37 Weeks

This was a little bit of a mixed doctor’s visit, so I’ll start with the good points. Blood pressure came in again at 130/80, and I was able to meet with my usual doctor (Dr. Montealegre, who looks like a kid, even though he’s attempting to grow out a goatee). After the internal exam (which featured a lot of deep poking and “stripping the membranes” — I’m at 1cm now), he mentioned that Dr. Gonzalez (who I saw last week) had suggested inducing this week. At that point, he paused, so that I could comment.

I told him that yes, she had, but personally I didn’t see a need for it, since the BP has been holding steady at home and in the office, and that in Monday’s ultrasound, Ivy wasn’t even down in the birth canal. Dr. Montealegre said he agreed and didn’t see a need for that to be done right now, either. While this conversation is going on, Joey’s sitting in the corner of the room. I asked him to be my “backup” for not automatically accepting induction this week unless it seemed to be “needed.” That brief conversation wiped out the apparent “need” for induction this week. Yay!

So, what was agreed upon, was I’ll start coming in twice a week, they drew some more blood for a CBC (Complete Blood Count), and I have a 24-hour at-home urine sample to collect. Dr. Montealegre also “put me on bedrest.” So, I didn’t even go into work at all today. Still need to sort out with HR at work what my status is — whether the LOA has officially begun — so that’s a post for another day. I go back in on Friday. The doctor said that if ANY of the test results come back positive, then they’ll go ahead with an induction at that point. Otherwise, I can expect to induce sometime in week 39.

So, that gets us anywere from 3 more days to about 2 more weeks. Narrows it down some, but not much more predictable than a totally intervention-free pregnancy.

OK, now for the non-highlight moments.

The internal exam… I had one last week, which was no big deal. Apparently last week the doctor was just checking to see how open I was (fingertip). This week was more like digging for gold — fairly uncomfortable, but not quite painful. I found out the doctor was “stripping the membranes” which apparently is a were he sticks his finger inside the cervix far enough to separate the amniotic sac from the cervix, if it’s attached. This — from what I can gather — aids in bringing on labor, but it may take a few tries before any effect is felt.

Next, the monitors. This was done when I was in the hospital. These two disk-shaped monitors are pressed to the belly — one tracks changes in abdomen pressure to see if contractions are happening, and the other is a fetal heartrate doppler. They are held in place (in THEORY) with wide elastic bands that wrap around the body, like a belt. Well, Ivy was head down, which meant the place to pick up her heartrate was right in the middle or underside of my biggest flabby area. Guess how well the elastic band keeps the monitor either in place, or pressed in deep enough to hear the heartbeat? Not at all. Grr. I had to hold it in place myself and press hard, and let me tell you, that will tire out your triceps and fingers VERY quickly. Plus, Ivy wouldn’t stay put, so I was chasing her around the lower left corner of my gut for quite awhile. About 45 minutes, in fact.

This was very frustrating, because for some 5-7 minute periods I couldn’t find a heartbeat at all, which meant I was wasting my time and making my arms and hands ache. And, as was confirmed at the hospital, in this state of mind, if I get frustrated enough, I get upset and can cry. I did a little bit, but kept the waterworks to a minimum. I wish I could shut that off, because it does no good, and would have been embarassing if someone had walked in at that moment. Anyhow, we got enough of the heartrate/contraction monitor printed out on paper, and they let me go, with my nice pee jug, and thus the 3-hour appointment came to an end.

Next up is Friday’s appointment at 11:15am. Get to do the monitor thing again (ugh… Dr. Montealegre said he knows it’ll be difficult and tiring, but I’ll get better at holding the monitor in the right plage), pee in a cup, take BP and weigh (same weight the last 3 weeks), plus an internal exam again (and I’m guessing another round of membrane stripping). So, not a lot of fun, but at least the end is in sight, and soon we will be able to hold our little bundle of joy 🙂

Incidentally, our DSL at home got cut off accidentally last Friday, so we’ve been piggybacking on a neighbor’s connection, which is no longer working, so until the DSL gets fixed (*next* Friday, I’ve been told — eek!!!) I won’t be posting as much 🙁 Hopefully, it’ll get fixed before Ivy arrives!