As I was laying in bed the other morning between the hours of 5am and 8am, for some reason I'd been waking up at that time for a few days and unable to fall back asleep, I began to reflect on all the birth stories I could think of off the top of my head. As I thought more and more a common theme developed, it was a theme that I just couldn't write off as coincidence. I thought to myself I should consult Dr. Google, but if I do I may not like what I find out, so I fought with myself for a bit, but curiosity finally won out. My search landed me on the Mayo Clinic website and brought me to an article about Overdue Pregnancy. At the beginning of the article is a list of things that make you more likely to have an overdue pregnancy, I qualify for the first time delivery of course but there listed last: YOUR BABY IS A BOY. Yep, there it is in black and white and on the website of one of the most respected medical facilities in the world. Of the 10 birth stories I could think of off the top of my head 5 were boys and they were all late. All 5 of the girls were early.
Needless to say LD is not quite late yet. Although today has been a barrage of text messages from old co-workers asking if he's here yet and earlier this week my best friend texted asking what the hell I was waiting for. I did find a cute little website which made me smile that if you find yourself in the position of having an overdue baby, or you're just really annoyed because even though your baby isn't overdue everyone keeps asking if it's here yet, send them here. I'm not sure if LD was waiting for BP to cap the oil spill, or just wants to surprise us all by coming on a date no one has suggested. I don't know if he wants to be among the 5% born on his actual due date, or wants to help reassure me personality wise he's his Mommy in his stubborn ways since the 3D ultrasound showed looks wise he's exactly like his Daddy.
In response to some of the questions from yesterday's post it's my practice's policy to schedule an induction for all women who show up for their 40 week appointment. The induction is scheduled for week 41, unless the doctors or hospital aren't available to schedule for then, in which case it ends up being the end of your 40th week. All of this is of course as long as the baby and mom are healthy and induction can wait. As for natural induction methods, I've been trying a few. I've been walking everyday...a lot. I've eaten some pineapple. I've been to Chipotle twice in hopes the spicy food would kickstart the process. My doula gave me a list of other things to try but didn't want me to start until 40 weeks. I don't know that they're very effective but I plan to try a few next week if I find myself still waiting for LD to decide he's ready to be born. I've read most of them don't actually work unless you're ready to go into labor anyway so I'm not sure they'll help but they can't hurt.
LD Watch 2010...contractions on and off...no regular pattern.
