Aug 13, 2008

Due...And Then Some

July 20th was my “original” due date, based upon my own calculations. I knew when we conceived exactly, down to the very day, because I had been watching my temperatures, charting my mucus, and timing our intercourse precisely. At 14 weeks pregnant I had an ultrasound that dated me a week behind. According to the ultrasound, I was only 13 weeks pregnant, and not due until July 28th. Stubbornly, I ignored that advice, and kept my original due date.

When July 20th came and went, we were all patient. My mother the midwife calmly explained that I was a “Prim-ep”, a first time mother, and it was normal for first timers to go a week or two overdue. When July 28th came and went, I still felt patient. Ty and I played Texas Hold’em every night, just the two of us, with two other ghost players. I sat on my yoga ball and rolled around on it, hoping to loosen my hips bones.

Ty’s birthday is August 2nd, and I began to fantasize that I would have this baby on his birthday. His birthday arrived, and in my haste to start labor, I failed to remember to bake him a cake. It was his 40th birthday to boot, and when labor did not start and I did not present a cake, he felt neglected and unimportant. I tried to make it up to him by offering sex, to which he eyeballed my swollen frame, a wife he barely recognized, and politely refused.

Ok, my next goal was to go into labor on his mother’s birthday, which was August 9th. By now I was well over 2 weeks overdue, and after a consultation with the midwives, we all agreed that the early ultrasound’s due date of July 28th was most likely correct, so now I was only a week overdue again. At this point I was beginning to feel frustrated. People all around me were having their babies, why was mine being so stubborn? August 9th crept forward, and passed us by without so much as a courteous contraction. I researched old wives' tales on natural induction...

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