39+ weeks ob/gyn appointment, update & question

Again, no big news ;-)
My ob/gyn again instructed me on when to go to the hospital in case the
contractions start (I'm due on Monday - 4 days to go!), but in case
nothing's going on, I'm to have another regular appt with her next Thursday
(October 9th).

- urine = sterile
- blood pressure = 110/80
- weight = 2 lbs gain since last week; the gain of 35 lbs altogether (again
no comment from my ob/gyn, apart that she contributes it to the water
retention)
- swelling = yes, legs (not too bad, but still present)
- fundal height = up to the rib cage (she said the baby did drop some, but
now its feet are sort of stretched out a bit and kicking my ribs ;-)
- effacement = 25% (the same since 35+ weeks)
- dilation = 1 finger (what's that, a centimetre or so?)
- external foetal monitor = baby's heart rate normal, it started around 140,
but as the baby was moving around a lot, it went down to 120 and as far up
as 180! No contractions.

Update:

I'm OK, apart from the cold (EM - can you believe that we both caught the
cold at the same points of our pregnancies?!), so I feel a little down -
thankfully, I have no fever; I only have cold/hot flashes, slight headache
and shallow breathing - so I actually hope I don't go into labour before
this cold goes away, I want to be able to breathe through the contractions!
I woke up feeling like that on Tuesday, and I think I feel slightly better
today.

As my due date approaches, everybody is phoning to hear how I feel ;-) My
mother is feeling the "this-baby-is-coming-any-day-now" shopping fever, so
she bought a nice swaddling blanket (we call it a "swaddling pillow" over
here) and a pair of baby socks.

Most of my childbirth class colleagues still did not give birth (although I
was the last one) - Alex is 10 days overdue, another friend a week... Some
lazy babies around :-)
Another childbirth class colleague gave birth via C-section to a baby boy
(9,2 lbs!) yesterday, and I was kind of upset for her - of all of us at the
childbirth classes, she was the calmest one and really felt prepared for the
vaginal birth; apparently she went 13 days past her due date; the induction
did not work and the baby was in distress, so they had to do the C-section.
Both mother & baby boy are fine now.

Personally, I feel as ready as I can possibly be - so I guess I will go past
the due date as well ;-) We finally chose 1 name for a boy and 1 for a
girl - the name poll here helped us very much, however we will disclose the
name when we make the announcement.

A question - what is the best hair option for labour & delivery? I have long
(middle-back length), slightly curly, very thick hair, and I usually don't
do anything with it or make a pony-tail. I chose not to cut my hair during
the pregnancy because it's very "alive" and always in my face when it's
short, so I don't want to cut it now, either. Any suggestions?

Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
Elly
39 weeks + 3 days
(4 days to go!)
EDD October 6th

"Elly" wrote in message
...
Again, no big news ;-)
My ob/gyn again instructed me on when to go to the hospital in case the
contractions start (I'm due on Monday - 4 days to go!), but in case
nothing's going on, I'm to have another regular appt with her next
Thursday
(October 9th).

- urine = sterile
- blood pressure = 110/80
- weight = 2 lbs gain since last week; the gain of 35 lbs altogether
(again
no comment from my ob/gyn, apart that she contributes it to the water
retention)
- swelling = yes, legs (not too bad, but still present)
- fundal height = up to the rib cage (she said the baby did drop some, but
now its feet are sort of stretched out a bit and kicking my ribs ;-)
- effacement = 25% (the same since 35+ weeks)
- dilation = 1 finger (what's that, a centimetre or so?)
- external foetal monitor = baby's heart rate normal, it started around
140,
but as the baby was moving around a lot, it went down to 120 and as far up
as 180! No contractions.

Update:

I'm OK, apart from the cold (EM - can you believe that we both caught the
cold at the same points of our pregnancies?!), so I feel a little down -
thankfully, I have no fever; I only have cold/hot flashes, slight headache
and shallow breathing - so I actually hope I don't go into labour before
this cold goes away, I want to be able to breathe through the
contractions!
I woke up feeling like that on Tuesday, and I think I feel slightly better
today.

