37 Week OB Visit

Yesterday was the day that I turned 37 weeks, and I also had my 37 week appointment.  If you've been reading my weekly pregnancy posts, or if you know me in real life, it's no joke that I'm pretty miserable and ready to get this dude OUT.  


They did all of my vitals first, and for once, their scale matched mine saying that I've gained +22lbs.  Still not bad for 37 weeks and a HUGE baby.  I think there were trace amounts of protein in my urine, but I'm not quite sure.  That's just what it looks like on the little piece of paper that I now have to carry around with me.  If there were trace amounts, it was low enough that no one even mentioned it to me.  My blood pressure was also still pretty good at 121/72.  Almost the exact same as last week.  Now last week, I was 2 cm dilated, 50% effaced, and he was at a -3 station.  The -3 station was the part that we were concerned about because it (not moving down) might have been his way of telling us that he's too big to fit.  For the past week, we have been working mega hard to get him to move down.  We've been making sure that I'm walking as much as possible, and I borrowed an exercise ball to sit on to rotate my hips and bounce to encourage him moving down.  Well, it worked!  This week I was 3-4 cm dilated.  She said that I was *almost* 4, but not quite there.  On the other hand, she said I was so close that she didn't want to put down that I was just 3 on my paper, so she put 3+.  I was still the same at 50% effaced, and here's the good news - he was at a -2 station!  Now, I realize that's not a huge drop, but it's SOMETHING!!  It means that he's getting ready and showing that he is dropping!  Yay!!


I also had to do a NST (non-stress test) at my appointment.  Basically, they hooked me up to two monitors - one to check me for contractions and one to monitor his heart rate.  I couldn't feel them (well, I could, but they didn't HURT), but I was contracting every 2-5 minutes during the entire test.  That's AWESOME!  Even though they must not be real labor contractions, those bad boys can still move him downwards and help me dilate, etc.  When Marie looked at the results of the NST, she said that he looked "beautiful", so I guess there are no worries now about the placenta being a grade 3.  She also checked the results of my Group B Strep test last week and said that they came back negative.  That's good, also.


Here's the best news of the appointment.  Right before I left she said, "Let's hope next week you're at least a 4-5 cm so that I can just send you in".  Basically, if my body can move ONE CENTIMETER in the next week (last week it did almost 2!) then she'll just send me straight from my appointment to the hospital to get this guy out.  That would be AMAZING!  If he has been contenting on the growth track that he's been on, that would put him around 8.5 lbs - which makes me feel MUCH better about being able to get him out on my own without him getting stuck or needing a c-section.  


Obviously with how far along my body has already progressed, there's a really good chance that I may go into labor on my own before my next appointment (next Tuesday).  In the mean time, we're going to continue to do everything that we've been doing to help me dilate!  I REALLY need to dilate ONE MORE CENTIMETER before next week and we can have this baby!  


I'm really hoping that I'll go before then, but I'll settle for Tuesday if not!  If you haven't put in your vote for Baby C's name - now would be the time to do that!  :)