39 Weeks

A healthy range of weight is between 5 pounds and 11 ounces and 8 pounds 5 ounces. Your baby is probably somewhere in this range now. The umbilical cord doesn’t have any nerve endings (this means that you and your baby will not feel any pain when it is cut!) and is about 20 inches long and about ½ inch thick. It’s pretty common for the umbilical cord to get knotted at this point, because things are so crowded inside the uterus.

All of your baby’s organs, including the lungs are ready for birth now. Your baby’s immune system is gaining strength at this point. Right now, you are probably very uncomfortable and can hardly stand the wait. Try to take it easy and rest when you can, long naps and reading can help you through the last few days of your pregnancy. Remember that very few babies are born on their due date.

I am blessed to not be uncomfortable, swollen or impatient about baby's arrival. I feel pretty much prepared and I am excited, but not increasingly desperate for the time to come. So far!

My energy levels are good, my sleep is interrupted more by the other kids than by being so pregnant, and while I do get some aches and pains they are intermittent and not overly bothersome.

Baby is moving well. I notice movement after most meals/snacks, and generally between 11-11:30pm. This baby seems to like to stretch his or her legs which makes for fun belly shapes. Wee3 also likes to punch. The punching doesn't feel so great.

I seem to have a pattern of getting a series of stronger contractions in the evenings. I like them because it makes me feel like things are happening behind the scenes.

I have been doing some emotional/spiritual preparation. Today I spent some time with A Celebration of Pregnancy booklet. I got it through a wonderful ministry called Blessing God's Way. The booklet lists a whole bunch of scripture which is particularly encouraging for pregnancy and childbirth. I have also been imagining how I see the birth going and how I see myself coping with the unexpected. I have also been talking to the baby about the birth and how a nice anterior position would be most comfortable for both of us.

Napping has been a bit tricky. Micah is starting to grow out of naps, so in the interest of a decent bedtime experience we have been taking power snoozes of about 30 minutes. I get a glimpse of teen-Micah when I try to wake him up after only half an hour.

Did I mention that Dr. Lopez said he and Lucia are not expecting a big baby? He figures long, but not "big". We will see shortly!!

Speaking of expecting, Andrew and I realized last night that we would both be very surprised if this baby were a girl. That said, we were convinced that Eva would be a boy, too. Got talked into it by people's predictions. I'm getting really excited to learn all about Wee3!!

Beginning of the End?

Nothing major going on here. But there are some signs that may indicate that my body is preparing for Wee3's grand entrance.

[Don't panic Mom- like I said nothing major. It could still be weeks.]

My driving skills are deteriorating. Today I pulled into a tight parking spot and scraped the side of the van on a pole. So dumb. I told Andrew maybe he should get me a driver for the next few weeks. That would be sweet.

I have had a slight backache the last couple of days.

Sometimes when I lay down I feel a little nauseous. That's probably just regular pregnancy stuff that I've been lucky enough to avoid until now. Possibly also related to the giant bowl of cereal I like to have just before bed. ;)

My groin and legs are sore off and on, so I assume my pelvis is loosening and opening up. Sometimes when the baby moves I get these crazy shooting pains down my thighs. It makes me jump!

My Braxton-Hicks contractions can get kind of uncomfortable, but I'm not sure that's a change necessarily. It may just be that I have a little less tolerance for them since I know I'm so close to the end. Also, the night before Micah was born I had semi-regular BHs, and they weren't uncomfortable at all. So it's a bit unexpected. Though the discomfort is largely because of the pressure it puts on my bladder.

In other news. I haven't heard from Lucia this week yet. I'm torn. Part of me wants to call her because I want to get the tub here so I can check it off my list. The other part of me just wants to avoid the whole non stress test thing.

I found out that Rhogam is in stock at a hospital downtown. It's $300 per dose. Nothing I ever thought about when I got it in Canada but yeah, it's not cheap. So that's good to know that it's available if we need it. Haven't had as much luck with the oral vitamin K. I did find something called Hemosin K which is available in syrup, but the lady at that pharmacy said it wasn't for newborns. Hm. I still have to get the stuff on Lucia's list. I should do that tomorrow.

What else.... well I think I have had my fill of comments about how big I am. It's been fine, but now I'm done.

Doctor Visit

I saw Dr. Lopez yesterday. I'm so glad I didn't waste too much energy on worrying about stuff. (Yes, I had some concerns, but I didn't lose sleep over them.) He is feeling good, pain free and moving well. The reason he didn't come to the meeting last week is because he didn't have permission from his surgeon; he was still on bed rest. He says he is still enthusiastic about the home birth.