As my due date approaches, everybody is phoning to hear how I feel ;-) My
mother is feeling the "this-baby-is-coming-any-day-now" shopping fever, so
she bought a nice swaddling blanket (we call it a "swaddling pillow" over
here) and a pair of baby socks.

Most of my childbirth class colleagues still did not give birth (although
I
was the last one) - Alex is 10 days overdue, another friend a week... Some
lazy babies around :-)
Another childbirth class colleague gave birth via C-section to a baby boy
(9,2 lbs!) yesterday, and I was kind of upset for her - of all of us at
the
childbirth classes, she was the calmest one and really felt prepared for
the
vaginal birth; apparently she went 13 days past her due date; the
induction
did not work and the baby was in distress, so they had to do the
C-section.
Both mother & baby boy are fine now.

Personally, I feel as ready as I can possibly be - so I guess I will go
past
the due date as well ;-) We finally chose 1 name for a boy and 1 for a
girl - the name poll here helped us very much, however we will disclose
the
name when we make the announcement.

A question - what is the best hair option for labour & delivery? I have
long
(middle-back length), slightly curly, very thick hair, and I usually don't
do anything with it or make a pony-tail. I chose not to cut my hair during
the pregnancy because it's very "alive" and always in my face when it's
short, so I don't want to cut it now, either. Any suggestions?

Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
Elly
39 weeks + 3 days
(4 days to go!)
EDD October 6th


You sound great! I also have really thick curly hair, I actually plan on
braiding my hair after putting it into pig tails so I can lean my head back
and not feel the bumps of hair or hurt my head. It'll look childish but the
hair will be out of the way...Sending birth vibes though!
Hope everything goes well for you.
Kat
Mama to Maggie 11/03/01
#2 EDD 02/03/04

Ellie,
I love your updates. I hope that the cold goes away and that you have a very
quick and with as little pain as possible delivery.

Love

Nicky

"Elly" wrote in message ...
Again, no big news ;-)

Sounds like things are going OK. Sorry about the cold, but just try
to think that your body is being smart by getting it out of the way
now. You wouldn't want to be in the worst part of a cold with a
newborn!


A question - what is the best hair option for labour & delivery? I have long
(middle-back length), slightly curly, very thick hair, and I usually don't
do anything with it or make a pony-tail. I chose not to cut my hair during
the pregnancy because it's very "alive" and always in my face when it's
short, so I don't want to cut it now, either. Any suggestions?

Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
Elly
39 weeks + 3 days
(4 days to go!)
EDD October 6th

I was very happy with the braids I put in as soon as I was fairly
confident it was labor with Solana. Like Dorothy in the Wizard Of
Oz-type braids. It was so easy, and even the pictures taken right
after she was born look fine -- and it wasn't a peaceful, calm labor
by any means. I worried alot about my hair, too, and this really
worked out.

Tina.

"Elly" wrote in message ...
Again, no big news ;-)

Sounds like things are going OK. Sorry about the cold, but just try
to think that your body is being smart by getting it out of the way
now. You wouldn't want to be in the worst part of a cold with a
newborn!


A question - what is the best hair option for labour & delivery? I have long
(middle-back length), slightly curly, very thick hair, and I usually don't
do anything with it or make a pony-tail. I chose not to cut my hair during
the pregnancy because it's very "alive" and always in my face when it's
short, so I don't want to cut it now, either. Any suggestions?

Happy pregnancy/parenting everyone,
Elly
39 weeks + 3 days
(4 days to go!)
EDD October 6th

I was very happy with the braids I put in as soon as I was fairly
confident it was labor with Solana. Like Dorothy in the Wizard Of
Oz-type braids. It was so easy, and even the pictures taken right
after she was born look fine -- and it wasn't a peaceful, calm labor
by any means. I worried alot about my hair, too, and this really
worked out.

Tina.

"Elly" wrote in message

Again, no big news ;-)
My ob/gyn again instructed me on when to go to the hospital in case the
contractions start (I'm due on Monday - 4 days to go!), but in case
nothing's going on, I'm to have another regular appt with her next
Thursday
(October 9th).

