Doctor Appointment Update

Here's our latest Dr appointment update. First of all, we waited F-O-R-E-V-E-R for our appointment today making for a very cranky mom and dad, but the good ol' doc made up for it by spending some quality time with us and answering all my questions today.

Of course, we got to hear the heartbeat again, which was again good and strong. He sure knows how to make a pg woman feel better about themselves with his little comments. First, he said he was happy to see I'm putting on a "little" weight (very funny!). We weighed in at 142 today. I started out at 114, so "little" is an understatement, but perhaps he was comparing today's weight with my first appointment weight which was already over 125.

His second statement of flattery was when he first glanced at my belly and seemed delightfully surprised to see no stretch marks yet (though I didn't know I was supposed to have them already). And he was also happy to see my growing mound of belly sticking out so it was easy for him to see, feel, and measure. He made some reference to me being skinny so he could see the baby mound so easily - again hardly accurate, but a good laugh nonetheless. Then he pulled Terry out of the daddy chair in the corner and showed him where to place his hands so he could feel the outline of my growing uterus too. (Our dr is very good about not ignoring the daddy in the room.) So that was a good sign for me 'cuz I kept reading about how the uterus is supposed to be at least an inch above the belly button, but I could never feel it that high until today.

So then I asked the doc about all the pelvic pressure I've been having lately and how the baby's movement is sometimes in my pelvic area or one time even the pelvic floor rather than in the belly area. I also told him one day it felt like something was protruding into the birth canal. He said it could very easily be my bladder, but he was kind enough to take time to check it out for me just to be sure we won't be having any super early arrivals. He said my cervix was good and hard, long, and closed, and that the baby's head was definitely not down there, and there are apparently no concerns. He mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't starting to dilate yet. So that was reassuring to hear. (He did make a small mention about feeling the scar tissue from my cryotherapy years ago which sometimes may make it difficult for my cervix to dilate at delivery. I don't think he wanted me to get too concerned about that today, but we'll definitely be talking about that some more when the due date gets closer.)

I told him about my upcoming trip to Wisconsin and asked if there was anything special I should do or be aware of. His main advice was to carry a bottle of water to stay hydrated, but also to be very diligent about emptying my bladder often. His reasoning was that a full bladder will put pressure on my uterus and could cause the uterus to start contracting a little bit which would probably scare the crap out of me (he's right!). As for leg cramps and swelling (I also showed him my growing varicose vein), he said I can start taking a baby aspirin a few days before my flight to minimize any blood clot risks and then also gave the usual advice about hydration, leg elevation, support hose, etc.

So, I think that was about it -- Oh, I also asked him (for you mom) if I needed a mumps booster before coming home. He looked at my chart and said my shots and immunity tests all looked good and up-to-date, so he wouldn't want to give a live booster shot to a pg woman in that case. He then joked a bit and simply advised I not go near any nieces or nephews that appear to have swollen checks and necks.

So-- it sounds like we're all good for our trip home. When I get back from WI, I will have another appt the following Monday on my birthday at which time they will do my glucose tolerance tests to be sure I don't have gestational diabetes. Our appointments will also increase to every two weeks instead of once a month at that point - a good sign to me that we're heading into the home stretch soon. I guess that make sense since I'll be in my 3rd trimester already by the time I come home. But, so far, it looks like we're doing good.