40 Weeks

As of Friday, I am 40 weeks pregnant.  Bradley and I celebrated my due date (ha) and had a fun day off of work and school and attended a tour at the local fire house with some MOMs club pals.

The baby center post for this week states that the average baby weighs about 7.5 lbs at birth (ha) and is about 20 inches long.  Bradley was 9 lbs 4.5 oz and 21 inches long.  I'm suuuuuure this bambino is going to be larger than the average baby as well.  Many people say subsequent babies tend to be larger; let's hope not too much larger!  A quote from this week about being past 40 weeks:

After months of anticipation, your due date rolls around, and... you're still pregnant. It's a frustrating, but common, situation in which to find yourself.  You still have a couple of weeks before you'll be considered "post-term." But to be sure your baby is still thriving, your practitioner will schedule you for testing to keep an eye on her if your pregnancy continues.

Pregnancies are not actually defined as "post-due" till 42 weeks is reached (which would be June 14th for me).  Even then, some babies just aren't ready to be born.  Our midwives will let us decide if and when to be induced (reason #1 we elected not to go with an OB again for this birth), and I'd tentatively thought I would do so if we reach June 21st still pregnant, but I'm not even sure about that at this point.  The more I read up on the subject, the risks are very slight and can generally be avoided by keeping a close watch on baby's movements and submitting to "non-stress tests" where baby's heart rate is monitored for a length of time (20-60 min, say) or even an ultrasound to check up on the amniotic fluid levels.  Basically, there are signs if a baby's in trouble, and we can easily monitor for those signs should the pregnancy continue past 42 weeks.  Only the baby knows.  Our first non - stress test is scheduled for Monday, if I'm still pregnant.

I have stopped working (my last day was my birthday, Thursday, May 30th).  We are sending Bradley to preschool three days per week (four if I feel desperate) to maintain his schedule and allow me to rest up.  Sleeping at night continues to be very rough for me, so this quiet opportunity to nap and just take it easy has already proven to be wonderful for me.  Those who know me well know I can't sit still, so I'm still doing some chores around the house but I'm making sure I get my naps and meals and red raspberry leaf tea in first, and once my boys come home I just enjoy their company.

The baby's name, we're fairly sure, is to be Sean Reed Harrington.  Bradley helped choose the first and middle names from those we were considering and has been emphatic about his choices.  He calls his future brother "Sean Sean Reed."  Heehee.  Sean - the Irish spelling of John (my father-in-law's name, and a name that shows up on both family trees), and a similar sound to my mother-in-law's maiden name of O'Shea.  Reed - from my paternal grandmother's family tree, my mother notes there was even a Sarah Reed Harrington on my father's family tree (my mother-in-law's married name is Sarah Harrington).  We think it all flows nicely together and we're happy there is some family significance and we get to honor some of our parents and grandparents with the choice.  So there you have it.

Here are some pictures from this week: