36w2d. Brendan is officially a very big boy. We had an ultrasound done yesterday and it estimated him to be 7 pounds, 7 ounces already. He should gain at least an ounce a day from here on out- and that scares the daylights out of me! I have had a hard time dealing with the thought of pushing out a 9+ pound baby so I sure hope he comes early! The ultrasound estimated my due date as February 25th and that I was 38w3d!!! I cry at nothing and can get colostrum from my breasts now. I am proud that they work as intended! Other than this small disappointment of size and a general morning “blah”, sometimes queasy feeling, I feel great. The sore hips and tingly hands when sleeping are back, but not too bothersome.
The little monkey is still head down, thank goodness, but is currently “sunny side up”- which means that when I put my hand on my tummy, I feel his knees, not his back. This can change still, but if it doesn’t, it means a more difficult “back labor” delivery. He is in the weirdest position too. One knee is up to his nose (like a squashed “Indian-style” position) and the other leg is sticking straight up, with his heel to his head! The ultrasound pictures we have of this are great!
After the ultrasound, I had an OB appointment. The doctor did the Group B Strep test (a vaginal and a rectal swab) and checked for dilation. Sadly, I am still corked up tight. She did say I was very soft though. I mentioned my small amount of swelling to her and she said it was perfectly normal for now. My blood pressure was great, heartbeat was in the 140s, urine was fine and I gained 2 pounds.
The most embarrassing thing that happened was that I caught the doctor’s thumb between my foot and the stirrup! I gave it a good stomp! Oops! The exciting bit is that the doctor gave us the green light for going into labor. He’s plenty big now and can come whenever he wants! It is officially “anytime now”!!! I have already given him his eviction notice! Both Waynell and Aunt Cathy are on what Darrell calls “yellow alert” LOL.
The Newborn class on Thursday was okay- Darrell liked it a lot, go figure. We covered feeding (mostly breastfeeding), bathing, diapering, cord care, SIDS, car seats, circumcision- things like that. We did get to practice bathing and swaddling a doll- Darrell really enjoyed that. At the end of class, the instructor played a tape of a baby crying while we discussed things we could try to console it. When the tape was over we were all pretty uptight and she proclaimed that the tape was exactly 5 minutes long! That was a LONG 5 minutes... LOL. She said it would be easy for anyone to snap under those conditions and discussed "Shaken Baby Syndrome". At one point she play-acted shaking a doll and to my embarrassment, I started to cry. Darn hormones!
We got several more free samples- 2 kinds of baby bath, another brand of diaper rash cream (Balmex), more Desitin. We also saw lots of newborn pictures- things like cradle cap, birthmarks, cone-heads- even what different dirty diapers could look like (eeeewwwww!).
As we were leaving, we did our customary stop at the nursery. Only one baby was there and everyone was remarking what a big boy he was. I should have seen that as a warning about what I'd find out the next day!!
Darrell gave me an “I love you” balloon and baby red roses for Valentine’s Day- very appropriate and sweet! He is such a wonderful guy and will make a terrific daddy! I can’t wait to see him hold Brendan!!!
The belly pics didn’t come out very well, but I’ll include them anyway. I am very red in them! It is amazing what these maternity shirts hide, so I included a bare belly shot. See how you can’t see my belly button? Brendan has occupied my left side so long that my belly button is now crooked and off to the right side. Still an innie though! :o)
