Lesson Learned (Do Not Wear Too-Tight Pants When You are 38 weeks Pregnant and it is Remotely Warm Out)

Today I had what could quite possibly have been my second last midwife appointment, or my last—and it was short! I said to Tim as we were leaving, “I guess they don’t have anything to talk to me about anymore!” Katrina and Jenny spent a lot of the time just asking us if we were ready and telling us what to do when labour starts. They also asked if we had a birth plan written out that they should see. I did actually have one, once upon a time, but over the course of the pregnancy we’ve actually discussed most of the things that were on it and generally I’m okay with how the midwives tend to do things. The things that are a little bit irksome (ie. the antibiotic eye goo) I have no choice about. So I guess basically we’re going to wing it with just a little “cheat sheet” referencing some techniques from the relaxation program I’ve been doing throughout the pregnancy.

As usual, everything Katrina and Jenny checked was fine (blood pressure, fetal heart rate, positioning). It seemed that they were especially aggressive while poking my belly today (which wasn’t entirely pleasant) and Katrina explained that she was trying to see if she could get the baby’s head to move, which she couldn’t. So the head is “fixed” in my pelvis, though she says that it hasn’t entirely dropped yet. This gave her the impression that the birth is not immanent. She seemed pretty confident when she told me at the end of the appointment that I would probably not be having the baby this weekend.

After the appointment, Tim and I headed over to Canadian Tire to pick up a water pump to pump out the pool. We did actually get the siphon to work the other night, but soon realized that a) we couldn’t just stand there for hours and hours dangling the hose out the window while the pool emptied and b) we wouldn’t be able to use this technique after the birth anyway; that water will be too nasty to run down the side of the building. So we bought a small pump that is used for outdoor ponds. It was the cheapest one and though it isn’t very powerful, neither of us really care how long it takes to pump the pool out afterwards. The small pump will be nice and quiet so we won’t even notice.

Walking over to the Canadian Tire and then to Subway for lunch afterwards was hot. I think today is the hottest day of 2005 so far and boy am I glad that I’m not going to be pregnant for much longer as it continues to heat up here. At this point, the maternity pants I got from a lady on Freecycle are pretty tight and uncomfortable to sit down in. This combined with the hot weather made for a pretty grumpy Selena today; but Tim was great, helping me pick things up off the floor, ordering lunch and generally taking care of everything. Oh, and I encountered a major pregnancy milestone on the way home on the subway. A lady actually noticed that I’m pregnant and offered me her seat! This is the first time anyone has actually publicly noticed! I declined her offer, however, since sitting down in those dreadful pants might have caused my head to explode.