Anne's Diary - A mom's adventure in child care - Week 5

Anne had her baby!! -- A 7 pound 13 ounce boy named Henry.

If there is a lesson to be learned through pregnancy it must be along the lines of "expect the unexpected." I wrote in my last entry that I wasn't expecting this baby to arrive anytime before Thanksgiving. I had allowed myself a two-day cushion from my official due date of November 23. Well, now it's Monday which means I'm almost a full week overdue! This baby is just too comfortable in his or her amniotic environment to greet the world.

I've tried all the remedies purported to encourage labor: hot, spicy Thai curries, red wine, long walks on the hills of San Francisco, yoga -- all to no avail. My spirits are really quite high, all things considered. Outside support from strangers tends to buoy my mood; people on the street still ask me when I'm due and when I tell them "six days ago," their eyes go wide and they're usually full of compliments about my composure, energy level and appearance.

This experience of waiting is unlike any other I've known. My due date came and went, Thanksgiving came and went, and now, I spend my time waiting for a paradigm shift. Time has new meaning -- days and hours are no longer very important. Rather it's my internal body clock I'm attuned to as I wait for the little alarm to sound announcing the first signs of labor. It has to happen -- I literally cannot be pregnant forever.

Yet another unexpected lesson from pregnancy is that no matter how hard I try, I really can't manipulate the situation. This one is out of my control and I am continuously adjusting my pre-set parameters for this birth. I had intended to bring this baby into the world as naturally as possible. This of course meant, in my vision, that I would go into labor in the early evening, my water would break in some undramatic location, etc., etc. Instead, as things stand, if I haven't begun labor by tomorrow, my doctor plans to induce labor on Wednesday. Induction?? I'd never really considered that scenario! But based on my timing (41+ weeks), the baby's size and my size, my doctor is recommending that labor be induced. Again, "expect the unexpected."

Hopefully, next week I'll have a birth story to recount and a child to introduce to you.

You can review the first four weeks as follows:

http://my.nowpublic.com/health/annes-diary-moms-adventure-child-care-week-1
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/annes-diary-moms-adventure-child-care-week-2
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/annes-diary-moms-adventure-child-care-week-3
http://my.nowpublic.com/health/annes-diary-moms-adventure-child-care-week-4