Monday, May 04, 2009

36 weeks

I have blogged much less about pregnancy #2 with Zoe that I did with Sophie.. oops.. a little guilty because I don't seem as excited about #2 than #1. I guess its not quite so exciting because you already more or less know what should ot should not be happening.. so nothing much is blog-worthy any more.

Oh well..

As Z hits 36 weeks today, we are going to gynae for another checkup. They will get more and more frequent after this, I guess once a week or so from now on (if I remember rightly). She weighed in at 2.2kg on the last visit, at 33w4d, slightly smaller than S was at that stage. So I am still well on track for a natural delivery. Yay! Then again, S turned out to be so much smaller that her estimated weight.. mm.. maybe Z will be a really tiny cow. Heh. Good that she remains quite small as gynae will only allow trial of labour if she weighs in below 3.3-3.4kg at term.

Z also feels much lower than S did, several times I had very below-the-belt punches (hahahahaha) from her that made me feel like she was about to drop out anytime! Hopefully she would have engaged properly by today and that would aid my body in the preparation for natural delivery. Hope and pray for me and Z yeah!!

I have also been reading up on VBACs and quite a few advice are seen repeatedly:
- try to stay active and out of hospital as long as possible (once you admit, your movements (and eating) are severely restricted, this will slow the progress of labour)
- try not to take epidural till at least 5cm dilated (as epidural can also slow the progress of labour) - oh dear oh dear. I took my last epi by 3cm because I cannot tahan anymore.. and labour failed to progress beyond that point once I took it. =(
- CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT have any form of induction medication (oxytocin, prostaglandin etc) - so the body must really be allowed to develop a good labour pattern on its own
- Do not push too hard (this one comes from gynae!) - he is quite adamant on assisted delivery (forceps/vacuum) in order to ensure the previous C-scar is not strained.

Hmm.. Hope I can manage all of the above and have a smooth delivery!

Updates::
Miss Z is estimated to be about 2.7-2.8kg today, at 36wks exactly. So she is quite similar to the size S was showing to be last year (S weighed in at 3kg on her 37wk checkup). Hopefully thats a good estimate and Miss Z is not too big for my TOL!
She also has not engaged but Doc says its common for 2nd babies to engage later. He is still very optimistic about VBAC for me. Yay!!

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