As many of you can just imagine, as I’m nearing my due date, I’m getting more and more anxious to just have this baby already! I’m big, I’m uncomfortable, I’m hot, I’m…{insert 3rd trimester symptom here]. The words, “I’m so ready to have this baby” tend to slip out pretty often. So, I was reminded last week of just how powerful the words you speak can be sometimes. Here’s what happened:
My week started off pretty normal. I had my usual doctor’s appointment coming up on Tuesday and looking forward to a pretty smooth sailing visit. Well, at my appointment, the doctor decided that my belly wasn’t measuring as large as the “average.” I wasn’t alarmed at all. The baby seemed fine and as I recall, I’m even bigger this time around than the first.
Anyway, as a precaution, they checked my fluid level and scheduled a growth scan to make sure the baby was growing enough. I returned the next day for my growth scan and voila – I have a 5 and a half pound baby inside of me! I should have known something was up when the radiologist still refused to release me until she spoke to my doctor. Sure enough, she comes back into the room and tells me I need to go see my doctor right away.
I walk upstairs to my doctor’s office and get strapped to a fetal monitor because the Radiologist has discovered that my amniotic fluid level has dropped from 10 cm to 3 cm in one day! I ask, “What could this mean, Doctor?” To which, she responds, “There’s a good chance we will have to induce you and you will have to deliver this baby before the weekend.” Enter Panic Mode!
At that very moment, it dawned on me that just how “ready” I thought I was…I’m not. I still had so many things to do to prepare. And then, I have to admit, quite a few selfish thoughts came into my head just thinking about all of the things I was looking forward to doing over the weekend –getting my hair done, taking my maternity photos, a vision party and of course, my baby shower! How much would it have sucked to miss that?! It’s amazing how many random and silly things go through your head at that moment! Even in looking on to bright side, the best I could come up with was the fact that I wouldn’t have to buy any more stretch mark cream!
Nonetheless, I get rushed to see the specialist at another facility, who ultimately discovers that the test was wrong and my fluid was still at 10. He tells me to drink more water and take it easy these next few weeks and I’m done. Wow!
So this morning, when I woke up, I truly wanted my first words to be “I’m so ready to have this baby,” but I decided against making that statement. Not that much longer to go, so I’ll just be holding on….
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