Week 36 And My Trip To L&D

Week 36

·  Size of baby:  He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

Weight gain: 135 yesterday! Slowly gaining!   
·  Symptoms experienced: Contractions… Weird caveman noises when I try to get myself into a sitting positon… and fun of all funs: a yeast infection! Yaaaaaay.

·  How I feel: SO DONE! We thought there might be a chance baby A joined us yesterday and that was exciting. Finding out not so much… not as fun. Though I am relieved he has longer to bake.
·  What I've been craving: Water.. Pretty much just water.   

·  What I miss: Being comfortable. And sleeping in. now I have appointments three times a week and two are early. Which makes me tired all the time.
·  Best moment: Listening to A’s heartbeat for over an hour at the dr. and finally picking out his going home outfit and setting it aside.   
·  Items purchased: We ordered nothing this week. My baby shower is next weekend and after that we have to crack down and buy some necessities. Like diapers. And wipes.

I had my first ever NST yesterday.. “oh hubby I want you to come because it’s the first one, no.. it should only take about 30 minutes. You can go into work a little late.” Four hours at the dr later he gets to go in for a half day. Whoops. We started the day going to an early pre appt breakfast at a bread company near the hospital and then heading to the dr office. They called us back after 15 minutes of waiting and used the ultrasound to check his position (head down) and fluid levels (17.2) which were perfect. We were then moved to the other room where they put something that looked like bump-earphones on my stomach to measure his heartrate and my contractions. I had a clicker I would press every time he moved so they could see how it affected his heart. He moved so much he kept sliding out from under where the disk was measuring and it would cause the heartbeat to stop being picked up by the machine. At one point he had moved and it picked up my heartbeat. This made the nice even chart of his heartrate look like a heart attack patient. And there were black lines everywhere from him moving. Nurses kept coming in and adjusting the monitor and asking how I was doing… and one seemed really concerned that it picked up my heartbeat because it could have been his and it might mean he is in distress. I pretty much knew this wasn’t the case, but whatev. This meant longer monitoring. Then another nurse comes in and asks if I have been feeling contractions. Answer: yes. And the machine is picking up regular contractions closer than 5 minutes apart. On the pain scale I gave them a 4 or so, so not bad… but added with his acrobatic heartrate it meant we were being sent over to L&D for closer monitoring over a longer time. We walked over to L&D and I changed into one of those really attractive hospital gowns and then was hooked up to the same monitor after my vitals were taken, along with my blood sugar. This was also the one day my phone wasn’t charged and I had forgotten my kit. I stayed hooked up for more than an hour.. more like 2 because they were looking at contractions. I had a clicker to press for each one, and they were interested to see how A would react to a ‘mock labor’ environment. He passed with flying colors, which is a huge relief. My cervix was checked at the beginning and end of my stint on the inside and fortunately showed that I was not dilating at the rate I was contracting. So we were sprung. And told to keep an eye on contractions etc. I am so thankful hubs was with me and I didn’t have to go through all that alone. Though the hour or so where there was a chance A could come that day were heady… I really want to see his little face. Its better he marinates for a little bit more. At least until after my shower :)