From week 37 I was scheduled for weekly appointments at the midwife clinic (common practice, nothing special!) and along with that also came the change in provincial rules around Covid so Tom was also allowed to join me from then on! Yay!
It was exciting being able to have him there to hear the heartbeat in person and just to be there to hear what the midwife said rather than me relaying it to him when I got home. It also gives him a chance to meet the potential person who will be delivering our baby and to ask any questions he has, so an all round win.
An unexpected twist came at our week 39 appointment – it was a midwife new to the team, so I hadn’t met her before. When she pulled up my file she said she saw a note from the hospital that my due date was July 14th, not July 15th, and asked if I already knew why that was the case. It was the first I’d heard of it and said so, and her response was along the lines of “oh, I hoped you’d be able to tell me why it was! That’s ok, I’ll do some digging.” Turns out all sonography places follow different standard measurement charts for dating pregnancies, and when I had my 20 week scan at the hospital, they looked back at my original dating scan from a clinic and decided that the baby had measured 7 weeks instead of 6 weeks 6 days, so they shifted my due date forward by one day. So the midwife altered the date on all of my forms etc to reflect the new date.
But really, what difference does one day make at 39 weeks of pregnancy!?! At least it was moving the right way… And technically made that the shortest week in my pregnancy. Although I’m hoping that’ll change and I won’t get to a full 42 weeks. I think I’ve missed the chance for week 41 to be the shortest week as I’ll hit that tomorrow, and I don’t see this baby arriving today!
That brings me swiftly to today – I am now 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant! Man alive. I was convinced I was going to give birth around week 38. Not for any reason, I just really thought I wouldn’t go full term. But here I am. Overdue!
In Canada they induce at 41+3, which for me – with my new due date – is this Saturday, and I’m hoping things will get going before then. I went for acupuncture on Friday in the hopes that might get things moving, and I think maybe it did start something. I started having some kind of contractions on Saturday night, all through Sunday, but then they began to trail off on Monday, and now they’re pretty much gone.
They weren’t the same feeling as Braxton Hicks. They were coming every 10 minutes approximately and lasting for about 3 minutes each, so no progression or advancement, but definitely more regular than BH. I googled it (as you do) and read about prodromal labour – more intense than BH contractions, with more of a pattern to them, but they don’t progress. So I concluded that’s what has been happening. I figured I’d call the midwife today to ask guidance but seeing as they have essentially stopped and I have an appointment tomorrow anyway, I changed my mind. I haven’t been in pain either, it’s been like intense period pain – distracting but not more than a 3/4 on the 1-10 pain scale.
I also tested positive for Group B Strep (GBS). Honestly, it seems anything that’s down to chance and not all that threatening in pregnancy, I test positive for. It’s completely harmless to adults and 1 in 4 women have the bacteria in their body, but it’s something that can be very dangerous for babies if they contract it in delivery. Hospitals like you to test so that they can administer antibiotics during labour to protect the baby (the most effective antibiotic is penicillin – one of the reasons it was important to find out if I was really allergic!). The practical side of this means that as soon as my water breaks I have to go to the hospital. Usually they say if your waters are clear you can continue to labour at home until your contractions are every 4 minutes, lasting 1 minute each for a period of 1 hour (4-1-1). Apparently the vast majority of women’s waters break in the hospital once labour is further along, so it may not even matter, but it does mean we might have to pack some games for distractions in the hospital if I end up having to do early labour in the hospital!
We installed the car seat in the car a couple days ago, just making sure we’re absolutely ready to go to the hospital. We wanted to fit it in the middle but it was too raised and the car seat just bounced around a lot. I’ve actually still felt fine driving and there are no laws preventing pregnant women from it, but now that the car seat is behind the passenger seat, Tom can no longer fit his legs in comfortably, so we’ve officially swapped designated driver.
I have a new waking pattern – I seem to be waking up around 5am every day, unable to sleep any more, so I get up for a few hours and chill in the living room, then am tired by 8am and go back to bed for an hour or so, kind of weird but it’s working! We’re taking almost daily sunset strolls along the beach – driving to a car park to reduce the walk as my stamina has totally gone for any kind of incline or distance, especially in these warm summer days!
I’m hoping this might be the last Pregnancy Diaries blog BEFORE the baby arrives. I do still have some other posts to write and share about pregnancy, and then will probably transition this section of my blog to be Baby Diaries or something as I’m sure I will have lots to say once she’s here! But hopefully (fingers crossed) this will be my last post as a pregnant lady… That said, I have nothing else to do! Ha I’ve already binged the whole of Schitt’s Creek in three weeks!!!
Ellen Wiggins 