our little man

10.27.2006

38 week appointment

we started the morning with the ultrasound that the doctor scheduled last week. it was at the hospital, but it's right next door to the ob office. they got us in with very little waiting - and even though the ultrasound itself took nearly an hour, it didn't seem that long. sophie was very well behaved and spent a lot of her time coloring and playing with the crayons one of the women at the registration desk had given her.

all of ben's measurements were great... he seems to be growing right on target. i am 38 weeks and 3 days pregnant right now, and most of the measurements were coming out around the end of 37 weeks. when everything was done, he measured in the 39th percentile and is estimated to weigh 7 pounds and 3 ounces right now. there's always a chance that the ultrasound is off a bit, but it doesn't seem that he is going to be as big as we thought he might be (big sigh of relief from me!). the pockets of amniotic fluid around him did measure a little on the high side, so that seems to be the reason why my uterus is measuring so far ahead (42 weeks).

after the ultrasound was finished, we headed over to the doctor's office. we had a bit of a wait once we got into the exam room, but the doctor got to us eventually. it was dr. lucas again - and even though i didn't take to her last week, she seemed much nicer and more approachable this time. maybe she was just having an off day? anyhow, she went over the ultrasound results with us, confirming that everything looked great and ben was growing just fine. she mentioned the amniotic fluid being on the higher side of normal but by no means problematic. we listened to the heartbeat (139 bpm) which is such a great sound no matter how many times we hear it. she did a quick internal exam and i am now 3 centimeters dilated and about 50% effaced. she told us she certainly doesn't have a crystal ball to be able to tell us what's going to happen, but that it looks like we might be close to delivery. that was exciting to hear.

i hate to complain, because i absolutely love being pregnant, but i am starting to get really uncomfortable. part of that, i'm sure, is the fact that i'm measuring so big. i was never this big with sophie, so i really feel stretched to my limits. the skin on my belly is shiny because its pulled so tight. also, the hip and lower back pain that i've been having has just gotten worse and worse. i feel ok most of the day, but i feel progressively more uncomfortable throughout the day... by late evening, it's pretty excruciating. it hurts to walk or even roll over in bed. as much as i will miss being pregnant and having ben all to myself in there, i'm looking forward to finally meeting him... and i am honestly looking forward to having my body back and being able to move like myself again.

as adam mentioned in his last entry, sophie is spending tomorrow night with her grandparents (a little trial run of the longer stay she'll have with them while we're in the hospital)... so adam and i are going to have our last kid-free evening for probably the next year or so. we're looking forward to having some time alone together and having a chance to relax a bit before ben's arrival. he could be here any time now!

posted at 7:01 PM by aimee // 0 comments