Ohhh, there are lots of things to say because I procrastinated again. So I’ll start with the doctor visit because it may be the most interesting. My appointment was supposed to be yesterday, but things changed with The Great Blizzard of 2011. That makes it sound way more dramatic than maybe it is, but the streets are still a mess. Counting tomorrow, local schools are out four days this week (they only went Monday), and I don’t remember that ever happening.
So anyway, ice and sleet early Tuesday morning + 8-9 inches of snow on top of that = Dr. offices still closed on Wednesday. I got the call yesterday morning (I was going to wait a little while and then call and confirm myself, but they beat me to it), but I was told they’d probably want to see me really soon. I called this morning to reschedule, and sure enough…they wanted to see me today! Originally they asked to schedule me for this afternoon, but that really wouldn’t work. I finally get to see some patients this week, and I just couldn’t afford to reschedule them…and possibly lose them. (Tuesday and Wednesday became snow days for me, too! Fun to be snowbound, and I’m thankful for a couple of extra days to do some “nesting,” but money would be good right now.)
So they got me in this morning. I called around 9, and my appointment was set for 10:30. Wow! They don’t mess around when you’re 36 weeks pregnant! Thankfully, my parents are my kind chauffeurs in this less-than-ideal weather we’ve been having. (Side note: for all my friends who think it might be great for me to have a blizzard baby, little girl and I had a talk, and we agreed she’d wait for better weather!) So this morning, I called my dad to let him know…change of plans…don’t need to go to work yet…but I do need a ride to my OB appointment. So off we went.
My doctor is still gone until next week, so I saw the different doctor as originally planned. I got in almost immediately, which was a bit of a surprise since I was warned when I set up yesterday’s appointment that this doctor tends to run late more than my regular doctor does.
It’s interesting to see how different people do things basically the same but a little differently. First, I was weighed. Different scale–this one is in the other Dr’s exam room. I was watching, and I swear the scale balanced at around 122, maybe 121. But the nurse said, “We’ll just call it 120.” I said something like, “I think that’ll show as a loss….” And the nurse replied, “Yeah, at this stage of pregnancy, the weight can kind of go up and down a little, and it could be a little different using a different scale.” Both very good points! But adjusting the reading on the scale can make a difference too! I don’t know if she was subtracting out for clothes or what, but my usual nurse never did that (to my knowledge). Maybe I was just on crack and I read the scale wrong. I’m not the one who does this every day. But whatever.
Next, the nurse took my blood pressure. 110/68. Good good! Then the nurse listened to the heartbeat. 156 bpm! Little girl is consistent. I think this nurse used a little less jelly on the doppler than my Dr does because it was a LOT easier to clean my belly off. =)
The nurse also showed me the swab that would be used for the GBS test. The swab itself looks just like any Q-tip type thing, nothing too intimidating (wasn’t really worried about that to begin with). I was told the results come back in about 48 hours. They don’t call me; I’m just told the results at my next appointment. If I happen to go into labor before my next appointment, the results will be in the computer. Since I’ll have an IV anyway, whether or not I’m GBS negative or positive doesn’t really make much difference as far as my experience. If I’m GBS+, there will just be antibiotics in my IV that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Fine with me…whatever keeps my baby healthy. =)
The nurse handed Pete a sample cup (yes, cup for urine…for me, not for Pete, but I was occupied) since apparently that Dr takes the urine samples differently? I have no idea. I guess, if Dr. Powell were my regular Dr, I’d keep that cup for a week, then pee in it before I got there for my next appointment? I didn’t ask because I figured I’d just take a name sticker and pee in one of the many available cups when I got there, like I’m used to doing. Since they’re going to be doing internal exams from this point on, I kind of like having that opportunity for a last-minute pee anyway. It was funny to see Pete hold on to the cup until I could put it in my purse though. He’s like, “These are single-use, right???” =)
That was the other thing I learned from the nurse. I would have my first internal exam today. Which I was kind of glad about because I’ve been curious what’s been going on there. While I wasn’t surprised about having it done, I was a little surprised that I wasn’t told to expect it at my last appointment. Because they usually tell me everything I can expect at the next appointment. Just as well…no time to get nervous about it (not sure if I would have gotten nervous anyway). The nurse left, and I followed her instructions by stripping from the waist down and covering my lower half with a lovely paper cover she gave me.
The doctor came in shortly thereafter. She asked more weight-related questions like “How tall are you?” and “Do you know your pre-pregnancy weight?” I don’t know if it’s because she didn’t really know me beforehand to know I’m just small and I can’t help it…or if it was any different because of the way my weight was measured this time compared to last time. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, but she didn’t really say anything else about it. I’m not really worrying because I go back in five days anyway, and then I know it’ll be measured like normal. I was actually hoping she was asking more pointed questions because she was figuring what the baby’s weight might be when she’s born, but she never said anything about that.
