Owlet Update

I’ve been buried in galley proofs for the bird book, so that plus the having people around when I usually have the house to myself means I’m behind on journaling.

I had another prenatal last Wednesday. My OB approved and signed my birth plan, and is thrilled with it all. I was thrilled myself when we did the hospital tour a couple of weeks ago and found that I could throw out half of my rough draft birth plan because my hospital does all the stuff I want them to do as a matter of course. I asked about when she wanted me to go into the hospital when labour began, and she said that (a) since I had a relatively quick birth last time because of the premature thing, and that second deliveries tend to be quicker, that it might average out to around the same; so since I tested positive as a carrier for strep B (like 25% of the population!) and need antibiotics 4 hours before delivery at the very least to avoid infecting the baby, I should go in when contractions start, just to be sure. She was mildly concerned to hear about a bit of fluid loss I’d had the day before, was glad to hear it stopped and nothing had happened since, and said sternly that if it happened again I was to go right to hospital, because if the waters break after 34 weeks without contractions they have to evaluate and likely induce.

The only not as good thing this time round was that she had gone through all my tests and ultrasounds reports from the past 8 months, collated them (I have files going in two different places, so this doesn’t happen as often as it probably should), averaged them out… and has revised my due date again, which means I am now technically not at 36 weeks until this coming Monday. (36 weeks is the magic number at which I will be allowed to deliver at my hospital instead of being transferred to the neonatal one like last time.) And because the clinic now thought I was having a 35-week appointment instead of a 36-week one, they scheduled my next appointment for two weeks later, not one, which freaked me out mildly because I was sure I’d be having the baby by mid-July. But no; the next prenatal is scheduled for two weeks, at which point my OB will do a check for dilation/effacement, and then it’s an appointment every week till the baby is born.

Here’s the thing. Having been primed by every doctor I’ve ever spoken to over the past six years to expect a second premature birth, I’m hitting the time where I thought I’d either (a) have a baby already, or (b) be having the baby right nowish. So I’ve got this weird dual emotional thing happening. On one hand, I’m thankful that everything is going right and my progesterone/reduced activity/bed rest treatment are obviously working, since we’re a month beyond when the boy was born. On the other hand, I feel somehow as if I’m right at or already past my expected birthing date, so things feel late. I’m depressed and frustrated as a result, and also feeling guilty, because I should be thankful that this baby is going full-term, right? And everyone in my online July birthing group is having babies, which is wonderful, and I love running to the computer every morning to see who’s a new mum. But I’m a little sad, too, because I’m not one of them yet, and I’d been thoroughly set up to expect that I would be.

I’m so messed up.

Back to good news: My application to donate cord blood to the public blood bank for use in stem cell registry was approved. I was concerned, because my application got caught in the mail strike, but they called me two days before my 36-week mark (or what used to be), which is their deadline for application.

Prep-wise, things are going well in general:

    – Cloth diapers: Check. I love Kijiji; I scored a dozen bumGenius AIO organic diapers for $90, and then 38 (!) Mère Hélène prefold cloth diapers (a local make that has great reviews) plus a bunch of liners, bags, and accessories for just over $100. Both these are all-sizes, so we’re covered for the entire diapering era. The Mère Hélène came with pull-up nylon covers but I hate them, so I’ll be scouting for a few different Velcro-tab covers. (There’s nothing like paying a total of $200 for 50 diapers plus liners/accessories instead of the $2500 to $3000 we’d be paying for disposables. We live in the land of cheap Hydro, and you do at least an extra two loads of laundry a week with a baby anyway. And I don’t want to think about how long it takes a disposable diaper to decompose in a landfill. It’s funny how many people say we’re setting ourselves up for a lot of work; everyone forgets we did it for the boy when he hit the medium/large size, unless he was with a caregiver or babysitter, at which time we provided disposables for convenience. As for the time and energy used in taking care of them… whether we’re putting the time and energy into working to be paid to make money to buy disposables, or putting that time and energy into washing cloth, it comes from somewhere, and we’d rather do it this way.)

    – All the 0-3 mos baby stuff washed, clothes and linen: Check. (Also, all the baby clothes in storage/given to us sorted by age and washed, boxed, and put into the newly sorted/cleared out storage room downstairs. This was huge.)

    – Storage for the baby’s stuff: Check. Courtesy of the local grandparents, the boy now has a new dresser! We have moved the old changing table/bureau into the hall and now the Owlet’s clothes and diapers have somewhere to go, thank goodness. I was going crazy with bags and boxes in the hallway downstairs.

    – Baby bed set up in our bedroom: Check.

    – Car seat: Check.

    – Hospital bags (Mum’s, baby’s, and HRH’s) mostly packed except for last-minute stuff: Check.

    – New cell phone set up: Check. (Yes, the secondhand iPhone I’ve been using as a heavier, more expensive Touch is now a fully operational phone, huzzah!)

    – Current score in the attic: One staircase, one floor, three fully framed walls, one framed closet, one framed windowseat, one new window!

Goodness, we may be ready for this baby. So of course, she will not come for another four weeks now that she’s been apprised of her revised due date.

4 thoughts on “Owlet Update

  1. Melanie

    I was told to have a bag packed at 32 weeks with Serenity. By the time she was born, on her due date no less, it felt like she was two months late and that this was the Longest. Pregnancy. Ever.

    I empathise…

    (and I loved cloth diapering and adored the cute nappies we had too – so much nicer than disposables that stink of chemicals. Mind you, that was in a house with our own laundry machines – hefting them up and down apartment stairs might have changed my mind!)

  2. Jessica

    So glad everything is going well! I love to hear about all the baby stuff, makes me nostalgic. So exciting though! I love the idea of cloth diapers, i think i might do more research into them. I agree that disposable diapers, while convenient, are very expensive and a high price to pay, monetary wise and environmentally.

  3. Autumn Post author

    Mel, that’s it exactly — Longest Pregnancy Ever! And personally, I have the utmost admiration for mums who drag their nappies to a laundromat. That’s commitment.

    Jess: Do look into it! There are all sorts of Kijiji deals on secondhand cloth diapers, including on the medium/large sizes that Henry would need. That way if you give it a go and you hate it, you haven’t invested $400 on a kit or something.

  4. Karine

    I know that Matthieu was only 2 weeks earlier than his due date, but it still made waiting for Sam (who came a bit after the due date) really annoying because I was also told that second babies tend to arrive earlier than first ones, and I got plenty of time to get sick and tired of being pregnant. So I can relate.

    Happy that things are going well!

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