Apparently I let time get away from me because its been almost a month since my last post and I wrote part of a 34 week update which I never posted! Since I'm keeping this for my records I'm going to go ahead and post both together instead of consolidating it into one update. :-)
34 Week Update:
I had another doctors appointment yesterday so I figured it was time to post another update! The baby is doing great and he is finally head down! Yay! Now I can put my c-section fears on the back burner. I'm glad we didn't have to "talk options" like the doctor thought we would be doing this appointment. :-) This time the ultrasound was just a NST and a check to see the blood flow through the cord so we didn't get a growth update but next appointment in two weeks from now it'll be time for the monthly biophysical profile where they take a ton of measurements of his body. Last biophysical profile was at 32 weeks and he was measuring 5 lbs exactly which is still a little larger than normal but totally do-able. Yay for things going well!
Blood sugar has had some really bad days but then when I think I can't get it back in control I'll have a day with significantly lower numbers that are within bounds. The doctor isn't worried about it yet though. The days its been high seem to be the days when I get out in the heat not necessarily the days that I over-do things. She thinks the heat is a body stressor and told me to stay out of it. She repeated herself a few times and told me that if I don't take her seriously on it she'll even write me a prescription to stay out of the heat and that walking in the evenings isn't a good idea either. She'd rather see me not exercise than try to exercise in the heat. I didn't realize she was so serious! We have been having temperatures over 100 degrees lately though so I guess I need to stick to the treadmill and indoor activities more.
Blood pressure is great and what it normally is when I'm not pregnant and I've only had minimal swelling in my ankles. I can actually wear my wedding ring again without it being a pain to get off. I was down to a net pregnancy weight gain of 4 lbs but this past week I gained 2 lbs back so the doctor was happy about that. In two weeks I'll switch to twice daily shots of heparin and I'll start my weekly ultrasounds and appointments at that point along with cervical checks since she had discussed having an induction at 39 weeks. She is also discussing maybe giving me the option of skipping the induction but we'll decide that for sure in a few weeks.
All in all a great appointment! As for daily life I am starting to have more regular pregnancy insomnia and I have some days with tons of energy where I start a ton of projects and other days when I feel achy and sluggish. Bending down repeatedly to pick up toys is getting hard because it gives me a headache from the sudden change in position but I can still easily get up and down off the floor when playing with Ethan and I can still tie my own shoes. Braxton hicks contractions have actually gotten better too. The hardest thing right now is standing in one place for a while.
When I do my nightly lovenox shot the baby usually starts to kick around and push against the area I've prepped. Sometimes its during the injection that he starts kicking the shot. It can make my hand unsteady and the shot hurt but mostly it feels strange to be giving myself a shot as my stomach is moving and the baby is interacting with the area. I'm running out of places where I can do the shot on my stomach and so I'm starting to get hard lumps under the skin from the trauma of repeated shots.
36.5 Week Update:
Baby is still head down and super active. I lost 2 lbs but blood sugar is back under control. Nausea has returned and I have zero appetite and have been making myself eat small protein/carb balanced snacks based on the time more than how hungry I feel so that I can keep things balanced and in control. Ick. My biggest complaint these days is my back. It doesn't take much activity at all for it to hurt. I have a couple of sleepless nights a week but some nights I'm able to sleep right through.
As for our latest ultrasound the baby is estimated to weigh 6 lbs 13 ounces and the average of his measurements has him right at around 63 percentile. This last ultrasound was a little crazy for a minute though because the ultrasound tech got a really high number the first time she measured his stomach and it had him measuring HUGE at 98.5 percentile and placed him at the size of a 39 week old baby! She was a little frosty to me asking me about my blood sugar and told me that just last week she saw something like this and the lady had to have her baby delivered early. I started to sweat...but it just didn't seem to make sense! I told her the doctor hadn't been concerned with my blood sugar scores this past month and I asked if a few high numbers really could make him that much bigger that fast. She decided to go ahead and re-do that part and then re-do it, and re-do it again and she did it about five more times and those measurements all were much lower and very close to each other so she went ahead and re-did a few of her other measurements as well and he came back to measuring just a few days ahead for most of his body and a week ahead for his stomach. They don't begin to worry until they measure three weeks ahead for the stomach so we are doing great! Huge relief!
Induction date has been tentatively set for September 12th at 39 weeks and 2 days. (It can't officially be set until next week). Since I'm already dilated to almost a 3 she felt an induction would be best since she thinks I will go fast once my water breaks. She said it should be an easy induction. Of course Ethan came on his own at 39 weeks and 2 days so I guess its really all up in the air. Ah! Right?
