive labour stories out there to counterbalance the horror stories that seem to be so prevalent! Even now, as I recollect the events from that incredible morning, I feel oddly wistful that the experience is over. But much more prominent is the joy that I feel when I hold and snuggle our baby, and when Chris and I share our thoughts and dreams about all the exciting times ahead with our new daughter. :)

Here are a few of our favourite pictures from S's birth day. More pictures in my FB album here.

First weigh-in: 3.87 kg (or 8 lb 8 oz)

















Minutes after birth - Cuddling with Mommy!

















Our amazing Doula, Beth Murch!

















Our beautiful girl :)
























Skin-to-Skin with Daddy

Early labour beginning???

I'm now 9 days overdue (or 12 if we go by the estimate during my first ultrasound) and still no bebe. BUT:

• I've been having mad Braxton Hicks over the last 2-3 days in particular
• Had a stretch & sweep at the hospital yesterday (which wasn't as bad as anticipated) and Dr. Schnarr said my cervix has thinned further and is very "ripe"
• Following the S&S, started having some substantial cramping which came in waves along with my BHs. I thought I might go into full labour last night, but then managed to get basically a full night's sleep and woke up feeling like things were no longer happening. But then when I started moving about, the periodic cramping / BHs started up again. I'm now experiencing them every 10-20 minutes.

Not sure if this is early labour or what! Some people on FB are suggesting it is, but the "cramps" are very manageable (and I wouldn't even call them painful) and others have told me that I'll definitely know it when I'm in labour. So hard to say for sure! But it does seem pretty clear that shit's going down soon - almost certainly before I'll need to be induced on Thursday. Yay!!! :)

Bought more cloth diapers today

I couldn't resist. :)

A couple weeks back I found myself researching cheaper options for one-size pocket diapers as I currently have only two of these (my AMP one size duos) and would like some more for convenience, variation and Daddy (and other caretaker) friendliness. However, I've found it hard to rationalize spending $20+ per diaper which is what the popular, mainstream brands cost (BumGenius, FuzziBunz, etc.) Several hours of Googling around reading reviews, forum discussion topics, etc. led me to a brand that is both extremely economical AND highly esteemed - Kawaii Diapers. They are manufactured in China but under strict specifications, and are sold by a Canadian distributor at http://theluvyourbaby.com as well as on eBay. The prices on her website are quite reasonable already ($7 to $10.50 per pocket diaper, depending on the specific type), but the bulk deals on eBay are even better. This was all very exciting, but I decided not to pull the trigger at the time and instead wait until Little One was here in order to gain some early experience with CDing and determine the best way to extend our "stash".

Well that was then and this is now. :)

I found myself back on eBay tonight and couldn't resist putting in a min bid of $69 US for a package deal of 13 "Snazzy Minky" one size pocket diapers. Look how cute they are!







And they also score well in the areas of softness, leak-resistancy and durability, according to numerous user reviews. Finally at this bulk price, they're just $5.30 a pop compared to $8.95 from her website. My min bid held up and I'll be receiving these awesome new diapers within a few weeks!!!

The only concern I have with buying one type in bulk like this pre-baby is that there's some chance they won't fit her particular size and shape ideally. That said, if this does happen I can probably sell them on Kijiji or Diaper Swappers at little to no loss (or possibly even make a small profit)! I could look at selling all of them or keep several back to try when she gets a little bigger and/or with future babies :) So really there's little to no risk here the way I see it.

In other news, tomorrow I'll be 3 days overdue. We have an OB appointment in the morning during which there'll inevitably be another offer for the illustrious stretch & sweep. At the time of my last post, we thought we'd go for it during this week's appointment in the interest of avoiding chemical induction, however we've done some more reading and thinking since then and have changed our minds. What it comes down to is that I feel pretty good physically, and in the interest of following the most natural, gentle path toward labour and birth, we're content to let baby arrive when she darn well feels like it, assuming there are no SOLID contraindications to doing this. And in most cases when a pregnancy advances post-date to 42 weeks or so, there aren't any. So tomorrow I'll be turning down the S&S offer once more and reviewing our desires with my doctor. She's been quite understanding and flexible so far so hopefully we don't run up against undue resistance on this one...

She's still happy in there!

We're right in the middle of my set of projected due dates (which ranged from Nov 11th to Nov 14th) and little one is still nestled in there. During yesterday's appointment, Dr. Schnarr checked me and said I'm about 3 cm, my cervix is nice and thin and baby has dropped even lower. She said she was happy with my progress but she did offer the stretch & sweep again which I turned down. Chris and I decided that if we go one more week, we'll take her up on the offer as we'll be significantly overdue by then and would prefer to start things this way (if possible) rather than via chemical induction. In the meantime, we'll see if the "natural prostaglandin" approach bears fruit. :)

I hear a lot of women say that time grinds to a halt during the last few weeks of pregnancy, however the days have passed super-quickly for us. Chris has been busy at work training our newest Knowledge Base Analyst, and I've been running (well OK - waddling) around doing errands, enjoying some final pre-baby lunches and dinners out, etc. Now that I'm about to pop, I find the questions and comments from strangers have escalated. Most continue to be standard fare ("When are you due?", "Do you know what you're having?", etc.) but a few recently have been interesting/amusing. For example:

• An older gentleman held the door open for me at Tim Horton's quipping that I was in "enough trouble already".
• An Aboriginal man at Service Canada told me that I'm having a boy. When I told him it's a girl, he repeated himself and said that "Indians know". Despite the alleged viewing of labia during my latest ultrasound, this still had me vaguelly concerned about all the pink clothes. :)

In related news, Tj (one of the gals we attended pre-birth classes with who had the same due date as me) had her beautiful little girl early yesterday morning. Her final pre-baby FB update mentioned she was making cookies, so I thought I might have similar results if I busied myself in the kitchen with some Croatian cabbage rolls. No such luck, though dinner was delicious and we've added to the assortment of frozen home-made dinners in our deep freeze! :)

The great date debate

Ange and I got together on Wednesday for a lovely "date night" consisting of pedicures and dinner at Springrolls in Conestoga Mall. She's due two weeks after me, however she's been having all kinds of Braxton Hicks as well as actual, painful contractions, plus it's her second pregnancy so we agreed it's somewhat likely she will be the first of us to pop. :) On this note, we made tentative plans for a Christmas shopping trip on Monday, November 15th (in the event I'm overdue, heh). We kinda felt like celebrities all night as well, as people kept telling us how adorable we were. Which I have to agree with, if I do say so myself!



















Yesterday I had my latest appointment with Dr. Schnarr. She checked me and proclaimed that I'm 2-3 cms dilated! Wow - wouldn't have suspected that. Very few Braxton Hicks and although I do feel that baby has moved lower, I wouldn't say I have the sensation that I'm going to sit on her head or that she's going to drop out any moment or anything like that. The doctor offered to perform a stretch and sweep to move things along even more quickly, but I declined as a) it appears things are moving along nicely on their own and b) I've heard they can feel quite invasive and painful. If I haven't progressed further by next week's appointment (2 days before due date) I may take her up on this as I *really* don't want to be chemically induced, however I now suspect this will be unlikely and I'll go into labour by or before my due date (so much for the Christmas shopping day!)

In other news, baby's first bed is now all set! Chris and I bought a Jolly Jumper moses basket stand (in cherry) from the Baby Depot. He assembled it right away and put it together with the UPPABaby bassinet. It looks great! Perfect for baby's first month or two, right beside our bed. :)

Today should be fun! Chris' family is coming over for a nursery decoration craft day! He found this idea which looks super-easy to do (something that his 2 1/2 and 5 year old nieces can help with) and results in some great looking, personalized art! Results & pics to come...

Back to Triage...

We found ourselves back in Grand River Triage on Tuesday night as I'd been having some signs and symptoms somewhat suggestive of gestational hypertension which Telehealth advised me to get checked out:

• Blood pressure rising steadily for 3-4 weeks now (from a nice, low 90/58ish a month back to an average of 135/86 on Tuesday night when I tested 3x using a home device)
• Swelling fingers - had to use olive oil to wrench off my wedding band over the weekend!
• A weird, brief but fairly intense "headrush" feeling the other day when I was simply sitting at the table using my laptop

Thankfully, the triage visit ended up being relatively short (less than 2 hours) and they sent us home after a few quick tests. My blood pressure tested lower than it did on the home test (126/84), and my urine had just trace amounts of protein, so no real concern here either. Baby's heart beat was nice and steady, usually at about 150-160 bpm. Finally, when the doctor read the monitoring strip, she asked me if I'd been feeling the contractions. What contractions? Apparently I'd had a good 6-7+ braxton hicks while lying there and didn't even realize it! Here's hoping this means the Real Deal will be entirely manageable as well. :)

In other news, the nursery is essentially all set. Bassinet is ready to go (except for the stand which we still need to purchase), cloth diapers and remaining clothing have been laundered and organized, toys have been cleaned and stored and I've found a kitchen cupboard for baby's meal-related accessories. Due to the progress, I rewarded myself with an ENTIRE day of slack yesterday, filled primarily with video game-age and TV. It was quite enjoyable, though today I feel the need to get back on the horse as there are still quite a few errands and tasks to tick off ideally before baby arrives (though at just under 39 weeks, that could happen any day now!!)

