When oh when will Dashiell arrive... or at least when is meant to come?

Before I get into my recently re-ignited concerns over when, exactly, my little bundle of joy is going to make his first appearance outside of my womb, let me start by saying that the results from our fetal MRI are in, and as predicted, Dashiell’s brain is just fine. So fine, in fact, that when my OB called yesterday to inform me there was nothing to worry about, she actually told me that MRI reader had called her and questioned why she’d ordered the procedure in the first place. I don’t know whether that’s more reassuring for me or for the hospital who gets to bill my insurance, but whatever the case, the quote was this:

“Yeah, his ventricles are prominent, but everything looks normal.”

Translation: Dashiell has a big brain… just like his mommy. Yes, we’re back there again. Except, as I mentioned above, something about my perception of all of this has changed. Though I’ve been assured that it’s not the case time and time again, I’m thinking that my son may not be the uber-baby everyone in my medical circle is predicting and that instead, he may very well be  due a few weeks before my EDD of 12/21… which would make him only slightly larger than average.

Now, I understand that early ultrasounds are extremely good predictors of a baby’s due date and the one that we had in the beginning of the second trimester (which has been my doctors’ point of reference during all of these subsequent tests) is probably reliable… But there’s something to be said for a mother’s intuition, too. And I’m just not totally sure I’m buying it. Here’s why:

Prior to all of these concerns about Dash’s giant head and off the charts growth, I always had the feeling I was a little ahead of schedule. I felt fetal movement sometime around week 14-15 (when it’s not said to start until weeks 17-18).  My feet and hands started swelling in July — way before week 27 when What to Expect warned of it. In fact, just about everything in “America’s Pregnancy Bible” happened to me roughly two to three weeks before they told me to expect it. Ironic that an agnostic mom-to-be doesn’t quite trust her baby bible? Perhaps. But the widely accepted guidelines have never been quite right in my case and I always found it curious, particularly when Dash started growing so rapidly. Then again (I told myself), every pregnancy is different. Or at least that’s what the book keeps reminding me, and since my doctors have all assured me that the EDD is right and Dash is just big, I’ve gone along for the ride. Let it suffice to say that I’ve never been able to make that leap from agnostic to full-on non-believer… despite an ex who liked to read me Richard Dawkins in bed. But it is in my nature to question. The same has been true of this pregnancy. (See of Brains and Balls for example.)

Anyway, that’s precisely where I was yesterday (vacillating), when things took a turn. On the heels of the call from my doctor, I started feeling slight cramping. The first rumblings of the prophesied Braxton Hicks contractions I assumed, and as such, nothing to be concerned about. That is until I felt sharp, stabbing pains in my nether regions. Not just like one or two pokes or prods, but like repeated jabs, throughout the afternoon and into the night. A search in the aforementioned What to Expect When You’re Expecting for—forgive me if this is TMI—vaginal pain, turned up empty handed (except as it related to delivery and post-partum discomfort). My handy Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy however, did make mention of the phenomenon… as a normal (and indeed, expected) part of pregnancy… in week 33.

You know, three weeks ahead of where I am now. A week in which (were I to be there now), Dashiell would be tracking as only slightly larger than normal.

If these pains are the pains of which the mighty Mayo speaks, they’re related to my cervix preparing to dilate. In first time mothers this can take quite a while… like as long as six to eight weeks. Nowhere does anything say it could take ten… which is what I’m supposed to have left in this pregnancy.

The point is, whether it’s rational or not, I am thinking I need to be ready for Dashiell’s arrival earlier than anticipated. Am I just crazy and paranoid (two oft-forgotten side effects of pregnancy)? Maybe. But with my belly growing increasingly heavy and my middle of the night bathroom trips once again on the upswing, I’m still glad we got the crib and dresser put together this weekend… and I’m determined that we’ll have everything altogether by Thanksgiving, just in case.