Week 38 – She’s coming in 2 days!

Today, we went to the clinic for the final checkup before birth.  For much of the past week, we’ve been hoping for a natural birth, so my wife did a lot of exercising.  Unfortunately, the baby hasn’t descended.  But there’s no way the baby can be born naturally safely.

The doctor explained to us that this is a case of Cephalopelvic Disproportion.  The baby’s head is too big for my wife’s pelvis.  She won’t fit through.  So, a Caesarean section is the only way to deliver her safely.  My wife will be going into the clinic tomorrow morning, and our daughter will be born on January 25th.  We know her birthday!  I will be present at the clinic when she’s born, so I’ll be seeing her just after birth.  I will be taking pictures!  I’ll also be visiting every day for the rest of the week.  My wife is feeling nervous about the C-section.  She won’t be feeling pain, but she’ll still be feeling the actual operation.  That must be a very strange feeling.  She doesn’t want to feel it at all.

The difficult thing about this is the cost.  Fortunately, C-section is the cheapest way, as health insurance covers 70% of it, and my wife’s life insurance will pay for the rest.  If it was natural birth, health and life insurance would cover none of it, and it would be astronomically high.  We couldn’t afford it.

We also have a possible name chosen.  I won’t announce it until we’ve decided for certain.  That’ll come later this week, and quite possibly on Wednesday.

Apart from the birth, we have received some very important things for the baby.  We’ve received the bath for newborns (only needed for a month) and the baby’s bed.  She won’t be home until February 2nd, so the bed will just be sitting empty until then.  Anyway, here are some bed pictures!

Here's the baby's crib! It's all ready for the baby.

Inside the baby's bed. My wife chose pink.

C-section looks likely

Today, we went to the clinic to check on the baby, and it turns out that she hasn’t descended into the pelvis.  She’s still high up.  What this means is that there’s a 70-80% chance that the baby will be late if by natural birth.  Unfortunately, if she’s born late, she’ll be too big for natural birth.  The doctor says it’s 70-80% likely she’ll be born by Caesarean section.  Well, we’ve decided that we’re going to have the C-section done next week, just 6 days before her due date, on January 25th.  This isn’t definite, though!  It’s also possible that she will suddenly drop and can still be born naturally.  But it’s not likely.  In any case, she’ll be born in a week!

 

There be milk!

Just a quick little post.  Breast milk detected!  The boobs are functional!

Week 37

It’s already the end of week 37.  No checkup during these 7 days, but there will be a non-stress test tomorrow morning.  So far, nothing much to update on the status of the baby.  My wife thinks she’s a bit lower in her abdomen now, so we’ll find out tomorrow.  It has been an interesting week for my wife, though.  She’s been doing a lot of exercise.  Most days, she’s walked between 5 and 10 km, done plenty of squats, and some yoga stretches.  The doctor told her to move a lot.  She’s also done some cleaning around the apartment, just to keep moving.

The most interesting thing is that the baby’s foot has been pushing against the wall of her abdomen.  Quite often, we could feel her foot.  It makes it feel so much more real, knowing that’s our daughter’s foot.  My wife has also been feeling plenty of pain periodically.  Could be Braxton Hicks contractions, or something else entirely.

We’re unsure of how the baby will be born or when.  But tomorrow, we should be finding out if a Caesarian section is recommended or not, due to the bigger than average size of the baby or whether she’s descended into the pelvis.

Full Term!

Today was the first day of week 37, which is full term.  The baby could be born healthy any day.  My wife went to the clinic today to do some tests and check on the baby.  We were hoping to be able to set a date when the baby would be born, too.  However, that’s not how it turned out.

The baby hasn’t descended yet, and there’s no dilation at all.  The pain she’s been feeling could either be her pelvic bones spreading to prepare for birth or Braxton-Hicks contractions.  She also found out she has a low iron level, so she needs to take some iron pills.

My wife has to do a lot of exercise.  This includes walking up hills and stairs, doing squats, and yoga.  This is to help the baby lower herself to get ready for birth, and to help the cervix dilate.  If this doesn’t happen by next week, the baby may have to be born by Caesarian section, as she’s a bit bigger than average.  The birth may still happen next week, but we don’t know yet.

Week 36

In less than 6 hours, the pregnancy will be at full term!  That’s right, the baby could come at any time and not be premature.  There was no visit to the clinic during these past 7 days, but there will be one tomorrow.  This will involve a lot of tests.  We’ll also be scheduling the birth.  Our clinic specialises in scheduled births with painkillers.  It’s not common to use painkillers during birth in Japan, as it’s believed by many superstitious people that it’ll result in feeling distant from the baby.  The mother and baby can’t bond because she’s not writhing in agony.  Of course, we both think that’s a load of BS.  So, the birth date will either be next week or the week after.  We’ll be seeing her soon!

My wife has been having plenty of pain in the pubic area, most likely due to dilation of her cervix and pressure from the baby.  She says that she has a lot of problems breathing because of pressure from the baby on her diaphragm and lungs.  She finds it difficult to sleep, as well.  Her bellybutton has popped out quite a bit, too.  She feels that it’s hard to eat large meals, as well.  Some common signs in pregnant women are extra body hair, stretch marks and varicose veins.  Luckily, she hasn’t had stretch marks or varicose veins!  Just the extra hair that I understand pretty much every woman gets when pregnant.  Yes, she has a hairy belly from the pregnancy.  But it should fall out in a few months.

