At 38 weeks pregnant, let's just say pretty much everything either hurts, is uncomfortable, is swollen, is tender or is a hodge-podge combination of all of them. Today, I waddled my way on swollen feet into the appointment with Kevin and a full-bladder in tow. I think Nurse Claudia and Doc Johnson both could tell that I am now feeling the urge to hurry this pregnancy along. I'm ready to see the fruits of my labor, so to speak :)
As usual, the appointment consisted of the same ol' thing with a urine sample, blood pressure and weight. All were good! Gained a little extra over the holiday weekend, but when a husband lets a Pregs eats basically an entire homemade pumpkin pie by herself, what do you expect!?! Haha! It wasn't long after Nurse Claudia spouted off some of her best advice like "enjoy your time without baby as much as possible now" and "be sure to sleep as much as you can after baby is born to avoid the baby blues" that Doc Johnson whipped in to get down to business. I told her about all the new changes I've noticed my body going through like the fact that I waddle when I walk, I feel a lot of pressure on my pelvic floor (almost as if I feel a bowling ball is about to fall from between my legs) and that I get cramps and contractions often. Her eyes basically lit up at the sound of these changes - it's exactly what I should be experiencing at this point! She checked on baby's position...that little bugger keeps moving around. It does seem like she's once again in a head-down position, but not quite in the locked-and-loaded station like Doc hoped to see. It's okay, she still has plenty of time (?). After, we listened to her precious da-dum, da-dum, da-dum through the heartbeat monitor - it always makes us smile. Lastly, this week Doc's curiosity got the best of her and she decided to check my cervix to see how much progress, if any, I've made on my own. Thankfully, I'm already dilated to between 2-3 centimeters and, although my cervix positioning is still quite high, it is softening just as it should be. Looks like my body is really preparing itself for Claire's arrival and that's all we can really hope for at this point.
Doc made one discovery that makes me a little nervous, but I'm trying not to over-think it. She casually mentioned that my pelvis is quite narrow and that, if baby's head is large, it may prove difficult passing through. Of course, I could tell she was trying not worry me and her efforts to inform-me-without-scaring-me weren't quite working. I asked her what that might mean for the delivery and she said plenty of factors will come into play like how my body opens up for baby, how big baby's head actually is, how the plates in baby's head adjust to fit through the space and how well the pushing stage goes. It could end up being no problem, it could end up that I need some type of assistance during delivery or it could end up with a c-section. Truth is, nobody knows until we're in the thick of it. So, for now, I'm pushing negative thoughts out of my mind and I'm returning to my positive affirmations: my body was made to do this, I can do this, Kevin will be there to help me and encourage me, everything will be fine, it's all in the Lord's hands and we'll be protected. I can find peace in this things.
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