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Josa’s pregnancy diary - weeks 28 – 30
The ‘maturity’ factor
When Cherie Blair had her baby, there was a great deal in the press about the special attention she was getting, due to her age. Of course, she was using the NHS, as, in spite of her vast and, no doubt thoroughly deserved earnings, this is the ideologically correct thing to do. The same consideration has not been applied to me. Sometimes I wish I could afford to go private and get some lengthy and exclusive attention to allay my fears.
I very much doubt that her obstetrician was simply not available, as mine was this week, or that she was fobbed off with someone more junior. I insisted that my appointment was put forward to a date when I could see the Professor. They want to induce me early and I want to know why. My worry is that my first baby was 10 days late, my second nearly three weeks, and neither showed signs of what they call post maturity. It is obviously natural for me to have long pregnancies – in the US they take the length of your menstrual period into account when they calculate your due date. Here it is judged to be 28 days – mine is 34. If they induce, as they want to, at 38 weeks, the baby might actually be premature and all because there is a small possibility (as I mentioned earlier) of the placenta packing up late in pregnancy when you’re over 40.
There is a girl in my yoga class who had pre-eclampsia during her last pregnancy – an illness that can endanger both mother and baby. She had a Caesarean at 28 weeks and her baby is now a bonny, healthy two-year-old with no problems. There is a very good survival rate today for babies born at 28 weeks, but I am not ready to take that risk unless it’s necessary. I show no signs of any rise in blood pressure or swelling – in fact my wedding ring is looser than usual, as my extremities seem to grow skinny, while my middle section enlarges by the day.
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