For the last two to three weeks we've been in a holding pattern waiting for that moment when Eli says to me "I think it's starting". We're still here and Pip's time is up.
She won't come out voluntarily (displaying the stubborn streak again - she gets that from her mom!) so we're going in there to get her!
Today we go for the euphemistically titled "induction". Pip gets her marching orders and one way or another she's coming out some time in the next day or so.
It's hard to describe my physical and emotional reaction to this... For the past two weeks I've been relatively calm and laid back about the prospect of a late night "get up you B**tard who did this to me and take me to the drugs... er... hospital!" but as that failed to surface and this day approached I got more and more nervous.
Yesterday I was a wreck! Giggling nervously like a little girl... sweaty palms... butterflies in the tummy. The works!
Today... I'm calm again! What's up with that? I can rationalise the calmness for the last few weeks (we're ready, it's gonna happen, save energy for the emergency) and I can also rationalise why I was increasingly nervous over the last few days (a hard deadline to look forward to rather than something which might happen) but I can't for the life of me figure out why I'm now calm again instead of more nervous (since the deadline is not yet passed).
The human body and mind are a strange fellowship.
Thursday 29 May 2008
Sunday 25 May 2008
The Waiting Game
These days, of course, we're sitting here waiting for the little miss who is late. I hope that won't be the story of her life..... The rest of the pregnancy was much the same: walking the dog with a bump that got heavier and heavier, heartburn of astronomic dimensions and ankles the size of footballs.
We had one little hickup. I got a craving for Kellogg's Frosties and ate them by the kilo. When I went for my check up I had sugar in my urine twice which meant I had to go and take a Glucose Tolerance Test. The fact that it was during the week my mum was here was just idiotic. I had to be at the hospital at 9am to have some blood taken, then I had to drink 500ml of Lucozade (why would anyone actually pay for that?), wait for three hours and then have some more blood taken. It's a good thing I had a good book with me as it was boring as hell. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything else, so the cafeteria was out and going home would just have taken too long.
The result of all of this was that everything was normal and I didn't have to worry about it.
A couple of weeks later I got a telephone call from the surgery in Brampton. Could I please come and pick up a prescription as I was slightly anaemic. Good girl that I am I did, went to the pharmacy and took my iron tablets: they wreaked havoc on my digestive system and when I complained to the midwife she couldn't understand why I got them in the first place. I don't think they were ever intended for me. It's a good thing they were "only" iron tablets.
Last week, we were back at the midwife's clinic where she performed a "sweep and stretch" (or as Joe calls it: a scratch and sniff) to hopefully start off labour in the next few days. It was incredibly painful and I don't think my reaction was quite what Leila and Donna expected: I was laughing my head off. That is my way of dealing with pain, so I think labour will be a very interesting and funny time for us....
We had one little hickup. I got a craving for Kellogg's Frosties and ate them by the kilo. When I went for my check up I had sugar in my urine twice which meant I had to go and take a Glucose Tolerance Test. The fact that it was during the week my mum was here was just idiotic. I had to be at the hospital at 9am to have some blood taken, then I had to drink 500ml of Lucozade (why would anyone actually pay for that?), wait for three hours and then have some more blood taken. It's a good thing I had a good book with me as it was boring as hell. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything else, so the cafeteria was out and going home would just have taken too long.
The result of all of this was that everything was normal and I didn't have to worry about it.
A couple of weeks later I got a telephone call from the surgery in Brampton. Could I please come and pick up a prescription as I was slightly anaemic. Good girl that I am I did, went to the pharmacy and took my iron tablets: they wreaked havoc on my digestive system and when I complained to the midwife she couldn't understand why I got them in the first place. I don't think they were ever intended for me. It's a good thing they were "only" iron tablets.
Last week, we were back at the midwife's clinic where she performed a "sweep and stretch" (or as Joe calls it: a scratch and sniff) to hopefully start off labour in the next few days. It was incredibly painful and I don't think my reaction was quite what Leila and Donna expected: I was laughing my head off. That is my way of dealing with pain, so I think labour will be a very interesting and funny time for us....
Wednesday 7 May 2008
What's this ear then?
First impressions, they say, are always the most lasting and and are one of the key determining factors in your relationship with that person for the future.
My first real encounter Pip therefore should probably ring a plethora of alarm bells.
For some days, Eli had been experiencing proper kicks and bumps from the rambunctious little rascal inside her tummy... I was largely unaware of these as there were (at those early stages) no external signs of it.
One evening while she was being kicked, Eli asked me to place my hand on her tummy. I did and nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen for a bit and it seemed that Pip had gone to sleep again.
I put my ear to the bump to hear what was going on inside... Very little. Some gurgling and swishing sounds. Next thing I know, I get a kick... a proper kick... into the ear! My little tiny baby (less than a Kilo at that stage) had decided, in utero, to kick her Dad in the head, had spun herself around and given me an almighty (for her size at the time) thump with her foot right into the ear!
It was a mixture of pride and trepidation that I felt. Pride that she'd been clever enough and aware of external stimulus enough to locate me, move around and give me a kick to say "Get off my bump!" and trepidation as to how our relationship is likely to progress for the future if that's how she treats me now :)
Incidentally, she repeated this performance a few days later at the next midwife session when they attempted to listen for her heartbeat with the heartbeat monitor. They tried dilligently to hear her heartbeat but every time they pressed the monitor into Eli's bump, Pip span around and gave it an almight kick with her foot. She kept this up for about 10 minutes before the midwife gave it up as a bad job.
We can learn three important things about Pip's personality from this...
First: She's very clever and aware of her surroundings.
Second: she's very very stubborn and pig headed.
Third: She's not adverse to using physical violence to get what she wants.
I'm not sure if any or all of the above are good things or bad... time (and bruises) will tell...
My first real encounter Pip therefore should probably ring a plethora of alarm bells.
For some days, Eli had been experiencing proper kicks and bumps from the rambunctious little rascal inside her tummy... I was largely unaware of these as there were (at those early stages) no external signs of it.
One evening while she was being kicked, Eli asked me to place my hand on her tummy. I did and nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen for a bit and it seemed that Pip had gone to sleep again.
I put my ear to the bump to hear what was going on inside... Very little. Some gurgling and swishing sounds. Next thing I know, I get a kick... a proper kick... into the ear! My little tiny baby (less than a Kilo at that stage) had decided, in utero, to kick her Dad in the head, had spun herself around and given me an almighty (for her size at the time) thump with her foot right into the ear!
It was a mixture of pride and trepidation that I felt. Pride that she'd been clever enough and aware of external stimulus enough to locate me, move around and give me a kick to say "Get off my bump!" and trepidation as to how our relationship is likely to progress for the future if that's how she treats me now :)
Incidentally, she repeated this performance a few days later at the next midwife session when they attempted to listen for her heartbeat with the heartbeat monitor. They tried dilligently to hear her heartbeat but every time they pressed the monitor into Eli's bump, Pip span around and gave it an almight kick with her foot. She kept this up for about 10 minutes before the midwife gave it up as a bad job.
We can learn three important things about Pip's personality from this...
First: She's very clever and aware of her surroundings.
Second: she's very very stubborn and pig headed.
Third: She's not adverse to using physical violence to get what she wants.
I'm not sure if any or all of the above are good things or bad... time (and bruises) will tell...
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