Pregnancy update 15

Had a midwife appointment with a fill in MW. My regular MW is on vacation/honeymoon. The back up MW was attending 2 births. So that left the back up back up MW. LOL! It was an adventure in Midwifery to say the least! LOL! I was 38w2d pregnant at this appointment. Only 12 days till my due date! I have gained 1 pound since my last appointment which is right in course for me at this point in my pregnancies. My urine was negative for Glucose but my urine came back with +1 protein in it. So not trace but the next square up (for those that have seen the test strips). But my BP was normal at 122/59. I have no swelling or edema and no headaches or anything. MW's explanation for protein in my urine is that there is protein in vaginal discharge and she thought that since I was at 38 weeks that I was probably starting to have an excess in discharge. I had never heard of this before. I will touch more on this topic in a bit as this post continues.

Then she was asking me how I felt overall. Well lets see.... I am 12 days from my "due date", the baby's butt is squarely under my ribs so I can't really breath or get comfortable, I get up about 3 times a night to pee, cold water gives me heart burn, and I am still doing all my normal activities with taking care of the kids, house and husband. So I am gonna sum all of that up and say.... "I feel tired". LOL

MW says.... "well honey you have a ways to go before you have your baby" I ask "why is that?" Now remember this MW has never met me before, just glanced at my chart and is not gaining my confidence since the whole -protein in my urine- discussion. She goes on to say that since i was "big boned" (nice way of calling me fat! LOL) and tall (a whole 5ft6in) that I would gestate a baby longer than a 120lb petite woman. HUH?!?!?! Now I know I gestate babies longer than most considering my babies have been 11days, 3 day and 6 days over due, respectively. But I had no idea that this was because I am "big and tall"?!?!?! I mean my Mom and both my maternal aunts that have children all carried their babies overdue. All 3 of which are shorter than me. Granted we are all on the larger size as far as weight but I would not say that any of us are "big boned". LOL! SO I would say the longer gestations are more family history that "big boned". Yeah this midwife is not making friends or influencing people at this point.

Moving on.....

Then she has me lay down to check baby's heart rate baby's position, etc.... So she starts to feel for the baby and easily finds the head in my pelvis. Baby has been head down for like 8 weeks or more so no big surprise there. Then she feels on my left side and says... "I think this is his butt". I am like "No his butt is firmly planted under my ribs on the RIGHT side". I guide her hand there and she agrees. Then she says that baby is POSTERIOR. WHAT???? Ok baby is head down. Check. Baby is laying on his side with his butt under my right side ribs. Check. Knees and feet on the left side. Check. How does THAT equal POSTERIOR???? Beside the fact that she mistaken thought his KNEE was his butt. I would like everyone to feel their knee and then reach around and feel your butt. Do YOU feel a big difference???? I know I do.

So I am really just chalking this appointment up to an adventure in Midwifery! LOL.

And by the time I got home the baby was in a nice butt pressed out against my belly position, clearly NOT posterior.

So today I decide I should call my actual midwife and ask her about the protein in my urine. I spoke to Beth and she agreed that while some additional vaginal discharge can cause TRACE amounts of protein in my urine it should NOT be +1 protein. So she asked me a few more questions and we determined that the protein is probably either from me being slightly dehydrated at the time of the urine test or I could be getting a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Clearly with my BP being fine at 122/59 and no swelling or headaches we do not need to worry about pre-eclampsia. She told me to drink at least a gallon of water a day and to consider taking Cranberry supplement capsules daily. We will test it again next Tuesday at my regular appointment. If there are any other issues we will go from there. Tim was sweet enough to go to the store to pick up the Cranberry capsules and he has been keeping my water bottle filled.

The only good news I got from the 3rd string MW was that my Group B strep culture came back Negative. That means that I do not have any live cultures of Group B strep in my vaginal canal so we are all clear for a homebirth!

I have been having lots of contractions and cramping. But I have to say I had the same cramping at the same stage of pregnancy with both Jasmyn and Mason. So I am thinking this is just how my body does the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. I am more emotional and just in general more cranky, but again that is par for the course at this point.

Stay tuned for more pregnancy updates as I get closer! I am honestly hoping the next one I post is a birth announcement.... but we all know that is unlikely! My next MW appointment is on Tuesday.