I came with a list of questions and he answered them mostly to my satisfaction. The only outstanding question is about the dosage and formulation of the Rhogam shot but he told me where I can get the information I want. He had an interesting reason for feeling strongly about me getting the shot postpartum if Baby is Rh+. He said that if for some reason in the future I need an emergency blood transfusion and they don't have Rh- blood available they could still give me O+ blood safely as long I have not already been sensitized. Hm.

Last time I saw him he had said he wanted to do an ultrasound. I told him I would give it some thought and I have indeed spent quite a bit of time thinking and doing additional research. I had eventually come to the conclusion that I would decline it. But he didn't even bring it up!

We did discuss and disagree on a couple of things. He believes that a single clamp should be applied once the cord stops pulsing since the baby will be up above the level of the placenta and gravity will cause blood to drain out of the baby and back into the placenta, causing anemia in the baby. My research indicates that once the baby has reached optimal blood volume, there is a reflexive closure of the umbilical blood vessels. So probably it's a moot point, since by the time Dr. Lopez wants to clamp the vessels would have closed themselves already. But I would prefer to keep the cord unclamped and uncut until after the placenta has been delivered.

The other point we disagreed upon was cervical checks. I don't want any, but he would like to do between one and three. To be sure I'm not in false labour, or way beyond where I think I am or seem to be. He has seen both cases fairly recently. It is for his own preparation and I appreciate that. He'd rather not be hanging around my house if I'm at 2cm, or be too relaxed and unprepared if I'm complete but coping so well that no one can tell. Again, I know that we don't always know how labour will go but I think that most likely I will know and they will be able to tell well enough how far along I am without doing an internal exam. And really, it's not the end of the world if either situation occurs. We left that one unresolved for the time being.

Andrew's advice was to concede on a few points so that the doctor can come into the birth feeling comfortable. Andrew makes a good point. On the other hand, I am not making these choices out of principle or stubbornness. I truly believe them to be the best choices for our baby. So I'm not inclined to compromise on anything. But then if our birth attendants are not totally comfortable that itself introduces an element of risk. So it's worth considering making a compromise or two.

I haven't gained any weight since I saw him three weeks ago. I've put on 30lbs total. My blood pressure was 100/70. Baby's heart rate was 128. I was a little surprised that it was lower than the 140's it has usually been at but he thought that was fine. He said Wee3 is for sure head down (whoohoo!). But floating quite free still. Head was much higher than where Lucia found it. Interesting. But it's not uncommon for baby #2+ to drop/engage right at the time labour rather than weeks ahead like with baby #1. He was happy with my blood and urine test results.

He wants me to have a non-stress test next week. They measure baby's heart rate and reaction to any contractions for 30 minutes. It also measures the health of the placenta. In Canada this is typically done when baby is overdue or if there are complications with the pregnancy. He would like to do it because he said it gives him quite a good insight into how baby will handle labour. He said it doesn't involve any ultrasound or anything. I did a little research and unless Lucia has a different kind of machine, it appears that the baby's heart rate is indeed measured by a doppler ultrasound. I'll be looking into it a little further.

In other news, I'm back to feeling really good!

Birth Attendant Home Visit

Lucia and the pediatrician, Dr. Luis Flores, just left. Dr. Lopez didn't come because he's still recovering from his back surgery. That worries me a bit, and I'll discuss it more later on in the post.

Let me start with an on-the-record apology to my family. I slept in a bit this morning and during that time I dreamed that the team came over for this meeting but the house was a wreak and I was so upset and embarrassed. The bed wasn't even made. The playroom was a disaster. And Andrew had decided to revamp the living room configuration into something that was hugely aesthetically displeasing. I was mad at my family and mad at myself for letting it happen and the anger carried right into my real morning. Sorry family, for being so grumpy and impatient and curt this morning. I shouldn't have slept in if I was so concerned about getting the house in shape for visitors. I really wanted the house to look orderly and clean for this visit, because these people are doing something out of the ordinary on our behalf and I wanted them to feel very comfortable with their decision to attend our home birth.

