Pregnancy Log- Week 38

Thursday, August 11:

Matt and I got great presents from our friend Anne today. She bought us two kinds of diapers (now we have four types of diapers to compare!), Burt's Bee's powder (talc-free) and Apricot Oil, diaper rash cream, unscented baby wipes, cotton balls and squares and Aveeno baby wash. She also gave us a variety of coupons including one for 3 baby free hours and a hot meal. It's really nice to have more of the everyday essentials on hand and know that we have a great support person, both of which will be especially handy during the first month in which we'll feel super overwhelmed.
I've still been having a lot of contractions/cramps. Last night, I felt the baby move low down and I had a few very painful contractions. I can now feel the vibrating sensation in my pelvis that happens when the baby engages. He was already low, but now I really feel like he's getting into position. In fact, my whole body seems like it's getting ready. I've been having a lot of sleepy hours and then I get the urge to take a walk, organize the nursery or take care of a task.
Tomorrow I have another doc's appointment. I'm hoping that if he does another cervical exam, we'll find that I've been dilating and/or effacing even more over the week. The less work I have to do during labor the better! I also hope that my blood pressure will still be at least managable.
Everyone in my family called me tonight (apparently without coordinating the effort) and I felt so much love from everyone - it really made my day. Sometimes I feel a little lonely in the effort, like it's just Matt and I. But then, I have good friends and my family show how much they care with such abundance that I realize even though we have the ultimate responsibilty as parents, we won't be alone during the experience.


Friday, August 12:

We had a dry run of what it will be like to go to the hospital today! At the end of my doctor's appointment this afternoon, I was told that because of my still elevated blood pressure and problems with headaches, I should go to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. If any of the testing was to be abnormal, they would go ahead and induce labor, since Daniel is all ready to come out. I called Matt at work to let him know to meet me at LandD and have our bags with him just in case - which really freaked him out. Then I drove over to Memorial myself and checked in via the Emergency Room. I was taken to a very peaceful room for my monitoring - which meant they hooked a fetal monitor and a blood pressure cuff to me and took my blood. I hung out for several hours there, watching TV, talking to Matt and speaking with various doctors and nurses about what was going on. Eventually, my blood pressure went down a little, all of the labs came back positive and the cervical exam showed that I was only partially dilated and effaced. So I was sent home!
It was a bit stressful and time consuming (and we were both starving after the whole thing) but it's good to know that when the time comes, we pretty much have everything together, we know where to go and we feel comfortable with where we'll be for a while. We're going to spend this weekend "living it up" in preparation for the possibility of my going into labor next week. I have another appointment on Monday and I hope I won't have to go through any more monitoring. If they send me back to LandD, I'll be tempted to tell them to go ahead and induce me!