I have all of the rest of my doctor appointments scheduled through my due date. Four appointments. Next week is our last week that we won't see my doctor until after the baby is here. Holy shit. This is real.
The Hubby isn't freaking out nearly as much as I am and I can't really figure out why, but I wish some of his calm feelings would rub off on me!
How am I feeling? Pretty damn huge. Still lumpy, though. Reflux hasn't gotten worse yet, so that's exciting. Moving REALLY slowly at this point and having Braxton Hicks contractions quite a bit, which makes walking even harder. I asked my doctor about these and she said they weren't a problem and that if I were to go into labor today they wouldn't stop it. Talk about freaking a girl out...
The hot weather we're having in Ohio (for the first day of spring today it's going to be over 80 degrees) makes me really nervous about the summer temps, so I am feeling relieved that this baby will be out by May!
Weight thoughts: Well.... It hasn't been a good two weeks, weight-wise. We hosted a fabulous party (blog entry almost entirely written) on Saturday, but I ate A LOT. And a lot of it was cheese. And you might have some idea of what cheese might do to a person's digestive system. In short, I haven't pooped since Saturday morning. So when I saw a 5 pound weight gain in 2 weeks, I can't say I was horribly surprised.
Doctor appointments? Like I said, I had one this morning. I love the early morning appointments because they usually aren't running late and there usually aren't a bunch of people in the waiting room. My blood pressure is still great (108/56, I think) and everything looks good. Baby is still head down, but still very high, according to the doctor. I already feel like I've been riding a horse, so I'm not sure how much I'll like the feeling once his head drops down!
My doctor measured my fundal length and I'm currently measuring at 37 weeks, which she says is still within the acceptable range, but getting a little big. I assume it's because of my pre-pregnancy size, but she did request a growth ultrasound at my 37 week appointment the week of April 9th. She says she's just projecting that I'll likely keep growing, plus she wanted to get a better look at his positioning at that point.
I also discussed the next few weeks with my doctor. We don't go back next week, but will then start going every week and will begin the internal exams on April 4th. She validated my feeling that if we have to discuss induction that our decision will be between a scheduled C-section and just letting me go naturally and that if I go late enough that I would need induced that we would just do a scheduled C-section (unless I'm already dilated to like 4 cm and having some contractions). This is what my instincts were telling me anyway, so I'm fine with that decision. She said that everything those last few weeks will be a game-time decision and will be based on how my cervix dilates and ripens and if my body seems to be preparing for birth. I like the "wait and see" approach, even though it goes against my planner tendencies.
Movement? Baby Boy is all over the place, but almost all kicks are on my right side, either toward the top or just on the side. I can usually feel his butt rolling around at the top of my left side. There are times I feel arms or shoulders (presumably) on the lower left side as well. At least I don't have to worry about kick counts (yet). He actually hurt me for the first time last night!
Baby preparation? Physically, I think we're as ready as I think we're going to get. I am going to be buying a used
Rock n Play from a friend to keep by our bed for the first few weeks (it's much smaller than the Pack n Play we used with Baby Girl).
Emotionally, however, is a whole other story. I'm pretty much freaking out. But that isn't anything new, really. I'm freaking out about how Baby Boy is going to get into this world and the decisions we make pertaining to that and then I'm also freaking out about what our lives are going to be like once he gets here.
