A sneak peek

I am 35 weeks or, depending on how you calculate, heading into week 36 of pregnancy. Only two weeks until I am term and can officially be on the look out for labour! At the most, I am looking at another 6 weeks or so. I have started packing the baby/hospital bag, the infant car seat is going into the van this weekend and I am trying to get things organised around here in preparation for his arrival. Clothes are washed and other then a few random items we are pretty much set for Asher to come.

Latest photo from last weekend.

I am definitely feeling very pregnant now. I have now gained 18ish pounds and my skin is suddenly feeling very tight. New stretch marks are popping up at the bottom of my belly despite my best efforts of slathering creams and such all over it every day. Losing battle, whatever. I don't sleep much, but find taking daily warm baths and massages from my husband help to make me at least a little more comfortable. I'm still going to a prenatal massage therapist once a month and have my next appointment in a week. Cannot wait! I find it really does help, especially with sciatica. Oh, and I am giving up and going to my salon on Saturday morning to chop off my hair. I haven't cut it in about 9 months and I love the length it's at, but I honestly just do not have the time or energy for it anymore. With summer coming and what little of my free time I have left about to disappear I just cannot justify it anymore. When it's long like this I can't wash and wear. When its shoulder length I can shower, throw some gel in and the curls look nice on their own. So that's what I am going to do!

I am now into weekly doctors appointments! I know that means we are getting close, so it's exciting. The biggest thing we learned this morning is that Asher is still head down. Despite his hiccoughs being up high and his constant movement, she believes he is in that position to stay. Most likely what I have been feeling (and seeing) is him turning front to back and shifting side to side. At this point, any of those movements will feel massive to me. He may continue to do that for a while, but he is out of full flipping movement.
You know how he was measuring smaller then Noah? Yeah, that's out the window now. He is weighing and measuring in at the exact same as his brother at this week. However, when he decides to show up will have a big impact on his size at delivery. If he doesn't go two weeks over there is a good chance I will have a 7-8 pounder. Come on 39 weeks!
The coolest thing about my appointment this morning was that my doctor now has a hand held ultrasound machine, so I actually got to see our baby! She showed me his head (it looked scary big...), his butt and his back. Then she helped me to distinguish what parts of his body were which by guiding my hands around my belly. Super cool. She confirmed that what we've been watching sliding all over the place is his knees.
Other then that, his heart beat is in the 150s, my blood pressure is still perfect and I haven't been swelling at all, so all is well.

This update turned out to be longer then I meant, so I'll wrap it up now. Besides, my toddler seems to have decided to skip his nap again today so I guess I ought to let him out of his crib. Take care all!

Ultrasound results

Went in for my normal prenatal checkup this morning, assuming everything was totally fine because I didn't receive a phone call from the doctor saying they needed to see me.

Blood pressure was perfect, measuring perfect and his little heartbeat is fast and strong at 163 (we had another good laugh about people saying that means girl when everything clearly shows boy for us!) Ive gained a total of 10 pounds so far which means I can easily gain another 15 without concern. My thyroid was significantly lower then it should be so my synthroid dosage is being upped for the remainder of my pregnancy. Probably explains why I have been feeling so exhausted and overwhelmed this past week.

My doctor didn't have my ultrasound results as they had been sent to my family physician, but said she would have them faxed over and if there were an issue I'd get a call. As I was leaving and making my next appointment at reception, they received the fax and I was told I needed to go back in to talk them through. Ugh, that's a little worrisome I thought. They handed me my chart and told me to wait for my doctor to come back out.
So of course, I had to read it over and get what I could from that paper. I saw the words 'anterior placenta' written down and then something in the comments about kidneys. Everything else was checked off as normal.

I handed the chart to my doctor and the first thing she said was, 'Oh... I don't think this is an issue.' Basically, one of Asher's kidneys is showing a slight enlargement that can suggest renal pelvis dilation. Sometimes it can be a soft marker for a genetic disorder, but because I have none of the other symptoms they don't believe that is the case. If anything, it may mean that one of his kidneys has a harder time flushing out waste. My doctor believes that the reason for the enlargement is the fact that he is just a big boy (measuring in the 90th percentile, just like Noah did). It's also apparently a common thing to see in boys and will often correct itself before birth. However, just to be on the safe side, Asher will be having an ultrasound one week after he is born to make sure antibiotics aren't needed to flush out his system. So nothing major, but enough to make a mother worry a little bit. So prayers for this to correct itself or to turn out to just be a size issue would be greatly appreciated :)

The anterior placenta took me by surprise but is also said not to be a big deal, because thankfully it is not blocking my cervix. If it was it would mean automatic csection for me. So as long as it doesn't move, which we aren't anticipating, it should be fine. Asher is still comfy in his breech position but my doctor said we won't worry about that for another 9 weeks or so. She is very pro baby flipping methods so we will do whatever we can (within safety reasoning) to avoid a section.

It made me feel fairly calm that my doctor was so confident in my results and really isn't worried about any of those issues. But of course, being the hormonal pregnant woman I am I can't just totally forget about it either. So instead I am telling myself that for one, this ultrasound after birth is a GOOD thing because it means we will stay on top of any potential problems and be able to have them fixed. And two, my doctor is fully aware of any and everything going on with me and able to treat me to the best of her ability.
I am thankful for a medical system that is able to keep an eye on all these kind of things and treat me however necessary, without any cost to me financially. That is a blessing for sure!