Just Waiting

Well, I promised I'd keep you updated, so I am. Right now, I am 37 weeks and 4 days, which means it has been 5 weeks since my last post. Time flies when you're enjoying leg cramps and frequent trips to the bathroom! In the in-between time, I've had several midwife appointments. In fact, one week after my last post, my midwife noticed that my belly was measuring SGA--Small for Gestational Age. I'm no newcomer to this situation; in fact, during my pregnancy with Charis, I did monthly ultrasounds for the last four or five months because they were concerned she wasn't growing as she ought to have been. In reality, she was just fine--not an especially large baby, but well within normal ranges for size. In fact, when she was born at 37 weeks, 3 days (nearly a month early), she already weighed 6 lbs., 3 oz. Just fine.

It felt a little funny to be going to yet another ultrasound when I'd already had--what was it, four?--several, each indicating that our baby was growing just fine. But whatever. In these days of 3D ultrasounds, it's always fun to see more pictures of your yet-unborn baby. Not only did they measure for size during the ultrasound, they also did some sort of biometric assessment to see if the baby had adequate muscle tone. Apparently, some babies with these chromosomal abnormalities show low muscle tone. Of course, our baby looks fine and healthy, fit as a fiddle. If they'd asked me, I could have attested to the fact the baby's muscles were fine, as evidenced by the semi-violent kicks and squirms I feel at all hours.

Admittedly, though, these most recent pictures of our little one aren't my favorite--I think things are getting a little bit cramped in there, so the baby's face was a teensy bit smooshed. Ruby was totally enamored of the pictures, though, and carried one in particular around with her for several days. "My baby!" she'd say every time she looked at it.

Speaking of Ruby, she is absolutely in love with this baby right now. She very, very frequently comes over and lifts my shirt so she can "hug the baby." She'll even kiss it, or ask if she can "see" the baby--sometimes I think she wants to make sure the baby hasn't disappeared. Also, lately, she has been so drawn to our friends' small babies--wanting to cover them with kisses and stare at them and generally hover over them, making me (and probably the babies' mothers) a tiny bit nervous. But she has always been so gentle, if overly attentive. She's just fascinated by the thought of a tiny human, which bodes well for us!

I have been in full-blown nesting mode lately. I go to bed at night achy and sore, and usually wake up at some point during the night because it has been painful to switch positions, but it is as if I am possessed with the notion that my house must be in order before this child arrives, and nothing can stop me. Abe keeps encouraging me to sit down, but I don't think he understands that in my mind--however silly it may be--these things MUST get done. And I know that if I sit down and rest, no one will pick up the slack and clean the things I feel it's necessary to clean. Who else will scrub underneath the upper cabinets in the kitchen? Doesn't everyone in the house realize this task must be completed before we can bring another tiny person into our home?

Of course, as any mother with small children knows, keeping the house clean with little kids running around is like--as I've said before--trying to plug a volcano with a cottonball. It is always a losing battle. Always. So I continue to sludge about in a way that my non-nesting self would find ridiculous.

I mentioned before that I am now 37 weeks 4 days, and Charis was born at 37 weeks 3 days. Ever since that first delivery, I've greeted week 37 of my subsequent pregnancies with a certainly-this-must-be-the-week attitude. Judah was born at 38 weeks, and Ruby at 39, so I don't know why I still feel like week 37 is the magic time. But even this time around, when I entered week 37, I viewed every contraction as the beginning of labor.

Alas. No baby yet.

I'm sure I will post on Facebook when we deliver--that takes ever so much less time than constructing a blog post--but rest assured that I will continue to update here. In the meantime, I continue to take every measure at my disposal to hasten labor. Hopefully, between that and my back-breaking, completely out-of-control cleaning, labor will begin sooner than later!