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2004-10-29 - 6.59pm��previous entry��next entry
39 weeks - update on today's appointment
Okay, back with an update to the earlier update (!!) - read the previous entry if you don't know what I'm on about!
Neil came home and took me to my hospital appointment, and it all went well so I am really relieved!!! I phoned a lady at church and got my blood pressure issue put on the prayer chain, and guess what?! Yup, thank you God :) They had me rest for 20 minutes when I arrived, and then took 3 readings of my blood pressure, each one 10 minutes apart. They were 123/72, 118/72, and 123/73!!! Pretty good huh?! God is great. And I'm so thrilled that my blood pressure is down in the normal range again! I was amazed because it hasn't been down that low any of the times that I or the midwife have been checking it. So yay.
Also I did another urine sample and that was clear for protein, so no pre-eclampsia. But there was a trace of leucocytes, so they sent it to the lab. But I doubt it's anything other than contamination. Um, what else? They took blood (always fun!) for liver function tests and a full blood count. I have to phone in the morning for the results, but the nice nice midwife was so reassuring about everything and said she was sure the results would be fine. She felt my tummy and pronounced Arthur to be healthy and a good size. I asked her how big she thought he was, since I could see she had a lot of years of experience, and I didn't tell her that Pat (my midwife) had already made her predictions earlier! Anyway this midwife said, "Oh he's definitely over 7lbs. Maybe even over 7 and a half!" So yeah, two identical opinions. How did I grow such a big boy?! I was expecting him to be teeny tiny :) This puts him a little over average (but still within average), because his 39 week stats say he should be (on average) about 7lbs 5oz. Maybe he's spot on? I don't know. Not that it really matters. I just know he could have another 2 weeks in there or so, and I am not a big person, so I hope he won't gain much more weight than this!
Anyway, his heartrate was around the 130 mark, which is perfect. I asked her how engaged he was, and she said she could check for me but it might hurt me a bit if she was really thorough! I said to go ahead, so she basically took his little head in her finger and thumb (owch), and wiggled it! She said she could still wiggle it a little, so he wasn't fully engaged. Poo! I know he was a week ago, but she said he has bobbed up again. Oh well. She wrote in my notes that he is 3/5 palpable, which is not engaged. He didn't seem to go crazy when she held his head, but he did push his feet right out of my side as she did it :) Sweet little boy.
Something really freaky happened - another lady arrived at Day Assessment at the same time as me, well, about 30 seconds after me. We were the only ones in the waiting room, and it happened that we were both in for high blood pressure, so the midwife just pushed the machine back and forth between us, rather than assigning us to seperate cubicles. Then she was filling in our notes, and she said she almost filled in the wrong details in the wrong notes, because we were both due on November 5th and we were both blood type 0 negative!! We were just smiling over this coincidence, when the midwife said that we were both having our first babies, oh and my birthday is February 21st, and the other lady's was February 20th!!! Yikes! It was so weird! So that was nice because we got chatting while we waited and had our blood pressure taken. The other lady's blood pressure was high on the first reading, but it went down considerably on the other two, so that was good because she seemed really anxious about it. She didn't know if she was having a girl or a boy, but she felt like it was a boy, and she's been calling it "he". I said of course she would have a boy, since I am having a boy, and we seem to have everything else in common! :) We are carrying completely differently from each other though. Anyway so that was nice/weird.
I saw the obstetrician before we left and she was really nice. She said she saw no reason for concern. I asked about the headaches and she said that since I was having one of the headaches during the time I had my BP monitored, and the BP was normal, she didn't think it was connected to my blood pressure. She thought maybe it could be just fluid retention in my face, since these headaches are across my face and eyes and in my neck. Or it could be muscle tension if I'm anxious or tense. Or it could be high levels of oestregon at the end of pregnancy. So I shouldn't worry unless they get searingly painful.
My hands are really quite swollen today, which is new, so I was worried about that. I am still waking in the night with my thumb and forefinger all numbed up, and that's new too. When I curl my fingers or straighten them right out, all the joints around the knuckles in each finger really hurt. And when I curl my fingers the padded bits in between the knuckles go white, so I know they are swollen. They are hurting in the joints as I'm typing this actually. But the doctor said my blood pressure is fine, and there's no protein in my urine, so the swelling is nothing to worry about - it's just normal end-of-pregnancy swelling. Phew!
I am so grateful to God for answering my prayers about this. They have sent me home to relax, although I don't even need to force myself to rest, but I think I will rest a lot anyway, because I am tired all the time now and I think it's time to put my feet up and conserve my energy for the birth and the first few weeks with Arthur. So I have to get my blood results tomorrow morning, and then on Monday my midwife is going to call to see what the hospital said, and arrange to see me during the week. The obstetrician said I don't need my blood pressure monitoring frequently or anything - just so long as it's checked again by next Friday. I hope Arthur will be here by next Friday (my due date) but I don't know...
So since I got home I have been bouncing on my birth ball for like 90 minutes!!! Hehe! I am sooo keen to get Arthur down into my pelvis so that labour has a better chance of getting started sooner rather than later. I think I bounced him lower than he was, because I felt like I was about to pass a bowling ball when I stood up from the birth ball after all that bouncing! It took me a few steps before I could walk without my legs in a saddle-shape, hehe!
Arthur has had hiccups 3 times today, which is more than usual for him now, but he's been very active in general so maybe that's why. He has kicked me a lot this evening, and he rarely kicks now due to lack of space, so yeah. It hurts a lot when he actually kicks me now, because he is soooo strong and his feet are so big, and my belly just hasn't got any stretch left to it!
My parents are packing for coming over! I am excited that they're coming. It means Arthur is on his way! They are setting out on Sunday morning, but they won't be at my grandparents' house till late evening. It's a long day of driving from where they live in France. So anyway, it's all getting so close now that I'm starting to do more stuff to help labour come on. I really hope he won't be a week late, because my parents will have to go home again without having met him :( I hope he comes soon!! I'm soooooo relieved that I don't have to worry about my blood pressure anymore. The only thing left to think about now is Arthur, and when he will choose to make his appearance! I hope it's soon. I feel waaay pregnant enough now!
Well I will keep you all updated! Absolutely nothing to report as yet though. Thank you all so much for the encouraging guestbook messages and emails. I have all but given up on the backlog of emails that I still haven't replied to - I'm so sorry! I just don't think I'm going to get them all done, and I feel like I need to focus in on preparing for Arthur now. I really don't mean to be rude! :) I truly appreciate every email that is sent and I get a lot from each one, so thank you!! xxx
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