The Number Field

Jenny at 37 weeks.

We had our DD-3 (Due Date minus 3) appointment yesterday. Everything continues to move along. I won't say that things are going well, because Jenny is discovering firsthand that the last month of pregnancy "pretty much sucks," in the words of Dr. Cherry. In particular, Sunflower has grown so large that Jenny's ribs have to expand to create every last bit of room possible. This makes Jenny's ribs hurt, although in a different way than the gallbladder trouble did. At the other end, Jenny's feet seem to be a little bit more swollen every day, and no amount of foot massage will help the swelling go down. One of us doesn't mind the travail--Sunflower is still healthy and strong, with a great heartbeat.

The doctor followed up with something we had talked about last time: inducing labor early, due to Sunflower's large measured size. She told us that she had reserved a spot in the hospital on February 5th, because it's easier to cancel than to get in at the last minute. Although Jenny was seriously tempted to say yes, we decided that we'll try to let nature take its course, and asked her to cancel the appointment. We do have two positive indicators pointing towards the onset of labor. First, Jenny's dilated perhaps a little bit more than last time. Second, when the doctor asked if she had experienced any contractions, Jenny said that she thought she did. Yesterday, she felt something that she identified as a contraction, and then another one about thirty minutes later. About thirty five minutes after that she felt one more, but then it was all over. Still, I count that as moving forward.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are now scheduled to visit the doctor once a week for the duration of the pregnancy. This has the unfortunate side-effect that we can only schedule appointments a week in advance, when Dr. Cherry is already almost fully booked so we have to take whatever times are available. This would not be so bad, except that my semester is now in full swing, and I have teaching commitments at very specific times.

Because of anticipated overlap with our afternoon appointment yesterday, I scheduled another TA to substitute for me during the first half of class. However, at the doctor's office, we found out that Dr. Cherry was running about half an hour behind schedule. I caused some unnecessary strife by telling Jenny I didn't think that I could stay. Then, just a few minutes before I was about to leave, the nurse called us in. Our appointment didn't take very long, and I was soon on the road, driving only a little bit recklessly to get back to school as quickly as possible. I was moving against the main flow of traffic, so I managed to make good time, find a great parking space, and run up to my classroom, only to find it empty! One of my students still happened to be around, and followed me up to tell me that everyone had left; they thought that Jenny must have gone into labor. In fact, the substitute had been occupied with another task, didn't realize the time, and missed the class.

In lecture today, a few people asked me if the baby had come. I had to disappoint them and say that it was all a mix-up. I appreciated their sentiment (and youthful inexperience), so I did not point out the fact that I probably won't be attending lecture, or anything else, less than twenty-four hours after the baby is born.