Miscellany

• It's my birthday! Turned "dirty poo" today - how appropriate! :) On a related note, looks like I'm probably not going to be sharing my birthday with our little one. I'm getting a "divisible by 5" vibe around the date - perhaps Nov 5, 10 or 15?
  
• Group B strep results - negatory!
• Blood pressure up to 118 / 80. Nothing to be concerned with yet but something to monitor. In the meantime, going to try cutting down on sodium. No more TV dinners!!!
  
• Awesome "alien foot" action earlier today, but then when I grabbed my camera to make a video she got all coy.
• Getting super-big and just about ready to pop - up almost 30 pounds now.
• Also getting quite tired. It's becoming increasing difficult to work a full 8-hour day. Taking 1 vacation day per week recently has definitely been the way to go!! Can't believe I have a mere 3 days of work left - last couple months have whizzed by!
  

Milestone & Exercise

By all estimates, I have reached full term (37+ weeks) today! I am mostly elated but also a wee bit daunted by this fact. On the one hand, a month and a half ago I felt it might be challenging to make it to 34 weeks, let alone full term. On the other, despite the fact that we WERE granted this time, it still feels like there are remaining baby items to buy/prep, more books to read and labour preparation exercises to go through! Guess one never feels 100% prepared - but I'd like to get to about 99.3% *nods*.

In terms of labour prep, one of the challenges is that I wasn't really able to exercise for a good 3-4+ weeks back when preterm labour was a real possibility. Once I got to about the 35 week mark, however, my OB had become quite optimistic and reassuring and I decided that the benefits of getting back into exercise outweighed any remaining risks at that point. On that note, Chris and I bought a "birth ball" and I've started doing some strengthening exercises on it. There are lots of good youtube vids demonstrating the different techniques, so I've been following some of these. I'm also working my way through Active Birth and it's terrific - very practical information on which exercises & positions are beneficial during pregnancy and each stage of labour, and why. The more I read, the further I'm convinced that a) (assuming we reach our goal of an unmedicated birth) I'm not about to be strapped down on my back to deliver our child and b) (related to the previous point) I would very much wish to forego the standard pitocin drip administered to help deliver the placenta. A quote from AB on the latter point:

"Administering pitocin to induce contractions of the uterus is rarely necessary if the mother has given birth in an upright position and her baby has not been separated from her. Pitocin may be needed to reduce the risk of postpartum hemorrhage when the morther has been lying down during labor, when she has had an anesthetic or other drug that reduces the ability of the uerus to contract spontaneously, or when she and the baby are separated at birth and the normal hormonal secretion is thus disturbed. When postpartum hemorrhage occurs, Pitocin is very useful in stopping it, but giving birth actively diminishes the chance of such an occurrence." ¹

When I brought up this item on my birth plan several weeks back, my OB was quite adament about adhering to this particular standard (due to the risk of postpartum hemorhage), so I'm going to revisit it with her next week in conjunction with the above information to see if she's willing to reconsider.

1. Balaskas, Janet. Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1992.

Hospital tour & goodies!!!

Yesterday we had our tour of the birthing wing at Grand River Hospital along with about 6 other couples. It was a relatively uneventful evening - heard a couple babies crying but no mamas screaming their way through active labour (fine by me - we had our fill of that several weeks back during our Triage visit.) The birthing rooms aren't bad, but I'm definitely not a fan of the position they generally require women to deliver in. Seriously, who came up with the idea of laying a woman on her back with her feet raised UP in stirrups for the delivery? The last time I checked, gravity causes things to fall downward, not parallel to the earth. I'm in the middle of Active Birth right now, and it's really convincing me that there are much better birthing positions. I just hope the medical staff are receptive to some of these alternatives, as I believe this choice should be made by the labouring woman and her birth partner(s) based on what is working best for her (as long as it isn't dangerous and doesn't prevent access to receive the baby) as opposed to what is the most convenient for the staff. But I digress.

