39w1d

I had what I hope will be my last OB visit today. Once again, I declined the cervical check. Realistically, it wouldn't have told us anything useful. Women have been known to be a couple of centimeters dilated for weeks before going into labor. And some women don't dilate until labor has set in. Maggie's heart rate was consistently between 132 and 140, as per usual. My blood pressure was perfect, and fundal height measured in between 39 and 40 weeks. All is well.

I finally asked the big question- if Maggie has not emerged by my due date, what are our plans? Since I have the same doc as last time, I was not surprised to hear the same explanation I got with my previous pregnancy- "at 40 weeks, a woman over 40 has the same risk of stillbirth as a woman of 27 at 42 weeks." The combination of AMA and GD usually translates into induction at 39 weeks, but they're "letting" me go for now to see how much longer this pregnancy will continue on its own. I have a 40w1d OB appointment next Friday (which I hope will not be needed) at which we'll discuss an induction procedure in more detail. My doc is not comfortable with going beyond Monday, 2/13, so if Maggie's not out on her own by then... yikes.

Truthfully, I suspect that my own mental state has something to do with the onset of labor. We've been so relaxed thus far that there has been no real reason to go into labor "early." I say that with quotation marks because anything after 38 weeks is considered full-term, so nothing since 1/26 would have been considered early. I don't complete things very well without a definite deadline ahead of me. I like to finish a little early, but I was never one of those students who could write a paper over the weekend when it wasn't due until Thursday. So, knowing that I have until the 13th might be enough to get things rolling.

That and the Super Bowl. As with my previous pregnancy, the due date is a Thursday. My water broke on Sunday evening at 8:00, and Charlotte arrived 5 1/2 hours later. My husband is trying to come to grips with the fact that he may have to watch the game on the small, slightly fuzzy, hospital room TV if we follow the same timeline as we did with Charlotte's emergence. And since I haven't seen a complete football game all season (we do have a toddler to entertain, after all), why should I be able to watch this one? My ideal would be... oh, who cares what my ideal would be. It's not as if I can plan this, try as I may.

Charlotte has been a little under the weather the last couple of days. She threw up last night at dinner- only the second time in her entire life that she's done more than infant-y spit-up (I am very very lucky) and had a temp of 101. This morning it was down to 99.6. I forgot to check tonight, but she still felt a teensie bit warm to the touch and she's a bit more sleepy than normal. She also has a runny nose, but nothing that appears to bother her at all. In fact, she seems to enjoy the excuse to ask for a tissue every few minutes so she can swipe it across her face and deposit it in the closest trash can "all by yourself." She also likes "catching" fake sneezes in her elbow whenever I remind her to catch her coughs and sneezes there. We have a plan in place, should Maggie arrive while Charlotte isn't quite 100%. C will bring Charlotte to the hospital, and he'll stay in my room with Maggie while Charlotte and I have a lunch date in the cafeteria. I can't imagine not seeing her for the couple of days I'll probably stay at the hospital (where I won't have to cook or clean.... bliss!), but she obviously can't be in my room with Maggie if she's not completely healthy.

My bag is (almost) completely packed. Maggie's bag is packed. The camera is charging now. All our February bills have been paid (that's my job- C doesn't even know where all our bills are). The bassinett is ready. My parents are on stand-by. The nursery is nowhere near complete, but I'm OK with that. We're ready enough. I'll post when something happens.