40 Weeks

Today, I am exactly 40 weeks pregnant! Today is my due date and it  looks like it will come and go without me having a baby. I expected this. I expected to be late and have said all along to many people that I did not think she would come until December. I am grateful for this because I really did not want to have another holiday baby, and since Thanksgiving is "my" holiday and it can fall anywhere from the 22-28, getting as far past the 28th as possible was my preference. Holiday babies tend to get the short end of the stick in so many ways. By far the worst time to have a baby is in the days before Christmas. I can speak from experience with this as Jeremiah's birthday is December 20. The twins' birthday is January 6 and that is bad enough coming right after Christmas and New Years, but that birthday right before Christmas is dreadful. Gabriel's birthday often falls around Easter week. This is not ideal either. This year, his birthday will be the day before Easter. While he will get to enjoy a long Easter break as part of his present this year, he will not be in school to celebrate with his friends and if we want to have a friend party, we will have to wait until after spring break or the weekend before to have a party so that we can make sure his friends are in town to attend. Also, family may not be inclined to come see him on his birthday because they know they will see him the next day on Easter and so he gets the "Happy Easter, Happy Birthday" treatment, much like Jeremiah gets the "Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday" treatment. I think it's awful, as a mother, and I just did not want that for another child of mine.

In any case, she will come when she will come and she can wait a few more days, that would great!

Today, I had my 40 week appointment. The doctor and the tech were surprised I was still hanging around pregnant. I am not. Everything looks fine. She is still high and my cervix is still sealed shut. The doctor had "the talk" with me about when and how long she would let me go. She has been holding fast to her one week rule and I could not get her to budge from that. As I expected, she would not let me leave the office without "Plan B" in place (Plan B, meaning a scheduled drop-dead date for induction). I mean, at 38 weeks, she would have scheduled me for anytime after 39 weeks, 0 days, and had made it clear that scheduling is the way most women are going these days. Well, obviously, I am not most women. For starters, most women don't have 5 babies. In addition, I have been induced with each of my deliveries and I can think of few more unpleasant things, especially when trying to do so without an epidural. I tried my best and used all my lawyerly skills to get her to budge on the one week rule, but she said that she would not accept responsibility for the baby if something were to happen if I went past 41 weeks, and she would require me to come in every other day for fetal monitoring and fluid checks. It's kind of a scary thing when a high-risk OB tells you she will not accept responsibility, and it really makes you think if you could live with yourself if something bad were to happen if your OB tells you she won't accept responsibility. I know plenty of women who have gone 10, 12, 14 or more days past their due dates and had perfectly healthy babies, but if yours is the one where something is wrong, then none of that matters. I wanted to wait to schedule the induction until next week's appointment, but she was not happy about that because they don't schedule things on Fridays or weekends and if I waited until next Wednesday to come in for my 41 week appointment, there would be very little chance of me being able to schedule something for next Thursday and then we would be beyond her 41 week comfort zone.

All that being said, I asked her when was the latest she would let me go. Given that they will not schedule on Fridays or weekends, that left next Thursday, the 6th, as drop-baby date. She wanted to see me before that, so I will go back in on Tuesday, the 4th, assuming the baby has not come yet and if she still hasn't come by the 6th, then I will be induced on the 6th at 41 weeks, 1 day or 8 days late. I think, in terms of probability, it is very likely she will come on her own before then, but my gut tells me she won't. Hopefully my gut is wrong, and she will come on her own. That is certainly what I am praying for, but just in case, I wanted to give her every opportunity to come on her own, and I'll be able to rest easier knowing I did what I could to give her and me that chance.