Today's visit was good and uneventful. My blood pressure is fine. Shiloh's heart rate is fine. My iron is up 6 points to 36, so I'm only borderline anemic now. The vitamins are working! As much as I hate taking them, I will continue. I could walk from the car to the doctor's office without it being such a chore! I lost 2 pounds since last week, but given the look of my ankles, that's purely water weight. (I can see them again.)
I now know that when I'm in real labor and as long as things are progressing normally (no emergency type things going on) then I can just take myself to the hospital, go to the elevators in the back, up to the 8th floor, tell them I'm in labor, and they'll handle everything from there, including calling my doctor. I paid the hospital co-pay today. There is a 20% discount for paying early. In my case, that's only $20, but still a nice little savings! (about 100 pounds worth of animal feed!)
There was not much, if any change in my dilation, effacement, or station. That might normally have been discouraging, but considering how much further along I already am in comparison to previous pregnancies, and all the false labor I've had this week, it was kind of reassuring. I will make it to the hospital just fine. I don't need to worry about David having to pull off the freeway en route to play midwife! :) If there's no change in real labor, well, they have drugs for that, and I've discovered that they're not so bad. As our pastor put it to me, I can rejoice in taking dominion and reversing the curse, rather than feeling guilty about not suffering through a good work for the sake of the kingdom. That's good stuff.
Dr. Trabue suspects this will be another 8+ pound baby. We will see. My placenta is in front, and my placentas are always ginormous, and Heather always guesses the baby will be larger than it actually is. I'm not too concerned. Good to know Shiloh feels nice & healthy. It's also good to know that my bones are such that I could pass a 12 pounder with out much ado.
That's about it here. The rest of the day has been spent napping and dealing with the cramping that cervical checks always induce. I have 2 more appointments scheduled but would be plenty happy to not have to keep them! We shall see...
2 comments:
Soo glad you had a good visit and feel reassured. I am praying you will have a "typical" labor!
I love what Joe said about the epidural! I have always felt like perhaps I wasn't spiritual enough to go natural. I think it's a wonderful thing to do, and goodness knows I'm NOT spiritual enough, but the "enough" is not related to the epidural, but rather the state in which we all share :) Hope you know what I'm trying to say.
We all can't wait to meet Shiloh, but we know she'll arrive at the perfect time!
I think that going natural can be a good thing to do, provided it's for the right reasons. I can't say as though I had the right reasons going into it with Samuel... more of a fear of the hospital and a desire to prove something--the superiority of my decision? That I'm one tough cookie? (I assure you, I was NOT tough!) Had I been in a hospital, I would have taken the drugs in a heartbeat! At just 1 cm, I trekked into my living room and asked my midwife, her assistant, and David WHY on Earth wasn't I getting an epidural again?
With Shiphrah, it was good for me in that it was a good suffering and did present me a very vivid picture of the cross--uncontrollable pain for the sake of another. It's not something I will ever forget and can only imagine that it was just a small taste of what Christ endured. It was certainly all I care to ever endure--emotionally and physically.
Solomon's birth was very humbling, yet very freeing. It made me finally understand some of Nancy Wilson's teaching on the subject of how we get wrapped up in our methods and need to be careful not to demonize doctors, other methods, etc.
The recent Good Friday service had me thinking a lot about suffering, what types of suffering are edifying to the body of Christ, how that works (spiritual/mystical/the things we don't care to think or talk about much), and whether or not it was right for me to opt to have an epidural or if I should at least try to go natural. Really a struggle, b/c that epidural was such a HUGE help, yet if by my suffering for the sake of another is somehow a means of building up the kingdom, then ought I not strive for that? David and I talked it over as much as we could and then decided we needed a little more understanding. :)
Joe's words were very freeing and comforting. Glad we're postmil and that "reversing the curse" is a real capability! I don't know how this labor will go, but I do know that whether or not I have medication is not something I have to feel guilty about. God certainly has taught me something with each and every one and He'll no doubt do it again. I'm just along for the ride!
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