Last Look-In

Yesterday T and I went to visit the Midwife for what was (hopefully) our last appointment! The next one is scheduled for our due date, so I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we don’t need that one!

As with the other appointments she took my blood pressure and tested my pee (all good, which was a relief as I’d been having headaches all weekend and my hands and feet have been swelling to the point that it’s getting uncomfortable to bend my wrists or stand up for too long!). My bump was measured, and it has jumped back above the line compared to the estimate from the scan the other week, but the Midwife reassured us that the measurements are only estimates and not usually particularly accurate. I was a little bit disheartened that Spud is still completely free and not even close to being engaged, despite being head-down since about 20 weeks! But I know that this isn’t always a sign of impending action, so I’m trying to be positive. Then she listened to the heartbeat, which is nice and strong, and gave us a run-down of the things we need to be looking out for as the final countdown begins.

The problem is, at this point of pregnancy, everything ‘could be’ a sign of impending labour. Google has become my best friend again as I try and work out whether these shooting period-type pains are contractions (probably not as they’re barely lasting any time at all); if the pressure in my butt and back is labour or a sign of a UTI (neither, probably just pressure and backache). You get the picture. Every little niggle becomes blown out of proportion and I end up just feeling… well, not deflated because I’m the size of a hot-air balloon and am not physically deflating yet, but a bit low, I guess.

I know the big signs – the show, waters breaking, contractions, etc – but I also know that every momma experiences these differently: at different times and in random orders, so I don’t really know what to be checking for first, and I’m a little bit worried that I’ll go to the loo and end up having the baby on the toilet like in those horror-stories that sometimes pop up in trashy magazines…

 How did your final Midwife appointment go? And what were your first signs of labour? How did you know when it was time?