The Overdue Time Warp

As I watched my July 2^nd due date come and go this week, I’m finally experiencing the time warp of being overdue, first hand.  I’ve never fully understood what it felt like before, since Mariah was one of the 3% who showed up right on time.  So far, I think I’m handling it pretty well since Ivan is now off on summer holidays, and we’ve been enjoying our last few days as a family of three.  We’ve tried to balance keeping active with walks and outings along with lots of rest including 2-hour afternoon naps with Mariah.  Staying distracted definitely helps since I think I would be going a bit insane if I were home alone staring at the clock. 

I’ve been optimistically thinking that this baby will arrive ‘tomorrow’ for the last two weeks or so…but each tomorrow has turned into a yesterday pretty quickly.  Part of what’s helped me stay calm is that the midwifery approach to a due date tends to be more liberal than the medical model.  Many women at my stage would already have a medical induction scheduled, which I think can add a bit too much pressure to an already stressful situation.  Midwives offer induction options as well, but these are usually less invasive and less time constrained.  I was offered a ‘stretch and sweep’ of my cervix starting at 38 weeks and although I’ve been anxious to meet my new baby, I decided to hold off.  I finally had the procedure done today (which turned out to be pretty quick with minimal discomfort) and I’m curious to see if it ‘works’ since it’s said to kickstart labour within 48 hours for about 25% of women.  I’ve been using natural inducers; like pregnancy tea, homeopathic medicine, and evening primrose oil; for the last month…so hopefully the combination will help get baby moving soon.  Although I’ve carried her quite high throughout my pregnancy, she finally ‘dropped’ a few days ago – which I can tell with some new pelvic pressure and a relief from heartburn.  So as far as I can tell, all signs point to ‘tomorrow’ – right?!?

The unpredictability factor seems to be even harder on Ivan than it is on me.  He continues to pendulum swing between nesting (like cooking & cleaning in preparation for baby) and then getting frustrated when life goes on and we need to do all of those things again.  Today he talked me into a Costco trip for enough snacks to survive the apocalypse – so hopefully that doesn’t jinx anything!  And Mariah…she continues to be as oblivious as possible to my belly, but more and more obsessed with the concept of ‘babies’.  She now stops in her tracks each time she sees a ‘baby’ in public and screams the word in delight, even if the ‘baby’ happens to be twice her age.  She drags her own little baby everywhere with her so I’m sure she and her sister will be inseparable…once Mariah gets over some intense jealousy and identity issues, that is. 

So if all goes well, I will be busy with baby #2 ‘tomorrow’ and won’t have time to blog for a while.  Fingers crossed that the delivery and post-partum mood roller coaster are a little gentler than the first time.  I will share an update on both as soon as chaos subsides a bit.  Until then – wish me luck, and look out for the new arrival e-mail (which I took the liberty of pre-drafting several weeks ago with blanks for the details in true Holly style!).