Granted I don't know how long that may last...the baby being head down that is! I am just thankful that the baby is actually, AND properly, head down. Usually if the baby is "head down", it has still been off to the side, or some unusual arrangement. But for now, it is in proper place. Though, there is still plenty of room for this kiddo to move and shake! This baby is following our "mommy's side of the family" stats. We only have 2 of our 7 kids that take after me. Although with Jonah he seems to be the only one who really seems to be a mix of us. The other ones? All daddy's side! The two that take after me have been on the small side at birth. Though, as I was just telling my sister, when it comes to Jed, I usually don't count him in any type of pregnancy/birth, or even normal childhood development, when I am comparing my children. You know how in high school math you learned that when making a graph and you have those far out lying points that don't seem to fit the data? And to 'fix' that you were to take those out lying points out of the equation? Yeah, that's how I feel when it comes to comparing anything with children and Jed :-)
Now, having said that, my smallest two were Jedidiah and Moira, both of which take after my side of the family. Not sure what Jed's "normal" weight would have been, but he was born at 5 and a half pounds. Moira was born at 6 and a half pounds. With both of those kiddos I measured 2 to 3 cm's "behind" (fundal height). With my 7 pounders I regularly measured 1 to 2 cm's behind, and with my 3 eight pounders I measured right on date. I've been in the dark as far as what I was truly measuring, since every appointment (save yesterday's) the baby has been transverse, which does not give a true, accurate measurement. But each of those appointments I was measuring 2 cm's behind. I was still concerned as Aubrey (my 3rd 8 pounder) was measuring 2 cm's behind the whole time he was transverse as well. When he flipped I started measuring on target.
Soooo, the midwife feels around, that baby had been breech just 2 days before, and declares it is head down! Then she pulls out the tape measure.....I start trembling (ok, not really, but it does add some drama don't you think?)...and the verdict?......I am measuring 3 cm's behind! Phew! I seriously was afraid of another 8 pounder! Not because 8 pounds is huge (and all my 8 pounders weighed in at exactly 8 pounds even), BUT they and my 7 pounders all had BIG heads. My two littles had normal sized heads. Normal sized heads are easier to push out, thankyouverymuch!!!!! Ha!
The other great thing about my appointment are the plans we made for my labor. I've talked to each midwife/doctor about what I usually experience with labor. But never before have we made any proactive plans! For example, I am one of those lucky women, who for some reason have very long transitions. Transition is one of the hardest parts of labor (except for me, which I would say pushing is the worst), and mine last for over an hour. A few of mine have been 2 hours long! This means that come pushing time I am already exhausted. And since all, but one, of my pushing times have been an hour or longer, this makes for one VERY exhausted mama! As a matter of fact with my last two baby's I could not even pick them up to hold them after delivery! I had to have my arms propped up with pillows to "hold" my baby because I was so utterly exhausted
So what does all of that mean? Well, I talked to my midwife about breaking my water when I hit transition, and I am 8 to 9 cm's with the baby's head engaged. No waiting 2 hours until we finally break the water to get to the pushing stage. Once my water breaks at that point it is only a matter of 1 to 3 contractions before I have to push. And speaking of pushing we are also going to be more proactive about positions once I know the baby has come down to the pub*c bone. With my past few it only took about 3 pushes to get them there, but then they just *stay* there, and stay there, and stay there, while I push my brains out to get them past that bone!!!
In all, we know every labor is different, and unpredictable. But, for the first time this pregnancy I am feeling more at peace about the birth. Having a plan of action, knowing we are going to do all we can *first* to make this go smoothly, I feel so much better!!! The thought of just going on and on and on with transition, or with pushing, pushing, pushing for hours truly has made for one fearful pregnancy. I actually feel I can enjoy the remaining (5 or less!!!) weeks of this pregnancy! Sad that it took me this long to remedy that. I feel bad about not really relishing this pregnancy (especially knowing that this may be our last....the clock is working against me now a days :-)). But I do plan on trying to really just enjoy these last few weeks.
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