Well, I'm still pregnant.
I have extremely mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I am so happy that the girls are still cooking and getting more and more ready for life on the outside each day. The last thing I want is to see my teeny babies in the NICU with monitors and breathing assistance, so I'm very happy to know that they're in there practicing their little breathing movements and playing soccer with my ribs and pelvis. That's obviously the most important hand. But the other, more selfish hand is miiiiiiserabllllllle. I cannot tell you how wearing it is to hear that you'll probably be going into active labor in a matter of days, and a almost a week later, still be dealing with painful, irregular contractions and over 11 pounds of ridiculously active babies going to town on your insides.
Getting dressed is exhausting. Trying to run errands for a couple of hours is exhausting. Going to the hospital for check ups is exhausting. Even sleeping is exhausting--I was up three times between 11 and 1 last night to go to the bathroom and rolling over or getting out of bed takes Herculean effort. The swelling in my legs, ankles and feet by the end of each day is revolting. And the pain, not just from the contractions and in my back, but I never expected this awful pelvic pain. There are times where I actually have trouble standing and walking because the weight on my pelvis is so incredibly painful. I really hate that I'm complaining about this, because I wanted to be pregnant for so long, and every time I think about what a miracle it is that we've been blessed with two seemingly healthy girls, I just want to shut right the heck up. But really, I've been carrying the equivalent of a full term baby since about 29 weeks. I'm worn out.
But. Enough moaning. If we make it to 37 weeks or beyond, I should count myself lucky and just suck it up. I signed up for this, so here we are. My 36 week appointment was great. The girls jumped from being around the 54th percentile in weight last week to the 45th, measuring at 5 pounds 10 ounces each. This far along in my pregnancy, the weight estimates can be off by as much as 1-2 pounds just because it gets harder and harder to measure all of the limbs and organs since they're so squished in there. But that's a great number to hear, and even if the estimate was high, if they gain a half pound each week like my pregnancy email said and I make it to my induction date, I would think they'll be at least 5-6 pounds at birth. Much higher than we were expecting!
And speaking of an induction date--we have one set! One week from today, Friday, November 2nd, should be the big day. There is a variable though--unfortunately, Charlotte, who has always been perfectly positioned head down at my pelvis throughout the last half of my pregnancy, decided to scooch over just a bit to the right so that her neck was at my pelvis at Wednesday's appointment. If that's still how she's presenting on Friday, we'll have to postpone and schedule a c-section for the following week. Evidently, the stress of a vaginal birth can help the baby's lungs develop, so my doctor would feel comfortable delivering that way at 37 weeks. But if it's looking like it will be a c-section, he'd want to give their lungs a few more days to develop and get closer to 38 weeks.
So, basically the waiting is on. It could be tonight. It could be next Friday. It could be in two weeks. This past Tuesday, I started doing two Non-Stress Tests a week, and at my second one this morning, the ladies were still looking good, so we're all just hanging around, waiting to meet each other at some point! My next appointment is following my NST on Tuesday, and then after that it's just the countdown to the big day.
Until then, head down vibes would be GREATLY appreciated!!