Doctor also measured my uterus: 34 cm. Half a cm less than two weeks ago, so I didn’t know if there was some slight variation between doctors or if baby was dropping. I imagine it could be either or both. I thought maybe the baby had dropped in the last few days because I’ve felt a few twinges and headbutts on my bladder. =)
Next was the GBS swab. Doctor explained that she would first swab the vagina and then the rectum. The rectum was the most important because that’s where the bacteria usually is. That wasn’t such a big deal, though it was mildly uncomfortable when she had to circumnavigate my hemorrhoids, which have become slightly more of an issue in the last few days, but still not really a big deal. I’m just wondering if those are going to be like freakin’ cherry tomatoes after pushing out a baby. But I digress….
Next for the “fun” part: doctor checks my cervix. I was really curious about having this done because I wanted to know if any progress was being made there, but I had heard that it can hurt (things already hurt that shouldn’t, so I was worried it might be even worse for me). My childbirth educator said it can feel like they’re trying to feel your tonsils…haha! And I can’t say I disagree. The doctor was reaaallllly reaching in trying to feel, but I guess not feeling as much as she needed to. So she got up on a stool. It looked like she was getting leverage so she could really dive in (ahh!), but she said the angle was better and would be easier on me, too. Whatever, she was finally able to feel it. I was trying really hard to stay relaxed and not tense up during all of that, but it was really hard not to. I just didn’t want to be too much of a pansy because how am I going to handle a big ol’ baby coming out if I can’t even handle my doctor’s fingers up in there?
Before she got started, the doctor asked me if I had any women’s/mother’s intuition about whether or not I was dilated yet. Really, I was not going to be the least bit surprised if I had dilated some, but I didn’t really know, so I just told her I had no idea. I can feel that things are different, but I didn’t know what kind of different. First the doctor told me I was 1-2 cm dilated, but then she said 2 cm because she could get two fingers side by side in there. Cool! Then she said 70% thinning (she said “thinning,” which confused me more than if she had just said effaced, but same thing)…this one surprised me. Also baby is at +1 station. This one really surprised me! I didn’t think that happened yet, but it can/does. The doctor told me that only once, in her experience, has she ever seen someone at my stage of pregnancy with a baby at +1 and the baby not fit through the pelvis for a vaginal birth. So that was very encouraging. Summary: cervix and baby are behaving nicely!
As she was feeling around in there, she said that was definitely the head she felt on the other side of my cervix. So definitely still head-down. (No need to palpate my belly when you can feel the head right there!) I was actually a little jealous that the doctor got to (indirectly) feel my baby’s head! Which is way silly, I know. I’m definitely not going to be sticking any fingers up there to feel for myself. I will wait patiently.
The doctor said I should just go about my business with the mindset that I’m definitely going to make it to my due date. If I get the mindset that I’ll go early, these next 3-4 weeks or so will feel like an eternity. Makes sense. But this visit made things feel very real, so I might be better off with the mindset that I could deliver any day so I can hurry and get stuff done and be ready for her arrival. Then, iiiiffffff I actually get things more or less done ahead of time, I will have a little more time to rest and relax before EVERYTHING changes.
The doctor gave me a pantyliner since I could bleed some after having my cervix checked. I knew that would be the case, but I was a little surprised by how much. I’ll come to my next appointment prepared. I think I’ve had more Braxton-Hicks contractions today than ever before, too, so I don’t know if that could be related to the events of this morning or not. I’m really not even 100% sure they are BH, but I am pretty sure. I may have had them before, too, but they were infrequent enough that I couldn’t really distinguish them from baby moving.
Next appointment is on Tuesday afternoon with my regular doctor.
Sooo some other things. Slowly but surely, baby girl’s room is coming together. I put together the playard (which will serve as a bassinet), but that’s in our room. Here are a couple of pics of the crib and changing table. (Pete lovingly put them together and did a great job!)
Pete also finished getting the new blinds up today. New dresser is trying to get here, but snow is making that difficult. It’s in town, but UPS can’t quite get it to our door just yet.
Now for some belly pics!
First for the profile pic…shirt is all stretched out and wrinkled…long day. Also, belly button is MUCH MORE prominent in this picture than in previous pictures. But I swear that thing has been popped for weeks, including the Week 32 pic posted before. But last time, my pants had a belly panel that smoothed things over a bit. These pants don’t have the belly panel. So you see every bit of that turkey timer. (My turkey timer isn’t very reliable though; it said “done” long before baby girl was anywhere near finished cookin’.)
Front view:
Alright, friends. Here’s a rare treat (haha yeah right). But this one ain’t going on facebook. A bare belly shot. I haven’t taken ONE since I’ve been pregnant, and I figured I should take at least one. Even if it’s just for me. But I figured, what the heck, I’ll share it with you, too.
Can’t really see it in that picture, but so far I have ONE little stretch mark, which made its debut maybe a couple of weeks ago. Just where my belly button piercing was. It goes from my belly button up to the top hole of the piercing. I don’t really care. It’s just there. See?
That might just be the beginning depending on how much longer I’m pregnant. =)
Cartoon baby (for 36 weeks):
