pregnancy update

Thirty-eight weeks and counting!

Yesterday I went in for my weekly doctors appointment and things are looking good. I saw a nurse practitioner that I'd never met before and she was wonderful. She spent so much time with me and asked me all kinds of questions. I love nurse practitioners, I wish that they were the doctors.

One reason she spent so much time with me (besides asking questions) was because she couldn't find the heartbeat. She kept putting the machine on different parts of my stomach trying to hear it. I didn't realize that she wasn't getting a heartbeat because I could hear "swooshing" noises the whole time. She asked me where they normally hear the heartbeat and I told her on my right side. She then went on to say that the noises that were coming from the machine was actually the placenta moving around. But eventually she found it, though it was very faint. She said that there was nothing to worry about. She could hear the placenta and baby moving, but for some reason the way he was positioned along with how my placenta is now sitting it was difficult to hear his heartbeat. When she did find it she said it was 138 beats per minute.

Since I'm new to the whole Group B Strep I asked about the timing of the iv during labor. I'd been asked by a few people if the antibiotics needed to be in my system for a certain amount of time before I'm able to deliver. The answer: No. She told me that since it's an iv it works really fast. As soon as the iv is in I'm able to have the baby at any point. She joked and said, "If you come in and have the baby in 10 minutes and they haven't been able to put the iv in. Then you're in trouble." Good to know.

Since my last doctors appointment, a week ago, I've gained 2 pounds which brings me to a total 50 pounds gained thus far. I've effaced from 50% to 80% and have dilated from almost 1 cm to 1 cm. Things are moving right along.

It's crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone and that shortly I'll be holding the newest member of our family. The other day I was lying in bed trying to sleep and I thought to myself, man I could really use a change. Then it dawned on me. Duh, you're about to have a big change. Sometimes I forget I'm pregnant. I'm not sure how that's possible, but I manage to do it.