Thursday, September 9, 2010

Still Looks Perfect

I met with my doctor yesterday for my 37 week appointment.  She actually used the "p-word"...as in "perfect"!  Who would have thought that my pregnancy would ever actually be described as "perfect"?!  Well, sure, I recognize that God has had a perfect plan for my life all along, but there were some months (perhaps even years) in there when I sincerely doubted that I would ever be able to maintain a pregnancy, let alone one described as "perfect". 

I realize what a huge blessing it is to have everything going so well, and I'm acutely aware that anything can change in a heartbeat (quite literally).  For now, I'm going with trusting in God that things are in His hands, and that any "perfection" comes from Him--and not necessarily anything that I am doing.  Here's a recap of yesterday's appointment:
  • My poor doctor was running horribly behind schedule (she's wonderful and apparently that makes her extremely popular), so when the nurse asked if I wanted her to do an internal check, I declined--I knew that I was "a fingertip dilated" last week, and it doesn't feel like anything has changed, so I figured that it wasn't really necessary (given that she still had patients after me to see...and it was now after 5:00 pm by this time).
  • The nurse was able to get me into a room with an ultrasound machine, so when my doctor did eventually show up, she was able to take a look at our Baby Girl.  It could have been a mirror image of last week's ultrasound--she is still head down, back to the left, arms and legs to the right, great heartbeat, good pockets of fluid.
  • She measured my fundal height, but didn't mention what it was.  After initially measuring at 33 weeks during my 34 week appointment, and then re-measuring and attributing it to perhaps a Braxton-Hicks contraction, she hasn't mentioned my fundal height again.  I can't help but wonder if I'm measuring a little small, and she's just not saying anything to keep me from worrying.  Ultimately, I trust God and I trust my doctor.  I can feel our Baby Girl moving around plenty, so I trust that everything is okay.
  • I think that she was a little surprised (perhaps even concerned or mystified?) that I haven't really felt many contractions at this point so far.   I "think" I experience Braxton-Hicks contractions occasionally and sporadically throughout the day, but it always seems like my uterus gets hard on the bottom, but still stays relatively soft towards the top.  Neither of us really know what to make of it--but again, it doesn't seem to be anything of which to be too concerned at this point.
  • I passed the Group B Strep test, so no worries about antibiotics during labor.
I think that sufficiently captures the highlights.  Like I said, nothing makes me think that I'll be going into labor anytime soon.  The only little change is that I've noticed some slight discomfort (perhaps not even enough to call it "pain" yet) in my sacrum (near the tailbone) and an occasional cramping or pulling "twinge" in the ligaments around the pelvic area as well.  This leads me to believe that even if our Baby Girl hasn't "dropped" yet, perhaps she's at least moving in the right direction...which is very exciting to think about the possibilities.

Today's blessing was the chance to talk to my brother and sister-in-law and hear that they were both feeling "okay" with celebrating the two-year anniversary of the loss of their son at 30 weeks.  We all agreed that the passage of time has helped to heal some of the pain, and the knowledge that both of our current pregnancies are progressing nicely helps all of us in our family to continue to move forward.  But I'm still proud of them, and we all recognize how blessed we are to have a God who loves us and holds us through the challenging times.

2 comments:

  1. So glad everything is going well for both you & your SIL. I didn't have any indication Addy was on her way until about a week before she showed up & I had false labor.

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  2. Perfect has to make you feel wonderful!! Glad to hear you family is doing well with the 2 year anniversary. That has to be tough. 3 more weeks...CRAZY!! Can't wait.

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