40 week appointment with midwife today...

Well I had my 40 week appointment today with my midwife. Everything is good, baby is developing but he's nowhere near coming out *sigh* Midwife says that it will likely be at LEAST a week before he makes his arrival...

But baby still does seem to be small-ish and to ease our minds, I will be going for an ultrasound tomorrow. It was a really difficult decision to make - as a home birthing woman wants a minimal of intervention etc. I don't feel up to going into this in great detail as I've already had a long conversation with my midwife and Dave about it - as well as my Mum - and then wrote out a long post for my baby forum. So what I'll do is just cut and paste the post from the baby forum in here as an update... I hope that explains everything! I will update again tomorrow after the ultrasound but basically - I feel everything is FINE, but we just want to make sure :) Read on...

Hi Ladies,

I thought I would start a thread to update you on my status - and hopefully when bubs decides to come I can post it here :)

I had my 40wk appointment today with my midwife. All seems ok, but she still has a slight concern that maybe my belly/fundal height/baby is small. I am measuring 37cm in fundal height (and there were a couple of weeks there where it didn't change much) and my belly is REALLY tiny for 40 weeks, so there is a chance (small) that baby isn't getting enough nutrients, or that the placenta isn't working properly or that he doesn't have enough amniotic fluid. We don't THINK it's a problem, because everything else all the way through has been perfect, and I have none of the risk signs. It really is 50/50 whether we should do anything further or just wait for him to come.

We decided last week that if he were going to come any day now, we would just trust that he's moving heaps and I am really healthy, and not worry. Maybe I just make small babies - or he's average and I'm holding him well inside and he's good and scrunched up. Everything to date has progressed as it should and this has only been a bit of a concern the last 2 weeks. And seeing as he could have been here any day, there's really no worries short term even if he did have an issue with getting nutrients or growing bigger.

But when my midwife did an internal today, she discovered that it looks like he's not coming for a while. He had grown a bit this last week (fundal height increased by 1cm) but she found his head is still quite high and my cervix is only starting to soften and open. She DID confirm that I felt his head the other day, he's just bounced back up a little now and is less engaged than last week because he's turned posterior. She said she could 'fit a finger' in my cervix, and the outside had softened a bit - but it was still fairly high and - in her opinion - she didn't think that baby would be here for a while. Her exact words were "I'd be VERY surprised if he came in the next week..."

So now, if he won't be here for a week or two (because I am having a home birth, he will be allowed to continue in there till at least 42 weeks, then we'll take it day by day before allowing medical intervention), and if he is in fact having issues, then we should be responsible and know for sure. It could get very serious in one or two more weeks if there is a problem. If there ISN'T a problem, then we know all is good and he can safely 'cook' for a while longer.

So the plan of attack is:

* I am going for an ultrasound tomorrow (found a homebirth friendly GP to refer me thank goodness) to make sure that everything is healthy with bubs. My instinct says it's all fine, and my midwife agrees, but we just want to be completely sure that he's safe in there for up to 2 more weeks. We decided to do it that way (referral then private ultrasound) so I didn't have to go to a public hospital and be pressured into intervention or induction etc etc. Downside is that it's not Medicare eligible and will cost me $170. But you can't put a price on your child's health. Oh & DH can't come with, very short notice as I got booked in quick as it's urgent. :(

* I am going to try more natural induction methods so I don't go too far over - we're kind of ok about him lasting another week - but after that we want him to come before much longer. Ideally by my next appt (in a week) he'll be almost ready to go. So I'm starting EPO today, upping my RLT, having orgasms (not right NOW! LOL!), walking, rocking while leaning forward (to help his head move down and assist with posterior position) and anything else I can think of (suggestions welcoem)! Midwife will also do a S&S next week if it looks necessary

So I'm slightly nervous --- I feel in my heart that everything is ok, and at least I am going to get the ultrasound at a radiology clinic instead of the hospital, so I can get the results myself --- and they will give me an unbiased diagnosis instead of a medical opinion on (and pressure about) what I should do. And I'm excited to see my boy after 20 weeks! But ... I guess there's always that chance that some indicator will be off JUST enough for my midwife to suggest I go to hospital for an induction and/or (my worst fear) a CS. I know she'd never do that unless it was medically necessary for the health of the baby... and of course that's my priority - but still, not only would I have to birth publicly (because my private hospital insurance won't cover me if I hadn't already booked in etc) but I'd miss out on:

1. my home birth
2. birthing in water
3. the $3500 I paid to my midwife (no refund)

Ultimately I want a healthy baby but still... I guess I just hope that my instincts are correct and baby will be healthy, and ready to come out in no more than 2 weeks... so everything can happen the way we have planned it for so long. I've been SO excited about this home birth! I just don't want anything to jeopardise it.

It seems so silly that ALL the way through my pregnancy has been PERFECT and now, at full term, the first hiccup arises! Bloody hell!

Sorry for the long post girls, I just had to get some of this out - I don't want to lay all this on DH - I'm the strong one and I don't want him to think that I am fearful or concerned in any way.

My U/S is at 3pm (QLD time) tomorrow so I will update after that...

Thanks for listening.........