Pregnancy Updates: Now 6 Days Late

I remember visiting my cousin several weeks ago and me and Kalyn pointed out to her that if our baby came one day late his birthday would be exactly between our birthdays.  She told him not to wish that on me, because I would really be ready to be done with being pregnant by then and a day late would be like torture.  Well, here I am six days past due.  Tomorrow will mark a full week, and I know exactly what she means now.  The other day when my husband was leaving for work I looked at him and he stopped for a second, because he saw that I had that look in my eyes.  The one that is really easy to hide from anyone else that I am holding back tears.  He picks up on it pretty quickly though, so he asked how I was doing and then it sort of started spilling over.  I told him I was just tired of being pregnant.  He understood, because he has been there with me the whole time and knows how uncomfortable I've been.  I think he felt bad having to leave for work right then when I was sad like that.

Luckily, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday morning to get some tests done on our little guy to see how he was doing.  They did an ultrasound to check the fluid level in the uterus first, because low fluid can mean that it's becoming a less ideal environment for him in there.  The ultrasound tech made an estimate on the baby's weight, but before telling me the weight she said, "Well, these things aren't necessarily accurate.  I think this is off, because there is no way you have an 8-pound baby in there!"  This was a reference to how small I still look at past 40 weeks of pregnancy (although I feel huge and have stretch marks, so any bigger would possibly kill me).

After the ultrasound I got hooked up to two monitors to do a fetal stress test.  For anyone who doesn't know how that works, I got put in a recliner chair with my feet up (cozy!) with one monitor strapped to my belly to keep track of the baby's heart rate.  A second one is strapped to the top of my belly to keep track of contractions.  I was given a button on a wire that I was supposed to click every time I felt the baby move.  Of course, after all the jabbing and shifting that he was doing while I was in the waiting room, he took this very moment to take a nap.  After ten minutes of the test, a nurse came in and put a device on my belly that vibrates hard and made him jump pretty violently against the other side of me.  He definitely woke up and moved for me after that.  He passed the tests with flying colors, and everything was going perfectly with him so far.  That brought me a lot of relief, but also made me wonder if they would make me wait longer before inducing me.

I had nothing to worry about.  They decided that I was safe waiting through the weekend since he wasn't distressed at all, but said they would put me on a waiting list for Monday and if nothing opened up I would have an appointment for Tuesday.  This meant one thing to me: if I'm not in labor on my own by Tuesday, I will be put into labor anyways.  Therefore, I have an end in sight!  I could have cried I was so happy.  Having an exact day in mind as the end helps my emotional state so much.  I think of it the way I though of a cross country race.  When I was in cross country I knew where the finish line was, so when the end was coming I could push a little harder.  Now, that I see the end of the pregnancy I can feel peaceful and just enjoy the time I have to sit, read, watch a movie, and go get Italian ice with my husband.

Patience Lessons

Well, I am due to have a baby today, and so far nothing has happened except for a little nausea this morning that I haven't been able to shake.  It's at the point where everyone that knows me asks me, "What are you doing here?" when I show up to anything, because they know I should be in the hospital.  My husband tried leaning down and having a talk with my belly last night that went something like, "Baby, why don't you just come out already?"  I hope I am not one of those women who goes two weeks past their due date.  How do people live with that much anticipation?!  I guess we will find out if Kalyn's little "talk" with our little guy sunk in at all if I go into labor today.

I guess it comes down to God's timing, not ours.  It's one of those little tests of patience I am being given.  I remember a time when I was asked to speak in church in my home ward on patience, and about a month or two later when I went back to school I was asked to speak in church on the same topic again in that ward too.  I ad one of those moments where I had a talk with God saying, "I am sorry, Lord.  I must be getting into some very impatient habits, and I will try to do better."  I must be needing that humbling message again.  I definitely am being reminded that the Lord's timing is not my own.  Besides, what difference does it make if I have him today or in a week?  That will give me more time to get the apartment cleaned up, and a few more days to spend quietly with my wonderful husband.