Canadian text buddy - due end of July

[JayeD]

Oh yea, I bet it's nice and hot over there right now. Must be nice having summer look like summer. Send some of that sun our way will ya? hehe. Then again, wait until we have an air conditioner before you send it, otherwise I'm sure we'll be hot and miserable. hehe

At my last appointment, 2 weeks ago, doctor measured my tummy and said that I was measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule, then she listened to his heart beat and said that his heart beat is too strong for a 31 week old. She said that she thought he would be here within 6 weeks. Well, I have my next appointment tomorrow and so now it should be 4 weeks away.

Last week I had a whole bunch of pre-labour symptoms that scared me. Baby dropped, dizziness, nausea, BH, pelvic pressure, etc. I went to see my GP instead of my pre-natal doctor and my GP said that she thinks the same thing as my pre-natal doctor, that he could come early. But since baby has dropped, he would be here within 4 weeks or less. GP put me on sick leave until mat leave kicks in, so I'm now off work.

Have you been having any strange dreams yet? Well dreams when you can actually sleep that is. hehe. I hope you have plans for when you are off work before your LO arrives.

 

[JayeD]

I hope both of you are doing well. Just a few weeks left!!! Getting excited?

 

[kmac625]

I had my last day of work today!!!!! I'm so happy, though it doesn't feel real yet lol. Friday I'm not planning on doing much of anything, but next week I wanna start cleaning out my kitchen and reorganizing the cupboards. I also need to finish washing the rest of the baby clothes.

I haven't had any weird dreams lately, but in first tri I dreamt I had given birth to a little girl we named Charlotte all by myself on a couch but out in public. The strange part was that she was a black and white kitten hehehehe.

How is everyone else doing? I'm going for acupuncture tomorrow for the first time to see if it'll help with my carpal tunnel syndrome. Here's hoping...

 

[JayeD]

Congrats on making it to maternity leave! I'm technically on sick leave until next Friday. hehe

I've been having troubles sleeping lately and having weird dreams. LOL a kitten! hehe. I had a dream the other night that I went for my usual prenatal appointment and the doctor was testing me for group B strep and told me that I was already 4 cm dilated and I should be in the birthing unit, not getting tested. LOL

I woke up this morning and felt like I was going to be pregnant forever. I still feel that way. It feels like this baby will never come!

My manager at work believes that acupuncture works like a charm, so best of luck with that. And hopefully you can finish all of the housework you want to do... I, personally, am too exhausted to do housework for more than 10 mins at a time.

 

[kmac625]

I, personally, am too exhausted to do housework for more than 10 mins at a time.

hahahahaha...I guess that went out the door with your crazy cleaning spree the other day lol. By the sounds of it you're gonna go before me Jenn so I'll be awaiting your text. I found out at this morning's midwife appointment that baby isn't engaged yet still, but I did pass the GBS test. Sorry that you didn't, though it just means an iv drip during labour, so not too bad. Anyhow, since baby isn't engaged I could become slightly higher risk now. If my water breaks before contractions start and baby isn't engaged I have to immediately page the midwife and lie on my left side to make sure that the cord doesn't try to come out first. I've been bouncing on my excercise ball lots today as a result and will continue to do so as much as possible. I haven't done the cleaning I want to do, but I'm hoping to try this week. It's still really hot here, so we'll see how that works out lol.

 

[JayeD]

Get down on your hands and knees and start scrubbing! Some girls in 3rd tri were saying to scrub your kitchen floors the old fashioned way, but the amount of floor space we have to sweep and mop is very minimal. Instead, I ended up tossing the baby blinds on the ground and scrubbed that for a good hour and a half (soooo nasty!!!). It appears to have worked quite well. Baby's head is so low that the doctor can barely feel it through my tummy. At the very least, keep bouncing on that ball and maybe she'll start engaging soon!

I hope she starts to engage before your waters break. I read in my pregnancy book that the cord could come out before she does and when I saw that, it scared me to think of what could happen.

I'm not sure what else you could do to help make her engage apart from bounce on the ball and cleaning on all fours. At least try that so some cleaning is done.

