Friday, November 19, 2010

37 Week Appointment- He's Comin!


Here's me 37.5 weeks. Feeling huge, and proud of it. The little guy is growing so fast and every day I feel bigger and bigger. I'm totally learning to embrace it though because I know it is such a good thing.

We went to the midwife yesterday. It was our most exciting appointment yet :) And not just because Will learned some new things.... hahaha.



We got a little bored waiting in the exam room.

Here's the update on the little guy as of now. First of all, we got to meet the other midwife, Margaret. We have heard so many awesome things about her and we were wanting to meet her before the baby came because there is a chance we will have her or the other midwife... depending on who's on call. Margaret has been doing this for 25 years or something crazy like that. She is so knowledgeable in what she is doing. Anjli, her partner, is also sooo awesome. We feel so great about both of them and would love either one of them to be there. We feel blessed for that!
Anyway, the first thing she did was ask me how I was feeling. I immediately responded with, "good, but I'm ready to have this baby" and she said..."well, you know that first time moms usually don't have their babies early, right? Most likely you will be late. I'm guessing mid-December by the looks of your due date." Everyone has always told me this... that first time moms always go late. I have been telling myself this through the pregnancy, so I have been kind of expectant of it... not hoping too much. She said she just wanted me to know the reality of it so that I'm not disappointed. I appreciate that. Then she felt my belly... pushed him around to see where he was at. She looked at me with a surprised face when she felt lower down in my pelvis and said, "your baby is REALLY low." Coming from Margaret, I knew that she really meant it. She is the type of person that would not tell you something unless it was true. Again, she is a realist and didn't want to get my hopes up. She said, "I think he might fall out" :) haha. Then she asked me how long he has been dropped, to which Will responded "oh about 2 weeks." She was surprised by that too. But just in this past week have I felt like he has really made his way down. She quickly changed her mind and said, "well, you could have this baby in 10 days." AHH 10 days?? I've been telling myself that I still have 3 or 4 weeks left. It hit me so hard... yikes! And then as she was feeling around she had to stop because she could feel my braxton hicks contractions coming on strong. It was cool for her to confirm that that's what I've been feeling about 5,000 times a day. I just didn't know it. I asked her, since the baby is so low, what her predictions were on dilation and effacement (since they won't do an exam until 39 weeks). She said, I would guess that you are a couple cm dilated and 80% effaced. She said that she is hoping that I will get up to 5 or 6 cm before I even know I'm in labor... which, by the looks of things, could very well happen. I wouldn't mind that either!! :)
She felt around some more and said, "hmm, I feel too many baby parts by your ribs" she was feeling legs and arms, instead of feeling his back. The baby is obviously definitely head down and in the pelvis, but he is facing the wrong way :( Little booger. No wonder I've been feeling his every movement. My stomach is constantly looking like I have an alien in it because his arms and legs are facing outward instead of inward. I asked her if it was something to be concerned about and she said that normally it just means that you have a longer labor because the baby isn't fitting into the pelvis how he is supposed to. BUT, she said that in my case with the baby already being so low, "he must have a mind and a plan of his own." Haha, that's my boy.

So, she gave me some things to do to try and get him moved around. Will and I bought a birthing ball yesterday, which is supposed to be one of the best ways to turn him. She also told me to get on my hands and knees a few times a day and rock back and forth. Hopefully they help and he is not stubborn!

I really enjoyed hearing all of this because it means that everything I have been feeling is not in my head. Like, I've been feeling TONS of pressure on my pelvis this past week or two. Well, the baby is extremely low, about ready to come out! My bladder doesn't seem to have an off button anymore. I literally go to the bathroom about 5 times before I go to bed in hopes that I won't have to get up in the middle of the night... but still end up getting up anyway. When I have to use my abs to get out of bed, it's SUPER uncomfortable because the poor baby's head is pushing on me.
As with him being posterior... I always thought it was weird that I always felt his feet up on my ribs, when I was supposed to be feeling them on my side. Will and I also noticed for a while that my belly button hasn't "popped" out completely, which was always confusing. It's because a posterior baby wraps around the stomach in a C shape instead of there being a continuous back on my belly. Also, I've been feeling some grinding on my pelvic bone, which is just because he is not facing the right way and his head isn't fitting exactly right, like a key in a key hole. I also constantly feel his little arms and hands wiggling way down low which is one of the main indicators that he is the wrong way.
SO, I'm not a crazy person :) Well, maybe with other things... but that's another post.

I also learned that I have been losing weight. How weird! I feel like I'm eating more than ever, and somehow I am losing?? Last week, I didn't gain any weight. This week, I lost 2 pounds. I asked her if it was normal and she said it does happen, but it's really rare. So, hallelujah! Maybe I am losing some of this dang water weight! Ugh, it's so miserable. My fingers are bigger than Will's... no joke.

The other day, I was nesting more that I EVER have and I completely cleaned the apartment in one day. Seriously took about 4 or 5 hours scouring it. Suddenly I got a burst of energy... and part of me started freaking out that the place wasn't completely ready (in my mind) for the baby. I vacuumed, swept, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms, cleaned the kitchens, washed all the rugs, washed all the sheets, washed all the towels, did ALL the laundry and put it all away, pre registered for the hospital, gave Gibson a bath, made my husband lunch. I mean, I was literally out of my mind. Afterwards, my hips have never hurt so bad in my life. I tried to lie down... but it just made it worse. The only thing that gave me relief was the bath tub. Oh I love baths. This is how I know I was made for a water birth :)

Anyway, I truly believe that this little guy will be here really soon. Even putting all my hopes aside of him coming early, my body is showing all signs of an early arrival. I think everyone would be really surprised if he was late. If Margaret says he is coming, he probably is. This lady doesn't mess around. Ha. But, then again, you never know with these little babies.

She made sure I was registered at the hospital and all ready to go. She's also going to circumcise him after 2 weeks of birth. It's so nice that we will wait 2 weeks for that because I love having the peace of mind that he will have some time to let his little body start clotting blood and everything.

So, to sum it up... I am BEYOND excited, slightly freaking out, and still have some patience. I can't believe I will see the little face that has been growing inside of me soon. That I will touch the little feet that have been buried under my ribs. That I will kiss the little mouth that is constantly hiccuping inside of me. That I will smell the tiny head that I feeling pushing on me all the time. It's really not real to me yet, and probably won't be until he comes out.

For now, I am going to go on my daily walk and continue to try to get him in the right position to make his debut.

One thing Will and I know for SURE... we have been praying for him to come in the right time when he is healthy. Well, whenever he comes is whenever he is healthy. I can rest on that.

So, now that we are truly in the last days... any predictions on birth dates for the Cai guy? I'm still sticking to my November 25th... Will is still stuck on his Dec 3rd. Will he be a November or a December baby? I guess only he can decide.

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