I am measuring ahead of schedule, and Dr. F says that's fine - she thinks a baby can never grow too much. But she thinks that our baby is really TALL - while my belly's not that big from side to side, it's really long from top to bottom. People say I'm carrying low, but this makes it sound like I'm carrying low, high, and everything in between! Tall isn't a problem, she says, but the baby may start to get pretty cramped quarters and it means I'll probably get really uncomfortable as time goes on, especially if the baby ever decides to turn head-downwards and its feet are jammed way up in my ribs. Right now, she thinks it's lying along the bottom of the uterus in kind of a U-shape. He or she seems to be in no hurry to get in the proper birth position.
We talked about fetal movement. This is the only thing that has really been making me nervous. There just isn't a lot of consistency in how frequently and strongly I feel movement. I'll go for a week where my belly is literally rippling before my eyes and bouncing around all day, and then a stretch of four days where I hardly feel anything and, when I do, it's subtle and in a very different location than it had been. It's rather maddening because I never know when I should be worried. If you notice a decrease in movement, you're supposed to eat or drink something sweet and sit or lie down for an hour. If you feel at least 5 movements within that hour, everything is fine. Lately my lazy little baby has been very still most of the day, but when I lie down after eating lunch, I feel plenty of movement, so I know the baby's okay then, but it still stresses me out. The doctor took my concerns really seriously, though. Her guess is that my baby is just 1) running out of space a bit, 2) changed to a position where movement is less noticeable, and 3) learning how to sleep. Still, if I notice any less movement than I have been, she really wants me to come in so they can put me on a monitor to check everything out. In the meantime, I have been eating a lot of sweet things - I know that's probably bad, but I really like chocolate and I think the baby really likes it, too, because it usually elicits some type of movement response. :)
So - move, baby, move! Move lots! Today, happily, the baby has been moving a lot more than it has since Saturday. Every time I feel good movement after a long lull, I talk to the baby and tell him or her that's good and I want him or her to do that all the time. My child likes to cause me stress and worry even before it's born - I'm sure that will only get worse as he or she grows up. :)
I especially like to play with our baby when he or she pokes a body part out and creates a hard little lump bumping out of my tummy; it's fun to press against it gently and have the baby respond by moving. I love keeping my hands on my stomach and just being in awe of the fact that I'm really feeling my baby's body moving underneath all those layers of, well, me. This does make it difficult when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, though. Baby is often quite active when I lie back down, and I am so interested in keeping my hands on my stomach and feeling all the movements that I don't fall right back asleep like I probably should.
Our next doctor's appointment should have been on the 27th, but the time they had available was right in the middle of the day, which would not work out for us very well since Greg and I both work kind of far away. So it's not going to be until Monday, January 31, which means it's actually a 2 week and 4 day wait until we get to see our baby. (And it also means I won't have any fun 4D pictures to show off at my baby shower - but I'll be sure to put them up online as soon as I can!)
Yes, this is the much-anticipated 4D ultrasound. I'm looking forward to it and hoping Baby is a photogenic mood so we can get a good sneak peek at him or her. With this ultrasound, they'll do another basic anatomy check (no, we're still not finding out if it's a boy or girl), measure the fluid level, check the position, and compare the baby against a growth curve to predict approximately how big of a baby we're probably going to have. (I warily asked the doctor if I was going to have a 10 pound baby, but she doesn't think that's very likely, thankfully!!) Then we sit down and see if there are any concerns and make plans to address those. According to one of my pregnancy books, by 33 weeks most (though, of course, not all) babies will have moved into the position that they will be in for delivery. I'll be 33 weeks pregnant on January 30, so if the baby's position isn't head-down for the ultrasound, we'll probably talk about what will happen if Baby stubbornly refuses to change into that position over the remainder of the pegnancy (it would mean a C-section).
We were supposed to have our second (and final) labor and birth class on Tuesday, but it was canceled due to the weather, so we'll have it next Tuesday night instead. We've also picked out a pediatrician based on a trusted friend's glowing recommendation, so now I need to get on the ball and pre-register our birth at the hospital!
Please pray that things continue to go smoothly with this pregnancy and with the baby. I just want to make it through this winter (driving on snowy roads and walking on icy sidewalks is never fun, but especially not when you're 7 or 8 months pregnant) and have a healthy, happy baby to welcome as we turn the corner into spring.
March 20, my due date, is the first day of spring, after all! Spring has always been my favorite season (probably because I dislike winter so passionately and spring heralds the end of winter), and this spring holds promise to be the best one ever!
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| From Loving the Life We Live |