Here are a few things we learned during the tour:
- Every birthing room is equipped with a shower and a nice, deep bath tub. Cool!
- Yes, you can wear your own clothes during labour & delivery though gowns are available if desired. (Not sure who would prefer a gown, but anyway.)
- Bringing other stuff to help with labour such as your own birthing ball, extra pillows, etc. is supported and encouraged.
- Grand River's Caesarean rate is 25%. Yikes. Apparently that's up from 16% several years back since more and more women are choosing to schedule c-sections now. (Apparently they will support VBACs, but it's not the standard or the preferred approach.)
- The labouring woman is only allowed to have clear fluids. Eff that. Chris is gonna sneak me in some tasty stuff ;) (shhhhhh)
- On a related note, that's NOT an ice *cream* machine in the kitchenette. Dammit.

All in all, we're feeling pretty good about having our little one at Grand River. Generally speaking, the staff are super nice, our experiences have been positive there so far and it seems we won't have trouble with the vast majority of items on our birth plan. Just a couple sticklers left to work through. :)

In other news, two packages were waiting for us when we got back home last night! First of all, our Bummis cloth diapering kit! Yay! Check out all the goodies and look how cute the covers are!


















(Note - the diapers on the left are the AMP duo pockets I bought previously, but everything else here came in the kit!)

Also received our NoseFrida! Found this sucker (pun very much intended) a few weeks back when I was looking for a good aspirator to add to our registry. Evidently so many people have issues with the bulb aspirators either not working or being uncomfortable for their babies that I looked for an alternative. This thing has rave reviews (despite its grossness) and appears to work like a charm, so I thought we'd give it a whirl! Is it wrong to say I'm looking forward to our little one getting a bit snotty so we can try it out? :)

Good news continues...

Yesterday's follow-up appointment with Dr. Schnarr was even better than expected! Ultrasound results were as follows:

- Baby is growing well; a little on the small side (30% percentile or so) but certainly nothing to be concerned about
- Amniotic fluid level is back up in normal range!
- Cervix is "holding its own", having only effaced an extra .05 cms from the previous week (basically nothing)

I mentioned a mild concern about leaking amniotic fluid (due to some watery discharge I'd had a couple times) but she checked me and confirmed this wasn't happening. Baby has a nice, big pool to swim in :)

In other news, we had our 3rd childbirth class on Wednesday night. This one was really helpful as it went over many different coping techniques / positions for active labour and transition. We ended the class with a video on natural childbirth which brought me to tears. It's very moving to think that WE will be greeting our own little one within several more weeks!!

On Thursday night, we met with Beth again to officially sign the contract designating her as our labour doula, and to work through our birth plan. She had a lot of great questions to guide us, some of which we had already considered thoroughly and knew our answers to, some of which we were still deciding on, and some of which we hadn't yet considered at all! We met for a full 3 hours and had a highly enjoyable time discussing many things pregnancy, birth and baby-related.

All in all, still taking it easy in the short term, relaxing with feet up whenever possible. However, starting to feel confident once more that we'll make it to full term (or very close, at least) and have the birth experience we've envisioned all along :) :)

Good news today!

Had another biophysical profile / growth ultrasound and we were told we could head right home afterwards. Had the same ultrasound tech as last time so I knew it was fruitless to try prying for information, however the fact that we weren't sent directly over to our OB (or triage) meant that "no news is good news" and that things must be stable! We couldn't get a really good look at Baby as her head's still firmly down but we did get a pic of her spine, heh :)

All in all, the last week of taking 'er easy with lots of good food, fluids and plenty of sleep seemed to have helped out! Baby's been kickboxing like crazy and I feel pretty good. Just a little on the tired side (though that's probably due to lack of activity more than anything) and some heart burn overnight (note to self - avoid large glasses of lemonade just before bed time!) All in all, will continue to 'lax until Friday's appointment with Schnarr, at which point we'll go over her recommendations in terms of work, activity, etc. moving forward.

The Current "Sitch"

So....this past Monday Chris and I headed in for a biophysical profile and growth ultrasound as a follow-up to the last OB appointment when I was measuring small. I didn't really think much of it as I was gaining weight and definitely getting bigger. However during the ultrasound, the technician didn't really say much and I couldn't see anything due to the angle of the screen. At one point during the intervaginal, she was really pushing and prodding at my belly as well, which was uncomfortable and disconcerting. Finally near the end, she confirmed that baby did indeed appear to be a girl (we wanted confirmation on this), but then she started asking me questions about whether I was feeling pelvic pressure, if I had to go to the bathroom, etc. I left to go pee & change, and when I came back I heard her on the phone and caught a few words including "shortened cervix". Hmm. I tried to ask her about it but she said she was "just the technician" and sent Chris and I right over to our OB.

