38 Week Doctor Appointment

From The Belly Diaries, Aug 4th, 2010
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I had my 38 week Dr Appt this morning, even though I technically won't be 38 weeks for 2 more days. It was quite the morning. I'll try to make this short.

My sister-in-law just got into Seattle last night and she is going to be staying until the baby is born. She has been a huge help so far. This morning she stayed home with Preston so I wouldn't have to drag him to my doctor appointment. That turned out to be a blessing because I was there for about 3 hours and I know Preston would have been going crrrrrrazy.

Will came with me though, which was really nice.

We got there and the nurse came out to tell us that my doctor was called into an emergency Csection but she would probably be back in about 30 min. I figured I'd give her 45, but she didn't come until it had been about an hour and 10 minutes.

We waited in the exam room the entire time. Will got to read brochures about birth control and how to have a vascectomy. It was quite educational - LOL.

He also had fun looking at the diagrams on the wall of a woman's pelvis. He said "Whoa, it's no wonder you have to pee all of the time. Your uterus is like sitting on your bladder!"

Um yes, babe, I've told you this.

He also played with the stethescope, and the lights on the exam table, as well as explored what was in all of those drawers by the sink. There was a drawer labled "Snacks". I got really excited, but unfortunately there were no snacks in that drawer.

Anyway, when the doctor finally arrived she listened to the baby's heartbeat - which was super fast. He was excited again. She didn't tell me what the bpm was. She also went over a bunch of pre-csection paperwork that I had to sign, so that I was aware of all of the risks involved (they are planning for my csection unless I go into labor before then on my own).

Then she did the pelvic exam.

She said that she would strip my membranes today if it wasn't too uncomfortable. (Stripping the membranes is where she takes her finger and seperates the sac from the cervix, which creates, um,....argh I can't remember the word....starts with a "p"....anyway it helps you go into labor).

She said "Well the good news is that the baby's head is very very low and you are very thinned out".

Thank you. That is what you said last week. Continuing on...

"But your cervix is still pretty high up here...I'm going to see if I can do anything though..."She tried to strip the membranes but it was really painful. I was super uncomfortable and it hurt. So she stopped. "It's too painful so I'm not going to try any more." She said.

"I'm on call this weekend though, so it would be a perfect weekend for the baby's birthday! Do lots of walking, at least as much as you are comfortable doing. And you're doing great - baby's head is low and you are thin. I'll see you soon."

Oh and she gave me a perscription for a sleeping aide, because I haven't been sleeping well at all the past few weeks and I'm completely exhausted and sleep deprived.

I will say that the appointment was painful. And for about 15 minutes afterwards it was still painful. I wanted to cry. But I didn't.

Then Will and I went downstairs to the maternity ward because we had a "Pre-Admit" appointment. This is where they talk to you and tell you exactly what is going to happen during the csection, where you come, what you bring, and then they also take down all your medical history and stuff and have you sign a bajillion papers.

This took another hour.

I was already depressed from my doctor appointment, and then to have to sit there for another hour talking about all the details of my scheduled csection while my stomach felt like it was going to eat itself out of pure starvation was just not really ideal if you ask me.

By the time we finally left, I wanted to just cry.

It's not that I expected to have made progress down there today, but to hear my cervix was still high and that she couldn't strip my membranes, blah blah blah....well it was all too reminiscent of my final doctor appointments when I was pregnant with Preston and heard similar things.

I've been trying to keep the faith this whole time, but today I just felt hopeless, sad, like giving up, and a little depressed.

Will tried to cheer me up by reminding me that Preston never really dropped and this one has. So that is good. I guess I just need some sleep. I'm uncomfortable. And tired. And feel like either way this baby comes out it's like I have to prepare for a marathon or something. I just want the baby to be here and skip the whole birth part. Is that okay?

Anyway. My bloodpressure was 120/70, I gained 2 pounds (making my overall weightgain 39 pounds), and everything else looked great.

I'm planning to do some walking between now and this weekend. The little guy's head is right down there grinding away and thinning things out. I just need that cervix to move down into position is all.

Wish me luck.