So, having a Baby in Scotland: Up to Inducement Day

Well, the first time I saw a doctor about my pregnancy was November, 2012 and I was already 22 weeks along. According to the information I gave her, the doctor calculated my due date as March 13, 2013.

I was surprised that she really didn't give me any useful information...Or maybe it's that I had read lots of books and had been taking my vitamins and already knew or was doing everything she recommended. I did get to hear the heartbeat for the first time:)

One of the most important questions that she asked me was, "Is the baby moving?"

I remember when I first realized that that "spasm" or "bubble" underneath the surface was the babe:) It was on a Sunday. My Mother-in-law asked me if I had felt the baby. I really hadn't been looking for it but as I sat in church I felt it! Well, I felt something! And from then on it happened more and more frequently and powerfully. So cool!

33 weeks pregnant

Of course I wanted to share this experience with my husband, Lars, but he couldn't feel what I felt just yet. One day we were out and about. He was showing me the Glasgow University campus and such. As part of our activites, we went to a cinema to see the new James Bond movie, "Skyfall". During the film, the babe was kicking like crazy! I told Lars to keep his hand on my belly. I kept looking at him to see if he had felt it. Nope.... Nothing... Then, "Bop, bop, bop!" I looked over at Lars and he was grinning from ear to ear! 

That was just the start of our relationship with the belly:)

The doctor sent an email to one of the two maternity hospitals in Glasgow (The Southern General or The Princess Royal, I wasn't sure which) and I was to hear back within two weeks to get booked and a scan (ultrasound).

Two weeks went by and nothing. By this time (24 weeks) I was VERY anxious to get the scan!  So I called the doctor's office. They said they sent it. So I called the Southern General. They said they didn't have it. So I called the Princess Royal. Same thing! Ugh. So I called the doctor's office again. Yada yada yada. Finally, figured out that the email was overlooked by Southern General. Which meant that I had to wait, again, for them to call me and schedule an appointment. Well, they did call this time and the earliest opening for the scan was late December. Four more weeks!!! (I would be 28 weeks by then!)

I was able to get "booked" before then, which just means that you go in and do all the paperwork and blood work and urine and blood pressure and they give you the low down on what's the next step: The scan.

We were SUPER excited to see our baby and to see whether it was a girl or boy. We both had felt that it was a girl but Lars wanted to guess boy so at least one of us would be right.

Well, I was right;) Girl! ONE girl:)

They couldn't give us a more accurate due date because up to 20 weeks babies grow at the same rate, after that is when genetics kick in, making it very difficult to guess anything. So, we just stuck with the original March 13 estimate.

At this point we still hadn't told anyone except close family and friends. Nobody was allowed to mention anything on Facebook and if they did I would delete it. I was kind of paranoid, I know.

I was totally fine with never officially announcing it but once Lars knew the gender he put his foot down. So we took some pics and posted them. (At about 30 weeks.)

I went for beautiful, serious and subtle.

And Lars' was lovable, cute and goofy, as always:)

After the scan I figured I wouldn't need to go in again 'till the delivery. I had had no problems so far. I was SO wrong. They had me come in every two weeks for another scan and checkup 'till the delivery. Because I was a "Late Booker" they wanted to track the babe very closely to make sure nothing went wrong. Six ultrasounds total!

Yeah, I suppose that was a good thing but I hate hospitals and I had to take two buses to get there and with Scotland weather being Scotland weather, it was often not fun or easy.

Which were some of the reasons why I switched to the Princess Royal Maternity, there was only one bus and better visiting hours :)

I found it quite ridiculous that even your husband could only visit you 10:30 am to 12 pm, 2 pm to 4 pm, and 6 pm to 7:30 pm at Southern General! And for anyone else it's 2 pm to 3:30 pm and 7 pm to 8 pm. That's it!

Princess Royal's visiting hours were much less strict, 10 am to 9 pm for the Husband, but I wanted Lars there all the time! 

I think I was more bothered by the visiting hours because of all the terrible things I had heard about how the midwives treat you. (Ninety nine percent of the time you're dealing with midwives.) Things like making you empty your own urine bag after you just had a c-section. Or that they won't give you the medicine that was recommended by the doctor because it's more expensive, leaving you in pain. That they'll ignore your requests for help with breast feeding then yell at you for not doing it correctly or if you're using a bottle. I was worried about being with them so much without anyone who loves me there to help and protect recovering helpless me. I honestly kept a pamphlet on hand that had a number to call to complain about a midwife if need be:)

The midwives I had already met were super nice and helpful though... Especially at the antenatal classes. Poor Lars, I dragged him along and he was the only guy there, but I think the classes made me more uncomfortable than him. Especially the breast feeding class. I'm still a bit immature I guess.

I really appreciated those classes.  (Some of the lingo, well their pronunciation, was funny. Example: Vagina-ly:) They just went through what to expect during all the stages of labor, which was nice because it's usually the unknown that causes you to be afraid. Then, of course your options for pain relief.

I imagined that all contractions are are really bad menstrual cramps, which they are. I also figured that because I usually have pretty painful menstrual cramps contractions would be a breeze...yes and no.

Plus, if anyone knows me they may know that I don't like taking anything into my body that isn't natural or normal. (Now you know:)

So, I focused more on the breathing techniques, body positioning, mind over matter stuff, etc.

I was very confident that I would not go into labor before my due date so my Mother-in-law scheduled her plane to arrive on March 16th. So when I felt cramping the night of March 11th it really scared me. I was mentally not prepared. Also, a few days later at my 40 week checkup while they were checking if/how much I was dilated they did a membrane sweep without my permission! I was furious!!! (A membrane sweep can begin labor.) My Mother-in-law was not there and would not be there for more than 48 hours. I seriously prayed that my uterus would stay strong 'till Kathy arrived...and it did:) At that point I was already 2 cm and we scheduled an inducement for the following Thursday, the 21st. One more week.

This was also pretty weird for me. Instead of the doctor coming in a saying, "This is what we're going to do and this is why..." They were really just looking to me to see what I wanted them to do. They would've induced me right then if that's what I wanted! (I was one day over my "due date"?!?) I wanted to give my body more time to go about it naturally. Even with the chance that it'd be an even bigger baby...

Up 'till that last scan I was feeling pretty confident that the babe would be an average 7 lbs. 5 oz. type. (That's what I was.) However, some of the Facebook comments said that my belly generally looked huge and my grandma did give birth to a 12 pound baby! On top of that, the Shurilla babies tend to be on the large side, and then at that last scan, the Technician mentioned that it was a good thing this was the last scan because the next recored sizes might not fit on the graph. (They are not supposed to tell you how big they think your baby is due to parents being really upset if the Tech was wrong.)

So, the whole next week we did, not everything we could think of to naturally induce labor but close:) Eating spicy Indian food, drinking certain kinds of tea, LOTS of walking...

It helped that my Mother-in-law was here. We wanted her to see Glasgow. More specifically, to see the antique (junk) shops. If you want to read more about her Scottish adventure go to her blog HERE.

Well, nothing worked and inducement day came...

The night before...
I wanted to put this sweater on and take a pic before the belly was gone.
I don't remember why it was so important...
(I purchased it here in Scotland and had never worn it before.)