My midwife came by for a visit yesterday to see how things were going, and as always, we chatted for a while.  She asked me my thoughts on the ‘overdue’ situation, and I told her that I don’t believe in the concept of it being past the right time, assuming all physical signs are good.  The baby will be born when it’s ready, and that time hasn’t yet come.   I told her I know all the natural type things that could be done to ‘make’ it happen sooner, and wasn’t interested in any of them, that I’d like to wait for Hashem’s plan to unfold.  Though I’d like it if sooner rather than later was part of that plan, I’m truly okay with whenever it happens.  (My kids were talking today about how we were prepared for a Pesach baby, and then a Lag B’omer baby, but never did any of them think we’d be considering the possibility of a Shavuos baby! :))

I also raised my concern that although we’ve used the traditional way of figuring out due dates until now, it really isn’t accurate based on a cycle that is longer than 28 days (which mine was).   So she re-established my due date based on this information, and it’s officially now May 14, which means I’m just four days beyond it, instead of 2.5 weeks.  I laughed and told her it didn’t make a bit of difference to me if it was the 2nd or the 14th, it’s just a technical difference that practically speaking doesn’t matter a bit!  It will reassure other people, though.  People seem to think that there’s some terrible danger that awaits anyone still pregnant a day beyond 42 weeks.

I’m very fortunate to have a midwife who also trusts the body and birth process, and works to follow a mother’s feelings about this.  She listened to the heartbeat, checking for variations, and it was good – she was able to do this by listening with a fetoscope, no need for electronic monitoring or even a hand held Doppler.  (If you ran up the stairs, your heart would beat faster.  The same thing with a baby – after it moves around, it’s heart rate should go up.)  Then she externally palpated the uterus, and assessed that the volume of amniotic fluid was fine.  This is basically what is checked with a non stress test, but in a more pleasant way.

So while hopefully none of you are feeling alarmed that I keep posting here every day, and still with no news of a baby, there’s the latest update!

Avivah