On Tuesday I had a MW appointment. I was officially 37w2d at the time of my appointment. My urine was negative for both glucose and protein. I have gained 1 pound since my last weigh in 2 weeks ago. BUt I am still down from my pre-pregnant weight. The baby sounds awesome. He is still head down and his heart rate was in the 135's. He is also growing like a weed and my fundus measured 41cm. The only thing that was not great was my blood pressure. It was a bit high at 122/84. This is considerable higher than my average BP during the course of my pregnancy. Both the MW and I feel it had everything to do with the level of stress I was under that day. We will continue to watch my BP and see what happens. 122/84 is still within the range of normal for pregnancy, it is just higher than what my average BP had been up to this point. If it continues to be a problem we will ave to address why that is and come up with some solutions for it.
I also have been having lots more contractions. These are not the typical Braxton Hicks (BHC)type contractions. For me anyway BHC are usually just in my belly in the front. They are not painful and really are just a tightening of my uterine muscles. The contractions I have been feeling are more in my lower back, slightly painful and are more menstrual crampy feeling. Basically like how early labor feels for most people. But because I know my body and I have been through this a few times I realize what I am probably experiencing is Prodromal labor. Basically where you have early labor for days or weeks until you finally get to the active labor part. I have done this with all my pregnancies. In Jasmyn and Mason's case it just meant that when active labor hit it was fast and intense. I truly feel that it was due to prodromal labor for the weeks leading up to my birthing time that made my actual labor go so quickly with Jasmyn and Mason. I was only in active labor with Jasmyn for 5 1/2 hrs and only 3 hrs with Mason. I think that because Kaleb was my first baby that the prodromal labor I experienced with him just did not have enough time to truly kick in before I agreed to an induction. But for an induced first time labor I would say that even that was short and sweet at only about 16 hrs.
So when I mentioned my contractions to my MW she thought it would be a good idea to check me and see how far dilated I am. Since my labor with Mason was so short they just want to be sure I am not in active labor yet. So I allowed her to check my cervix. I have to admit I was curious as to what she would find. My cervix is dilated to 1.5 cm. It has to get to 10cm before I can start to push so I have work to do there. My cervix is considered "ripe". Basically an unripe cervix feels like the tip of your nose. A ripe cervix feels like your bottom lip. Your cervix has to get soft and ripe in order to efface and open. My cervix is "ripe", but long, meaning I am not effaced. And the baby's head is at - 3 station. -4 would be floating above my pelvis. -2 or -1 would be starting to engage. 0 station wold be right in the middle of my pelvis and anything +1through +4 would be during actual labor. So baby is still sitting high. Which I already knew since I can't seems to take a deep breath! LOL!
The only other complaint I have at this stage in my pregnancy other than the contractions is that I am just so tired all the time. But I realize this is par for the course. I always get tired at this stage. It takes so much effort to even do things like roll over in bed and do housework. So I am back to taking a daily (OK sometimes twice daily) nap. Thankfully Tim is understanding about my need to rest and has been picking up some of the slack around the house and with the kids. He is such a great husband and Dad.
So my next appointment is on Tuesday. I am getting closer and closer to my due date. But Tim and I are anticipating that I will go over due. I figure in about 3 weeks or less I will be holding my baby!
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