36 Week Update

Well...here we are, with 36 weeks staring us in the face tomorrow. Or, as my doctor reminded me yesterday, 35 weeks using the original due date. Pray tell, why did we change the due date based on growth if we're even going to still consider the original one even at all? In any case...

It was an eventful 36 week checkup for Bunny and I, yesterday afternoon.

We started out with the U/S tech, as always. Her comment, during the once over she does before zoning in on particular parts and organs, was "My goodness. She's outgrown her condo." Sure has! Seems I'm not stretching very well and so baby is taking up every inch of space possible. Everything looked great on the ultrasound. Computer modeling adjusted baby's age to be 36w2d...versus an age of 35w5d. The scan showed that she was about 6 pounds, 1 ounce, and the computer model indicated that she's growing at a pace of over an ounce a day. She is head down and engaged, using my ribs to prop her little feet up.

The perinatologist then came in to go over the scan with me and talk for a bit. His greatest concern was her size versus my size depending on how long we let her go before executing the plan to get her out. Otherwise, he felt that both she and I were doing well, and so he'd wait to hear from my obstetrician on how her half of the exam would go since it was time for an internal. (The peri couldn't see much of what was going on with me...baby was blocking any possible views.)

So down a floor in the medical building to the OB. Boy, was she in for a surprise! She had me lay back after the third listening of baby's heart rate that day and prepared to go prospecting...and her first reaction was "Oh my God, she's right there."

Turns out that I'm at 3cm, 75% effaced, and the doc had no problem touching baby. Baby did not enjoy that and stiffened up and stayed stiff until this afternoon, when she finally relaxed. All that we're missing right now is contractions!

We went into the appointment intending to start a plan for the second week of October or so to get Bunny out...and came out, instead, with a target date to keep Bunny in until. What a change of events! So our target date is September 27th - 37 weeks by the new date, 36 by the old.

In the meantime, the OB has decreed me on restricted movements. No prolonged standing, walking, lifting, nothing to raise my heart rate, period. If I start contracting sporadically, I'll switch over to bed rest. If I start contracting regularly, which she defined as 4 or more times per hour, she'll stick me in the hospital and try to slow things down. Anytime after the 27th, we'll just let things take their own course. So Bunny is on her way! :-)

There is just one more complication, however. And it's this: Future Daddy was deployed as part of a state police contingent to provide enforcement support to the local police in Galveston, Texas. He left yesterday morning. It's a 10-day deployment, not counting travel days. That puts him back home the afternoon of the 29th. So...things could get interesting!

I'll be back with more updates soon...on Lamaze and such. Hugs to everyone!

~FM~

Dropping?

Here's a question to BTDT mama's...

How do you know if you're dropping/have dropped?

Over the past three days, my belly seems to sit noticeably lower than before. I actually have more room now to bend over and my boobs aren't quite mashed into my stomach any longer.

I've Googled this, of course, but the info I've found is, as always, contradictory or confusing.

So what are your thoughts? Am I imagining things, or at pretty close to 35 weeks, is Bunny just wiggling her way into position?

Our next ultrasound as well as OB and Peri appointments are next Thursday, so finding out her position and size is still a week away. In between now and then, I have to get through two speech competitions, where I'll be on my feet, and two days of training, where I'm the one delivering training.

Bunny, stay put. PLEASE. I love you and very much want to meet you, but Mama still has a few things to accomplish before you get here!

Bloody...Mouth?

Ok, here's a weird one for you, dear readers.

I have a new and intriguing problem. Totally don't know if it could be related to pregnancy...but here goes.

The past few mornings, I've woken up with a bloody mouth.

My teeth and gums and lips are caked in gummy half-dried blood. Apparently, I've rolled over a few times and have now stained my pillowcases with the same.

There is no source that I can find for this blood. My lips aren't dried or cracked, I have no sores in my mouth, my gums have no cuts or contusions, my tongue doesn't feel like it's been bitten, I haven't had a bloody nose...you get the picture.

