Tears, obstetricians and ducks!

 As we pulled out of our driveway on the way to the obstetrician’s today, I saw the most amazing site. Just 100 metres from our driveway, a family of ducks was trying to cross the road. It was weird because we live on a very busy street and not close to water. But what I saw was a good lesson in parenthood.

The family consisted of a mother and father and 6 ducklings. The father was in the front and the mother was at the side of her line of chicks. They took no notice of us, but the father was not happy when he saw a cyclist approach and slow down to take a look. He must have given some kind of sign that made the mother drop and the chicks followed. They were frozen to the road.

The father stuck his beak out and glared at the cyclist ready to defend his family. Once the cyclist had passed, and the father was happy, he must have given another sign that the coast was clear. The mother rose and the chicks followed. The whole family scurried across safely across the street.

At times, I get a little freaked out about coping with one baby, but these parents had to cope with 6. They obviously have some intrinsic patterns in place that allows them to communicate with each other, but the love and dedication these parents had for their children was so touching.  It warmed my heart to see it and helped me realise that managing one was going to bring challenges, but they would be overcome by my love and dedication to protecting my child.

As we sat in the obstetrician’s office, the door to the midwife’s office opened and a very heavily pregnant walked out in tears. She was so distressed she had to wait to see the obstetrician outside. I wondered what could have upset her so much. But, I realised seeing the ducks was nearly enough to bring me to tears so I assumed she was very close to giving birth and was just over it all. I hoped I wouldn’t reach that stage.

Our appointment with the midwife was short and sweet. She weighed me and I had lost 200 grams. Nothing dramatic so at 22.5 weeks, I’ve still only put on 4 kilos. I’m over the moon about that. Especially when given the obstetrician told me that I’m currently on track for an “average size” baby which would be around 3-3.5 kilos or 7 pounds. However, he said all babies were on an average track until 32 weeks, at which point the smaller babies will put on 100 grams a week, the medium sized ones would put on 200 grams and the larger ones would put on 300 grams. I winced at this remembering my Mother had said she only put on 6 kilos in the first 7 months and another 6 kilos in the last 6 weeks. The final result was my older brother who weighed nearly 12 pounds! No thanks!

I jumped up on the table and he could immediately tell where Sticky was because he said one side was harder than the other. That was a good tip to know if I ever want to find her. He pointed to where the heart beat should be and sure enough, there it was. Again, as always, and as forever it will be so, I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. We are all still here and going strong.

Dr T. gave me the magic piece of paper with my end date on it – 22^nd November. That’s it, it’s done and signed. I only have 8 weeks left of work. He also indicated for the first time that he was happy to do the caesarean at 38 weeks which could mean Sticky will arrive a week earlier than thought. The funny thing is I always had the 12^th January in my head as her birthday. Dr T. is away over Christmas so 38 weeks would be his first day back – Monday 13^th January.  I’m trying not to get too hung up on dates but I do like the thought of having her sooner rather than later. But, I also have to be prepared she might want to turn up earlier. I’m trying to convince her not to but if she’s anything like her Mother, she’ll have a mind of her own and do what she bloody well pleases!