Day 11 of mat leave: The waiting game

Yesterday morning at 4AM, I had the most intense stomach cramping on my right side. It spanned from my underarms all the way to my lower ab and back and my tummy felt like it was on fire. I think I had a bit of food poisoning. Problem is, I've eaten 'wrong' things before and had stomach upsets but never to this extent. The pain lasted 30 minutes, I broke out in sweats and when I went to the bathroom, I had #2 but it was not diarrhea to be honest and to be waaaay TMI :) After 10 minutes of being on the toilet, I went back to bed, woke my husband up and made him rub my back from top to bottom. I felt calmer and the pain was bearable. And just like that, the pain was gone after 20 minutes of lying down and having him rub my back- including the fire in my tummy.

Was it a contraction? But if it were, why was it only on my right side? And I pray and depend on the fact that contractions give you BREAKS IN BETWEEN and don't last for 30 minutes straight !! Needless to say, I spent yesterday in fear at the thought of Real Labor when I may have had difficulty just handling an upset stomach ....

Anyway, I didn't have a good day yesterday. I was so tired and my body was achy all over, probably from the stressing of that episode. I may have snapped at my mother on the phone when she called to ask me why I still wasn't labor-ing. I don't know why old people think this is helpful. To summarize, I spent yesterday feeling guilty and wondering what I've been doing wrong or not doing for baby to be 'overdue' which is how I landed on this very informative article,

The Lie of the Estimated Due Date (EDD): Why Your Due Date Is Not What You Think

The basic points that I got from the above:
-This 40 week gestation theory is largely based on writings from the bible
-Actual scientific stats from 1990 have actually averaged out the gestation period for first time moms to be 41 weeks and 1 day while not first time moms experience due dates of 40 weeks and 3 days.
-Calendar counting is also not so accurate if you don't know your exact period cycle, as well as the exact conception date, as well as the exact date where your fertilized egg latched onto your uterus.
-Basically, it's recognized by the American College of Obstitricians and Gynecologists to not fuck with a pregnancy until 42 weeks.
-Also, lung development happens last in baby development within the womb so the more time baby has inside the womb, the more developed their lungs.

Of course, I also keep in mind that there are risks to the placenta if baby is left too long in the womb so I think to be fair, my doctor has given me a reasonable deadline of 11 days past 40 weeks. That would make me 41 weeks plus 4 days which is past the actual average for first time moms. And in the meanwhile, baby's lungs are given the chance to develop as much as possible.

Anyway. My main issue is that baby is not dropping, according to my doctor. So I also went browsing for yoga poses to position baby better for labor and landed on this blog post which I found hilarious,

5 Poses That Should Induce Labor (But Don't) ...

I will be trying those poses in conjunction with the breast pumping and the walking and the exercise ball workouts. But the best chuckle that I got from that post was the following- "Without further ado, I give you 5 Poses That Should Induce Labor (But Don't Work If You're Me Because My Baby Doesn't Want to Come Out and I'm Going to Be Pregnant Forever) " That last bit in the parenthesis is EXACTLY HOW I FEEL RIGHT NOW.

Anywhoo. In between all this worrying and browsing, I had the chance to make soup and soy sauce chicken again. Will update on some tips to make a better, cleaner soup in the next post.