39 weeks!
April 22nd, 2010I’ve been a bit remiss jotting down things, but here it is! First off, this week’s pregnancy photos are up (as are last week’s, and the week’s before, etc.). We’ve been visiting the doctor every week now since Baby’s been at 36 weeks. This is normal and it’s been fun seeing how things are progressing every week.
Week 37: The baby is full term! All things are good, and the baby has dropped 1/2 cm. It didn’t sound like much to me and the doctor’s reply to that was something like this, “Oh, it doesn’t sound like much, but when it comes time to pushing, every little bit lower that baby is, is like heaven.” Then she took a copy of my paperwork aside and said she’ll be sending it over to the hospital so it’s ready for the big day! Whooo!
Week 38: all things still good, and the baby has dropped another 1/2 cm. Funniest part of the checkup was at the end when the doctor said, “If you make it to next week’s appointment…” It really put things in perspective that the baby could come at any day! Eek!
Today: And that brings us to today’s appointment at 39 weeks. I made it to the appointment – the baby is still holding off. Thank goodness because I’m still preparing my paperwork for taxes. Things started off at my appointment as usual: the doctor checked my uterus size and the position of the baby. All was good! The baby is sitting a little bit lower and has grown a little in the past week. She then checked the baby’s heartbeat which was nice and strong to start. But within a few seconds the heartbeat had slowed some. She asked if we heard that, which we did, and she said to keep listening. After another few seconds of the lower heart rate, it went right back up to where it normally is. She said it wasn’t anything to be too concerned about (it could have been due to me being on my back for the check up), but that she would send us to get a non-stress test after our appointment, just to make sure. Then she proceeded with a bit of an internal exam to check on my progress. Things are progressing slowly, but progressing nonetheless. Then, she applied a little (ok, a lot) of pressure for a few seconds, and then she was done. It sounds like I have started to efface, so she swiped my membranes a little to see if would help things progress a little more. It may or may not, but we’ll see!
The doctor then told us a little more about the non stress test, which is done at the hospital. It’s just a regular procedure, and not something you have to be kept in the hospital for. She also called the maternity ward to make sure they weren’t too busy and to let them know she was sending me over. She did tell us that most likely we would get tested, then just leave. But, on the off chance it was something (and she stressed that it was a very tiny chance), that it might mean they would keep us and we would be having the baby soon! So off we went to the hospital for the test.
The lady in admitting was really nice. A little crazy, but nice. We headed upstairs to the delivery area and the nurse at the station already knew who I was and what I was there for. We were led into an assessment room and I got comfy on the bed and Jak got comfy on the chair in the room. It was quite calming – dim lights and pretty cozy. Our nurse was super friendly and explained what the gizmos were and what they were measuring. Two gizmos were strapped across my belly: the top one measured contractions (or my laughs or coughs, etc.) and the lower one monitored the baby’s heartbeat, which we could hear, too. Then she handed me a button, which I was to press every time I felt movement from the baby. And then the monitoring began.
It was interesting seeing how the baby’s heart rate changed when I was either having a braxton hicks contraction, or when the baby was moving around. For the first while, the results were “textbook” which made the nurse very happy. Then the baby started acting up a little, which actually had the nurse take the print out results back to the nurses’ station to check with someone else. What that meant for us was simply more monitoring. The nurse kept checking on us, and I kept clicking the movement counter button, and Jak kept watching the monitor, me, and my belly. Then, the nurse came in, did one last check and said all was fine and we were done! They were just trying to get a good reading of the baby’s base heartrate, which was hard because it kept changing with Baby’s movements or my braxton hicks contractions. And as for monitoring the baby movements? Baby New was a rock star and there was no question that he/she was moving around just fine.
It really was a non-stress test. It was comfortable and educational, and of course, since things are fine, we walked away happy. And we knew that the baby and I were healthy, so I think the scariest part was knowing that IF they saw or found something, we would have had to stay, and we would have had the baby pretty quickly. I know it can be any day now, but we weren’t in that head space at all when going to our regular dr’s appointment. Having her send us to be checked out reinforced our belief in her – we’ve been happy with my doctor from the beginning and this is just another reason why.
So our next plan of action? Finish packing our hospital bags! They’re mostly packed, but we have just a few things left to put in, and we’re going to do that PDQ!