A Week Over Due Makes You Strong

Committing to natural birth is hard when you are a week overdue.  But we have to stand strong because we love her enough to give her that opportunity.

I really want to wait as long as possible for any interventions into Miss P's birth. It was hard, but today I expressed this to my doctor, who said she was on board for waiting another week. This was an improvement from last week when she said she rarely waits more than a week past the due date to induce.

People have asked me if I am miserable. At first I was really mentally bogged down about her not coming early, or on time. But I'm at peace with waiting now.

I'm feeling great. I've been walking at least a mile a day--most days three or four miles. This weekend that walking added up to close to 20 miles with one long stent with my friend Brenda walking around my neighborhood for almost four hours. We walked to garage sales, the library, the school where Brenda works. Then we walked around a park in her neighborhood the next day.

That said its really hard when you were prepared so far in advance and you are still waiting. I want every pain I feel to be a contraction. I wish my little girl was here already. He closet is full of clothes. The weather is turning colder, I had to take out the few cold weather maternity clothing I have today as the temp is supposed to drop below freezing tonight. People keep asking why she is not here yet.

Honestly I do not know, it's like asking when Jesus is coming back again.

The good news is she is healthy and I am healthy. And there is the constant reminder: babies are not like cartons of milk they do not expire.

That said....
We'll officially go one week past our due date tomorrow. Right now we have one more week till scheduled induction date of October 25th. I can change my mind if I still need more time, but after that, the doctor said she would be really concerned for the baby's health (and my sanity).
No one ever talks about what happens to your morale when you are two weeks late (most babies don't last that long).

I know you are all as anxious as Greg and I are. You want to see what she looks like, know her name, see what she does.... However, Miss P is still taking her sweet time, and that is fine. I need to learn patience. I'm learning that babies come when God wants them to. This is only the beginning. Parenting takes patience and conviction. That said Greg and I still need your support.

Please pray for a safe delivery whenever she comes if that is tomorrow or Tuesday night.
We'll be having an ultra-sound on Friday to confirm that she's still doing ok living in my belly (if she has not arrived yet). I'm hoping we don't have to go and that she comes before then : )
Thanks for all your encouragement.

Past the Due Date

So I know I would feel differently if her Due Date had not come and gone with no event...but it did. It is October 13th. She is not here yet.

Right now I am thinking how our society makes Due Dates out to date a child as though she were a carton of eggs or a jug of milk. I'm trying really hard not to think about it like that. I'm trying to re-frame the idea of a due date as more of a "guess date." I keep telling myself the longer she has to develop inside the womb the less of a shock she'll go through when she enters the world. 
I know I should be grateful for a happy, easy and healthy pregnancy so far. I should be grateful for more time to prepare for her arrival. I am. But as I have said before I feel overly prepared for her to arrive.
So far this week I've done my best to remain distracted. I'm finishing my T-shirt quilt of ZTA T-shirts from undergrad. I've been studying for the GRE. I made zucchini and pumpkin bread and took loaves to friends and neighbors. I completely used up all of my granulated sugar. I went to an elderly assisted living facility with my neighbor to visit a vivacious older woman named Beth yesterday. This was honestly the highlight of my day.
This week I've been on several walks. Yesterday, I ate my neighbor's homemade salsa with chips,  and an Amy's microwavable Indian food meal.
It has rained the past two days here. The leaves in the trees are turning a cascade of autumn colors, although the rain has brought them down. Greg and I really enjoyed our walk today. A beautiful morning after the rain.
Not sure what today holds but if I get more sugar I can make cupcakes!

Little Earthquakes

It is the strangest feeling in the world when something is growing inside of you. Yes, I know it has been said before but I'm a little weirded out by the baby turning somersaults in my belly. Baby P woke me up last night at around 3 a.m. kicking me in the side. By the end of today I felt like he/she had bruised up my entire inside belly. It feels like a mini-earthquake (far from those that impacted Haiti or Japan, but very impactful in my little world).

The responses about this on Facebook were all excited ones. Mother's gladly sharing the joy they felt when they felt their little babies moving for the first time. I am excited, but at the same time this is all sort-of strange. Hoping tomorrow that Baby P is a little nicer to my insides, but perhaps as I get scars from the preliminary kicks it will feel more like he/she is kicking and less like getting jabbed in the stomach from the inside.

I know the earthquakes will just become bigger as my pregnancy progresses. One thing I do know is that the more I feel the baby move, the closer he/she is to arrival. The first half has gone by so quickly (yesterday marked five months until Baby P's due date). I'm praying for you each day baby. I love you and I cannot wait to introduce you to this world.