38w2d

Doctors appointment went good today. Now at 2 cm dilated!! Woo-hoo! And still 50% effaced. Uterine measure was at 39 weeks. BP, urine, and heart rate was good.
Weight gain of 3 lbs. Puts us at the 182 lbs. And makes it 33 lbs total gained.

I go back on Monday morning and see the mid-wife, since the doctor is out all next week on vacation. So if I have this baby next week, he will be delivered by an different doctor. Not to worry though, I hear good things about the other doctors as well. :)

Contractions are frequent still, and increasing in pain, but still random. I've timed them for about an hour here and there and its common to see them about 5 to 20 minutes apart. But thats just it, its random. Here is my latest hour:

8:59 pm
then 6 minutes later at 9:05 pm
then 11 minutes later at 9:16 pm
then 20 minutes later at 9:36 pm
then 6 minutes later at 9:42 pm
then 6 minutes later at 9:48 pm
then 8 minutes later at 9:56 pm

You never know what it will be. But looking at that hour, I did have 7 contractions. Thats pretty common these last couple weeks, hence why I started watching an hour here and there. Because I did notice that they have increased in number. And a little in pain, but just enough to take a deep breath during them. Kind of feels like it takes my breath away on some. But nothing that I feel really intense on. I've been told that I will know the difference between these and the 'real' ones. And of course it will be more regular.

37w2d

I had my doctors appointment today. Baby Brady is measuring good, actually 38 weeks. I got my walking papers today, which means i have to bring my 'chart' with me to L&D if I had to go in there. And also to the rest of the appointments for him to update with the info.

He did a pelvic exam to see if there is any dilating or effacing. I am 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced! woo-hoo!! Thats exciting to hear, because that means its coming soon!
Now I just have to wait for these contractions that I get, to become the real contractions on labor. I have been having the braxton hicks contractions for a few months now. Just here and there, but lately in the last 1-2 weeks have noticed them more frequently. They currently are about 15-20 minutes apart, so pretty frequently now. But of course they aren't really painful. Just a few of them here and there are breath-taking, but I know its probably me over working it.

Im really excited to see if I go into natural labor, rather than be induced this time. Just the surprise and the excitement of it all, is nerve racking at the same time.

The Group B Strep came back negative, so I wont have antibiotics this time at delivery, like I did with Lukas.

Still considering the name change. The more I think about it, I think we would end up call him Brady 95% of the time. And almost wouldn't feel right calling him by this longer version. It would be different if we can up with the longer version first and liked Brady as a nickname. But thats not the case. We've always like the name Brady and have been calling him that all along. So what I thought was going to be a formal name change, might not happen. LOL! I brought it up to Tony the other day, so we will see what happens. We still have a couple more weeks to ponder, but Im pretty sure once I see the baby, I will only be thinking Brady. :)

37 week pic

Haven't posted a pic in awhile. Hope we can get one more in before delivery too. :)

36 weeks 2 days

Down to less than 1 month! Crazy how fast this pregnancy is going for me!

I had my frequent flyer OB appointment today and was not happy with that scale! I gained FIVE lbs!! Just in the last week! So now im up to 30 lbs. total and weighed in at 178 lbs. How depressing that I gained 5 lbs. in a week! I have to blame it on being out of town these last few days in the U.P. and eating out a lot. We did eat at grandma's house for breakfast and lunch. Which I did have lots of fresh fruit available at her house as well, so we could snack healthy. But I guess the delicious Chicken Wet Burrito that I had Tuesday night at a Mexican Restaurant cancels all that out.

I am having more of those low pelvic pains. And not just at night time. Im having them more now even by walking, sitting down, standing up. Just random times during the day. No fun in that. I did ask Dr. Vendola if I will be feeling these pains during labor and delivery. He assured me that I wouldn't. I sure hope not. My plan is to go through labor and delivery drug free. Yeah thats right. Im choosing not to have an epidural. I went fairly quick with Lukas and am hoping for the same here again. I did have Demoral with Lukas around the first hour into labor, but it lasted about 30 minutes and all it did was make me really drowsy and nauseous. And it only lasted 30 minutes. I chose not to have any more doses after than one. And won't have any Demoral this time around either. So we will see. Im hoping if this pelvic pain doesn't show up at delivery time, then I should be okay to go on as planned.

BP was good and heart rate was good as well. As soon as he laid the doppler down it was booming. No searching for it this time. Measuring right on as well too.

He did do a swab for Group B Strep that will be sent to lab to see if that comes back positive or not. If positive then I will be put on antibiotics at delivery time to protect the baby from getting it during delivery. I did test positive for this with Lukas and was given the antibiotics for his delivery. And you wouldn't know any different either way after delivery.

As I was leaving, Bobbi also stopped me to tell me that I might have some spotting today as when he pulled the speculum out there was some blood on there. Must have aggravated the cervix a bit, and she just wanted to warn me that the small amount of spotting is okay. Good thing she said something, because that would probably send me to L&D if I didn't know differently. And of course I've gotten some of the spotting, but nothing really to worry about. :)

So he ran by the things to watch for. Contractions 5 minutes apart for an hour, leaking of fluids, any bleeding. Any of those warrant a ticket to L&D. And he said at this point if labor would start, he wouldn't stop it now. We are far enough along now that he would let labor take its course. Kind of exciting to know. :) Also he said that he was on call this weekend. Which is kinda scary to know, only in the fact that he was thinking in that way. That he would be the one on call this weekend if something were to happen. ...if something were to happen. Crazy to think that its come to that time already.

I still have a few things to do. Get the Diaper Champ from Target. Get down the infant carrier and make sure its not expired. And oh yea, get a bag packed of the things that I want at the hospital. Or at least a list together of what I don't want to forget. That would probably be easier, as I'll be using most of the things right now that would probably go into the bag.

35 weeks

I had a doctors appointment today. We are now moving on to weekly appointments. I gained 2 lbs since the last appointment 2 weeks ago. Totaling 25 lbs, bringing me to 173 lbs. ugh....

I talked with Bobbi, the midwife, about the low pelvic pains and she says that its the round ligaments having lots of pressure on them and being stretched to its limits. She said that I do need to 'baby' these ligaments and take it easy with movements that make them hurt. Currently its only been bothering me (killing me) during the night when I am wanting to switch from one side to the other. It seriously is a sharp low pelvic pain that I cannot tolerate!

Aside from that bit, the appointment went good. BP and heart rate were good and I am measuring right on for dates.

Small change of plans

I believe we are changing the baby's name. Just a slight small change really. But we have also decided that we aren't until birth. Makes for a little surprise at birth and just in case we change our mind again. LOL!