Evening update: 40 weeks today... Full term. Today my little lion king and I have together reached 40 weeks, full term... Little lion king is ready to face the world, but hes still very happy where he is. We’ve been discharged from the maternity ward, given a healthy tick of approval that all is on track and a solid reassurance from the Dr’s that it’s now just a waiting game. Any woman who has reached 40 weeks full term knows exactly what Im talking about and what Im feeling. This is a magical yet intense stage of pregnancy with combined feelings of exhaustion, anticipation and surrender. For some women you could probably also add a whole lot of other feelings including frustration, fatigue and impatience. Prior to learning I was to be discharged, I paced and pottered about the maternity ward and my gangster 27 week mum-to-be room mate who had been discharged earlier that morning, packed her things and headed home. When I returned to the room, she had left a beautiful bunch of flowers on my window sill. Just when I thought I was alone again to contemplate life on the maternity ward, a new girl was brought into the room. She was 23 weeks. Her mum dressed in a colourful sari also greeted me and watched us as we attempted briefly to greet one another (despite the size of our – mainly mine actually – bellies), to give one another a welcoming and reassuring hug that all will be fine. After being given the good news that I could go home and as I packed my belongings, I heard the Dr’s explaining to her that she would need to have a c section. She was being told that it was the best thing for her baby. Again, I was confronted with the reality of how profound and intense child birth can be, and you see and hear it all on the maternity ward. I reflected on how grateful I am to be healthy and full term. The Dr was explaining to her the statistics and the survival rate of a baby in her condition, advising her that c section is the only way. Then they explained to her the procedures that would be introduced immediately and that they would commence preparations. She was crying and I felt like crying with her. A wave of déjà vu came over me as I reflected on the experiences I had been exposed to over the past 2 weeks living on the maternity ward. I left the room, not saying good bye. I simply had no idea what to say. That was three days ago and today I have reached full term, with a healthy baby boy still bouncing to the best of his ability in the limited space that’s now available to him in the little eco system that he’s called home for the past 9 months. Being a first time mum, I still have no idea what to expect. My stomach vacillates from being comfortably tort to becoming completely rock hard. I wonder what it must be for my little lion king on the inside and how he is feeling about all this. I can tell hes worked out that theres not a great deal of space left for him. I can intuit his thinking and can sense his character. The midwives told me that this muscular feeling is braxton hicks, but I dont know. I always thought those phantom contractions were supposed to hurt, but Im feeling perfectly fine. Its my nature to just go with the flow and at this profound time, that is exactly what Im doing and Im taking it all in my stride. I hope and pray I can hold onto my relaxed state as the days ahead of me reveal a whole new reality that I cant even fathom at this point in time. My Dear Mum Judy Swann (who has honourably stepped forward to nurse me at this remarkable time) however seems to be going out in sympathy for me and she is pacing the house, holding her back as if she is in labour. This is ridiculous she says. She rummages through the medicine box and I can hear her huffing and puffing and muttering to herself, stupid wheres the celebrex It feels like Im in labour!... God bless Mum... Im not sure if I should be feeling slightly guilty so I offered Mum a cup of tea and advised her to just breathe through it. How Mum could be feeling labour type pains is beyond me but you never know. Mum has a saying, A son is a son till he takes a wife, a daughter is a daughter all her life and my dear Mum is both very intuitive and deeply loving. Perhaps she is feeing and foretelling my imminent future, perhaps shes anticipating what lies ahead with all the excitement and the pain. Maybe its all psychological and she is reliving a sense of labour and childbirth. Who knows? Another unusual and fascinating insight that was shared with me by one of the midwives on the maternity ward was that during a full moon all the medical staff know categorically that they will be busy. She said that with a full moon, there is a much higher rate of women coming in to emergency with their water having broken naturally. I guess if the moon is responsible for controlling the tides and our bodies are made up of 60 odd per cent of water, then it’s possible that strange things could happen with pregnant women ready to give birth… again, who knows? Theres no full moon in sight but given I am now full term, my little lion king could come any day, any time. What if Im in a shop, in a cafe, in the car... The uncertainty can be overwhelming and I find myself reflecting on my dear girlfriends who have been exactly where I am right now, counting the hours, days and weeks until they finally gave birth. Putting aside the uncertainty, the intuition that comes to some woman during pregnancy is one of the many rewards, yet not often spoken about. Dreams become vivid and instinct and insight sharpens as the transformation to motherhood emerges. I never knew that approaching motherhood would provide me with such a profound journey in many ways. When I look at the faces of my girlfriends and family, women of all ages who I know have had children, I see something in their eyes now that I didnt see before. And for all my girlfriends who have not had children yet or have chosen not to or otherwise, I still see something in them that I never saw before. A strength of the female spirit. For now, tonight... a happy 40 weeks full term birthday to my dear little lion king. Well done little man, I can’t wait to meet you. I’ll just continue to go with the flow and totally surrender to the unknown with complete faith in the wisdom of Mother Nature. And as they say, I guess its now really down to a matter of watch this space...
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 13:48:41 +0000
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