38w5d. Ultrasound was good. We did not get a confirmation of his little boy parts nor did we see his face at all. He was just positioned so they weren’t visible. His head is down and he is facing my spine. His back faces my right side and, kooky kid, his legs are not curled up into his chest but underneath him- as if he were kneeling. With his legs across my ribs it’s no wonder I am measuring several weeks overdue! Laurie, the Ultrasound Tech, made us all laugh when she said, “You’re pregnant all the way from here (she had the wand on my extreme lower abdomen) to here (points to my lower ribcage)!!!”
He has plenty of amniotic fluid for this late in pregnancy, practiced breathing for us, has a great looking heart and umbilical cord. Everything about him looks great. Even though I wasn’t worried about his health this is very comforting to know nonetheless.
Of course, being a son of mine, he did measure rather big. His femur, stomach circumference and head all measured around 41w5d. And his estimated weight…
9 lb 13 oz. So he can be anywhere from 7 lb 13 oz to 11 lb 13 oz right now. If I had to guess, I’d say he is currently 8 pounds flat.
After the ultrasound, we went for my regular appt. I am now almost 1 cm dilated but not effaced at all. She would have stripped my membranes if she could have reached them. My cervix is apparently pretty high up still. Not a lot of progress but I was encouraged. It’s something.
Good to her word, though I am sure she thinks I am crazy, she did not demand a c-section on the spot nor do anything drastic. In fact, she did say that not all women have to be very dilated to go into labor and that my water could always break at any time. She said she’d like to see us in a week and if nothing seems to be progressing at that time to then schedule a c-section a few days after my due date.
Me… I am pretty with that. It is getting harder to want to remain pregnant when I feel worse every day. I am huge and I feel it. So I’ll see what happens by next week and use that information to guide me. If I progress to 2 or 3 cm or efface a bunch I’ll probably want her to sweep my membranes and to stick it out awhile longer. If not, well… I am not counting on my water breaking on it’s own and I really don’t want a newborn that comes out a 2 month old. Even going with the worst the ultrasound can be off this boy is still bigger than Bren was at this point in time.
So… some labor vibes, please??? There’s not much more time I can give him to come out on his own terms. I’d really like to experience a normal birth just once.