Thursday, August 03, 2006

The biggest myth of all: Childbearing hips

Pre or post pregnancy you might say this about me:

a)Look at that voluptuous girl with the lovely childbearing hips; or
b)Look at that fat bitch.

Yes, I am a fat girl. I openly admit it, though I do find the word voluptuous much more appealing. Because although I may be slightly overweight I do have a very hourglass figure. My only blessing I suppose. Minus the tummy that has carried four children.

Growing up, even when I was thin* I had hips. My aunt used to say what a breeze it would be when it came to giving birth. Hah! I think childbearing hips were meant only to keep that child comfortable in utero for as long as humanly possible. As in 40+ weeks. Why would any baby want to leave the roomy nest my hips provide? Foolish that would be.

I actually was starting to believe this child might decide to arrive completely of her own volition. I have been having painful contractions and great difficulty moving once I am in bed. I don't recall either happening before and why not assume any difference during the pregnancy may lead to a different sort of birth? In fact I am so desperate for any difference that I am going to reveal something that I would never normally talk about. Cover your eyes if you don't want to hear about my bodily functions people. I have, for the last 2 days, been the queen of bowel movements. Constantly going. Tis terrible. Wondering if this was some sort of sign I looked it up on the handy internet and I came across some British site. It took me a while to find because in England apparently a bowel movement is called a bowel motion. Anyway, it said that it is often one of the first signs of natural labour as the cervix and part of the bowel share common nerves. So as the cervix becomes more active the bowel is stimulated causing faster movement of food and and more frequent, looser bowel movements. Now aren't you thrilled to know all that about me? My doctor said it could also be a sign of the head dropping further into the cervix, but not necessarily that I am about to go into labour.

The doctor's appointment was alright today, a longish wait as when I got there she had just left to go to a delivery. I read 2 magazines...Chatelaine and Macleans. Both from June, so not terribly outdated. My blood pressure was 122/78, not bad at all and I gained half a pound. When I got into the room the doctor came in before I even had my pants off. I am sure I looked like an eejit going down to cover up, as really she has seen mine and many others many, many times. I have gone from measuring 39 to 37, and the baby has dropped to -2 station. I might even reach 0 by next week. I am 1 cm dilated. She asked if I still wanted to wait and I said yes. I was not at all ready to go into the hospital tomorrow morning. I haven't even packed a bag. She wanted to see me either next Tuesday or Wednesday, a sign to me that she will be suggesting induction for Thursday or Friday if the wee miss has not yet arrived.

In my current frame of mind (which, granted, can change at any given second) I am willing to wait this child out for another 15 days.

Oh my god, in 15 days I will have a child. Yikes. At a maximum I mean. August 18th is baby's deadline. Who knows though? I could go into actual, real labour with broken waters and all tonight.

Or not.

4 comments:

Paige said...

how exciting! will be waiting.

Jen said...

You know..not that anyone wants to know this lol, but I have been a pooping machine the last two days. It has been normal though, just..a lot. Which is annoying. But anyway...at this point I really feel like I am going to be pregnant forever. I didn't want an induction, I wanted to go on my own. However, I am so freaking uncomfortable at this point that I am ok with it...When I go in on Tuesday...I want her to schedule me.

I am totally wussing out. *sigh*

Emmakirst said...

Oh i realllllllllly hope you go on your own and soon!

Emma in Canada said...

Jen, I think it is more a case of excitement at wanting to see your first child. I did it with my first. And then I ended up with 2 more inductions. This is my last baby and I am praying to go into labour on my own. If you can hold out, I would suggest it. But I couldn't blame you if you didn't!