Anyway we got the house cleaned up to my satisfaction, the kids went to Xochi's house to play while we had the meeting, and the meeting itself went quite well. We went over the list of supplies and who was responsible for what items. Then we toured the house. I had thought that we would put the tub in the front entrance but we decided to put it in our walk-in closet. Not as weird as it might sound. It's actually a walk-through closet. We walk through it from our bedroom on the way to our bathroom. Which means that I have shower, toilet and bed all nearby, and it's a nice intimate setting. Not the best for photos unfortunately. But I'm confident my highly motivated husband will figure something out. I'm sure it will include hanging some sort of backdrop. I can see it now... it's 3am, I'm in the throes of labour, and Andrew is hammering nails into the cement walls so he can get nice photos. Which of course I'll be glad we have after the fact, but possibly not so much at the time.

The neighbors also might not be so happy with this plan if I give birth in the middle of the night. But I've put up with a party or two so they can put up with some birthing noises (and some hammering) ;)

The pediatrician seemed quite relaxed with the home birth and with my low-intervention preferences. He thought it would be fine to wait on the vitamin K injection and just watch baby for any sign of hemorrhage. When I mentioned oral vitamin K he put it in my court so I am going to follow up on that. The oral application seems like a good compromise to me, plus ensuring that I have lots of vitamin K rich food in my diet.

About the OB. He had his surgery 2.5 weeks ago. I spoke to him a week later and he was feeling great and said that his recovery was ahead of schedule. He expected to be back in action two weeks after his surgery. So I was surprised to hear that he couldn't be here today. I think he may have overdone it or something in the last few days. Yikes. Of course I wish him a full and speedy recovery for his own sake. And also of course I'm a little concerned about what this might mean for my birth, especially if Wee3 decides to come a little earlier than we expect.

But there's not much I can (/will) do to influence Wee3's birth day and there's nothing I can do to influence Dr. Lopez's recovery. All I can do is continue to pray that God blesses this birth. I think we do have a backup OB, but I don't really like that element of the unknown. That said, Andrew expressed again that he is more than willing to protect our birth plans if things start to go off track without good medical reason.

On Tuesday Lucia will pop by with the hose from the tub so we can make sure that it fits my plumbing. The following Tuesday we will pick up the tub and stash it here in the house.

Before Lucia left I had her check baby's position again. It was the same as last time... at first she thought that baby was breech. Then she really dug in low and felt fairly sure that she had identified a head. I believe it that Baby's head is really low because I am feeling it in my ligaments, muscles and nerves. I sometimes get shooting pains down my thighs and I have to be a little careful how I move and turn otherwise I get very sore in my groin area.

Wee3, we trust you and our Lord to choose the perfect birth date. We will do our best to provide you with a gentle, peaceful, safe entry to this world, and we trust that God is in control even if the circumstances aren't exactly as we planned. We love you so much and we can't wait to meet you!

A Little Worked Up

I'm feeling much better today, but the last few days I have been a little stressed. I've been trying, semi-successfully, to keep it under control. Then yesterday a friend suggested that perhaps I might have polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid) given that I seem large for dates, I have trouble figuring out baby's position, and baby has been breech. A reasonable suggestion, and one I appreciated her bringing up, from the point of view that it's something I would want to know before going into labour.

So I've been praying and I've been researching and I've been looking forward to today's visit with Lucia.

The prayers helped... by the time I got up this morning I was feeling much more peaceful.

The research in some ways eased my mind and in other ways worried me more. Many cases of polyhydramnios are for reasons unknown. Other causes could be any number of conditions of the central nervous system, heart or kidneys, in which the baby either can't swallow properly or produces too much urine. Whatever the reason, polyhydramnios can lead to premature labour/rupture of membranes, prolapsed cord, placental abruption... all very not good things. Signs of polyhydramnios include shiny, tight belly (doesn't describe mine), breech baby (because baby can float around so easily), difficulty identifying baby parts during palpation (I think I am just inexperienced and not gifted at this vs not being able to find baby parts. Neither Lucia nor Dr. Lopez has had any difficulty identifying baby's position), difficulty finding a heartbeat (never a problem), heartburn (not a problem), swollen legs (mine get slightly swollen, but not extreme and it only makes sense that it is heat related given the heat here), varicose veins (not a problem).

Of course the idea that my baby might have an abnormality is stressful, and the idea that it might cause problems during birth is disconcerting to say the least. But the good news is that most women with polyhydramnios go on to deliver healthy babies.

We saw Lucia today. She palpated and quickly discovered that the baby was full on head up. She laid a rebozo (a rectangular piece of fabric traditionally used as a shawl or a baby sling) on the floor and had me lay on my back on top of it. She and Andrew each took an end, lifted my bottom/middle about a foot off the floor, gave it a little shake to disengage the baby from my pelvis, then wiggled me by alternately pulling on the ends of the rebozo, for about 10 strokes. Lucia checked after that and baby had rotated a quarter turn! Cool.