Dr. Schnarr was out of town, so we met with her fill-in Pat (not sure whether she was a doctor, a nurse or what, but anyway) who gave us the low-down. The good news is that baby girl scored 8/8 which means *she* is currently doing well, however a couple other red flags turned up for Mom:

1) My amniotic fluid level is on the low side. It isn't at a dangerous level as there are adequate "pockets" of fluid for baby to breathe and move around in, but if it gets much lower it could cause stress for baby and possibly require induction of labour to get her out.

2) My cervix has shortened to about 2.5 cms (when it should be about 3-3.5 at this point). If it continues to shorten (and especially if it begins to dilate) I could go into pre-term labour.

Pat recommended that due to this, I take it very easy and that the doctor's order upon her return may be actual bed rest. She then sent us over to the hospital for a couple other tests/procedures:

1) A Celestone (steroid) shot - this can substantially help out baby's lungs if she is born early - especially before 34 weeks. I was told I'd need to come back in 24 hours for a follow-up shot.

2) A "fetal fibronectin" test - this can be an excellent predictor of pre-term delivery. A negative result indicates that there is a very low chance (5% or less) of going into spontaneous labour within about 2 weeks, whereas a positive test isn't as useful as it's inconclusive (about a 15-20% chance). Thankfully my test was negative so *chances are* baby will stay put for another couple weeks at least.

The Triage doctor (Potts) thought I could continue to work given I have a desk job and can work from home, however he suggested I confirm this with my OB.

During our 5-ish hours at the hospital, we also got the pleasure of listening to a woman in the early part of active labour pre-epidural. She was NOT having an easy time of it, vocalizing wildly and claiming that the pain was "a thousand million times worse" than her endometriosis. Noice. It was quite a vivid experience and made me question more than anything has previously whether I would actually be able to get through childbirth naturally as I'm hoping to do.

Following Monday afternoon's "adventure" we've had several more preggy-related happenings over the remainder of the week:

Monday night - Did some research on all the findings from the day - low amniotic fluid, shortened cevix, fetal fibronectin, celestone, etc. Found out that while Celestone / steroid shots are one of the most important and effective advances when it comes to the prognosis for pre-term babies, that there are some side effects and possible contraindications. For one thing, it can be very difficult to control diabetes (regular or gestational) while on the drug. Given I hadn't heard back on my follow-up glucose test, this was a concern so I decided I'd try to find out prior to getting the follow-up shot.

Tuesday - Spoke with Pat again at Schnarr's office. The results were in from my glucose tolerance test, and things looked fine. Whew - no gestational diabetes - one good result at least! Due to this, I felt OK to go in for the follow-up Celestone shot. That evening, we met with Beth Murch who was as wonderful in person as we imaged, so we decided to hire her as our labour doula.

Wednesday - 2nd prenatal class at the Childbirth Resource Room. Ever so appropriately, one of the topics was "pre-term labour". We filled our instructor and classmates in on our current situation.

Thursday - Appointment with Dr. Oliver, the other regular OB at Schnarr's office (she's still on vacation). She checked my cervix and said that it's definitely shorter/soft, and that baby's head was essentially "locked & loaded". She didn't give me a direct order (presumably because she's not my own OB) however her general demeanor and message was that I definitely should be taking it easy, and that Schnarr might be recommending full bed rest next week when she returns.

Following this, Chris and I decided to really buckle down, at least in the short term - no more physical exertion of any kind for me; off my feet and kicked back whenever possible. Chris rigged a little set up so I can work comfortably on my laptop in bed, and we moved my new glider into the living room so I can kick back and play video games :) In terms of work, still need to decide if, or to what extent, I'll be continuing forward since mental stress isn't really any better than physical. In terms of social activity, I suspect my aversion to the phone will diminish considerably :) Relationship-wise, Chris and I will be tested but I think this will just make us stronger. This is one of those times when it's so abundantly clear what a great person he is and I love him more every day :)

Long rambly entry, but that about sums things up. May write more about this later, or may not. Lots of other topics to tackle as well!