 

[kmac625]

How are you doing Jenn? I'm gonna laugh if we go into labour at the same time, but if it's still looking like you might go a little early and I go on time it could happen heehee. As of last Tuesday my baby girl's head was lower in my pelvis, but hadn't engaged yet sigh. I've been bouncing like there's no tomorrow so hopefully she's dropped some more. My next mw appointment is on Thursday, the day before my due date. Though I think my due date really should be Monday or Tuesday as that's what they are based on my scans. I've been really tired the last few days mind you, and with my hands being all weird and painful it's hard to do the nesting I finally feel like doing lol...I'm half tempted to bring in a cleaning person for one day lmao. Slowly but surely I'm getting stuff done though.

 

[JayeD]

LOL... that would be funny if we went into labour at the same time. Ever since Tuesday I've been feeling like he will come early, especially after I saw my doctor and she did an internal on me, but so far no luck. I was 1 cm dilated but not yet effaced. She could feel his head, but he wasn't fully engaged. My cervix is almost ripe and it's very soft. I'm guessing that he will probably be on time rather than early, although I really want him out now!! lol. Since my appointment, I've been having bad pelvic pain, period type pains, really bad nausea, painful BH all over my bump (no regularity and it does disappear for a couple hours before starting back up again)... Oh and the 2 best parts... I can barely get out of bed because my bump hurts... and when I have to use the bathroom, I can't reach when I go to wipe, so I have to lean to the side and rest my shoulder on the wall to get what I can.

I don't have a ball to bounce on, so I've been going for half hour walks every day for the past week with OH. Today, we were out for literally 5 minutes when all of a sudden LO moved right down and it felt like he was going to fall out. It hurt like hell and I had to start waddling and cradling my bump. OH was disappointed that we couldn't take a longer walk, but I really just wanted to sit down and prevent him from falling out. haha

I haven't been doing much nesting this week unless you count trying to prep some food for after LO is born. I have several meals prepped already. Yay!! I keep wanting to clean... does that count as nesting still? lol. My ankles and feet are swelling really fast, and when I go for my walks, my fingers swell and start to hurt. So cleaning has kinda taken a back seat.

Go ahead and hire someone for the day to clean. No one would blame you. I certainly wouldn't! hehe. Hopefully you have her soon. I hope you don't go overdue. I couldn't imagine sitting there wondering what is going to happen and when it will happen. I hope I don't go overdue either for that matter, since my due date was never clear to begin with. Tell her to hurry up and come join us already!

 

[JayeD]

So I'm a little disappointed right now... My doctor said to me yesterday that I have to stop walking as much as I have been. Basically every 2nd day, OH and I have been going for half hour walks after he gets home from work. He likes the exercise and just getting out and doing something. I like the walks because it's not only good for you, but also helps LO. It was nice doing something where we didn't have to sit on our butts all night long. Dr said that she was worried about my swollen feet. They generally aren't swollen, but because the bottoms of my feet hurt, she's concerned and wants me to keep them up as long as possible. So I'll allowed 2 walks a week until LO is born and no more.

 

[kmac625]

That sucks Jenn. I've been wanting to go for more walks, but we've only gone for one this week...mind you, it's been really hot again (39C humidex right now). I go see the midwife tomorrow for my weekly appointment and I'm hoping that she'll tell me baby is finally engaged. If that's the case I might get a sweep if my cervix is favourable (I'm hoping she'll check - she had mentioned before that she would). Here's hoping we both go into labour sooner rather than later.

 

[JayeD]

Good luck at your appointment tomorrow. Hopefully baby has engaged and you get the sweep. And I don't blame you for not wanting to walk while it's hot out. It's currently 27 degrees here and it's hot enough for me while this pregnant (otherwise I'd love it and be anywhere but inside hehe)

I was busy today and now my feet are really swollen. I bet they'd be bigger if I hadn't been drinking water all day long.