She didn't express any concerns about my size or how my belly felt, and she seemed fairly relaxed about baby's position. Obviously we'd all be reassured if baby were in a favorable position, but it is good news I think that baby doesn't seem to be locked into breech.

I asked her a little more about everyone's role at the birth. Lucia will be a doula. She will be concerned with my emotional and physical well being- comfort measures, making sure I'm hydrated and fed, etc. She will spend the most time with us. Dr. Lopez will be there, I assume from the time active labour gets well underway, for medical support. He will watch for any developing complications, suture if needed, etc. The pediatrician will be called when the birth is imminent, and will be there for the baby, to give medical attention to the baby if needed, and to perform the newborn exam.

I'm feeling a little better about not having met the pedi yet. Andrew is totally on board with what I want and more than willing to run interference if the pedi (or Dr. Lopez for that matter) wants to take baby before I'm ready or perform some sort of intervention I don't want.

I did mention to Lucia that I don't want the baby vigorously cleaned up after the birth, just covered to stay warm (like that will be a problem if this heat continues!). I've seen lots of birth videos where baby is briskly rubbed, wailing, and imagine that is not a happy time for baby. There's no harm in leaving the babe vernixy and even a little bloody. In fact, from what I understand the vernix is terrific skin conditioner. :)

We talked also about home birth supplies and I'm in pretty good shape. I got the absorbent bed pads at the store yesterday, and Lucia told me that Depends make great postpartum pads. She thought we might be able to get the pharmacy at the entrance to our area to have an order ready for pickup if we need it, so we wouldn't have to purchase things we wouldn't necessarily need. She told me to get a 30cm wide tensor bandage for belly binding so that answers that question. I also tried the plastic sheet yesterday and it covers the bottom half of the bed completely so I think that will be good.

We'll have our care provider meeting here at the house a week from Sunday. I will be 36.5 weeks. A little closer than I'd like but I think it will be fine. It gives me a little more time to get the house a bit more organized as well.

So, I left feeling pretty good. I'll still be curious like crazy to know about baby's position but there are things that we can do to encourage baby to turn vertex and then I'll just have to leave the rest of it in God's hands.

Prenatal Class

Today was a speedy class because one of our classmates is in labour and Lucia had to head out to support her. She is 40 weeks today. She was VERY ready to meet her baby and has been hoping labour would start sooner than later. I saw her today at the doctor's office and she was still status quo, but by the time I got to class at 7pm she was heading for the hospital. How exciting!

The info part of today's class was a video of a c-section. I had a lot of trouble watching. I felt stressed, tense, and upset. I felt bad subjecting Wee3 to those stress hormones. There were two aspects to my feelings. The first was empathy for the baby and mother. The film didn't even show the mother's face until right at the end. All we saw was the surgical site. I felt terrible that she was so detached from what was happening. I know that in some hospitals they will lower the drape so Mom can see the baby emerge. Then I felt bad for the baby who was pulled out, immediately detached from his/her lifeline and mother, handed to a stranger, suctioned, scrubbed clean, left laying alone between procedures. I longed on behalf of that baby for some skin-to-skin contact, some warmth, some familiarity. What an abrupt and I'd imagine frightening transition to this world! The other reason I got upset was thinking about how things could be for me and my baby if we ended up needing a surgical delivery. I asked Dr. Lopez a little about it today; in particular whether Andrew could be in the OR during surgery. He said he would have no problem with it but hospital policy is no. He did say that it might be possible to request an exception. The idea of undergoing emergency surgery all alone upsets me greatly. I know that I would cope by detaching emotionally and I don't know how easy it would be to re-engage and bond with our new baby. And the idea that Andrew wouldn't be there to hold my hand and then advocate for the baby... turns my stomach.

These are things that we will address during our meeting with our attendants so we can have as much influence as possible on procedures and protocols, and provide our baby with as gentle a birth as possible under the circumstances. Until then I won't stress about it. But I do want to address it so that we can have an opportunity to choose where choice exists.

Grrrrrrrrrreat Prenatal Appointment!!

