Sunday, May 1, 2011

Counting down the days to baby #3.

Baby at 36 weeks.
With less than 4 weeks to go until baby is due I realize I am long overdue for an update, especially with all the things that have happened in the past 3 weeks with this baby.

 It started at my 34 week appointment, my dr. was using the measuring tape to measure my belly and I was measuring at 31 weeks instead of 34 like I should have been, I had not grown at all since my last 2 week appointment and had only grown by 1 in the last month. She checked me because she said she felt like the baby was really low and if the baby had really dropped it wouldn't be a concern but even after checking me she wasn't convinced that was the problem. So I had to be sent in for an ultrasound to check on baby growth and amniotic fluid level. The part that sucked was I had to wait all weekend for the ultrasound since it was scheduled for Monday morning. It was not a fun weekend, there were lots of possibilities that were causing me to measure small. The main two concerns were either my amniotic fluid level was low or the baby was not growing properly. We had the ultrasound Monday at noon and both Dave and I were very happy and relieved to find out that everything was fine. Baby is tucked nice and low and so balled up in there that it took the ultrasound tech 1.5 hours to get all the measurements they needed (no we did not find out and we could not see anything, this baby's legs were closed tight!). The baby was measuring a week ahead and was already 5.5lbs at that point, the amniotic fluid levels looked great.

About 4 days after that at 35 weeks I woke up with a backache, it only took me half the morning to realize that this backache kept coming and going in intervals of about 15 minutes. I finally called my doctor around 11 as I was supposed to be going out of town to coach at a track meet that afternoon and she told me to go to the hospital. I have been having quite a few contractions the past couple weeks, more than just the usual braxton hicks these were actually starting to feel more like real contractions but they were really inconsistent and nothing was putting me into labor. However, when they started in my back I got nervous because I know often times that can be a sign of real labor and since I still had 5 weeks to go I wanted to be safe. I got to the hospital and they hooked me up on the monitors, I was having contractions but there was no pattern to them, they monitored me for a couple hours and they never stopped so they gave me a shot of terbutaline. That stopped them completely and they finally sent me home. Dave was home with the kids texting and calling me every 3 minutes to find out what was going on, my dad finally came to the hospital and hung out with me while I waited for the effects of the terbutaline to wear off (that stuff made me so shaky!). My dr. told me to take it easy for the next week and if the contractions got worse again to come back again. Which thankfully they did not!

Now we are finally in the "safe" range, I went to the doctor on Friday. I am not quite 1cm dilated but my cervix is almost completely thinned. Basically she said that with my cervix being that thin the dilating could go very quickly and I could go into labor that night. Of course I didn't go into labor, but she did say she wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it another week. Now its just a waiting game, I have been having contractions all weekend long. Today they are stronger than usual and I can feel them down through my hips and back, but again they are very inconsistent and are not lasting very long which is what I have been experiencing for the past two weeks now so it could easily be another 3 weeks. This baby is wearing me out and he/she is not even here yet! At any rate when this baby does come I am praying for a safe and quick (but not too quick) delivery and a very healthy baby boy/girl. We have a girl name picked out and 2 boy names (we just can't agree on the "one" so we are going to wait and see). In the mean time I am still teaching part time, enjoying being home with the kids during the day, coaching track in the afternoons and getting excited to soon become a mom of three.

2 comments:

Baby Raine Drops said...

So excited for you! Being a mom of three is a wonderful blessing :) Thank you for your sweet words on my blog!

Mile Posts by Dorothy Beal said...

Sorry I always post with the wrong account ;)