Just an Update

It’s been quiet around Prawn central for the last week or so. I feel the need to express this only because I imagine that not writing for some time around when one is expecting a baby makes people think that there are better reasons for your silence. However, my excuse is that there’s been bugger all to talk about.

The waiting game at the end of pregnancy is kind of a crappy one. You feel like you can’t really make any plans, but you’re reluctant to completely shut yourself off from any and all social occasions because god knows when the next time you’ll have a chance to talk to grown-ups without having to worry about whether or not you’ve got baby sick on your shirt. However, the desire to socialize outside your own home is hampered by the fact that you are now the size of an aircraft carrier.

I’ve been increasingly frustrated with the level of my care in the past few weeks. While I’m not one for fooling around with medicine when it’s not necessary, (and at this point, it’s just a waiting game, really) it would be nice not to feel like my local NHS authority was being run by The Three Stooges. Two of my last three appointments have been cancelled due to both area midwives being out on call (one cancelled because “you’re the only one on the schedule today and we don’t want to drag one of the midwives in just for you.”) and the one today had to be rescheduled at the last minute due to the fact that my surgery made me an appointment with the midwife from a neighbouring country rather than the one from mine. And even THEN, I didn’t see MY midwife, but rather another who was rather abrupt with me when she discovered that my blood pressure was high. (Yes, surly Jamacian midwife, I’ve been pushing my blood pressure up just to annoy you.) At any rate, yet ANOTHER midwife will show up at my house tomorrow to take my blood pressure to see if I need to be admitted to hospital. All fun and games. It’s hard to enjoy the anticipation leading up to the birth when one gets the distinct feeling that one’s health care providers couldn’t organize their way out of a paper bag.

I’m hoping the blood pressure thing is nothing to worry about- any hint of “high risk” about the delivery and I don’t get my water birth.

An amusing anecdote, however- the midwife I saw today asked me how many movements I had, directly after doing the dip stick test on my wee.

Why medical professionals can’t just ask you, “So, you been pooping recently?” I don’t know, but as I was fairly sure that’s what she meant I told her once a day if I was lucky, once every other day if I wasn’t.

She looked very alarmed.

“You should be having at least 10 movements a day.”

I was about to come back with, “Lady, if I was having 10 movements a day, I’d be on the phone to you asking what the hell was the MATTER with me and how I could get it to STOP!” when I realized that she was talking about how often I felt the BABY move.

Alarm averted. The Prawn is a serious wiggler.

The waiting game continues.