Crunch Time

One of the things i have been asked most this pregnancy is whether i have had any weird cravings - and my answer is that though i tend not to go for crunchy food, i am loving a few things that i would normally not go for because they are crunchy foods. I have never been that partial to apples or snow peas or any kind of crunchy biscuit for the simple reason that i don[t really like crunchy food! But i am loving them at the moment!

Fooled you, this is not a post about crunchy food, that would be a little bit daft!!! But i wouldn't put it past me to ramble on for a couple of pages about eating crunchy foods come to think of it

No - it is nearly time for us to meet our little Bean. The lease on her current place of residence is coming up and eviction date has been set!

Due date as far the hospital is currently concerned is 15th December. Last week there was a bit of a question marked raised about the due date by the obstetrician i saw. I have seen this obstetrician only once before and i remember him being rather strange to talk to and a little bit crazy! Last time we saw him (and M34tb4LL was there and can vouch for the weirdness of this guy) he insisted on going through the process of a certain optional blood test that can be done at the same time as the 12 week scan. He spent a good ten minutes going through the reason for having the blood test while looking at his hand and listing every set on his fingers. He did not look at us at all throughout this entire conversation! It was not till i managed interrupt him and tell him that i had already had the blood test done that he stopped going on about why we would or would not want to have the test done.

Anyway, back to last weeks visit. I was being seen by the same crazy obstetrician - same 18 weeks later than the first time i had seen him - i had been waiting for three hours for my appointment, i was told they were running a little bit behind... The obs came into the waiting area wearing a very fetching blue paper top and pants outfit with matching blue paper shoe covers. He called my name and apologised for wait, he explained that not only was he the only obs seeing clinic patients at the time - but he was also on call for the delivery suites. He then told me that if i was unhappy about waiting so long i should write a letter! and he was serious, he said that he could say something about the inconvenience his patients are put through but no-one would listen to him. Where i was sitting from i had already waited three hours, I could not be bothered then spending more time writing a letter about it. However i am happy to ramble on in a blog post that will not be rad by anyone but i WON'T write a letter - yer i don't see the logic in it come to think of it.

OK, once again i have to get back to the hospital visit. One of the first things the obs did was question the babies due date. You see based on what we worked out the due date should have been we got 18th December, but the hospital worked out the due date was 20th December, then the first ultrasound gave a due date (based on the babies size) as 15th December. The date in the hospital computer system was changed to the 15th based on the ultrasound results. Well the crazy obs questioned the fact that date was changed because the scan date was within a week of the estimated date and if it less than 7 days the estimated date shouldn't need to be revised. He then went on to say that because my blood sugars and blood pressure are well in control the hospital would not see any need to intervene in me going naturally into labour for 10 days to 2 weeks past the due date. He then asked me is i wanted to have a New Years Eve baby??? It was at this point that i started to cry at the thought of waiting that long (yes, i literally started to cry) and he went to take my blood pressure. My BP was up on what it had been every visit up till this point - little wonder why!!!

And this was the point that he told me that i had to get "fetal monitoring" done, to get a half hour trace on the baby's heart beat and a couple of BP reads over the same time frame. I asked why could that not have been done already in the three hours that i had been waiting - and he started talking about writing a letter again...

As i was leaving i asked if he was going to change the baby's due date considering he did not agree with the fact that it had been changed from 20th to the 15th, he said he would leave it as the 15th at this stage. At this stage??? At 38 weeks pregnant "at this stage" there is not really much time to go!!!

I had to then go back to the hospital on Friday to have monitoring done, and got the all clear - better than all clear. Baby's heart rate was strong and there was plenty of good movements from her. And my blood pressure reads were all nicely within the "normal" range. And i was in and out of the hospital in just over half an hour!

So now i come to the appointment this week. I only had to wait about 15 minutes to have my name called and see an obs - she was petite Asian woman who looked me direct in the eyes and gave me a big warm smile. We spoke about my concerns that i may end up going over my due date - and she did not question the due date as being anything other than 15th December - and she agreed that, in her opinion it would not be advisable for me to go too far over. She then did a bit of an examination (I will NOT go into details) and found that i have already very slightly progressed already. She decided that seeing my body was already starting to prepare for birth, and having gestational diabetes and the fact i have suffered a fair degree of stress through pregnancy she did not think i should have to wait past my due. She felt that i was ready to have this baby and that the baby is more than healthy enough and willing enough to be born!

This was the best news i had heard in weeks! especially after the last few weeks of hospital visits where i have felt that i have been left in limbo a bit. Things that have been said to me like "your blood sugar if fine for now, but we will have to check how you are going next week", "your baby's growth seems a bit erratic week to week, how about another ultrasound just to make sure she is ok" (I have had four ultrasounds in last six weeks), "things seem to be going alright at the moment, we don't know why you are stressing so much" - i am stressing because i feel like some medical people have been watching me waiting for something to go wrong, waiting for the blood sugar or the blood pressure to go out of control. Waiting for an ultrasound result to come back not in the normal range! I sometimes wonder if medical science of able to keep too much of a close eye on thing.

But once again i seem to have gone off the topic here - my hospital visit this week... The obs took my blood pressure - it was high - and then went to get a book that had the dates of woman who have been booked in to be induced. She confirmed my due date again as being the 15th of December and went to that page in the book. There were not currently any appointments on that day and she asked me if this was date was alright ot be booked in. I was both shocked and in a state of joy! I did not even have to worry about getting to my due date and then waiting a couple of days to be induced! If our little Bean does not come in the next few days I am going to be induced on the due date!!! No waiting, no wondering, no stressing!!!

So at the moment it is 10.30pm 12th December 2009 - and this baby is going to be given a nudge towards being born as of 7.00am 15th December 2009 if she does not make moves towards making her entrance into the greater world before that! Not long to go now! Only a matter of days at the most!!!

We could not be more ready for this baby to born, and the funny thing is - now that we have a more firm time frame - i feel quite panicked about the things i still have to do!!!

:) Reggie