Drop!

At 36 weeks pregnant, it appears we are in the home stretch. Last week I was startled by how suddenly painful it became to stand, walk, and even roll over in bed. After a visit to the midwife it all makes sense: the baby has dropped.

This is a good news/bad news diagnosis. The good -- actually great -- news is that the baby is well positioned for birth, unlikely to come late, and thus less likely to require unwanted induction or some common interventions. The bad news is that the pains I feel will not go away and will likely get worse. The baby's head is now resting on my pelvic floor muscles which are not used to carrying any weight. When my body shifts positions and the muscles get some respite from all that weight, they spasm. According to my midwife, I'm basically getting charley horses in my pelvis. Ouch!

My midwife suggested that I work from home whenever possible over the next few weeks, a suggestion my fantastic boss readily embraced. Now I'm trying to reconfigure my schedule so that I only go into the office 1-2 days a week before leaving completely on June 18. What a relief that will be!

The fact that the baby has dropped indicates that I'm probably not going to go beyond my due date of June 25. You never know with these things, but usually with a first pregnancy a woman gives birth two to four weeks after her baby drops. My baby definitely dropped by Wednesday, May 26 (35 weeks, 5 days), a day on which I felt great pain, but I'm guessing it probably started to engage in the pelvis 2-4 days before that. That leaves me thinking that I'm likely to give birth when I'm about 39 weeks pregnant. All along I've hoped for a Fourth of July baby, but I'm guessing now that is not in the cards. June 20 is the date I have in my head, although the summer solstice, June 21, would be pretty cool, too (virtually assuring this baby will be a hippie). :) My midwife cautioned me not to assume that the baby would come much before its due date. She said 36 weeks is a very common time to drop for first-time moms and most go on to deliver close to their due dates. Since I dropped at 35 weeks, I'm thinking I might be just a smidge early (surely a sign that the baby takes after Andy and not me!).   

With all of this pelvic pain, I need to figure out how to balance my need to exercise with my desire not to strain my muscles. I will still go to yoga, but I think I'll skip the long walks. I learned that lesson the hard way yesterday. My friend Lisa was in town from Virginia on a glorious, sunny 75 degree day. We spent the day at Golden Gate Park, the Park Chalet and Ocean Beach, mostly relaxing but also taking some substantial walks. 

 The weather was unbeatable and the walks felt great, but I paid for it later. By dinner time, I couldn't stand up without spasming; later I couldn't roll over in bed without great pain. I think from here on out I'll try to space my walks into short spells each day rather than packing them all into one day.

I'm definitely not going to give up on my twice weekly prenatal yoga classes. Discovering yoga has been one of the best parts of my pregnancy. I have learned much needed relaxation skills and how to use my breath to work through discomfort. My excellent instructors target the aches and pains that vex pregnant women and teach exercises we can use to minimize pain during labor. Plus I've met great friends. I took a prenatal yoga class when Lisa was here and got inspired to take some silly photos of some of my favorite yoga poses. The photos are mostly a gag, an effort to capture the ridiculous spectacle of my giant belly in motion. But I'm sure one day I'll also appreciate the opportunity to reflect visually on this activity I've enjoyed so much throughout pregnancy.

Namaste.