We had the longest docs appointment yet today, though it wasn’t nearly as extensive as I thought it would be, primarily because the “36 week talk”, which consists of choosing a pediatrician, watching for signs of labor, knowing when to go to the hospital — yanno, important stuff — was given to us in the form of a worksheet, aptly titled on top “36 week talk”. I kind of feel like the utter laziness of giving this in double-sided worksheet form is underscored by referring to it as a “talk”. Regardless, there was still blood work and GBS testing today on top of the normal appointment things, so it wasn’t the same quick in and out we are accustomed to. Everything went well — baby girl is head down and ‘getting big’, neither of which are shocks to me. Her heartbeat was strong, even though she moved away from the doctor like she always does. And my stats are all the same — weight was barely up from two weeks ago and bp was 100/62 for the third or fourth straight appointment. I feel pretty comfortable skipping next week’s 37wk appointment while my doctor is on vacation.
Of course the big thing everyone is watching for is progress. Because I like to pick my battles, doc checked things out today while she was doing GBS. I’ve told her several times this is the only time I’ll let her check things out, but I know we’re going to cross this bridge again at 38 weeks. At any rate, according to the doc, the contractions and cramps I am having indicate ‘I should really pack my bags’. The lack of progress I’m showing means ‘she’ll probably be a post-due date baby’. In other words, my doctor has no freakin’ clue when she’s coming and really shouldn’t try to guess. And since one or both of those could be reversed, and it would still mean nothing towards the likely due date of baby girl, I think the whole concept of even checking is a little silly. I’m actually pretty relieved though — I think if there had been tons of progress, it would have been hard not to think ‘early arrival’ even though I know one has very little bearing on the other. Knowing she’s still tucked up quietly means I can keep on trucking with my expectation that she’ll arrive shortly after my due date. So no disappointment here!
And lastly, it wouldn’t be a 36 week milestone without the picture proof. It’s a casual day because we’re working from home today due to our appointment schedule. This afternoon we’re doing a meet-n-greet with my pediatrician of choice just to make sure he’s not, yanno, totally crazy or something.
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