Thursday I had my 36 week appointment. We are now in the home stretch of the birth of our 6th baby. Every day that draws near, the more excited my husband and I get. I can't wait to see those tiny little hands and feet, to kiss those precious cheeks, and to smell that sweet baby head.
I went into the appointment with a stomach full of butterflies. It happens with every pregnancy. I get to the near end and various fears flood my brain and emotions. My biggest fear is something that would lead me to a c-section. Now I know there is a time and a place for them (which is what I really appreciate about modern medicine). But that doesn't change the fact that it is a major abdominal surgery which requires a needle being put into my back. Yeah, I will never get an epidural simply because the idea of something going into my spine scares the crap out of me.
So anyway, I arrive and we get the usual process started. Pee in a cup and take my weight. Thank goodness for a good weigh in. Only one pound gained in the last two weeks which brings my total up to around 14 pounds. I sit down with the nurse and I knew before she even took my pressure that it was going to be a bit high. I was nervous going into the appointment, so I knew that was going to have an effect on my pressure. The first reading was 135/81 so she came back about 10 min later. I took that time to do some relaxation breathing to help bring my pressure down. And normally that works. Thankfully this time it worked and my second reading was 128/81 and Dr O was satisfied with that. Baby's heartbeat was a strong 140ish and I was measuring at 40 weeks.
My appointment was at the end of the day, so Dr O seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. So I did not bring up my questions (delayed cord clamping, and purple pushing) with him because he didn't seem too engaged at the moment. That didn't bother me too much because I know I will see him again before I deliver so I can bring it up later. He gave me a good laugh though. He brought up the idea that he would like to check to see if I was dilating. And he said in my "situation" it's good to know where we are at. And he felt the need to explain what he meant by "situation". I think he thought that I would have been offended by that word, but I completely agreed with him. My "situation" is that I deliver super fast. This is my 6th baby and all my previous deliveries have caught them unprepared except for the last one because I told them my water broke at home and they jumped into action before I even got to the hospital. The last baby that Dr O delivered was my 3 child and he had to catch her with one glove on and the other hand still in the sleeve of his gown. So yeah, beings this is a hospital and this will be another hospital delivery, we all like to try to be as prepared as we can.
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| 36 weeks |
Oh, and something that surprised me is that Dr O also swabbed for the Group B Strep. Did you know that I have not ever been tested since my first child? My doctors have always taken the once positive always positive approach, but this time he actually decided to retest with out me having to request it. Oh how I hope it comes out negative. If so, then I will strongly request not to be hooked to the IV and just have a saline lock so that it will be easier to move around and labor on my own. Oh that would be heavenly. I really dislike that IV pole, but I always just dealt with it.
We are now down to weekly appointments. My next one is again on Thursday.
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