37 & 38 week vist

I go to the midwife every week now so I decided to combine the blog post for 37 & 38 weeks, mainly because I hadn't written anything for last week yet! : ) Also not much has happened or changed in a week!

On Dec. 27 my appointment was with Soheyl who is our primary midwife this pregnancy & last one with Julia. It was wonderful to see her, especially as I hadn't seen her in MONTHS! 1 reason is that my appointments were more spread out this pregnancy, every 5-6 weeks instead of once a month. Another reason is the schedule, which days she works with when I scheduled my appointments. Also there are a few new midwives in the past 3 years & they really want you to meet them all if possible before you deliver as you never know who will be on call at your time. Amazingly Soheyl was on call when my water broke & we went to hospital last time, she'd just started her shift too so she saw us through the whole process though relatively short since I'd been in labor all day the day before!

Soheyl was excited to see Julia & Jai since they came with me today. She hadn't seen Julia since my 6 week follow-up visit in January 2009. Julia looks quite different now! : )

Nothing major to discuss, blood pressure is good as usual, lost 2 pounds which is not unusual at this point in pregnancy (despite holiday eating!), talked about heartburn of course, the bane of my existence currently. Baby's heartbeat was higher than usual. We talked about VBAC plan some, actually I asked what would happen if someone decided to have a C-section again. Would they still be able to be a patient of midwifery practice? She said that if you changed your mind as you got closer to delivery, then you could stay with practice, but if you decided from beginning, then they would refer you to an OB. Different circumstances, makes sense; not applicable for us since I'm not choosing surgery. If everything is attempted during L&D & VBAC is not possible, then OK, but I'm not going to start out choosing a C-section.

Today's appointment was with Lauren whom I'd met earlier in my pregnancy. She's new since Julia's birth, very nice, seems young, but competent. Today I got there early & they weren't busy so didn't have to wait long, good since Jai & Julia were with me again this week. Again nothing major to discuss, blood pressure is good as usual, same weight as last week (woo hoo!), baby's heartbeat was lower than usual.

We talked about heartburn again of course - it's SO uncomfortable. I really have more compassion for habitual sufferers - I don't know how they deal with it. I considered getting some Tums last week, but when I looked at the ingredients (red dye 5, yellow dye 24, etc.), I couldn't do it. That's disgusting! The papaya enzyme pills will have to be it for the next 2-3 weeks. Hopefully the baby will settle into my pelvis soon. I already go to the bathroom a lot now anyway. I don't think Julia dropped - probably why she flipped to breech position at last minute. Last week & today the baby was head down, last week face down, today sideways. Lauren estimated baby is about 6 pounds now, so if I go to 40 weeks, baby probably will be 7+. It seems like this baby is bigger, but who knows!

Stay head down, baby! Until next week - week 39!!! I'm finally in the due month - so very exciting!

Lauren suggested taking it 1 day at a time which is smart; it could be 17 days or less or more. I cannot really make plans for anything or if I do, know that it could change if the baby decides it is his or her time to emerge.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! : )