41 weeks

one gorgeous week overdue.
I admit. I went through many phases this week. acceptance. grouchiness. anger. frustration. desperation.
I've walked up and down our gigantic hill in our compound a bunch of times. I ate bowls of pineapple. I've paced and swayed and had lovely hot showers and crawled around on my hands and knees. I've done the "needful" with jamie.

if you don't like words like "mucus" and "blood" stop reading now. you've been warned.

I was getting a bit discouraged because unlike my other two pregnancies, I hadn't lost my mucus plug yet or lost much mucus at all. with noah I lost my mucus plug 4 days before he was born. with jude I think it was 2 days. to me, it's been somewhat of a "sign" that things are happening. so to not see it is discouraging.
this morning I've lost a bit of mucus which is a good thing. hopefully things will pick up.

right now there's a student meeting/retreat going on in our living room today; I can hear the clapping and singing and laughter and it makes me smile. baby B may not show up today, but if he does, he'll have a warm reception, that's for sure.

my latest plan that will likely not come to fruition;
if I am still pregnant on Monday, I will go to the hospital a couple hours early, get my ultrasound scan done and then meet with my doctor for my appointment with him at 11:30. as long as all is well with me and baby B I am going to push for the doctor to give me a stretch and sweep, since I've completed my full dosage of antibiotics {as he was concerned that I was GBS+ and didn't want to possibly push any bacteria further up and infect baby B}. I'm also going to push that I am not induced by any drugs until at least 42 weeks, as long as baby is okay. and depending on which dates he is going by, this could be either next Saturday (the 15th) or as late as the following Wednesday (the 19th!) depending on which dates my doctor is going by.

But let's all hope and pray that I announce the arrival of baby B before Monday at 11:30!

pretty feet

Last night I ate a huge bowl of pineapple after reading online that it contains some sort of something that can induce labour {I'm full of useful information, eh?}. A long shot, but worth a try seeing as we had an ice cream tub full of cut, fresh, delicious, Ugandan pineapple. I had another bowl this morning, too.
It's taking me longer to fall asleep these nights. I toss and turn and get up and pee and go back to bed and toss and turn some more before I have to go pee again and then finally fall asleep at some point.
And baby B is still moving a fair bit, but after googling it, babies don't necessarily stop or slow down in movements, but rather the type of movement can change. From kicking and punching to more shifting and "scuffling" is what one website called it. Well, I have both. The punching and the shifting. So there's that.
And almost always while I'm trying to fall asleep.
Today we went out for lunch and then me and Lisa got pedicures.
*insert sigh of relief*
My tootsies were in dire need of a pedi and they look fabulous now. Also I heard foot massage {although the place we went could use a little lesson in giving  l o n g e r  foot massages} can be good for inducing labour?
I also took my last antibiotic pill this morning so yep. Any time now, baby.
Perhaps I'll even have a shower tonight and then blow dry my hair in the hopes that he'll come tonight/tomorrow and I'll be all perty and fresh.
Also? There's a baby pool set up on the side bar. Feel free to enter a guess if you haven't already!
Lots of people guessed September 3rd which would be LOVELY.
My mango {all four of them!} is all cut up and in the freezer {it's become a favourite ice-cream alternative for me - plus it helps with, er, digestive issues I've been experiencing lately}.
Maybe I should start crocheting a baby blanket or something.
Hmmm, that's not a bad idea!
So that's my rambling for today. No baby. Just pretty feet.

some disappointment and some good stuff

So Jamie and I met with Dr. B today. After waiting over an hour to see him {and hoping it's my last appointment before we meet baby B} we finally sat down across from him in his office.
My blood pressure was high from when the nurse took it, so he took it again. When the nurse took it, it was 148/90 and then when the doctor took it, it was 130/80. The top number was slightly high for him so he said I need to get my blood pressure taken again next week and then we'll see where we go from there. In hindsight I shouldn't have had that cup of coffee this morning.

So no more caffeine for me, cutting back on sugar and trying to just take lots of deep breaths when my boys are both yelling at each other and me at the same time and I'm about to blow a gasket.
Hopefully that will help.

