38 Weeks, Doctor's Appointment & Baby Care Basics

How far along? 38 weeks
Total weight gain: 29lbs
Maternity clothes? i'm over all of them
Stretch marks? still none! yay!
Sleep: actually sleeping really good lately (knock on wood), but still so exhausted come 3pm
Best moment this week: i had a great baby shower this past Friday with all my work friends
Worst moment this week:  THE HEAT. It was 87 degrees in our house last Friday night when we were trying to sleep. we are definitely considering installing air condition in the spring.
Miss anything? mmmm pear cider
Movement: lots of body parts sticking out of my stomach and "flopping" movements
Food cravings: still loving iced tea. mmm, especially arnold palmers. how have I never had these until now?!
Anything making you queasy or sick? nothing really anymore
Labor signs: today before my doctor's appointment I took Roscoe for a quick walk and about halfway down the block I started feeling sick, which isn't unusual. It was a little weird because my back was hurting and I suddenly felt like I had to poop.  I hightailed it home, laid down for a second and then got up and went to the bathroom.  Pain gone, nothing a little poop couldn't take care of....or so I thought! (fast forward to the doctor's appointment update below).
Belly button in or out? half in, half out
Wedding rings on or off? it's a good day if I can get one on
Mood? great :)
Looking forward to: my parents getting in town next week, my last day of work (next Friday) and finishing up the last few items on my To Do list

I snapped this cute little photo of my love bug. He loves his mom :)

We had our 2nd, and final, baby preparation class on Monday night this week called Baby Care Basics. I already knew pretty much everything they went over (just call me a mom expert...JUST KIDDING), but I knew Robert wouldn't go without me and he definitely learned a lot of new stuff. He was a good sport about it and I only had to pinch a couple times to buy attention and stop watching the football game on his phone :)  They discussed how to bathe, feed, diaper, and clothe a baby as well as what needs to be done to baby proof your house. It was a very hands on class too; we had to bring a baby to practice on and Robert did pretty good. By far, though, the funniest thing that he did was the swaddling.



Left: Robert's swaddle; Right: my swaddle

In all fairness, though, Robert did get better as the night went on and even put my swaddle to shame!

Our doctor's appointment today was very eventful. First, our doctor was running late because she had an emergency C-section to take care of. When we did get in an see her, everything was just like it always is, they took my blood pressure (it's low), asked me if I have been feeling any contractions (not that I know of), measured my stomach (she said my stomach hadn't got any bigger so we weren't looking at a very big baby, which was music to my ears) and then the vaginal exam. dun dun dun.

 

She checked to see how much I was dilated and said that I was still at 1cm (I had no feelings of disappointment OR excitement, which was weird).  She did say I was 60% effaced and that she would sweep my membranes next week, which I was happy to hear.  Side note: last week she told me she was going to sweep my membranes this week, which I had mixed feelings about because, after reading online, some women went into labor that night to 72 hours later, but some women it did nothing for.  I didn't really want to have the baby this early (I have a schedule to keep!) but doctor knows best so if that's what she wanted to do, who I was to argue.  So hopefully this will work out perfectly; she will sweep me next week and by the time I will go into labor (if it works) I will have my To Do list done, all my loose ends at work will be tied up, my parents will be here and we will be good to go.

 

As she was stretching my cervix she said, "there! that's a contraction. Do you feel it?"  Of course I did not and she was like you don't feel that pressure?? And I said, no, I mean it's uncomfortable but I feel like that's because you're up in there.  She said that she was able to stretch me to 2cm, which is what brought the contraction on, and that most women would find that very painful.  This is the best thing that I have heard since they said "it's a girl!"!  I am hoping that this means that my threshold is very high and the contractions won't bother me TOO much. Woohoo!!!  She said that because I am not really affected by them that I most likely won't have any false labor, where I go to the hospital and they have to send me home because I am not dilated enough, and that by the time the contractions start bothering me I will be in active labor (4-5cm).  Unfortunately, while she was able to stretch me out to 2cm, she said I would go back down to 1cm on my own.

 

I did mention to her what happened when I was walking Roscoe and she said that was most likely a contraction. Only I would confuse the urge to poop with a contraction, BUT I believe this is a good problem to have :)

 

Upcoming Doctor's Appointments

9/26 at 3:45pm
10/3 at 3pm...just in case