Week 34

I must be getting close to the end because it's happened multiple times that people have asked if "today" is my due date. I'm not sure who decided this was appropriate to ask a pregnant lady, but shame on them! At least now I can say it's "next month" instead of saying "March". Most people give me a funny look and ask if I realize that it is now February and then I respond, "yes, that is why I can say next month now". And this is quickly followed up with "well you are definitely all belly". People are funny...

It seems that round 2 of morning sickness was just a spoof. Maybe I had a passing sickness but the only dizzy spell I've gotten this past week was because it had been too long since I'd eaten. The main discomfort I've been having this week is just an overwhelming fatigue. Every day after lunch time I feel so tired that I can't even hold my head up or eyes open. I'm not even sure caffeine would help if I tried it. Apparently carrying around this ever-growing baby is hard work (even though I sit most of the day). As he grows, my bladder continues to shrink so I take many trips to the bathroom throughout the day. I use the one on the floor above our office so I can take the stairs and at least get a little exercise... I figure when I go at least once an hour, that it gets me a decent workout throughout the day.

Blake's hiccups are becoming more regular these days, and I feel them mostly while I'm sleeping. The doctor didn't say that it was a good or bad sign that he gets them, it just happens. I wondered if it meant that his lungs were getting more developed but it apparently doesn't have anything to do with that.

The doc wanted me to come back in again this week and I let him know I was having pain in my lower abdomen as well as lower back pain at night when I'm trying to sleep. I also feel pressure pushing down on my pelvis which I just assumed was from the weight of the baby. These things were enough to set off a red flag with him and he ordered a fetal fibronectin test to be run which basically swabs inside the cervix and a test is run for the presence of a certain type of protein I think. If this is present, then preterm labor could happen. Luckily this came back negative which means there is a 1% chance that I could go into labor in the next week and less than 3% chance of going into labor in the next 2 weeks. Even after getting this result, he had me come back in 2 days later to go on the monitor which keeps track of baby's heartrate as well as uterine contractions. I was on the monitor for about an hour and I had ~6 contractions which is a little more than he wanted to see. I'm 0cm dilated which is good, but we're still not sure what is causing all the contractions.

Next, I had an ultrasound done to check out Blake's growth and position and he is head down (vertex position) and maybe a little lower than he should be at 34 weeks and that could explain the pelvic pressure I've been feeling. After taking all the measurements, it looks like the amniotic fluid levels are fine and he is at the 52 percentile for growth, which is right on track, at 5.5 lbs. At the first doc visit I had gained another 2 lbs but then at the second, I was back to 25 lbs which is where I was a week ago. At the end of pregnancy it's hard to not get anxious to meet your baby when you're so ready for them to get here. Then at the same time you start realizing that if they were to actually come this soon there might be problems, so I'm really hoping the fetal fibronectin test is accurate and he has at least 2 more weeks. He really seems unphased by all the doc visits and such... he just keeps on wiggling around in there no matter what is going on. It's interesting to watch his heart rate go up as he moves around. When he's just hanging out, it's down in the 140s but when he starts kicking it gets up to 180 bpm. I am scheduled to go back to the doc on Monday morning to go back on the monitor to see what the latest is with all these contractions. 6 weeks to go!