He didn't really have the doppler turned up so we couldn't really hear baby B's heartbeat very loudly, but he did keep moving it around as I knew B was moving quite a bit prior to the appointment.
He said the baby's head is down and engaged {hooray!} and he's more to my left side, than my right, but not posterior anymore {I figured he wouldn't be as he moves SO MUCH!}.

He said he could prescribe me some oral antibiotics to take care of the GBS so I don't have to get hooked up to an IV - hooray! That was definite good news and relieves some of the pressure I was feeling about getting to the hospital ASAP. I took my first pill tonight.

Unfortunately when I inquired about possibly getting a stretch and sweep he declined due to me being GBS+. I didn't want to be one of those know-it-all pregnant women and say that my midwives did 3 on me when I was pregnant and GBS+ with Jude. It's his prerogative and he just didn't feel like it was a good option with the GBS and the possibility of the bacteria creeping further up or being spread around or something. Now I'm just praying that God makes this baby come in good time and that I don't need any interventions.

He also prescribed me iron supplements which of course the pharmacy didn't have at the hospital so I'll have to get Jamie to pick me up some at another pharmacy. Hopefully tomorrow so I can start taking them.

And then I found out he's not counting my due date as September 1st!!! He's going by the day of my last period {as opposed to the ultrasound scan} which would put me at September 5th being my due date. WHAT?!? Psh. I'm still going by the 1st.
Anyway, so he mentioned at September 15th as a possible induction date {yech.} but if I'm still pregnant by September 15th I'll give myself a stretch and sweep.

Anyway so we booked my next appointment with him for the 10th and I told him I hope to meet him in the labour ward the next time I see him and not his office.

So I secretly was hoping for a stretch and sweep today, but no dice.
But I am encouraged to know that B's head is down and ready.

Oh and the doctor also asked how big my last baby was and said that this one is going to be a bigger one as well. My personal thoughts are that he's going to be 8lbs something, but I'm praying no more than that. I just think I was so much bigger when I was pregnant with Jude! But maybe I'll weigh myself after this because I'm pretty sure I have put on {or baby B has, at least!} more weight in the last couple weeks.

Anyway, so that's that. My 39 week + 3 day appointment. Or if you're going by the doctor's calculations, my 38 week + 6 day appointment. Psh.

again...

So I heard back from Dr. B.
Unfortunately I have low iron and am GBS+. Again.
And he wants to see me tomorrow (but despite my text asking him when tomorrow, I haven't heard back, so it might be deferred until my appointment with him next week? not sure.) so in the meantime I'm probably going to get onto iron supplements which is not going to help with the C-train that I've been riding off and on for the last couple weeks. Boo.
Fiber is my new best friend.

But I'm still getting tons of movement from Mr. Uganda (as our friend James refers to him which I think is hilarious). And yesterday and today I had a couple bouts of some pretty intense "twinges". I hesitate to call them contractions as I don't want to make you think that labour is imminent, but more that my body is just getting ready. Makes me wonder if I'll go pretty fast once he does decide to come. At one point I put my head on the back of the couch, stuck my butt out, and swayed back and forth for a minute or two.

Jude and Noah wanted to know what I was doing. They thought I was being funny. Perhaps I did look it.

It also made me think that I needed to talk more to them about what will happen when Jamie and I go to the hospital, but I don't want them to think I'm going to the hospital every time I walk out the door (which they already do and Noah thought I was telling him because tomorrow I'm going to the hospital to have the baby).  But we went through what would happen if we had to leave in the middle of the night and how Nick/Lisa would be staying with them and helping them with getting dressed and eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, etc.

I even made "Big Brother Bags" last night for fun and put in a few snacks, stickers and a new card game for each of them (Memory for Jude and Crazy 8's for Noah) which they'll get at some point - either once we're gone or if they come to visit us in the hospital (depending on how long I'm there for).

A couple nights ago I lay in bed thinking, "I'm not ready!" Not that I'm scared, but more just a realization of how far along I am already! I'm 38.5 weeks! How did I get here so quickly?!?
But the bassinet/pack 'n play is set up and my bags are packed and Nick is here, so...I guess it's just a matter of time although I'm fully expecting to go over due again and not feeling so grumpy about waiting as I was with Jude.

There's the update! Today was our one year anniversary of living in Uganda. We all went out for breakfast. I had a delicious latte and a waffle with ice cream. Ya that's right. Ice cream for breakfast. Boo yah.