39 weeks later...

In truth, closer to 40 weeks which just blows my simple, forgetful little baby brain! I consider my brain to work a little like an old Amstrad computer. Very slow on the processing front and I'm pretty sure I can hear the fuzzy loading sound as I attempt to retain information.

So how on Earth did we get to 39+ weeks already? Well, when two people love each other very much...lose their minds and think baby number 4 would be a great idea...you eventually reach week 39! The kids are on school half term holidays at the moment which is good and bad. Good, because I don't have to lug my plentiful body in and out of the car for the school run, but I also I feel bad because as you can imagine we are not venturing very far from home unless it's in the direction of the hospital. The kids find that a little dull. My constantly dropping things and asking them to pick them up for me appears to be wearing a little thin with them as well. My eldest daughter is desperate to make the 'movie moment' phone call to my husband at work with 'Mummy's going to have the baby!'. I think, even if he is home at the time, we'll have to let her make a call to someone at that point.

So, I know I technically missed blog '38 weeks later', but I was a little indisposed at the time. When I went for my GP 38 week check up, the baby had decided to go for a little swim and was laying sideways (transverse). I thought nothing of it, figured the baby would do what it likes until D-Day and just enjoyed hearing the heartbeat. The GP said I had to speak to the midwife about it, which I did. They asked me to pop in for a quick scan just to check where the baby was and that everything was ok. "No problem!" said the full term Mum-to-be hyped up on pregnancy hormones without a care in the world. So, off I go accompanied by my 4 year old son, hospital notes in hand and a big fat bag of ignorant bliss!

We arrived at the hospital and are seen almost immediately. They scan me with the confirmation that baby is all well and yes is lying transverse. "Cheeky monkey!" thinks I as I prepare to head on home....sorry what?....I can't go home?!....sorry WHAT?! It turns out, as I then have explained to me, that if your baby is transverse at 38 weeks, you 'aint going nowhere except to the labour ward where you will stay until the baby either turns by itself, or they turn it for you! Sorry WHAT?! (Slightly in shock and not entirely sure how to process this, I had a look on my face for about 20 minutes which would be similar to say, if the cat pooed in your shoe and you only found out as you pushed our foot into to...you know...that face!)

Their reasons for keeping me were sound and in the interest of the baby. If my waters broke, the cord could prolapse and I would need to already be in hospital for an emergency C section. Absolutely, I get that, baby's safety first. What my Amstrad brain was struggling to process was what I did about my two daughters who needed picking up from school any minute, the 4 year stood next me and the fact that (as I mentioned earlier) I only left the house with a bag of ignorant bliss, not my hospital bag!

After negotiating with my son (who was only happy as he was logged on to the Cbeebies app) about borrowing Mummy's phone just for two seconds to make a call, I then started the run of minimal explanation/favor asking to try to collect, feed and retrieve children and items from various places.

Now, just to be clear, I am fully aware that this is a non-story on the scheme of pregnancy/birth stories. My mate went into hospital by ambulance with a baby's foot hanging out of her... a foot I tell you! So my 'there's a very small chance that if something did happen, there's a further chance that something else could also happen that would then be really bad' isn't exactly a story. It's a Non-story. But holy transverse babies Batman! That's not how I thought that day was going to play out!

Long Non-story short (too late!), I stayed in for a couple of days, did every type of yoga, hip inversion and yoga ball hip rotation I could and the little monkey turned head down just in time for my 'get out of hospital free' card to be played at a check up scan. Was it the yoga? Was it the hip inversions? Was it the sight and smell of the hospital food which made my stomach turn so could have done the same for the baby? Or maybe my baby just has phenomenal comic timing... I'll never know. (probably the latter) Either way, home I go and very relieved to be back on track. In hindsight, I should have made more of the peace and quiet and not running around after the kids like a mad woman for a couple of days, but at the time it was all a little stressful and not quite the spa-day that time away from the kids should be.

So in answer to the question you didn't ask...that's why I didn't blog at 38 weeks!

Right, I'm off to go into labour at some point in the next few days...catch you on the flip side!