(no subject)

[rivka]

The Li'l Critter has definitely dropped.

For the non-pregnancy-fluent, that means that instead of floating around aimlessly, her head has moved down into my pelvis in preparation for birth. How this feels: ow. Pressure, sometimes painful, very low in my belly and in my pelvis. Fortunately, it's intermittent. (No, not rhythmically intermittent in an "I'm having contractions" sort of way. I still haven't ever had a Braxton-Hicks contraction, that I know of.)

We're not panicking, because a first baby can easily drop 4-6 weeks before birth, but it does tend to focus the mind on things like packing the hospital bag and making sure that we have enough supplies on hand.

Okay, maybe we're panicking a little.

Also: my shape has changed. I'm sticking out in front more, and the biggest part of the bump is lower. This apparently brings us into the "everybody's got something to say" portion of pregnancy, in which perfect strangers on the bus and in the supermarket feel the need to comment on my size or ask about the baby. Yesterday a patient who has been hospitalized for three months, and at times has been near death, made a big fuss about me needing to sit down and rest and take care of myself.

Comments

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

May all go well!

[geekymary.livejournal.com]

Toward the end of my pregnancy I wanted to get a T shirt that said this on the front:
"August 18"
"Yes"
"Boy"
"Edward Matthew"
"Fine"
"Yes"
"Yes"

And this on the back:
"When are you due?"
"Do you know what you're having?"
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"Do you have a name picked out?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Is this your first?"
"Are you excited?"

And I could just point to the appropriate answer on the front.

Has your tummy been fondled unwelcomely yet? I never had that happen to me.

[puppytown.livejournal.com]

30 days! (I love the counter you have on your info page.) Baby!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

We are trying to keep in mind that only 5% of babies are born on the due date. Although it would be especially cool, given that it's Opening Day for the baseball season.

[eeyorerin]

Another curiosity-borne question: I have heard anecdotal evidence that claims "First babies are more likely to be late" and "First babies are more likely to be early." Have you noticed anything in your research that supports either? Are people telling you more of one anecdotal type of evidence than the other?

Oddly enough, I've never felt the desire to touch a pregnant woman's belly. Perhaps if the person in question really wanted me to and asked me, but I have never felt a strong impulse to pat or otherwise touch someone's belly.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have heard anecdotal evidence that claims "First babies are more likely to be late" and "First babies are more likely to be early." Have you noticed anything in your research that supports either?

Yes. The median length of a first pregnancy is 41 weeks, 1 day. So first babies are more likely to be "late," but only to the extent that you believe in the 40-week pregnancy as Holy Gospel. It would be more accurate to say that first pregnancies tend to be longer than subsequent pregnancies.

I think "first babies are more likely to be early" comes from counting up the time between the wedding and the birth. ;-)

On the other hand, neither my mother nor my sister went past 39 weeks with any of their children (they have seven between them). So I am keeping the possibility firmly in mind that the L'il Critter might come early.

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

given that it's Opening Day for the baseball season.

As long as L'il Critter doesn't show up wearing a Yankees cap!

[lcohen]

heaven forfend!

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ah, but have we hit the Random Strangers Patting Belly phase?

It just croggles me how these people think it is Perfectly OK to just start patting someone's belly just cos' they are pregnant.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I have determined that if a stranger tries to touch my belly, I will scream. Plenty of people have touched without asking, though - nurses at the clinic where I work, for example, and random people at church.

I have a couple of friends who love patting my belly but are very respectful about asking every single time. They are wonderful. The only people who have carte blanche to touch without asking are my partners. Okay, and my midwives - although they usually ask, or at least warn.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

*warm fuzzy belly-touching memories* :-)

-J

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

remember to take the baby home from the hospital.

you'll be fine.

*hug*

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

Wow! So exciting.

-J

[rivka.livejournal.com]

And scary!

You left out scary.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Yay! Good luck, and if you feel like delegating the panic part, just let me know when you reach various panic-worthy stages, and I'll take care of it. :)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

On my friends list this came right after the entry from our not-so-little boy talking about exploring Panama while waiting to transit the canal. And here you are right at the beginning of that shared adventure of parenting.

[xopher-vh.livejournal.com]

Bright Blessings, with good wishes for a short and easy delivery and a healthy baby! May she slap the doctor right back!

On a more serious note, being the target of endless and justified concern can be exhausting...be sure you did your patient a great service. Fussing about someone else must have been wonderful for hir. (Yeah, I speak from experience. Not the same, but...)

The Li'l Critter has definitely dropped.

[ailbhe]

Easier to breathe, harder to pee and walk? Not at the same time, obviously, unless you sneeze or something...

Aaaaaagh! Baby baby coming! Any urge to clean the spare room wardrobe with a toothpick yet?

A.

Something to say...

[tendyl.livejournal.com]

I think you're going to be a great mom. :)

[pameladean]

Wow.

I love the story about your patient. I guess the more benign part of all this intrusion on the pregnant woman is a kind of reaching out towards life. I'd never dream of patting your belly without permission, and I probably wouldn't even want to. But I've been wanting for some time to say, I don't know what, thank you for the narrative of a journey I happily and rightly chose not to make, that is yet a great human experience that it's hard not to be interested in. To the extent that you have felt like sharing an experience at once intensely private and weirdly universal, thank you with all my heart.

P.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

I second this.
I've never had the least desire to have a child. In fact I don't like children. Even with those facts it has been really wonderful to share your journey.
Thank You

[roozle.livejournal.com]

Getting excited now, with you or about you and baby, or something!

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

I think I missed out on a lot of the strangers' comments, because about the time I started showing it got cold here, and every time I was out and about, I was usually bundled up in a heavy coat that mostly hid my middle. (And now - it's gorgeous out, but I'm not going much of anywhere.)

I mostly had co-workers touching my belly, and most of them asked first. I did have a work friend tell me the other day that she heard I wouldn't let one particular person touch my belly the week before. I don't remember the conversation (or really, even seeing that person), so there's a chance she asked to touch my belly and I didn't hear her or something.... (Of course, why this is news she's spreading around the office? I'll never know.)

At my appointment yesterday my fundal height was a centimeter less than the previous week, which they attributed to her moving down - plus the doctor definitely felt the head when she checked my cervix. Things are definitely shifting.