All signs of urinary tract infection are gone! I was dreading the possibility of needing antibiotics so that was a relief. Seems that the vitamin C tablets and copious amounts of cranberry juice did the trick. That or the sterile sample container vs the jam jar I used for the first lab test ;)

My blood pressure was good at 110/70, though perhaps slightly elevated due to the doctor's scale indicating a 22 pound weight gain since my first appointment!!! Definitely wrong. Most definitely incorrect. Heart good, kidneys good, reflexes good, no edema, fundus height bang on. Baby's movements very good. Too early to detect a heartbeat with a stethoscope unfortunately, but the movements tell most of the story.

I passed along my Dr. Sarah J. Buckley Gentle Birth, Gentle Mothering book with a few chapters marked for his special attention (Ultrasounds, Undisturbed Birth, and Third Stage). He seemed interested in reading through it. He is also planning to attend the conference in Monterrey at the beginning of May at which she will be speaking. I'm SUPER DUPER EXCITED to be planning to attend this conference.

Then we talked. I told him that I have been thinking, dreaming and praying about the birth... and I am seeing it at home. His response? "Why not?" My heart leaped! I love how this has fallen into place so naturally. At first I received a lukewarm response to the idea from Andrew, Dr. Lopez and from Lucia. I didn't want to push for anything with which my support team was not comfortable so I focused on planning a waterbirth in hospital. But every time I thought about having this baby, I was labouring in water at home. I have even been looking at appropriate kiddie pools and daydreaming about it while I'm grocery shopping. I spoke again with Andrew about it a while ago and he was much more open to it, quite supportive in fact. Dr. Lopez's response seals it.

We are officially planning a home birth!

For those who are concerned about my and the baby's safety, here is a link that might help to ease your mind: http://www.gentlebirth.org/format/myths.html

I am thrilled for so many reasons. I won't have to endure the uncomfortable drive to the hospital or dance through contractions while trying to answer questions about who I am and how I'm paying or deal with the limbo that is triage. I will be able to focus entirely on relaxing into the process of birth and letting my body do the work God designed it to do. I won't need to worry about childcare (assuming Mom can be here at the time that baby chooses to join us on the outside). Eva and Micah will get a chance to witness the miracle of birth if they choose. We will all five get to climb into our deliciously cozy bed and get to know the new member of our family very soon after he or she is born. I will have my own food, my own bathroom, my own familiar spaces and things, my whole family surrounding me during and afterward. There is less risk of infection and unnecessary intervention. With no hospital staff waking us up to poke and prod us, baby and I will be able to enjoy the beautiful undisturbed restorative sleep of two people who have worked hard and need the rest. (I experienced this with Micah, coming home a few hours after his 1pm birth; that first night was a wonderful gift).

My hope and desire is for a straightforward, undisturbed birth and I believe I am doing my part to that end: nutrition, education, exercise and prayer. In the event that this birth requires medical help, I will have three skilled and prepared caregivers in attendance (midwife, OB/gyn and Pediatrician) and a top quality hospital within 15 minutes drive.

WOW I'm excited. :D

Doctor Appointment

I finally made an appointment with the doctor that the midwife recommended. It's on Saturday morning. I have been going over in my head what I will say to him. I feel strongly about keeping the interventions to a minimum during this pregnancy and birth. I don't want to go forward with any test or procedure that may disturb or potentially harm my baby (or me!) unless the benefits clearly outweigh the risk. But I don't want to come across as a crazy lady and alienate this doctor either. The culture here is very medicalized and I doubt many people question their doctors' recommendations. So I want to choose my words and timing carefully.

I haven't completely decided what to do about ultrasound. I expect that he will want to give me one on Saturday. If I were in Winnipeg, a midwife would be using a doppler to listen for the baby's heartbeat. That instrument also uses ultrasound waves, but a doppler is continuous, whereas ultrasound is intermittent. Which means that exposure is actually higher from a doppler.

What is the risk, you may ask? Doesn't everyone get at least one ultrasound and plenty of dopplers?

There are a number of possible risks. These include cell damage from the waves and from the temperature increase caused by the scan. Also because they are sound waves it is possible that the baby can actually hear them and that may be very disturbing to the baby.

Unhindered Living cites a number of studies:

Newnham, J.P., Evans, S.F., Michael, C.A., Stanley, F.J., & Landau, L. I. (1993). Effects of Frequent Ultrasound During Pregnancy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The Lancet, 342(Oct.9), 887-891.

A study of over 1400 women in Perth, Western Australia compared pregnant mothers who had ultrasound only once during gestation with mothers who had five monthly ultrasounds from 18 weeks to 38 weeks. They found significantly higher intrauterine growth restriction in the intensive ultrasound group. These mothers gave birth to lower weight babies.