I actually declined an internal exam yesterday by my doctor and now I'm wondering if I should have. Last week's internal gave me a bunch of labour signs for several days after... I probably should have said yes to see if the signs would show up again and maybe baby would be early, but I wasn't really feeling well as it was with all the smoke from the apartment fire down the street and I had to drive myself to the appointment, so I said no. Next week will be better.

 

[kmac625]

Well as of yesterday baby still wasn't engaged and my cervix was so high that the mw had trouble reaching it. It's not remotely dilated so I couldn't have a sweep, but she did say it was 30% effaced and she tried to pull it forward. I go back tomorrow morning to see if maybe it's dilated a bit and they can do a sweep and then I get a biophysical ultrasound on Friday to make sure my placenta is still working. I find out tomorrow also when my induction date is if all else fails...

It's ok that you declined the internal, though you might regret that in a week lol. When the mw told me she was going to check my cervix I actually said thank you hahahahaha.
That sucks about the fire down your street, but I'm glad you and baby are ok. Anything else going on with you? How have you been feeling?

I had false labour Monday night but I woke up feeling fine again Tuesday, but here's hoping the next time it's the real thing.

 

[JayeD]

Aww, sounds like your little girl doesn't want to come out at all! Keep bouncing on that ball of yours to see if she will engage at all. Hopefully she will engage and you can have that sweep. I bet you can't wait to have her out already!

I went to the doctor on Tuesday and accepted the internal exam this time. My doctor was worried about us after the last exam and said that she was glad she didn't give it to me last week because of how I was already feeling. She didn't want me to see blood (if any did appear after the exam) and start freaking out. LO is now 3/5 engaged, cervix is ripe, 1 cm dilated still and starting to efface.

I did find out that if he isn't born by next week, then I'll get an ultrasound to see how he's doing in there, and if he's ok I'll be induced at the latest by August 19th. Dr doesn't think it will come to an induction, but the option is there. I'll opt for a sweep first! hehe

I really, really, really, really don't want him to be born that late. My birthday is not too long after that and I hated my birthday when I was younger because no one could come due to the long weekend and everyone going back to school. People decided to keep their kids at home and not allow them to come to my party because they felt that they needed to buy me a present.

 

[kmac625]

I understand your birthday problem, my daughter will have the same one as me - a summer birthday! Mine was a few weeks ago, and growing up noone was ever around for my parties.

I got my sweep this morning. My cervix is still really high and posterior but was now 40% effaced and she was able to stretch it to 1 cm. I'm gonna get another sweep on Saturday most likely. If no natural labour by Sunday I go for the gel induction at the hospital Sunday afternoon, get monitored for an hour or so and then sent home. If I'm still not in active labour by Monday morning I get the pitocin drip at that point (I'm really hoping to avoid that). So, you might get some illicit texts from me on Monday (not supposed to use the cell phone in the hospital) if not sooner.

 

[JayeD]

Oh I hope you don't go for the pitocin drip as well. I personally don't like the idea of being induced, but it may be necessary. Good luck on the next sweep if this one doesn't work.

That sucks that you aren't allowed to text while in the hospital. It's allowed at our hospital. I'm sure that you are still allowed to go for walks when being induced to bring labour on faster, so just walk outside and use your phone.

 

[kmac625]

When on pitocin my hospital will keep me strapped to the damn belt monitor! They'll let me off to go pee and that's about it, though the midwife told me to try and go for a quick walk if I could at the same time (so I'll go to the waiting area to send a text). The reason we can't from the rooms is because the NICU is in the same area and apparently the phones can screw with the equipment.

 

[JayeD]

Ahh I see. Well I think your hospital has out of date information regarding newer technology. Newer cell phone technology doesn't run on the same frequencies as a lot of the hospital equipment, especially if it's older. The only exceptions which they want to prevent interference is for x-rays, ct scans and MRIs. My MIL is a nurse in a hospital (same one where I am delivering) and told this to us when I mentioned how I thought it was weird that everyone was using their cell phone in the hospital during my prenatal appts.

They strap you down? Oh boy!

"Please kid... come out before they induce! I don't want to be strapped down to a bed! I'll go insane!!" lol