Well here we are, we’ve made it to 36 weeks! Officially one month left to go. Of course it’s hit me that this is how far we made it when I was pregnant with Carter- I was induced at 36 weeks with him! That’s why this day is such a big milestone. When we first met with the doctors they said the goal was to make it past 36 weeks, and so far so good. Since I was induced for him being so small and not growing, they have been monitoring me a ton this time to check her growth and so far it’s been good. She’s on the smaller side percentage wise, but nothing to worry about.
So now we head into uncharted territory with pregnancy!
These pics are from when we visited my sister in New York over Labor Day weekend. I was 34 weeks along on that visit. Our last weekend trip as a family of three. And, of course, my feet still hurt from walking about the city for two days, but we did have a good time!
I am starting to have some really varied emotions about this whole thing. Some days (or hours) I am super excited and can’t wait to hold her and see her and play with her. On the other hand, I am also very nervous and have a lot of doubts about my ability to be a mom of two! My hormones have gotten the better of me a few times in the past couple of week especially, and I am really starting to second guess myself. I have also started to become worried about so many things, which I guess is just what it’s like being a parent!
Non Stress Tests
I’ve been going in for twice a week non stress tests (NST) at the hospital, which I mentioned in my 3rd trimester updates post. If you’re not familiar with this test here’s the break down. The test is meant to measure the baby’s stress under conditions when you aren’t having contractions. You are strapped to two monitors, one measures the baby’s heartbeat and the other measures movement and contractions. (They use these monitors when you’re actually in labor, too) The baby has to “preform” a certain amount of peaks and valley’s of heart rate change over a certain amount of time. It’s usually 20-30 minutes. But, if they baby is asleep or really excited (both have happened to me!) they make you stay longer to get a better measure. Honestly, it’s pretty easy just laying there looking at my phone. But, it is time consuming having to go in twice a week in addition to all my other appointments.
C Section Determination?
Last Thursday I went in for my 36 week appointment and had an ultra sound to check my placenta placement. This is when they were supposed to determine if I still had a “low lying” placenta, and decide if a c-section would be recommended or not. We’d been kind of anxiously awaiting this appointment for several weeks. Well, they were still unable to determine this with 100% accuracy because her head is right in the way! The ultra sound tech compared it with my earlier ones and still couldn’t determine.
So, I will go in again this week for another ultra sound, this time with the maternal-fetal specialist preforming the ultrasound so she can determine the results live. That will be on Friday and then we’ll finally know what to expect! Honestly, it’s been kind of a tedious process because it’s seems unlikely at this point that it will have moved enough to be considered in the “safe” range for delivery, but they want to keep looking as much as possible.
So now it’s really time to get ready with only 3 1/2 weeks left until my due date! I’m torn between the idea of having the scheduled c-section (knowing the exact date!) and the idea of having that “honey it’s time!!” moment, which I didn’t have with my first! Basically I’m just a big ball of emotions, pains all over my body but trying to relax and take it easy!