Oh, and the husband and the pets show no signs that I've become a vampire.

So where the heck is this blood coming from? It's not a huge amount, but it's enough to disturb me.

Any thoughts?

Lamaze, Part 1

Hi, ya'll!

We started Lamaze today...the first of two six-hour sessions. It was, uh, well, interesting. Not bad, mind you, although I was in tears at one point. But not fabulous. Turns out that I don't like doing anything for six hours straight, so I got bored a bunch. And it also turns out that FD and I are more yuppie than hippie and so the touchie-feelie New Age aura that was going on was a bit...uh...out of our league.

The Good

• The book that goes along with the class is super informative and answered a bunch of the questions we had. Great stuff - good resource.
• The teacher as well as our classmates were exceedingly nice.

The Funny

• In the elevator going down to class, another mama-to-be openly looked at my tummy and then commented to her husband "Oh, thank God. We're not the only ones who waited until the last minute to take Lamaze." When we got into class, one of the pieces of information we all shared about ourselves was due dates. The chick who commented on my size is due in two weeks...my "actual" due date is not for six! I take her comment to mean that I am now officially large enough to have attained my own gravitational pull.
• We had a simulated contractions exercise where the teacher clipped a clothespin on a tender part of our ears and had us practice relaxation techniques. I chanted the Air Force song in my head instead of focusing on the music, which is an old technique from when I was in ROTC in college and had to take PFTs after blowing out one of my legs and so needed to redirect pain somehow. Apparently, I need to work harder at not moving my lips, though. Ha, ha!
  

The Bad

• I went to class feeling pretty good about the birthing process. I came out of class a bit freaked out, mostly by thinking about the side affects to Bunny and I from all of the drugs that I was (previously?) interested in getting at the hospital, as well as a bit (!!) upset about the thought of not being able to eat a thing once we're checked in and until baby emerges. And with induction looking like the plan, that could be a very long time. Without food. I become hell on wheels if I'm deprived of food. Is it unethical to sneak snacks behind the nurse's back?
  

The Ugly

• I don't cry easily. I just don't. I think my most masculine trait is that I hate for anyone else to ever see me "weak." But I was in tears during class at one point. Here's why:

• The teacher had us practice hip lunges of differing varieties to show us how to open the birth canal in order to prepare to deliver. I can't do them. Period. I have an uncorrected curve in my spine and it has lead to well over a decade of hip issues, including near constant pain that I entirely manage through sucking it up instead of meds. Every other lady in class could do it. I was, arguably, one of the more fit ladies in terms of being toned, but I couldn't handle a simple exercise. I also couldn't handle sitting cross-legged on the floor, stretching forward...and every other lady could. My hip issues cause my knees to have issues because of stress, and so sitting like that was just hell. The teacher came to help us out and tried to manipulate my hips for me...and couldn't. She's a trained massage therapist (in addition to an L&D nurse and a bunch of other credentials) and so tried some sort of massage technique to loosen up my hips. It failed. Completely. And she commented on that. And it made me feel bad. And so I almost cried.

Please tell me that I'm not the only one out there with apparently really awful hips who wants to have a natural birth. I absolutely, positively do not want a C-section. I just don't. But if I can't even do simple hip manipulations, am I screwed? From the nurse's comment, I kind of feel like I am. I haven't discussed this with my doctors, yet. My hips never came up as a factor at appointments and the problems they cause me have existed for so long that I usually don't even give them thought so I never even would have brought it up before. I've heard of women having C-sections because their hips were too narrow...what about when they're a decent width but just have no elasticity and are cockeyed because of a spinal curve? Any encouragement you could offer would be appreciated...I am very upset over this.

So that was our first session in a nutshell. Next weekend, we'll do the LDR tour, write out a birth plan, and do some other stuff that I've already forgotten.

What was ya'lls experience with classes?

Hugs,

~FM~