A few weekends ago, I visited three good friends from college at one of their parent's cottages by Lake Michigan. There isn't much more you can offer a pregnant lady than a cool body of water to dip into first thing in the morning, then again and again throughout the day as she desires, plus lots of beach-walking, bike-riding and paddling to keep her active, along with a long dose of lounging in the breeze as the sun lowers at the end of the day. I'd forgotten that it doesn't actually set until 9 or 10 pm that far north. It was a beautiful long weekend with three beautiful friends, soaking up as much of each other as we could before returning to Canada, Michigan, Washington DC and Nashville (we did a good job of spreading ourselves out).
Coming back to sweltering Nashville, where temps have regularly reached over 100 degrees F the past few weeks, felt like entering an oven. I'm to the point (or size) where I take the heat as a personal offense - it fills my car and presses in on every side when I walk into work or spend even a few seconds outside of one of man's greatest inventions, air conditioning.
Throughout this pregnancy, I've operated on the belief that my body and baby are healthy, and I should be active and not tentative barring special medical circumstance. The heat sensitivity, the grunts that now accompany putting on socks or turning over in bed, the monster-like thirst that strikes a few times a day...all these were interesting parts of the third trimester to observe and giggle about.
But our most recent visit to Dr. T colored all that.
Best I can tell, I'm at 29 weeks along, 11 weeks away from a full-term 40 week pregnancy. Babies born after 32 weeks usually do ok after some care in the NICU, but babies born before that are likely in for difficulties that last a lifetime. Monday was the first time Dr. T checked my cervix to make sure it wasn't thinning or pulling back (the uterus, if I understand correctly, is like an upside down drawstring bag, with the cervix being the drawstring closure that stays shut tight until the contractions of labor gradually work it open for baby to come through). He declared that yes, the cervix is doing its job of staying closed tight, but baby's head is already at '0 station,' which means his head is enagaged in my pelvis, ready for birth.
Again, if I'm understanding this correctly, doctors measure a baby's descent (usually during labor) in centimeters above the pelvis, and once the baby descends past the pelvis, his descent is measured in negative numbers (-5,-4, -3...0, +1,+2,+3...). Baby doesn't usually settle into 0 or 'engaged' until 2 - 4 weeks before labor (or during labor).
So does this mean that I at 29 weeks am 2 - 4 weeks away from birth? Not a good thing! I was thinking as Dr. T explained. And baby has probably been engaged before now - even at 27 or 28 weeks. However, Dr. T said that he is not worried that the baby's head is already engaged, but he's aware of it, noted it in my file and urged me to contact the office if I experience any pressure down there or contractions before the next appointment in 3 weeks.
Am I worried about going into pre-term labor, having to go to bedrest or delivering a baby who's not had a chance to develop all he needs for the outside world? I'd like to say that I'm not worried, I'm aware...but I find myself thinking about this all the time and am constantly glancing at my belly and willing the drawstring closure down there to stay nice and tight please, no early surprises here. I trust that Dr. T with over 30 years of experience would let me know if distinct measures needed to be taken at this point, but who can help but obsess a little over news like this?
Sam thinks that baby has found a happy, comfortable place and is making himself at home (I was told at week 12 or so that I have a 'deep pelvis'). I suspect baby is taking after his Daddy and pushing the limits of his surroundings, testing just how far he can go, just how far he can push things. I wish he'd stick to imitating Daddy and arrive all the sudden at the very last minute on his due date in a flurry of activity, and then be irrestibly charming, lively and healthy once he arrives.
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