the waiting game

[lightinmyhands]

Needing a little supportive words and encouragement in these last few days/weeks?   ..... I'm pretty sure I was wrong on my original dates, as everything seems to indicate so.... so I believe I will be giving birth in the near future and not in mid august.  I dropped a little over 2 weeks ago and this week have been experiencing bouts of headaches and nausea daily lasting from early afternoon through to about an hour or so past dinner.  It's awful feeling, I scarcely want to get out of bed and there is no activity I am really comfortable doing so it's difficult to pass the time waiting for baby.  this is my third pregnancy and I have not yet had a spontaneous birth so this is new territory for me.  I've never lost a plug but I'm pretty sure I did a few days ago even though there was no blood or pink coloring..... I've been having period like cramping in my pelvis and some increased braxton hicks since the nausea/headaches started and have also seen changes in my cervix.  Dh says I'm somewhere between 50-75% effaced, dilated to about 2 and my cervix has moved from posterior to midline.  Anyhow.....since I spend most of my days so ill feeling now, is there any suggestions to what I can do to ease the uncomfortable symptoms and or to pass the time waiting?  and is it possible that I could wind up walking around for another few weeks like this?  My oldest is going to stay with her grandparents until the baby is born so at least I won't have to contend with worrying about her entertainment but that will leave me alone to all day with my toddler and i've just been so sick in the afternoons parenting is proving to be really difficult.  DH has taken the past couple of days off to help out and I don't know what I'd do without him, but if I don't go into labor soon he's going to have to go back to work.  Any suggestions..... shared experience?

[weliveintheforest]

Hi,

Sorry to read you are not feeling well!

I'm not sure what signs you have that your dates were wrong but I do think you could possibly still have a few weeks to go.  A lot of women are dilated and effaced well before they give birth, especially if it's a 2nd, 3rd or more baby.  It's really hard to say one way or the other!

I'm a UC mama too, but your description of your headaches and nausea makes me worry.  How's your blood pressure?  Does anything seem to be helping the headaches/nausea or making them worse?  Are you getting lots of protein and water?

Do you have a care provider you can check in with?

[lightinmyhands]

the baby dropping so very low is my biggest sign of dates being wrong, but I've had a suspicion all along.  I've felt like everything was happening a few weeks early the entire pregnancy and i didn't drop with my other babies until just a few weeks before my EDD.... not a couple of months.    I do not have a care provider but I've gone to check my bp a few times and it is outstanding... like 116/76.  nothing helps the headaches and nausea and nothing makes them worse.  It seems much like morning sickness discomfort and entirely hormonal.  I also get a peak in my systemic yeast infection in the last few weeks of my pregnancies and that began earlier this week as well. 

[lightinmyhands]

oh yeah... and one more sign.. right before i dropped i was measuring 36 weeks and not 32.  Pretty sure I was off by 4 weeks, which isn't surprising since i was nursing at the time I got pregnant and had only had a couple of cycles and that last period was only a couple of days of light spotting.

[weliveintheforest]

Originally Posted by lightinmyhands 
    I do not have a care provider but I've gone to check my bp a few times and it is outstanding... like 116/76.  nothing helps the headaches and nausea and nothing makes them worse. 

Well that's good about your blood pressure, it's one of the only 'medical' things I feel strongly about checking, especially if there are headaches and other things going on.  

I was pretty unsure of my dates this pregnancy and I am pretty frustrated by it, but it seems like I was expecting my baby too soon rather than later.  My only suggestion for staying sane is to get the necessities together but not actually plan for the baby to come right away... and it's probably going to be a lot easier if you don't tell everyone in your life that you think you are having the baby soon, it takes that pressure off if nobody thinks you are 'due' yet!

[Multimomma]

sounds frustrating...hugs.

It does sound like early labor, but it's only four or five weeks early. I'll bet you'll walk around a couple of weeks like that...sorry. But just keep walking, and spend time with your toddler. Can you do much, or is the end of pg misery too much? I spent a lot of that time mixing foods/spices/etc for after birth. 

[lightinmyhands]

i can do a little bit early in the day and late in the evening, but there's a large stretch in the middle where I am just too sick to move.  I lost my plug yesterday so I've got my fingers crossed.  If I was wrong on my dates, which I'm nearly positive I was, I would be 39 weeks exactly today so I'm feeling a bit hopeful, but trying not to get my hopes up, if that makes any sense?... :)