Another Google Violation

Ok, so to follow up on my last post, the doctor felt that everything was probably just fine with the baby despite his excessive hiccups, but just in case he went ahead and ordered an ultrasound with a biophysical profile. Apparently a good biophysical profile nearly guarantees you a healthy baby for the next 1-2 weeks, so worst case scenario, we do weekly ultrasounds until I deliver, which is hopefully in the next 2-4 weeks. As the doctor expected, everything looked great with the baby during the ultrasound. He was practicing his breathing, he’s still a boy, and he’s officially very smooshed inside my uterus. The tech tried to take a picture, but it’s so contorted because of the lack of space that I haven’t even shown it to anyone.

So yesterday, my husband came out of work with a cup that had ice and water in it. The ice was those little balls of ice that you might get at a place like Sonic. I’ve never enjoyed chewing ice because my teeth are sensitive, but yesterday, I was like a mad woman. I couldn’t get enough of this ice. It was like an obsession. Now today, I’ve filled a glass with ice and water and have been chewing that ice all day too. This is really very unusual for me. So of course, I googled it. I really only did it because I wondered if it was a common craving in pregnancy or something. Well, the answer is…Yes, it is common in pregnancy, but is a symptom of anemia (which apparently is also common in pregnancy). I know being anemic is really not that big of a deal and more importantly, just because google says it, doesn’t mean that I am actually anemic, but seriously, why is it that I can’t just leave it alone. Why does everything need to have an answer via the world wide web. In addition, why am I trusting what I read there, when so many of the responses are so grammatically incorrect or misspelled that I can hardly discern the content. Clearly most of the contributors are not well educated in health related matters. The good news is that I do have my next appointment tomorrow, and I will mention to the doctor that I’ve been craving chewing ice, and let him tell me that I have nothing wrong with me.

On another note, I am still absolutely convinced that this baby will not be showing his face until 41+ weeks, yet I cannot seem to keep myself from mildly obsessing over labor signs. I have had intermittent cramping, mostly overnight, that reminds me of menstrual cramping. It’s very mild, and I could even be convinced that it is my imagination if I weren’t feeling it so often now. My doula said that often effacement can feel like cramping, so maybe that is what is happening. I also think the baby may have dropped a little. I’m not sure, but I have noticed that my frequent urination suddenly became even more frequent, and this increase coincided with a decrease in bloating after eating (although I did have some bloating last night, so maybe this was just a fluke). Other than these things, I’ve felt absolutely nothing that would make me think labor is imminent, which I suppose is good since I’m not even officially 37 weeks yet.

I was looking forward to internal cervical checks, but I read today that the information that is learned from these checks rarely gives any true insight into the actual onset of labor. What I understand is that the cervical checks are actually more helpful in determining the likelihood of a successful induction, but since we are trying very hard to avoid induction, I’m not even that interested in it for that. I suppose it would give me some comfort to know that my body was beginning to go through the natural steps that eventually lead to the eviction of this baby without outside interventions, but on the other hand if the exam concludes that my cervix is 0% effaced and I’m totally closed, I’m concerned it may contribute to some undue stress (like worrying incessantly that I’m doomed to have an induction and an epidural and have no control over my labor experience at all). I guess the answer is that I will allow them to happen, but I will try not to obsess (yeah right) over the results.