40 Weeks – The Waiting Game
38, 39, 40 weeks…
It’s been week after week with list upon list of things still to be done. Wondering if we’d ever be ‘ready’ for this baby in time before it decided to come. But there were no early surprises. Somehow all the important things are done. Well, apart from finding a new house to live in. That is officially not happening before this baby comes, despite all the extra effort spent on that project instead of the far more preferable original plan of taking it easy and getting lots of rest.
Now it’s the real waiting game. 40 +1, +2, +3, +4, +5 days…
Dwindling to-do lists as I reach the things that really don’t need to be done. Under self-imposed house arrest due to how uncomfortable driving is. People with the same due date as me have already given birth. People with an earlier due date are still waiting. The concept of a due date seems ridiculous at this stage, yet people still ask as if the baby magically shows up on a hospital-assigned date. Once that date is past I must automatically be offered a sweep which the midwife notes that I “happily declined”. Meanwhile Boo is slowly but surely getting ready to arrive on a date known only to Boo. Head engaged by 40 weeks, just like the Rascal. This is officially my longest pregnancy, though probably only due to the first trigger-happy induction. My weight seems to have more or less peaked. I will never weigh this much in my life again (thankfully).
Pregnancy involves a lot of waiting. But in a lot of ways the waiting game really only kicks off now. If I were home alone all day I would happily sleep, eat and watch TV series of little real substance for a couple more weeks. Unfortunately that’s not an option with the Rascal only due to start preschool a few weeks after Boo arrives. So instead we potter about – one minute best of suffering buddies, the next antagonists in a prolonged battle of wills over silly things. He is, after all, a 3 year old. And I am full to the brim of pregnancy hormones. The Rascal is excited and very ready to meet his new sibling. Brodie is anxiously waiting to meet his new child. If I were them I would be getting very impatient by now too. But instead I’m treading that fine line between thinking I might be ready, and thinking it wouldn’t be the most terrible idea to defer giving birth a bit longer. Because Ow.
I’m surprisingly chilled about this wait. I thought I’d be the most impatient, but I’m pretty content to play the waiting game a bit longer. Baby is in position. Everything is lined up as well as it can be (as confirmed by a chiropractor). Now it’s all down to the mysteries of nature. Possibly waiting on Boo’s lungs to signal they’re fully matured, or my body to be receptive to oxytocin signals that labour should begin. There’s really nothing for me to be doing. The massive advantage of not being under hospital care right now is that there’s zero talk of being overdue or setting induction dates. No loudly ticking clock to stress me out. It’s just another week of lumbering about trying to keep a bored child entertained with minimal effort. Anything else is on pause. All I know for definite is that Boo will arrive this month.
We’ve come a long way baby…
See you on the other side…