Pregnancy Swear Words: "41 weeks"

My entire family is anxiously, eagerly, impatiently waiting for the arrival of our newest member, who was due to exit my sister's womb ONE WHOLE EXCRUCIATING WEEK AGO. If you've ever been pregnant for a full 40 weeks, you are groaning with empathy over her having to go one SECOND over her due date, let alone a full week (and counting...).

Those last few weeks of pregnancy suck, there's no other way to put it. You can't move, you can't breathe, you can't eat half of what's on your plate because your belly's too squished and the heartburn's too bad. You spend all your time peeing and sighing and waddling around with one hand on your lower back and the other in a tightly wound fist shaking it at the guy who knocked you up because this level of discomfort suuuucks and you know it's only going to get (much) worse before it gets better.

The worst part about those last few weeks is that everyone tells you that the baby could come ANY TIME NOW. The OB, your husband, your mother, and all your well-meaning Facebook friends will assure you that they all know someone's neighbor's aunt who went into labor a full three weeks early with no complications and you could totally follow in that lucky lady's footsteps because it really does happen. People tell you this so much that you start to believe them. Plus you're so uncomfortable by Week 37 that it actually starts to feel like Week 40, and you start checking the calendar eight times a day, recalculating just in case the OB messed up way back in Week 12 and you really ARE at 40 weeks instead of 37.

But you're not, and days go by and nothing happens. You don't go into labor like that neighbor's aunt's sister's friend, and so you start to try to use reverse psychology on yourself, telling yourself that you quite possibly will NEVER go into labor -- that way when you DO feel that first real contraction (which you still secretly hope will be in the next 5 minutes, even if you've still got 2 weeks til your due date), you'll be pleasantly surprised instead of It's About Damn Time.

But again, for many of us, nada. Those darn Braxton Hicks contractions are just God's little sense of humor poking through the clouds, making you get all excited and nervous and "Hey, wait, what's this? And this? And this? Honey! Is the bag packed?? Because ... I think .... wait....never mind."

So if you're one of those unfortunate souls [**raises two hands**] who actually woke up on your due date STILL PREGNANT, you remember that incredulous "I cannot believe I'm still carrying this child inside of me" feeling.

To add to that fact, she's got a very active 4-year-old (I know, redundant phrasing, right?) that she's been trying to chase after (um, I'm using the term "chase" loosely here...). Just thinking about her situation makes me need a nap.

Sis delivered her firstborn son 10 DAYS after his due date, and for that, she's a freakin' hero in my book. For her sake, let's all pray this one doesn't wait quite that long. Hugs and prayers to ya, sis. Can't wait to meet the little peanut. :)

(Also a big shoutout and fist bump to my pal Heather, who has another baby who didn't get the memo that it was time to come out and play already! She was due Sunday, Aug. 2, and is still hangin' in there. Love you girl...now waddle on back to bed.)

7 comments:

Heather said...

Sigh ...

Jessie Weaver said...

I've said often that around week 38 I was ready to do my own c-section with an exacto knife.

It's SO hard!

I gave birth at 40 weeks, 1 day. Thank God, or I might have ripped my husband to pieces.

Unknown said...

And then there are those whackos like me who are determined to go PAST their due date, PLAN on it rather, and end up waking up with their water breaking and not a contraction to be seen days before being due. I know, you hate me for that one.

And with Turk I freaked out with having to be induced early for medical reasons because I really had another timeline in my head!

Thanksfully we have that mommy amnesia or would anyone EVER have more than one child?

Heather said...

I can relate, Dylan came 10 days past her due date. At first I thought, well this is just my luck, ha ha funny, ok lets get on with it. That was 5 days past my due date.I can't even explain my mental state, when I finally went into labor on my own, 10 days after, and 1 day before my scheduled induction. It's just not fair!

Robyn said...

=) and Heather - I remember both of your situations very well. Soooo jealous of =) (weren't we all?!) and then felt soooo sorry for Heather. Good news is, the end result was the same for all of us -- healthy babies! Some just took their sweet time...

Lyn said...

Leah was three days overdue...I remember riding to the hospital VERY early in labor and telling my husband that he better be ready to start knocking people out because if they told me it was "false labor" and to go back home, there was going to be some VIOLENCE!!

Meagan Francis said...

Oh, I know what you mean here! Of my five kids, four were "late". Two of those were CONSIDERABLY (like nearly two weeks) late. I'd get calls with people saying things like "When are you going to have that baby already?" (as though I was holding back just to inconvenience them) or "So, Friday would be a good day to have your baby..." (um, okay, I'll schedule it in, I guess?)

No day can go by as slowly as a day that's past that 40-week mark.