Pearl van Zoest

This pregnancy, I've gained about 2.5 kilos (about 6 pounds) recently, that makes a little over 1 pound a week. This makes the overall weight gained at the moment a little over 4 kilos (9 pounds), and my current weight is 116 pounds.

I am expected to have a hospital delivery but they anticipate a very quick delivery since this is my second pregnancy. For the first pregnancy with natural labor – one that is not induced because labor with induction involves drugs such as Pitocin, that causes uterine contractions and also augment (speed up) labor to shorten the overall latency. Natural labor on average takes 13 hours... Just what I was told by the Doc. For me natural labor with Jasmine took 7 hours. Two of the 7 hours were waiting for the doctor to show up. So they think I will have a much quicker delivery this time around. It is to the point where they are not sure if I will have enough time to get a double dosage of antibiotics or an epidural. Hmm… I wonder if I'll make it to the hospital. : Anxious :

Overall, things look more promising this time around. I am glad I finally got the information I wanted and I was able to find a doctor/midwife that understands my concerns. I cannot wait to meet Pearl, but I still would like to spend more time with Jasmine. She is so young, precious, and growing up much more quickly than I had anticipated.

As for Jasmine, she is starting to understand that I am carrying a fetus. When we tell her, she is expecting a sister, and Mama has a baby inside, she no does not run over to her doll to tell us otherwise. Instead she walks towards me, puts her hear on my belly and kisses it after she's done listening. And each time she does this I cried. She is so young still. We only hope she will adjust well with another family member. I hope to be as available for her as I am now and if I cannot, then I hope she still gets the same amount of the attention she does now. I am looking at several options, such as hiring a babysitter for Pearl for a couple hours a week. So Jasmine and I can still do things together that otherwise are inappropriate for a newborn.

Wish me luck.

I have left the mid-wife group at the Kern and moved my pregnancy care to the Diaconessenhuis in Leiden as I tested GBS+. At this moment, not much is known about the pregnancy other than the baby heart rate has been between 138 - 145. I was told that the fetus heart rate can range from 110 - 160. So Pearl has a steady heart rate. (I hope she will continue to do well).

I am currently at 34 weeks and 5 days, although I had a check up last week. Nothing happened. I waited an hour for my appointment and was told that Pearl might be breech. Since my 28th week appointment she has been head-down and her head was half-way engaged. I had several people tell me that she could still turn her heads up because this is my second pregnancy. My first comment to them was, "well, that isn't going to happen to me". Guess I'll be a bit more sensible next time.

It is very likely that she is breech. At the request of the mid-wife, I scheduled an ultrasound appointment this Monday to confirm her position. I truly hope she is not breech and if she is, she will not remain this way. It is not an ideal situation for her.

As for the long wait, I was angry at first -- caused by three qualities: fatigue, boredom, and hunger. Then the lady before me emerged from the mid-wife's office. Any anger and resentment I felt melted away. I hope she has someone to console her. It was a painful experience to see her so sad and alone. Wherever you are lady, I hope you have someone to hold you and a shoulder to cry on. Otherwise, you are in my thoughts irregardless of you knowing.

My condolences to you. Wishing you peace in this destitute time .

At the 35th week of pregnancy, the ultrasound confirmed that Pearl is in the head-down (vertex) position although her head has not engaged. Weight wise, she is 4 days bigger than expected, but still within the normal growth rate. Her current weight is 2.71 kilograms which is equivalent to 5 lbs and 15 ounces. Other factors such as amniotic fluid and femur length are measured as well. The results came back normal. She is growing steady in the middle of the curve, at the 57 percentile.

Another bi-weekly appointment with the mid-wife this Thursday, and probably one more afterward before it becomes a weekly occurrence. I can breath easier now knowing I was misdiagnosed and no external cephalic version will be done on me.

36 Weeks and the fetus head is fully engaged. The fetus average heart rate is 147. She is typically between 140 - 150. The doctor said the fluctuation is a good indicator that she is healthy. I have three more days to go and then the fetus is considered full term. Pearl will be like her sister as I am told. She will weight between 5 to 6 pounds but I should not expected to have a 7 pound baby. She also mentioned that my stomach just keep growing outwards. It does not grow sideways very well. Guess I just have a small frame overall. As I was walking out, she smiled and said, maybe I will see you at the delivery room before your next appointment. Shortly afterward, she continued to tell me not to worry too much about Pearl arriving this weekend.

We have a reservation for Efteling this weekend. Hopefully Pearl does not decide to show up then. It would be nice to spend time with the family without worrying about a new arrival.

My blood pressure is rising so the mid-wife ordered a blood test for me today. She said to call back two hours later for the results from the after hours specialist.

Two hours later, they indicated that I had normal readings except for my liver. It appears a little too high so they want me to see me again on Thursday despite the fact that I already have an appointment for the 30th of October.

I am not sure what the prognoses by the mid-wife will be for this Thursday.It is rather ironic though, considering the mid-wife and I were discussing the pros and cons of induction today. Our conclusion was that we will not proceed with an induction unless there is a medical requirement. Because inducing too early might lead to an emergency cesarean. It appears now that I do have a medical requirement. So it is very likely that Pearl will arrive next week (if she does not arrive sooner). It is also very likely for her and I to spend a couple days at the hospital together.

In the states, Mom and baby are monitored several days at the hospital. In Netherlands (and perhaps other European counties as well), mom and baby are often sent home several hours after delivery -- if they are healthy. Then family is given a confinement lady for a week to check up on Mom and baby. The confinement lady also helps with all the daily chores.

I am told to have more rest -- be on bed rest for now. There goes my 10+ miles daily walk to bring grocery home and taking Jasmine to the playground.

As it turns out there is no need for induction as the the blood test which showed the enzymes elevated above normal levels does not indicate a problem. As I found out today, the normal ranges for AST (aspartate transaminase) are around 0 to 40 IU/L and I tested 41. The mid-wifes are only concerned when it is at 100+ IU/L. Although this particular mid-wife feels that there are no worries (at the moment), she did send me to the lab for a re-evaluation. We do not know what the result of this new test is yet. We tried to call the lab earlier, but we were unable to reach the specialist. So we will try again tomorrow. Based on the results, we will know for a fact if I should return to see a mid-wife before my previously scheduled appointment on Tuesday.

As for the rising blood pressure, I had it when I started to be seen by them. My blood pressure was X/65 (quite low), and now it is at 115/80 (normal range). So my blood pressure has been rising, but is within the expected range.

At the moment, it feels like Pearl will most likely arrive on her due date or later because insofar, I have only felt a brief contraction that lasted 1 minute this afternoon, and it has not returned since.