Well, as most of you know, yesterday was our 36 week appointment. This is the first of our weekly appointments. We will see our doctor every Tuesday from now until our little princess decides to make her appearance. :) I have scheduled all of our weekly appointments up until 41 weeks already. This is helpful for Michael because he's not having to ask me a day or two before each appointment what time it is and what time he needs to get off of work. He knows all the rest of our appointment times and has made arrangements with work to make sure that he's there for them all. :) He's been so great through this entire pregnancy! He hasn't missed any appointments. Even though they generally aren't fun or exciting, he's always there. :) He's got to see his daughter from the time she was no more than a blog with a heartbeat, to when she was fully formed and waving at us, still not even big enough to make my stomach poke out, he saw her when she flexed her muscles and swallowed the day we found out she was a girl, and we got to see that she already has a head full of hair (if only we could tell what color it is!). There has been so much to experience. :) She is such a blessing to us. We are so proud and excited to have her with us and to be adding her to our family very soon. :)
Ok, enough of that mushy stuff. ;) Onto the stats from our appointment yesterday... As always, they take my weight. I was a little worried this week, thinking I'd gone up 5 pounds in the last week, but at the doctor they only measured up 3 pounds! Wooohooo! For once in my life the scale at the doctor's office worked in my favor! :P My doctor was fine with the weight gain. I might not be, but it wasn't a problem for him. I just hope she comes soon, because I'm seeing numbers on the scale these days that I have never seen and definitely don't want to see again! They did a urine dip like they always do, no protein or glucose there, again, good signs that baby girl and I are remaining healthy. It's been such a blessing to be so healthy throughout this pregnancy. I worry enough, knowing that everything is going right. ;) My blood pressure was good again. :) This was one area that I thought I could end up having trouble with. Sis had higher blood pressure when she was pregnant with Dayton, so I was concerned that mine could end up high as well, but both my diastolic and systolic were well within normal ranges again. Getting close to being done! All is in place and ready that we'll be able to go to the Birthcare Center to meet our little girl! Hopefully no complications arise in these last few weeks to change that. We will see. Based on how healthy we've both been this entire time, I'd say we'll be good. ;) They checked for our baby girl's heartbeat as usual. I love hearing that sound every week. She did a little rolling and made it a little more difficult on the nurse this week, but she's so big now, that she can't get too far away, so we eventually got it. ;) Her heartbeat was at 136 bpm. :) Seems that as we get closer to her arrival she's getting more and more chill and relaxed, preparing for the big day. :) She's going to be an awesome baby! :) Can't wait to meet her! Finally, the last few things that my doctor checked at this appointment were the items that I was most excited to find out. He checked to make sure she was head down and engaged, ready for birth, he checked how far I was dialated, and he checked my effacement. These numbers don't mean much, and you can walk around for weeks being dialated and effaced, but I figure that between this week and next week I'll be able to compare the numbers and see if and how quickly we are moving towards her being ready to greet the world. The first bit of good news is that she is head down! Wooohooo! :D If she weren't, he would have had to manipulate her to get her into the right position, or we could have ended up having a c-section. Now while there could still be complications that arise and force us into that, her positioning will not be the cause. She is engaged and ready for labor and delivery with her head down. :) I am dialated to 2cm. I was very excited to hear this, and hope that I continue to dialate well through the next several weeks. When you're dialated to 10cm you are considered fully dialated. My body is doing part of that work now, without contracting my entire uterus and making me hurt and uncomfortable. My doctor said it was good news to be dialated to 2 already, because it would be less dialating that needed to occur during contractions to get to 10. Hopefully we keep progressing at a steady rate. :) I told you she was big and strong and that she was either coming early or going to be a large baby... At this moment I'm leaning towards coming early. ;) Finally, the last thing he checked was the effacement of the cervix. It has to thin out and be rubbery enough (for lack of a better explaination) to allow the baby to pass through during labor and delivery. During labor you work through the contractions to get to 10cm dilitation and 100% effacement. I am currently at 50% effacement. :) Halfway done already!! :D Again, these numbers don't mean much right from the start, but when I have numbers for next week to compare them to, they should be able to give me some idea of how fast we are moving towards her birthday. :) Since we are so close to the end, my doctor gave me some instructions on when to come in to the birthcare center or the hospital. She could realistically come any day from here on out and be perfectly healthy and heading home with us the next day. :) I was instructed to go in if my water breaks, or if I'm having contractions every 3-5 minutes that last for an hour and are strong enough that I can't talk through them. Much as I'd like her to arrive this week, I'm not putting too much hope in that. ;) So we will see when she decides to arrive.
This pregnancy has been such a joy. :) Now, I didn't care for the morning sickness at the beginning, and I certainly don't like my sleep being interupted for heartburn, these are mild things. I am so very excited to have a daughter. I know she is going to bring so much joy to our lives and to our family. She is greatly loved already. I can't wait to get into my 'mom-mode'. I'm looking forward to my maternity leave where I can get a glimpse of what my life will be like if I choose to be a stay-at-home-mom instead of returning to work. I'm looking forward to watching my baby girl grow and discover the world. I'm excited to see how Michael reacts to her. I know he loves her so much already, but I think it's harder for men to wrap their minds around since they aren't carrying the baby. I think that even when she's born it might not completely sink in that we're parents and have a tiny person to care for. I'm not sure that idea has sunk in for me yet either. I'm anxious to see how our lives change and all she adds to our lives. There are so many new experiences to have, so many new days to discover. It's going to be the adventure of our lives. :) And I could not be more thrilled to begin that adventure with my best friend and the love of my life. :) My life is improved 1000 times because I have Michael in it. :) So to now be adding our daughter to our family, life can only get better. :) It's hard to fathom, at this moment, life getting any better. Our lives are simply too good right now. Everything is going right. I'm anxious and excited to see life get better, because it's already REALLY good! :) I guess I'll find out in the months to come. :)
Only 23(ish) more days, folks! Keep coming back to read about how dearly I love my husband, how excited I am about our baby, and all the medical updates surrounding her arrival. Love you! Happy Wednesday, everyone! :D
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