Yes, I’m still pregnant.
Baby is fine. I had a prenatal appointment Monday and things checked out ok.
Meanwhile my emotions run the gamut from boredom, irritation, sadness, worry and even guilt.
Boredom that comes from being physically limited and waiting in expectation.
Irritated that I’m still pregnant and so uncomfortable.
Sad that I am not holding and cuddling my newborn.
Worried that I’ll have to do a hospital birth with induction. (Ugh.)
Guilt that I’m feeling these negative emotions.
Because really, this isn’t a real problem. Some people have real problems.
Yesterday I finished reading Heaven is Here, by Stephanie Nielson of NieNieDialogues. It’s a story about a woman with real problems. Have you read it or heard Stephanie’s story?
The Baby Isn’t Coming Tonight
It’s honestly beginning to feel like the baby’s never coming. While I know this isn’t true, babies always come eventually…. it feels awfully real.
My latest coping technique is to tell myself every night before I go to bed, “The baby’s not coming tonight.” Then, when I wake up in the morning without having gone into labor, I get to be right. It’s an odd kind of satisfaction.
I’ve always had empathy for women who go past their due dates. Even though this is something I’ve never experienced, I could intuit how frustrating it must be. How uncomfortable to feel like you’re going to poop a baby at any second. Peeing every 20 minutes all day and night, feeling as if your pubic bone were breaking in two.
Of course now I have newfound empathy for the emotionally trying aspect of it. It reminds me of something somebody said once. Oh, yes.
This:
“Expectation postponed is making the heart sick.”
- Proverbs 13:12
I’m also trying to stay busy and forget that I’m pregnant. Which isn’t easy since I feel like a hippo on roller skates. But I mean I don’t dwell on the baby in my thoughts. I’m also asking myself, “What would I be doing right now if I weren’t pregnant?” and trying to do those things. (Wrong answer: gazing wistfully at newborn clothes. Right answer: working on one of my websites, starting school.)
It seems almost silly (hence the guilt) to be so upset over a few days of waiting.
Even the kids seem impatient for baby’s arrival.
Every day the 2 year old lifts up my skirt to pat my belly and says, “Baby’s coming sooooon!”. The other kids talk to my belly and tell baby to hurry up. Yesterday even the oldest had a serious discussion with his youngest sibling, expressing his feelings on the matter and telling baby to get a move on already.
Did you go post dates in a pregnancy? How did you cope?
Oh yes I did. I went into my 42nd week with my first and I was miserable–I gained a pound a day for the last ten days, to make it worse! But I went into labor a couple of days before my scheduled induction. Babies DO come eventually, just like you said.
I coped by going into work everyday, napping, and walking miles and miles and miles. And miles.
A pound a day? Oh how uncomfortable. My weight has thankfully leveled off. Oddly baby is so low that when I look in the mirror my rib cage looks almost normal and not pregnant at all.
I’m walking every day as much as my energy level allows. How much did your baby weigh? Right now this one is still average in size. I wouldn’t ask for another 10 pound newborn like my 3rd. You can feel those shoulders coming out!
Carrie, that’s the funny thing. I had my earliest baby at 38 weeks on the nose, my latest at 41+, and all 4 fell in a 3.5-oz window. The lightest was 6-8.5, the heaviest 6-12. (I’m 5 9′ but still manage to have petite little babies, every time!)
I was over due with my first three. My first born was ten days late, my second eight. My third was two. It is so frustrating I agree. While I spent a lot of time feeling exhausted and tired the one thing that kept me going was the fact that some baby’s just need longer to bake in there. Lots of naps, walks out in nature, prayer got me through. Our fourth child was born last week on the first of August, bang on her due date. I was very thankful for that.
I haven’t had that experience. After all, I only have one kid
Praying that you’ll have a great birth experience soon 
)