Friday 2 May 2014

Week 40: Yup, Still Pregnant

Quick Recap: 166lbs. Up 41 lbs from pre-pregnancy. Bit more pressure on pelvis from baby. Same ol Same ol for the most part. Still at 1cm dilated. Effaced to 2cm (I'll explain that later). Lots of braxton hicks when walking.

Peanut's Progression: Should be around 20inches long. Doctor estimates baby weighs about 8lbs. Heart rate was 136.

Dilation vs Effacement

Everyone always talks about "how far are you dilated" when really that actually doesn't matter nearly as much as how much you have effaced. I had no idea but your cervix is actually about 5 cm long (or thick, depending how you think of it) and before you give birth it completely thins out which means it is easier for it to stretch. Makes sense if you think about it. If you had two stretchy items, one 5cm think and one less than 1cm, it would be MUCH easier to stretch the thinner one.

So, that being said, my doctor is much more focused on how effaced I am. At this point I'm measuring about 2cm. Again, moving in the right direction but in his words "I'll see you next week" and he didn't mean in the hospital.

Maternity Leave in BC

What a process!!! If you happen to be a salaried employee consider yourself incredibly lucky! Applying for your EI will be much simpler. For me, I work part time and do a fair amount of overtime/fill in work. My paychecks can vary quite a lot. Services Canada made a change to EI as of last April which causes more work for your when applying but means you will get more money from them. Well worth the extra effort.

For Vancouver, you are able to enter in your 22 highest paid weeks (not pay periods) and that will bring up your average income and help offset any of the weeks where you may not have made very much money. Now here comes the annoying part. I would say 99% of employers don't pay you weekly so figuring out how much you made each week takes a bit of time. I had to go back through all of my timesheets to add up the hours, over time and holiday pay manually and then sort it from highest paid to lowest paid. Then adding into the system when applying is a whole other project.

I'll be happy I did it when we have more money coming in though.

The Hardest Part

Today is my due date, as if that means anything. No sign that labour is near. I am coping well but I would be more than happy to have contractions start at any moment. Before I actually say what the hardest part is let me preface it with a disclaimer. I am SO thankful for the large support group I have, so many family and friends are beyond excited for baby to arrive and are really involved in a great way. That being said, every day that goes by I get more and more messages asking if baby is here yet.

No matter how many times you tell friends and family "I will text you if something changes" it is still impossible for them not to ask. I have been that person so I understand it comes from a place a love. They are so excited to meet the little one and want to reach out to see how you are feeling. The trouble is, they don't realize that several other people are doing the same thing everyday and that almost every morning and night I feel frustrated that nothing has changed and baby is still stuck inside. I want nothing more than to be able to send that text and say "we are at the hospital, we'll let you know when baby arrives".

Now after all that, don't you dare stop sending me texts and messages and calling. I want to hear from you and I love to hear from you, just don't take it personally if I come across a bit crabby when I respond.

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