The Waiting Game

Posted on by Janie Ziye Shen

Week 39+1. 6 days to go.

Delivery date is getting closer and closer and pregnancy is starting to get less glamorous. I’m now 61kg, a weight gain of 16kg which means I feel like a whale. My fingers and feet are swollen. My back has started to be a pain. I can’t sleep well at night anymore due to my blocked nose and big belly. Since last Friday my stomach has been tensing up quite regularly, but never painful. These are just pre-labour Braxton Hicks contractions, could signify labour is a few days or weeks away. I REALLY HOPE IT MEANS IT’S A FEW DAYS AWAY.

I don’t know how I can survive another three weeks like this, we are so ready now to become parents! Kenneth is here and Christmas is around the corner but it’s hard to concentrate on anything and I feel exhausted all the time. Distraction techniques work a bit, like urgent deadlines for my work (yes, I’m still working) or going to see the Hobbit at the movies, and baking. For the first time in my life I cannot predict or plan when the big event will happen and being in this limbo state is driving me mad. So please please please will you just come out and join us soon?

Below: Lussebullar in the making

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Published by Janie Ziye Shen

I'm a researcher and writer based in New York City. Before moving here, and becoming a mother, I spent three years in Beirut working for Save the Children on a child protection project in Lebanon, Palestine and Yemen as well as organizing the local migrant workers community to fight for better rights and working conditions. Apart from being passionate about topics related to childhood and motherhood, and all the magic in between, I'm also currently a M.A. candidate in International Affairs at The New School where I'm pursuing my research interests in migration, refugees, and human rights.

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