It's finally arrived - the 36 week mark. The weekly appointments start today through the last 4 weeks of my pregnancy. That means, every Wednesday morning from now until delivery will be spent in her office discussing the health and wellness of the precious little angel I am carrying. It feels surreal that I am going to be sitting there again in seven days, listing off my woes and discussing "what-to-do-if" scenarios. Even Doc Johnson couldn't believe how quickly the time has passed. To me, these past 36 weeks as a whole have flown by but some of the individual days have passed a little more slowly. Overall, I have had a great experience with her thus far.
Today's appointment included a strep culture test done in addition to my belly being measured, weight taken, urine sample taken, blood pressure checked and listening to the baby's heartbeat. My belly is measuring right on track. I've been steadily gaining right at that 1-pound per week gauge that they anticipate. My urine sample had no problems (and let me just say, it's so much easier to give samples now that I have to pee literally every second of every day). My blood pressure is always a little on the lower side of average, falling into the very good category. Baby Claire's heartbeat is as strong as ever. Doc says she's still happy in there, lounging out and enjoying her last few days of peace and quiet.
I went in with a few questions regarding my newly-acquired unquenchable thirst (which could be a sign of gestational diabetes), my Braxton Hicks contractions, and the excessive pain in my joints. Doc says that even though they ruled out gestational diabetes at the 28 week mark, they still test my urine every week for multiple things including high doses of sugar (a sign of gestational diabetes). Since my tests always come out clear and I'm not measuring for a large baby, there's no need to worry about gestational diabetes. The unquenchable thirst is just my body's way of preparing for the birth, of obtaining enough fluid to be regenerating clean amniotic fluid often and to be more hydrated for the delivery. That set my mind at ease. Plus, whoever said drinking too much water was a bad thing, right!?! As far as the Braxton Hicks contractions go, she was pleased to hear that I'm aware of them now. Says it's my uterus practicing and strengthening it's contracting muscles for the final delivery. Basically, it's a good sign that my body is doing what it should be to prepare for the big day! Lastly, our discussion regarding my joints didn't do much but reassure me that it's normal to have joint pain at this stage in pregnancy. My body is producing Relaxin (a hormone, I believe) that loosens my joints in preparation for my pelvis to open up for delivery. Unfortunately, it doesn't only loosen my pelvis, it affects all joints. That's why I feel like I have the toes, ankles, knees, hips, shoulders and fingers of an elderly person. Oh, joy! All in all, it was a short and sweet appointment. She mentioned at the end she expects things to happen in 3 weeks or so, but I'm not taking that literally. Nobody knows when this baby will be born, not even a doctor. So, we parted ways after the usual "I need to hear from you if this, this or this happens" speech and went on our merry way.
On the agenda for tomorrow evening? Our 3-hour breastfeeding preparation class at Portland Providence. Should be informative. I look forward to what it has to offer.
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