The Waiting Game

From about week 37 onwards pregnant women such as myself begin the waiting game. You start to countdown in days instead of weeks. Every ache, pain and cramp has you wondering if labour might be about to start. If you're anything like me you go through a range emotions almost hourly, mostly feelings of nervousness, excitement, and the occasional very calm before the storm type moment.

The oddest emotion I've felt so far, was this morning after an appointment with the midwife. I felt  disappointment. I had been sure things were moving along. Thinking I was quite close to finally meeting our baby boy. I guess I had the expectation going into the appointment this morning that the baby would have dropped and my body really getting ready for the big day. Instead the baby's head is still quite high and I'm showing no signs of on coming labour. At 40 weeks and 2 days I'm officially considered overdue. If our little man doesn't make an appearance before Wednesday next week I've been booked in to have my labour induced.

The process of inducing labour is a bit familiar to me. A little over two years ago I went through it when my gorgeous little girl was born. While it was a long, tiring and of course painful process at the end of it I held my little princess and every moment was worth it. I actually feel a little more comfortable with the process itself, if it was needed this time in comparison to when Sari was born. I think that is because I feel as though I know what to expect in terms of the steps they will take and in what order. With Sari I was given a sheet of facts but still felt as if I didn't really know what was going on. Still, feeling comfortable with the process isn't the same as preferring it. I would rather things happen naturally of course but understand why they recommend induction. I know some women choose to wait beyond the 40 weeks and 10 days for labour to happen naturally. After doing a fair bit of reading on subject during my first pregnancy I felt induction is the way to go for us and that is again the case with this pregnancy, should it come to that.

With several friends having babies so recently (including a friend this morning giving birth to a healthy baby boy) I've been able to hold quite a few newborns lately. Somehow that makes the waiting a little easier and even more exciting. At some point in the next 9 days I'm going to be holding my little man. I'll be watching my husband hold him and introducing Sari to her little brother. It may be one of the longest weeks of my life but I'm oh so excited!

And so the waiting continues....