1 September 2008
I have just returned from a week in Warrnambool, where I stayed with April and her lovely family. On Wednesday she told me she felt like labour might be starting as her cramping was more intense than ever before. On my way there the cramping ceased but we decided I should still visit. Today she is 41 weeks and 6 days pregnant, and bellyfruit remains comfy and cosy right where s/he is!
April is pregnant with her third baby. Her eldest was born at hospital and it was truly traumatic. So traumatised was she by her first birth experience that she decided to bypass labour for her second child and had an elective caesarean. Since then she has been on quite a healing journey, empowered herself with knowledge, and decided prior to trying to conceive this little bellyfruit that she would homebirth.
She hired midwives and her family prepared to homebirth. But at 35 weeks gestation it became clear that the midwives had different ideas to her about what course of action should be taken if a pregnant woman makes it to 42 weeks. So she decided to go ahead with her homebirth plans, but without the midwives. This was when she and her husband asked me if I would join them for the birth, for which I feel very honoured.
For over a month now April has been having cramps and nausea on and off. More than once her bellyfruit has tricked us into thinking s/he'd be here in a matter of hours. At times the crampinging, nausea, uncertaintity of when it will all kick off, and general discomfort of being heavily pregnant have been challenging for April. But she has no desire to evict her baby from her belly.
Even "natural" induction methods seem unnatural to her, as they are still based on the premise of making something happen before it otherwise would. Despite thinking earlier that she would consider some "natural" induction methods once she hit 42 weeks, now that she's there she realises it's no big deal to still be pregnant.
Tomorrow April will reach the magic 42 week mark. That means she has been pregnant since December last year. But she is feeling calm and patient and happy to keep on being pregnant for as long as her baby wants. The real frustration for her is the impatience of others!
You can read what April has to say about reaching 42 weeks gestation in her own words here.
She hired midwives and her family prepared to homebirth. But at 35 weeks gestation it became clear that the midwives had different ideas to her about what course of action should be taken if a pregnant woman makes it to 42 weeks. So she decided to go ahead with her homebirth plans, but without the midwives. This was when she and her husband asked me if I would join them for the birth, for which I feel very honoured.
For over a month now April has been having cramps and nausea on and off. More than once her bellyfruit has tricked us into thinking s/he'd be here in a matter of hours. At times the crampinging, nausea, uncertaintity of when it will all kick off, and general discomfort of being heavily pregnant have been challenging for April. But she has no desire to evict her baby from her belly.
Even "natural" induction methods seem unnatural to her, as they are still based on the premise of making something happen before it otherwise would. Despite thinking earlier that she would consider some "natural" induction methods once she hit 42 weeks, now that she's there she realises it's no big deal to still be pregnant.
Tomorrow April will reach the magic 42 week mark. That means she has been pregnant since December last year. But she is feeling calm and patient and happy to keep on being pregnant for as long as her baby wants. The real frustration for her is the impatience of others!
You can read what April has to say about reaching 42 weeks gestation in her own words here.
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