How’s the baby doing?  Well, she continues to be quite active, moving a lot.  She hiccups a lot, too.  From what I’ve read, at week 36, the fine hair and waxy substance covering her skin will fall off, and she’ll swallow much of it.  That’ll result in her first bowel movement after birth being slimy and black.  I’m guessing she’s over 2700 grams now.

I’ll probably have some more news tomorrow about the scheduling and the checkup.

Strong pain

Well, my wife is now experiencing some pretty strong pain in the pelvic or pubic area.  She has no idea what it may be.  The baby could be pushing down.  She thinks the baby may have turned around yet again, and may be kicking down.  But after some investigating, it may actually be her cervix dilating.  This can happen weeks, days or hours before birth.  She is full term next Tuesday, so we should expect anything to happen now.

Week 35

A visit to the clinic on a holiday seems a bit unusual.  But we went because our baby wasn’t in the right position.  Well, the good news is, she’s back to being head down!  Very good news!

She’s doing quite well.  She’s now 2586 grams, which is a bit bigger than normal.  Everything is pretty much the same as last week, except she’s put on weight.  Her kidneys and liver are now fully functional, and her sense of touch is now working well.  Mostly all that’s left is to gain weight.

Mom is now able to be more active.  After the past week of relaxing and resting, she’s now been told to move a lot.  If she keeps moving, the baby should settle down into her pelvis.  So, lots of walking, exercise and she plans to do some cleaning around the apartment.  The doctor also said that even if she feels abdominal pain, she should keep moving.  Exercising and yoga will get her ready for the birth, which could happen within the next 2 or 3 weeks.  The baby is as active as ever, as well.

We got some really good ultrasound pictures this time.  After being a little camera shy, she put on a great show this time.  We have a wonderful 2D view of her face, as well as two 3D pictures.  We got a bonus picture because she was being a clown.  She made all of us laugh.  It’s the third picture below.  We couldn’t believe the luck in getting a picture like this!

Good quality pictures this week. On the left is her face. On the right is her nose, mouth and chin.

3D picture of her face. She's looking really chubby!

This is the most incredible picture we have of her. The doctor was very amused. She's sticking her tongue out!

Great picture, isn’t it?  Next appointment at the clinic is on the first day of week 37, which is full term!

Week 34

Talk about ups and downs.  Last week, she was head down.  Well, this week, she’s head up again!  We’re now at the end of week 34, and coming into the homestretch.  It’s quite possible she may be born in only 3 weeks!

So, this was the last checkup of the year for the baby.  We were supposed to be finding out about when she’ll be born.  But the question is how she’ll be born.  With her being in the breach position, it’s possible it’ll be a Caesarean section.  If so, she’ll be born between January 17th and 23rd (week 38).  If she turns around again, the birthdate is anyone’s guess.  She’ll come when she’s ready.

The baby is still healthy, in the average size range.  However, she’s getting to be a bit bigger than the middle range of average.  She’s now 2496 grams, which means she’s big enough to be born within the next week, and be a healthy, though small, newborn.  However, her size is of a 37 week fetus, when she’s just about to start week 35.  She’s getting big!  She has quite the big belly, too.  But nothing to be concerned about.

Mom is experiencing plenty of growing pains, as well as enduring painful kicks and punches.  Thanks to the baby’s incorrect position, she will now have to sleep on her left side for the next week.  She has new orders from the doctor, and that is to take it easy.  Rest and relax for the next week, and avoid doing anything active.  That means no exercising, no long walking, no cleaning.  Standing to cook is okay, but I’ll have to do all the shopping while she stays home.  If all goes well, the baby will turn back to the correct birth position.  However, due to her position, our next appointment will occur during the holidays.  In fact, we go in on January 1st!  Our plans for the New Year at her parents’ house in Saitama have been cancelled.

We did get an ultrasound picture, but it didn’t turn out well.  She was being camera shy.

At 34 weeks and 6 days. This picture isn't the best. She was being difficult to photograph this week.

Week 33

This week was a bit unusual.  Because of the baby’s incorrect position last week, we had to go back to the clinic today to check on her position.  We were told to come between 2 and 4 pm, but we got a call from the clinic at 10:50 am, and they asked us to come to the clinic by 11:30.  We had only 40 minutes, and we were still in bed!  I’ve been fighting a cold for the past week and just wanted to sleep, while my wife has trouble sleeping at night and wanted to sleep more.  Well, we quickly got ready and left the apartment.  We walked much faster than usual and arrived at the clinic at 11:31.  Well, after about a 20 minute wait, she was called in to have the baby checked.  It was only supposed to be a brief check, but I was later called to come in.  I was slightly worried, actually.  But it was just to see the ultrasound.  The baby was back in the head down position!  Great news!

What we saw on the ultrasound was our healthy baby girl, only about a month away from birth.  She’s still average size, slightly long legs and her nose looks a bit like mine.  We also saw her open and close her mouth several times, as if she were chewing.  She’s now 2102 grams, closing in on the minimum 2500 grams for full term birth.  Her bones should be hardening, while her skull will remain flexible for the birth.  She looks like a newborn baby by now.

Mom is feeling the kicks and punches a lot these days.  She can now sleep on either side, the doctor said.  Her sleeping habits continue to be unusual, but that’s thanks to the baby keeping her awake.  She has a hard time sitting up from bed, so needs to roll over and try push herself up.  She easily gets out of breath from walking uphill.

With only about a month to go, we’re getting pretty excited to see our baby girl.  Here’s the ultrasound picture we received today.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good 4D picture, as her arms were obscuring her face.

This is 33 weeks, 6 days. At the top is her full face, though both of her arms are slightly blocking the view. Below is another view of her chin, lips and nose.