The researchers concluded that prenatal ultrasound imaging and Doppler flow exams should be restricted to clinically necessary situations. This recommendation comes at a time when ultrasound during prenatal visits has become increasingly popular and serves as a kind of entertainment feature of office check-up visits.


Campbell, J.D., Elford, R.W. & Brant, R.F. (1993). Case-Controlled Study of Prenatal Ultrasound Exposure in Children with Delayed Speech. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 149(10), 1435-1440.

Delayed speech is not a pathological or organic syndrome but developmentally defined symptom complex. Clinicians have noted an increased incidence of delayed speech in pediatric patients.

This is a matched-case control study of 72 children 2 to 8 years old presenting with delayed speech of unknown cause. The children were measured for articulation, language comprehension, language production, meta-linguisticskills, and verbal memory. When checked for ultrasound exposure, the speech-delayed children were about twice as likely to have been exposed to ultrasound than the matched controls.

The authors believe that delayed speech is a sensitive measure reflecting sub-optimal conditions for development. If ultrasound can cause developmental delays, the authors are concerned about the routine use of ultrasound and they warn against it.


Devi, P.U., Suresh, R., & Hande, M.P. (1995). Effect of fetal exposure to ultrasound on the behavior of the adult mouse. Radiat Res (QMP), 141(3), 314-7.

Pregnant Swiss albino mice were exposed to diagnostic ultrasound. There were significant alterations in behavior in all three exposed groups as revealed by the decreased locomotor and exploratory activity and the increase in the number of trials needed for learning. These results indicate that ultrasound exposure during the early fetal period can impair brain function in the adult mouse.


If I have no ultrasounds during this pregnancy, we won't have a chance to hear the baby's heartbeat until at 16-20 weeks, when a fetoscope or normal stethoscope could pick it up. Will my caregiver even own a fetoscope? If no ultrasounds are given, the caregiver will need to be hands on, palpating my abdomen and doing fundal measurements instead of relying on ultrasound technology. Will he be comfortable or willing? How much experience would he even have? The OB/Gyn I saw when I was pregnant with Micah never touched me except to help me on and off the exam table.

The benefits of routine ultrasound are a double-edged sword. Ultrasound is used to screen for abnormalities. An "all's clear" can give families a wonderful sense of relief and well-being. Unfortunately the false-positive rate is very high. Stories proliferate about families who underwent substantial stress due to the diagnosis of an abnormality, and then went on to have perfect babies.

How often does ultrasound detect something where that something can actually be treated and corrected? I can't think of many cases. I know one woman whose baby was diagnosed with a diaphragmatic hernia. (This diagnosis caused A LOT of stress for the family, because the survival rate with this condition is quite low.) The diagnosis allowed for arrangements to be made for the baby to have surgery shortly after birth- and he today he is perfect!!

In my mind, then, this is what it boils down to:

I have had two healthy babies. I am a healthy person. There is no reason to believe that this baby has any sort of abnormality. Chances of us being able to do anything about a potential abnormality before birth are very low. I would rather be able to enjoy this pregnancy to the end than spend much of it stressing out about possible problems. Stress is known to have a negative effect on pregnancy and baby. I believe that the risk from an ultrasound scan itself exceeds the risk from not finding out about some sort of abnormality. Therefore I am inclined to refuse ultrasound (and doppler) scans.

The complicating factor may be if this doctor has little hands-on experience and skill. If he would be unable to diagnose through palpation, for instance, that the baby were transverse (lying across the uterus instead of head down), then the risk of refusing ultrasound may indeed exceed the risk of having it. BUT, that ultrasound wouldn't have to take place until the baby were full term, and therefore somewhat less vulnerable.

The What Have I Done Panic

I had a flash of panic the other day. It started to really sink in that along with the amazing blessings a new baby brings, I also have another stretch of limited freedom of movement, poonamis, possible colic, entertainment unit fiddling and cupboard rummaging in my future. And us parents will be outnumbered. Am I truly prepared for what a third child means to me and to our family? Well who knows. But that's all part of the package. Lots of other people have been through it and come out the other side, and the baby years pass more quickly with each child, I think.

Also, I am praying for a baby who enjoys sleep. One who thinks sleep is just as great as learning stuff and eating and playing.

We'll see what God has in the works for us! I trust that He will help us through every challenge and I pray that I can recognize and appreciate every single blessing, even the ones that don't seem like blessings at the time.