Only 4 days!! Congratulations! Glad things continue to go well for you and
baby.

snip
\ I'm OK, apart from the cold (EM - can you believe that we both caught the
cold at the same points of our pregnancies?!), so I feel a little down -
thankfully, I have no fever; I only have cold/hot flashes, slight headache
and shallow breathing - so I actually hope I don't go into labour before
this cold goes away, I want to be able to breathe through the
contractions!
I woke up feeling like that on Tuesday, and I think I feel slightly better
today.

No, I cannot believe it! Especially because this was pretty much the first
illness I had during my *entire* pregnancy. DH was sick twice and I didn't
catch it and then at zero hour I become sick :-( We hypothesized that maybe
all of the coughing I did helped with dilation though ;-) It was interesting
because the cough pretty much was put "on hold" during labor and shortly
after Lann was born it started up again. I'm still battling it. It has been
three weeks now and I'm finally on antibiotics (those are ofr the infection
as well though). I hope you don't develop a cough! My poor baby's head has
to bounce around while nursing because my cough is still so deep and harsh.

As my due date approaches, everybody is phoning to hear how I feel ;-) My
mother is feeling the "this-baby-is-coming-any-day-now" shopping fever, so
she bought a nice swaddling blanket (we call it a "swaddling pillow" over
here) and a pair of baby socks.

Did everything get resolved with your mother after the difficulties you had
over name choices? I don't think I had a chance to respond to your update
about that. Strangely, I got *no* calls to see how I was feeling before the
due date. I expected the in-laws to be phoning at least, but nothing at all.
I was in very regular contact with my mom since she was one of my birth
attendants, so she didn't need to call all the time--I was emailing to tell
her!

Most of my childbirth class colleagues still did not give birth (although
I
was the last one) - Alex is 10 days overdue, another friend a week... Some
lazy babies around :-)
Another childbirth class colleague gave birth via C-section to a baby boy
(9,2 lbs!) yesterday, and I was kind of upset for her - of all of us at
the
childbirth classes, she was the calmest one and really felt prepared for
the
vaginal birth; apparently she went 13 days past her due date; the
induction
did not work and the baby was in distress, so they had to do the
C-section.
Both mother & baby boy are fine now.

One of the mothers in my LLL group who was planning an homebirth and was
very confident about it, ended up with a transport and emergency c-section
as well. I heard about it two days before I went into labor and it made me
feel a little bit uneasy--like if it happened to her, someone who was really
committed to a homebirth, it could happen to me too!

Our childbirth education class is supposed to have a reunion after all of
our babies are born. I had the second to last due date in the group, so I'm
anticipating that we'll have one soon. Is your group going to do anything
like that? I think it would be fun to see all the babies and hear all of the
stories!

Personally, I feel as ready as I can possibly be - so I guess I will go
past
the due date as well ;-) We finally chose 1 name for a boy and 1 for a
girl - the name poll here helped us very much, however we will disclose
the
name when we make the announcement.

I can't wait to find out the name!

A question - what is the best hair option for labour & delivery? I have
long
(middle-back length), slightly curly, very thick hair, and I usually don't
do anything with it or make a pony-tail. I chose not to cut my hair during
the pregnancy because it's very "alive" and always in my face when it's
short, so I don't want to cut it now, either. Any suggestions?

My hair is not quite shoulder length and it was very in the way during
labor--particularly when I first started pushing and was on my knees with my
head on the bed, it kept getting all over my face. I ended up with it in a
very sloppy ponytail (put it in myself, even though in the pushing stage!!)
and a *lovely* looking bobbypin arrangement to hold back the sides that were
too short to stay in the ponytail. That bobbypin and my birth amulet were
the only things I still had on after the baby was born! In the
first-moments-after-birth pictures, you can see that my hair is all tucked
up funny on one side with a bobbypin :-) So, that was a long winded way of
saying that I think it makes a lot of sense to think of a "labor friendly"
hairdo before you actually get there. What about putting it in a braid down
the back?

--
Em
mama to Lann, 9/21/03