Well, I'm not quite 38 weeks yet (will be on Wednesday) but I had my 38 week appointment today. They wanted to see me as early as they could this week after my high blood pressure readings I got last week. It's always an adventure when you go to my midwife for an appointment.
First, since she joined practices with actual doctors, her patients are now required to leave a urine sample before their appointments. If you do not, or can not, leave a sample you will not have your appointment. So, I get a bunch of anxiety for three hours leading up to my appointment to make sure I don't use the bathroom too much and I drink a ton so that I can for sure leave a sample. This usually leads to me needing to use the bathroom so much in those three hours that I get even more nervous that I won't have anything left by the time I get there. Another big stressor with this is that sometimes I have Keighan with me. And while he stands there and is absolutely great, he is interested in what I'm doing and trying to see what's going on while I'm trying to do my business. It's not fun. Luckily today, Jeff took an extra long lunch so I could go without Keigs but it was still a disaster. I won't go in to detail but let's say, I didn't really have to go and what I did go hardly made it into the cup because I can't stinkin' see around this huge belly! I can barely reach to hold the cup. Ridiculousness ensued and they really need to stop doing this.
So then I waited for my appointment. I was nervous because I didn't want Jeff to be out of work for so long but if you are a patient of my midwife, you just know you'll be waiting a while. Well, 30 minutes and a trip to the front desk later, I was finally called back. Got my weight taken which makes me want to gouge my eyeballs out. The nurse that I usually have is always very nice and says things like, "Oh, that's perfect!" or "Right where you should be!" I think she's learned to make us mamas feel good about creeping up to our husband's weights. I won't divulge my secret number to you but I have gained 38lbs so far. Hopefully, only a pound or two more. I gained 45 with Keighan so I was hoping to keep in under that.
The nurse told me she was so happy to see me with a smile on my face being at the place I am in pregnancy. She said that all the patients were having epic meltdowns today and one even went through half a box of Kleenex. She said they were all about where I was and just miserable I guess. My midwife's partner is also on vacation so she has to see all the patients on her own this week and I guess it's just craziness and it's only Monday.
Honestly, I'd be happy to have this little baby cook as long as possible and is healthy. I'm definitely not physically feeling great. I have now been pregnant for a year, minus a month and a half, and my body is ready to be done for a while. My back hurts, my stomach muscles feel like I've done a million sit ups, I can't pick up my legs without my stomach hurting, and the worst is my muscle tear. I have a "significant muscle separation", which she calls a stomach tear, in my upper abdomen and it hurts incredibly bad. I've been restricted to lifting as little as possible and to take it easy on that area. It hurts to even touch the skin lightly there. Jeff has really taken over hauling Keighan when he is home and I don't really pick Keighan up unless it's to put him in his crib or if he got hurt/in danger/some other absolute necessity. And really, the pain has lessened which is very helpful. But all this pain is worth letting my baby develop that brain and those lungs and be as healthy as possible when (s)he decides to make an appearance.
My blood pressure reading was good 110/62. A tad bit high from my usual base but still really good and nothing compared to last weeks readings of 140/80, 160/100, and 160/100+. So that's good and keeps me out of the hospital for now.
My midwife is notorious for having students with her which also tends to slow her down and today was no exception. She had a young girl job shadow her today which was a nice change of pace from the actual student midwives. This girl was young-- probably high school and she was very nervous but fascinated at the fact that my midwife was actually going to let her do something with me. I bet I was the first sane patient they had today. She showed the girl where the head, back, and behind were. Then she told the girl to wash her hands and she could feel it. The girl's face just kind of had a shocked look on it. She touched Baby's behind first and she was like how do you know this is the bottom? And so she showed her where the head was and if you gently shake you could feel the head wobble back and forth but if you shake the bottom the whole back shakes. So the girl was walked through that and her face looked amazed. It was really cool to see her learning and being so amazed by what was happening. While she felt the back, she saw the baby kick and my stomach move on my other side and she was like oh my gosh, are those the feet? It was actually really sweet. She also got to take Baby's heartbeat. I'm not quite sure if she was in the exact right place as it was in the 120s and it's usually in the 140s. But my midwife also said that the heartbeat tends to slow down the closer you get to delivering so maybe that's what it was? Who knows.
I also found out that this baby is also being super naughty like Keighan and it currently posterior (aka face up). This is what led to such a difficult labor and delivery for Keighan. So, I have some positions and things I can do to try and get the baby to turn around. I really don't feel like having back labor again and I certainly don't want to push for over three hours again.
So, that's the update on me and Baby. My midwife will see me next Tuesday "unless she hears from me before then". Yeah right, see ya Tuesday doc!
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