Tuesday 18 September 2012

39 weeks

  • Dr appointment was my last one before my Dr goes on holidays
  • baby from U/S last thursday measures about 50th%ile for head and belly size. head is differently shaped (not basketball round but more oblong I think) and femur length is in the 90th%ile. sounds like we'll have a tall baby. estimated weight last week was about 8lbs
  • t minus 6 days until my due date and a max of 17/18 days before we would be getting induced if baby isn't here
  • I'm torn because I'd love my Dr to deliver baby but I'm tired of being pregnant. I'm hoping baby puts me in labour tonight and comes tomorrow before Dr leaves! lol :) best of both worlds!
  • feeling stretched to the max!
  • much more pelvic pain and back pain. it's so hard to get comfy at night and hurts to roll over to change positions and to get up to go to the bathroom

How your baby's growing:

Your baby's waiting to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) The outer layers of his skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.

How your life's changing:

At each of your now-weekly visits, (we've been weekly for like 3 weeks already) your caregiver will do an abdominal exam to check your baby's growth and position. She might also do an internal exam to see whether your cervix has started ripening: softening, effacing (thinning out), and dilating (opening). But even armed with this information, there's still no way for your caregiver to predict exactly when your baby is coming. If you go past your due date, your caregiver will schedule you for fetal testing (usually a sonogram) after 40 weeks to ensure that it's safe to continue the pregnancy. If you don't go into labor on your own, most practitioners will induce labor when you're between one and two weeks overdue — or sooner if there's an indication that the risk of waiting is greater than the risks of delivering your baby without further delay.

While you're waiting, it's important to continue to pay attention to your baby's movements and let your caregiver know right away if they seem to decrease. Your baby should remain active right up to delivery, so far baby is super active like ALL the time! lol and a noticeable slowdown in activity could be a sign of a problem. Also call if you think your water may have broken. Membranes rupture before the beginning of labor in about 8 percent of term pregnancies. Sometimes there's a big gush of fluid, but sometimes there's only a small gush or a slow leak. (Don't try to make the diagnosis yourself. Call even if you only suspect you have a leak.) Especially important being GBS+ as well. I hope contractions start first rather than water breaking. I'd rather avoid induction! If you rupture your membranes and don't start contractions on your own, you'll be induced.

1 comment:

  1. I was gonna email you to check in but I've been so blah with the hospital stay and stuff! I hope you let me know babies name, etc asap, I'm so excited for you!

    ReplyDelete