Full-Term! Wa-hoo! And now we play the waiting game. Well, granted we've been playing that game for 9 months now, but you get my drift. Things have been going pretty good the last couple weeks. I still have some swelling in my hands and feet, but nothing out of the ordinary. It's pretty manageable for the most part. My sciatica has let up to almost non-existent the last few days so I'm hoping it doesn't come back. I'm thinking the little girl has moved somehow to give me this relief. Thank goodness!
Yesterday we had a sonogram for an EFW, or Estimated Fetal Weight....which is kinda weird to me since they told me that a sonogram is not very reliable when trying to guess a baby's weight, but I wasn't going to complain or object to a chance of seeing the little munchkin again! I LOVE the 3d picture of her. We think that she looks like her daddy. Josh said if you look at his baby picture this is pretty much what he looked like. So cool, I love it! During the sonogram the tech informed us that she guessed Daisy to be somewhere around 8 lbs, 4 oz, but she said it could go 15% either way so she could be over 9 lbs.....WHAT!!?? After our sonogram I had an appointment with my midwife and in between the two Josh and I wondered if they would talk to me about the possibility of an induction. I can't tell you how much I DON'T want to be induced!!! That is just not a road I want to go down with all the other possible interventions that come along with it. BUT, after talking to one of our midwives I am put at ease. In looking at the sonogram she said she doesn't see any valid medical reason why they would want to induce me. She said that the percentage of my amniotic fluid is a little high, which could be accounting for some of the weight. She moved my belly around with her hands and said that she would guess Daisy to be not quite 8 lbs yet and she would trust that over the sonogram. She also measured me and said that I am right on with that so at this point in time - nothing to be concerned about! I knew way before I got pregnant that my chances of having a bigger than average baby are very good. My entire family tends to have big babies, and Josh was a little chunk as well so....Daisy is pretty much doomed from the start. =) That's ok though, I can't wait to kiss those cheeks!! =)
A couple people have asked me if I am getting nervous about the upcoming birth. The truth is, I'm really not! I really feel like I am doing all I can to be prepared and I am confident with the knowledge that I've gained, both in all the reading I've done and the birthing classes that we've attended so far. I really like our birth class instructor. She really knows what she's talking about and has a very comforting and caring way of imparting that knowledge to the class.
There are several people I know that think I'm totally crazy for wanting a natural birth. On one hand, I'm surprised that there are so few people who are for it. On the other hand, if I didn't have friends who got pregnant before I did and caused me to have questions, get curious and do the research, I would probably be one of those people who would just go to the doctor, get induced and take the epidural without a second thought - simply because that's what everyone does.
This movie is what started it all for me. If you happen to watch it, you do kind of have to get past the mentality of hospitals = BAD, midwifery = GOOD. They do speak out pretty strongly against hospitals. My view is that not all hospital births are horrible experiences. I know that there are some hospitals that will respect what you want. BUT the movie also gives tons of great statistics and study results and those, I don't think, should be ignored.
This book has also been an amazing source of information and [light bulb] "ooooh!" moments for me. I keep going back and referring to it over and over. It's also on sale for 7 bucks at amazon
here!
It is absolutely amazing all that God has created our bodies to be able to do. Right down to the most minute detail. I feel so extremely blessed to have the opportunity to experience it and I thank God every day for that. I only hope and pray that I will be the kind of mommy for Daisy that I need to be. With God's help I will do my best!
On a completely unrelated note, our little kitten seems to have settled in well and found a new favorite spot....
He's there even now as I write this. Hopefully he's not too disappointed when the bulge shrinks and a human baby takes its place.
