Week 29, Day 1 (Outsmarting myself, most likely)

We came up with a cunning plan last night. Let's see if you can work out what we're thinking about..

1. Baby is big for dates, and growing like a weed.
2. By 37 weeks, a pregnancy is now considered "full term".
3. Baby is due (6/10/05) at the beginning of my busiest months of the tax year (plus spring is insane for landscapers, so it's bad timing for Wayne too).
4. Twice yesterday, the midwife threw into conversation we can have an elective caesarian with not much fuss.
5. I don't want a Caesar unless it's vitally important, but if they can electively Caesar, why not electively induce????

Yep, you're with me :-) 37 weeks is around the 16th-23rd September, which would give me 3 or so weeks to be 100% full time mother & recuperating person with the answerphone turned on and both cell phones turned off. If baby's ahead on size and progress, why the heck not ;-) It beats the snot out of trying to juggle a new baby, exhaustion, a laptop and needy clients at the same time.

Naturally I will discuss this with our midwife and get her opinion on it. She may say "yep, we do it all the time" or "back off, Ms Control Freak, you don't get to set THIS appointment!"

Fingers crossed, eh?

...oo0oo...

Btw a couple of things I forgot to mention about yesterday's appt.

I mentioned the breastfeeding worry to Robyn, and she got me to whip my bra off so she could examine my boobs. (And again, my body reminded me how ticklish I get... arrrgggh!) The verdict is my nips are just fine; not too big, not too small, and react exactly as they're supposed to. Good news eh :-)

We talked about pain during birth, and I mentioned that I was greatly relieved to hear during the antenatal class that women who are used to painful menstruation (ie cystic fybroids, endometriosis etc) often consider the first two stages of labour 'same old same old' or maybe even a bit less. Apparently the pain right up but not quite including the heavy pushing stage is very similar to the endometriosis pain I've lived with since I was 11. I'm an old hand at breathing through it, making the body go limp and letting the nasty shit wash over me and past me, rather than fighting it and making it worse. (The nausea is a bitch tho.. hope it forgets to tag along for the ride this time!)

Robyn agreed, and said that's exactly the right technique, and to remember it's a Positive Pain this time, ie there's a purpose to it and a baby at the end of it. Plus to remember that as soon as baby is born, the pain stops (or is so drastically reduced as to might as well as..!)

Then there's the comment from my Ob/Gyn who said that the best cure for endometriosis is pregnancy, because it gives the uterus a strong workout and a good flush afterwards. Certainly most females in my family report much more acceptable levels of pain post-babies, so there's something in that, I'm sure.

If I keep my face cold and wet, put some good thumping rock music on the MP3 player attached to my ear (there's a birthday hint for you, darling), and make sure my stomach is empty and my water bottle full, I may just get through this :-)

It can't be as bad as the two big scorers on my subjective pain scale,

9 Points: The pain of recovering from a fractured coccyx (tailbone) when I fell from a tree at age 10 and landed sitting upright on hard baked earth (that was a daily dose of 9 pointers each time I stood up or sat down), which was only ever matched four years later when a bad fall from my horse damaged my hip socket and femur. You know you're beat when it takes you half an hour to force yourself to walk 15 feet down a hallway. It still clicks, btw ;-)

10 Points: The time at 17 when I had an abcess drained, then a post rammed up through it by a dentist who was utterly determined to make the most of one appointment. Nothing could ever be worse than the pain that day, otherwise I'd simply pass out. I certainly learned the truth in a comment a friend once made that when you're in absolute agony, you cannot scream because you can't draw any breath. It consumes you, then spits you out wet, weak and trembling afterwards.

Endo is about 4.1 - 8.0 (at its absolute worst), which is several shades less than post-pain (excuse pun), so I can deal. Not exactly THRILLED about it, but I can deal :-)

(Btw, happy birthday to me tomorrow.. the old fart turns 42)