Pregnancy: the last 7 weeks

 The last pregnancy update I wrote was at 26 weeks, at the beginning of the third trimester. It was early December and we had birthdays and friends visiting over almost every weekend. I kept feeling mostly well. I had days when I was tired (but not all of the time, as in the first 14 weeks, when I was like a cat, napping in the sun all day); days when I was full of energy and days where I really wanted salmon, a steak or orange juice, always orange juice. As much as I craved it I never got the salmon* because I never manage to find out if it comes from a sustainable, toxic-free environment.

As I started to get heavier (at my last midwife appointment, I had already gained 10 kg), I was having more and more trouble finding a comfortable position to sleep. The other main symptom I had was a constant, dull pain in the pelvic area. Basically, it was a soreness that felt as if I had been kicked down there. I think it was pubic symphisis dysfunction, but the midwives always said it was normal, due to the increased weight I was carrying. Yu had been lying very low, with her head ready to engage for at least a month. She was in that position at every time they listened to her heart and felt my belly.

1 day before 27 weeks, on December the 1st

It was a period full of medical check ups. On December 23, at 30 weeks exactly, we had an ultrasound to check for growth and my blood was screened for iron levels; on December 24 I had an appointment with the gynaecologist** so that she could redirect me to the anesthesiologist to make sure I could get an epidural.*** Then on January 8 I had another midwife appointment and on January 10 I had the appointment with the anesthesiologist. He kind of laughed at us... telling us that if I could go up and down the stairs of course I was fit for anesthesia. He did not even listen to my heart with his fancy stethoscope.

December 14, almost 29 weeks

That last weekend before my waters surprisingly broke we went to a friends' house for a 'Rosca de Reyes'. The last pictures of me before my stay at the hospital were actually taken that day, while I was making Mexican-style hot chocolate. Then, on Sunday we went to visit another friend who is also expecting a baby. Funny thing is, as we bought presents for both these friends we saw some really cute-size 45 cm. baby clothes on sale and we both said,: "too bad she will never fit them". (Mark measured 49 cm. at birth and I was 52 cm. so we expected her to be at least 51 cm. at birth).

On January 13, as I looked at the fridge trying to decide what I'd cook that day and seeing how it was full of vegetables I called Mark to tell him I was *really* craving a steak. We went out looking for an Italian trattoria, a simple place where we could have some meat and pasta. I ended up eating only pasta because the steak we ordered was very rare. I had no idea when we went to sleep that she would decide to come to us a lot earlier than we ever thought, as there was no indication for it. I had pretty much a textbook pregnancy until her arrival: my blood pressure, weight, glucose and iron levels were  always good and except for tiredness and discomfort I never really felt sick. I was mostly thrilled to finally be showing a bump and have her grow and live and play inside me. And we couldn't wait to meet her.

That night I saw the full moon and I remember thinking: "The moon synchronises women and horses... but we'd better wait for next month's moon". I guess we don't control that kind of thing.
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"Había una luna a medias la noche que desquició para siempre los ordenados sentimientos de la tía Inés Aguirre. Una luna intrigosa y ardiente que se reía de ella. Y era más negro el cielo que la rodeaba que adivinar por qué no pensó Inés en escaparse de aquel embrujo.
Quizás aunque la luna no hubiera estado ahí, aunque el cielo hubiera fingido transparencia, todo habría sido igual." -(Angeles Mastretta)

"There had been a half-moon the night that Aunt Inés Aguirre's orderly feelings became unhinged forever. A scheming, burning moon laughed at her. And the sky surrounding it was so black that it was anyone's guess why Ines did not think of escaping that bewitched thing. Perhaps even if the moon hadn't been there, even if the sky had pretended to be transparent, everything would have turned out the same way".

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*Actually, the last meal I had at the hospital, just hours before baby Yu was born was grilled salmon with hollandaise sauce.
**The gynaecologist I saw that day, by coincidence was the gynaecologist that attended Yu's birth. I could not have been happier when I saw her at the labor ward. Not only because I recognized her, but because she was the most upbeat, happiest, kindest doctor I had pretty much every met. On that appointment where all she *had* to do was sign a paper she took her doppler and made us listen to her heart just because, even if we had had an ultrasound the day before that and we were due to have midwives appointments in the very near future.
*** (As a child I was diagnosed with a physiological heart arrythmia and I was always told this could potentially interfere with anesthesia)