Thursday, January 03, 2008

Panic

Today I went for an ultrasound to see if the baby was getting fat from my diabetes and she isn't. While they were looking at her though they noticed that my cervix was shortened to 2cm which apparently isn't supposes to happen until you go into labour. (There we go - I just wrote about my cervix in a public forum. Pregnancy can be very humbling.) There was a big panic (although we downplayed it because Mum and Dad came to my ultrasound and it was the day before they leave for a three week cruise) and I had to go see my doctor right away that afternoon. She gave me some steroids and I will have to go back again tomorrow for another shot. The steroids are designed to boost the development if the baby's lungs in case I go into labour right away. The doctor also told me that I have to take it easy and cannot do any cleaning , lifting, walking etc. This might sound like a good thing but it only increased my panic because all I could think was "I have to go to Ikea!" I have a list as long of my arm of things that need to be done before the baby arrives (cleaning baseboards, washing walls, setting up a nursery, sewing blankets, cooking a months worth of chili and lasagna etc.) and that list includes going to a prenatal class so at least I know something about what is going to happen to me! I felt a little less worried when the doctor re-booked me for 2 weeks from now - how much of a panic can this really be if she wants to see me in 2 weeks?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For what it's worth, Jen's family all does this -- she was I think 4cm dilated with Jason about two months before she actually delivered him. And then it happened again with Jocelyn, and then with David.

It does contribute, in her case, to rapid labour and delivery; her body doesn't need a lot of time to dilate and efface. In fact, an hour after she started contractions for Jason, she was 8cm and fully effaced.

As for pregnancy being humbling: I asked Jen to check my memory on this, and her first words were "Who are you telling about my cervix?!" =) If Brian wasn't in awe of you already, he will be after the birth.