36-Week Midwife Appointment

Let me just begin this by saying that I am so glad that my remaining appointments are already scheduled and -- most importantly -- that they are scheduled earlier in the morning, unlike the appointment today, which was at 11:45 a.m. Like most doctor's offices, I think the later in the day you go, the more likely it is that they have gotten backed up somewhere down the line, and the more likely it is that you are going to sit in the waiting room for awhile. I arrived around 11:30 a.m., and wasn't called back until nearly 12:30 -- not much fun when you're experiencing back pain. The other downer of the visit was that Isis has yet to receive my records from North Pointe, despite the fact that I even broke down and paid the stupid $25 fee to North Pointe again. Needless to say, they got a call this afternoon, but I had to leave a message. I understand that they are probably having to do this for many patients right now, but I'm 36 weeks pregnant! Okay, enough ranting (though that is what Margaret and I did for most of the appointment :) ).

Surprise, surprise, I peed in a cup (I guess everything was fine, as nothing was said to the contrary), the nurse checked my blood pressure (it was good), and she weighed me as well (I gained one pound since the last visit). Then to the examination room I went. After Margaret came in and we chatted for just a bit, I got up on the table and she felt my belly and said she was going to wait just a moment, as I was having a Braxton Hicks contraction. I was a bit surprised because I experienced this several times before -- just kind of an overall tightening of the belly -- but just always thought it was the baby pushing against me, which is what I told her. She said that, yes, the baby does push against me and probably creates a similar sensation, but that this was definitely Braxton Hicks. Anyway, it's no big deal since these are really just "practice contractions," with no regularity and no pain, but it was kind of cool to find out what was really going on. Once the contraction released, Margaret could feel the baby's feet kind of move over to one side, which I have also definitely felt before. So at that point she went through her routine, and everything seemed to be fine. She didn't really comment on the heartbeat, so I'm assuming that was because it sounded okay, and she said the head is definitely still way down low. She also had to do a swab test for Strep B, and I will find out those results at my next appointment. If I test positive, I'll have to have antibiotics through an IV when I first get to the hospital. Because I'm trying to avoid IVs altogether, if possible, I hope it will come back negative, but I don't have any control over that. Some women just naturally have Strep B present in their bodies.

Other than that, we just went over the procedure for when I actually do go into labor, which is basically that Jarrett and I will call the office and then choose the option to dial Margaret's phone directly, which then rings her cell. If for some reason she doesn't pick up, we are to try again about ten minutes later. If, again, we don't get an answer, we are to call the hospital in case she is already there and is either not receiving the best connection in one of the rooms or is busy with another patient, and then someone at the hospital will get her for us. At that point we will have a conversation over the phone to determine whether it's time to go the hospital -- basically the same sort of conversation we will likely have with the doula.

So it's really coming down to the wire now, which is very exciting -- and often still seems quite crazy. I'm starting to gather items to pack in a bag for the hospital for both us and the baby, and we still have to get our car seat and install it and everything.

As far as how I'm feeling, I'm definitely starting to be a bit more uncomfortable, especially when sitting for any length of time, but I'm hanging in there. My ankles haven't been swelling quite as much as they did that previous day, but they still look decently puffy by the end of the day. If they're swollen to any extent, I sleep with my feet elevated a bit on a pillow or two, which seems to help. I'm still not really scared or worried about labor and delivery -- I think maybe just a little anxious to really experience it more than anything else. Right now I don't really know what to expect. Most importantly, though, Jarrett and I are just both super excited to meet our little girl.