Week 41...and counting...

There are really two ways to think about this week.  I'm either a week overdue, or I'm just hitting my due date.  It all depends on which due date you've been going by.  Obviously I've been going with the earlier one.  Perhaps I was wrong? :)

But, the best way to look at it is to realize that due dates are a myth anyway!  Due dates are based on a 28-day menstrual cycle, which doesn't apply to me anyway.  Plus, what really makes one single day the DAY the baby is ready?  Seems to me that babies are ready three weeks before that magical day (considering how many inductions and scheduled sections happen between 37-40 weeks), yet something about the day AFTER that magical day is foreboding.  Hmmm...food for thought.

Don't get me wrong.  I haven't been so valiant and steadfast in this waiting-game I'm playing with my son.  I've had at least two complete emotional break downs.  I woke up nearly every morning with a level of discouragement that I don't think even I can put into words.  It hasn't helped that Claire got sick this week as well, and has now had a fever of over 100 for two days, along with starting to vomit this afternoon.  And both toilets inexplicably flooded yesterday.  It's honestly kind of comical to think about!

And to top it all off, I had the most interesting visit with Ali yesterday.  We started our physical prenatal exam, and right off things didn't feel like they have.  Ali palpated and palpated, listened for heart tones again and again, and ultimately we were both thinking there was a possibility that we may have had a twin make a late appearance!  It would have been highly improbable, but not impossible!  Long story short, Ali decided that she wanted to get Karen (her mentor) to take a look, so Danny, the girls, and I drove to Yucaipa this morning to meet with Karen.  After a very sleepless night for me!  There were three possible outcomes to this visit with Ali and Karen: 1-I've really been having twins this whole time and we had no idea. 2-Johnny flipped sometime in the last week and was now breech. Or 3-Nothing was wrong, and he was just in a really funky mood yesterday.  

Turns out that after another lengthly palpation exam by Karen, we got result number three!  I thought for sure Ali would feel silly, but I'm so grateful that she didn't!  Working with the midwifery model, and with my midwife and her mentor and assistants specifically, has been so eye-opening for me.  It's not competitive at all, but very much a sisterhood.  It's such a refreshing atmosphere.  Ali in no way pretended that she knew everything, and Karen in no way belittled her for having us come and get her opinion.

Anyway, along with the palpation exam, we did do an internal exam to see if anything was progressing on that front.  And it turns out that my suspicions that not much was going on was pretty correct.  After all was said and done, the general consensus is that Johnny is going to be a big baby (right around 10 lbs), and that it may well be another week or so before things kick into gear.  Karen, in her expert opinion, was in no way concerned for mine or Johnny's safety.  We're both doing great, and there's no reason I can't deliver him and all his chubby glory!  I found it to be an incredible relief to be told it could be another week.  Now I can stop thinking about it all the time!  Until next weekend, that is...

So, here we sit, still a-waiting on our Johnny.  I'm going to start a regimen of Evening Primrose Oil, which when taken is supposed to help soften and ripen the cervix.  At any rate, it can't hurt!  So, look forward to another post and picture! :)