36 weeks

36 weeks, 3 days

(I promise to upload my picture tomorrow. I actually get to leave the house so I will look presentable enough for a picture then.)



This week has been pretty crazy. It started with my regularly scheduled doctor appointment on Thursday for the 36 week growth ultrasound. That day, I went to work like normal, feeling normal. I had one of the later sonograms scheduled so I closed up my office for the day and went to the doc. The tech was a new girl (to me) and was very friendly. She was super talkative at the start, asking all about the pregnancy, life in general and talking about hers. (She looked my age and had a set of boy twins and two singleton girls!) She got to work and from the start, I felt nervous about the whole thing. For some reason, ultrasounds are always nerve wracking for me. I always want to get them over with or at least know that things are a-okay. His heartbeat was easy to find but after that, it was like begging to get the right results. It took him a bit to move but then thankfully she was able to see him wiggle his toes. Then she moved to make sure he was breathing. She focused on his diaphragm for a very long time and she was extremely quiet during it. I could tell that she wasn’t getting what she was wanting. She finally said she would move on to the measurements and get back to his breathing.

She got to the measurements and again, she kept having to re-measure. She asked me what he was measuring at our last sono and I told her he was 2 days ahead. She finally settled on her results and he was measuring 5 days late. Not a huge deal because he’s still growing (estimated at 5 lb, 12 oz) but it would have been nice to hear that he was still on the projected weight. I try to keep telling myself that these measurements are subjective.

At this point, the kid had woken up and was moving like no other. The tech told me that he was the most active kid she had had in a long time. I always thought he was especially active but since this is my first, I didn’t know if that was normal. Apparently, he’s above average in that. Lastly, she moved to measuring the amniotic fluid. I didn’t know this was something they even measured but when she was finished, she mentioned it was on the low side. Again, maybe I’m paranoid, but I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the results. She moved back to the breathing and after 30 full minutes, he failed. I would soon find out that the low amniotic fluid was related to his breathing.

So yeah, needless to say, he pretty much failed every part of that ultrasound. She brought in another tech to measure the amniotic fluid and it was determined that I was measuring at a 6. I would soon find out, my levels two weeks ago were measuring at a 15. Not. good.

By this point, I had been in the ultrasound room almost an hr and 15 minutes, so they sent me straight back to the doctor. It was closing time so I was seen quickly. Brittany took my weight (still holding strong at exactly 10 pounds gained), BP was 117/80 (a bit higher than normal but what do you expect after that shitty ultrasound?) and no sugars or protein in my urine. Basically, everything going on with me physically was good, it was the kid that was having some issues.

I have to mention here that Joe wasn’t with me at this appointment, so I went to the bathroom before heading back to see the doctor and texted him quickly what was going on. I think I started it out with “Please don’t freak out….” His response is “I might be freaking out.” The poor guy was left hanging while I went to the doctor but I didn’t really know much at this point to even tell him.

Anyways, Dr. Bennett came in and started going about our normal routine as if nothing was wrong. She stopped. I could tell she was looking at my sonogram results. She goes on to explain that I measured very low for my amniotic fluid. My levels were at a 6, anything below a 5 means immediate delivery. The reasoning behind the low numbers though is a mystery. She asked if I was on my feet all day for work (I’m not…I sit at a desk in front of a computer), she asked if I had been leaking (I hadn’t) and she also mentioned dehydration (this is pretty unlikely as I only drink water and lots of it, but I guess it could be). I’ve come up with my own conclusion that the moving, cleaning, organizing, nesting, etc. at the new house is at fault. I may or may not have cleaned our hall bathroom for 2 ½ hours on Wednesday night just before my doctor appointment. I, also, may or may not have moved furniture when Joe was gone and couldn’t stop me. I’m taking the blame for it all. It’s been pretty much a month of non-stop and something had to give.

Enough rambling…

Dr. Bennett sent me straight to Labor and Delivery for a NST (non-stress test). I had to answer 173,479,938 questions while being admitted and they hooked me up to essentially a heart rate monitor and a monitor for contractions. I had to lay there for an hour but otherwise it was pretty easy. I passed that with no problem (Thank you) so I was released on strict bed rest and another appointment for the next afternoon. I was told to drink water and drink water and then drink some more water. She said that if I felt over bloated, it meant it was working and I should keep drinking more. So that’s what I did.
The next afternoon, I went back to the doctor for another ultrasound and instead of giving another play by play….Baby T got an A+. He was breathing heavily, moving a ton, and thankfully, my fluids went from a 6 to a 7.8. The increase is not huge but for only 24 hours, the doctor was very happy with the improvement. I’m still on bed rest, of course, but thankful that he staying in there. I was not at all ready for him to come on Friday.

So that’s the gist of this whole week…..doctor appointments and bed rest. I’ve been sitting around for three days so far and it’s been hard. I know most of you are rolling your eyes and thinking she’s insane to be complaining but it’s harder than you think. Before being put in this situation, I thought it would rock to be on bed rest but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. I am taking advantage of all the sleep (11 hours for two nights in a row) but otherwise, I hate sitting here. I’ve been really comfortable this whole pregnancy and the last two days have been sucky. I’d much rather be moving around. The more I sit, the worse it gets.





I can’t finish this post without completely flaunting how fantastic Joe has been. It’s not really a secret that I’m a control freak and a neat freak. I had a list of everything that we (I) wanted done before next week (which was my personal cut off weekend) and he has been doing his best to get some of it complete. We, obviously, have to cut back but after tonight I think I can say that I’m okay with what is finished. The garage is still a disaster area but everything is essentially unpacked and organized. He has been taking care of all the laundry and cooking and he took a trip to Babies R Us and the grocery store for all our last minute items. It’s been really hard for me to keep my mouth shut and not ask him to do this, and this, and this but I am trying. He is like Hitler when it comes to me laying down so he is kicking butt to complete all these tasks. And…he even slept in until 6am this morning. (That’s some serious sleeping in for him.) He’s a Rock.Star.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning for another ultrasound and likely another NST. We’ll see how that goes but I’ve been told that baby will be here sooner than later. I’m considered full term on Thursday so…?




This is pretty irrelevant at this point but this week we are finishing our last week as a honeydue melon! Baby should be measuring close to 6 lbs and is 18 ½ inches long. He is shedding the downy hair that has been protecting him while in the amniotic fluid. He should now be head down (he is locked and loaded) and he may be moving around less than normal (nope!) as he starts to descend for birth.