I Didn't Know What I Missed

While I would never make light of having a child 7 weeks early, I now more fully understand what people have always meant when they said, "Oh, you missed out on the hard part."

While my personal weight gain is waning, that of my unborn son appears to be driving full speed ahead. In less than 2 weeks, he's added nearly another pound, and that blasted head of his hasn't taken a break either. I fully expected the results of today's ultrasound to lead my doctor to run screaming into the exam room "It's time to get this monstrous boy out of there." Okay, perhaps I didn't "expect" it as much as I just really hoped for it. But, no, she was much more calm and rational than that, suggesting we just continue to "wait and see", "keep our options open", and "keep an eye on things." Sigh! Doctors! No sign that Pedro is coming any time this week at least.

It did not help matters when I could hear her telling the patient in the next room to mine (the walls are paper thin) that she was 1 cm dilated, 25% effaced, and could easily expect her baby to arrive within the next 10-14 days. It was especially annoying since that patient next door was my own sister!

But, to be fair, my sister is due 12 days before me, and I do sincerely want her to have her son first. I guess if I'm committed to her delivering first, I should be glad that she's getting a move on. I guess all of those laps up the hill I made her run at my mom's 4th of July Camp-out paid off, or maybe it was just the excitement from the fireworks.

As a side note, all women should consider being pregnant at the exact same time as their sister. It has been quite an uncanny experience. From her telling me that she was pregnant (after attempting to be so for over 4 years) within 2 hours after finding out about our own baby-to-be to the fact that we separately narrowed in on the same first name (a name they might actually use but we had opted not to go with a few months ago after making the mistake of mentioning the possibility to a family member who really hated the name), it has been an unexpected adventure. We have often inadvertently had appointments at the same time (we have the same doctor), gained weight at an even rate, had similar complaints about the whole process, and even wonder if its all going to conspire to mean these cousins will end up born on the same day. (Unless the doctor were to offer a 2 for 1 special on the delivery, we agree that we'd prefer NOT to have them on the same day in spite of what a funny story that could be.) My sister and I, very different from each other, have spent most of our lives trying to find common ground in order to get along with each other. It has been an unexpected pleasure to have someone this close with whom to compare notes and swap complaints when most people don't necessarily care to hear all of the gory details. I guess from now on, we'll always have something more than a love for candy and/or how bizarre our parents are to talk about when we're together.

I'm certainly thankful to be well on my way to be having a happy, healthy son who should offer us a lot less to worry about than his sister did at her birth, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to run the basement steps a few times before bed each night -- just in case he should want to come out sooner than later.