Still preggers!

It's March the 30th (30.03.2010) and although Steph slept badly in Cyprus, I didn't get to sleep 'till late and Emma's bedside light was on at 6am this morning with her snoring next to it, last night's full moon did not make my waters break!

Hurray! I am (37 weeks) still preggers !

Qué serà, serà...

An update to my last post on the moon's effect on natural birth and more specifically the fact that Steph will be away;

As it turns out ALL my back-ups (the kindergarden Mums, the friends, the Pilates teacher, the babysitter...) will all be away as well. In brief, should baby decide to arrive on 30.03.2010 (the next full moon) Emma and I will be going to the clinic together.

I think it's unlikely, but I'm not the one to decide.

This afternoon, we popped round to the clinic to show Emma some babies (no babies around, so we had to make do with baby pics on the walls) and ask the Hebamme (midwife) if there was any way she could um, well, have a look and tell us that the baby was no way coming before a few days at least so that Steph could catch his plane tomorrow and we could be reassured.

Well, as it turns out, I was told that:

• they "cannot tell the future"
• even if they did check and told me there was no sign of labor, my waters might break 15 minutes after I got home
• the full moon had no influence on these things at all
• oh, and that the baby was fine
  

I can't say I feel much better.

Qué serà, serà...I guess.

In the meantime, I'll be using some birth affirmations to keep my spirits up and talking to the baby asking him to wait until Daddy gets back and possibly even until his Grandma (Gogo) gets here.


Here's a little film of Emma and Steph reading together this morning:

The moon's effect on natural child-birth

Yesterday, as Emma and I walked to kindergarden, we ran into the mother of three of Emma's "colleagues". After commenting on the fact that my belly had dropped, she asked me if I knew when the next full moon was.

Ugh, actually, no, no clue at all.

I totally had not checked that. Not for Emma, not now. But coincidentally, my ObGyn had given me a calendar with the moon cycles on my last check-up. I had stuffed it into my filofax without really looking at it. But this morning after dropping Emma off, I did.

And when do you think the next full moon is to take place?

Ta-daa - On March 30th when Steph will be in Cyprus - his last trip until May, well after the baby arrives. The full moon after that is on April 28th (closer to the baby's actual EDD).

So I decided to check the moon cycles for the year and month Emma was born, and Ta-daa; the full moon in July 2007 was on the very day Emma was born! It was the 9th full moon in Emma's gestation, just like the one to take place on March 30th will be the 9th full moon in this baby's gestation.

It's interesting to note that with Emma, although I lost my mucus plug on Thursday, my amniotic sac burst mid-afternoon on Sunday July 29th, and I didn't have contractions or dilate for hours. In fact, I finally took some oxytocin to get things going and she was born at 6h09 on Monday 30th July.

Those who believe that the moon does have a role to play invoke the fact that we are 80% water and that "Under normal circumstances, the pressure of labor contractions bursts the sac. During a full moon, the pressure caused by the moon’s effect on the water inside the sac can cause the same things to happen, but without the accompanying contractions." (Source: The Moon's Effect on Natural Childbirth)

On the other hand, a 2005 study (to cite one of many) found no significant link between the moon's phases and births. But there are loads of things out there we cannot prove and that are happening anyway, right?

Last night I decided to conduct my own little search using family members. According to this calendar, the moon had no influence on the dates of birth of my sister, her kids, my Mum or on mine but was within two days of my Dad's and my husband's birth dates.

Steph says he doesn't "feel" it happening while he is away. Still, I can't say I'm totally reassured.

What about you and your babies? Were they born around a full moon?