Weeks 36 and 37

Here's what's been happening the last 2 weeks....

Monday, 6/6: Felt like crap...if you remember from my 35 weeks post, I was to be on the look out for preclampsia symptoms.  I had a head and stomach ache that wouldn't seem to go away.  I ended up going to the doctor to get checked out.  My blood pressure was down but she still wanted to do some labs.

Tuesday, 6/7: Took a sick day off of work to complete the labs the doctor had asked me to do on Monday.  These labs consisted of collecting my pee for 24 hours straight.

Wednesday, 6/8: Took my urine bucket down to the lab and got blood drawn.

Friday, 6/10: Test results were back and I do not have preclampsia (thank god!).  I scored 140 and to be concerned, it has to be up to 300.  My blood pressure is high again (132/100 at start of appt and 150/100 by the end) and the doctor makes me take a reduced schedule at work.  I can only work a max of 4 hours per day, 20 hours per week and they must be from home.  I was really upset at the end of the appointment because I didn't know how taking a reduced schedule would impact my pay and FMLA.  Everything is great though...it almost seems to work out better in the long run for me to only be working 1/2 time.  I'm still super swollen in my feet, ankles and calves.

Tuesday, 6/14: Go to another scheduled appointment and my blood pressure is even higher...somewhere around 159/100.  At this appointment I was 1-2 centimeters dialated.  I'm not getting overly excited about this because I could stay at this level for awhile.  They then put me on the stress monitors to ensure baby is okay in there.  Everything looked great and it even showed a contraction that I had which was extremely tolerable.  The doctor did say that I probably would get induced before my due date because of everything I had going on.  I was told I'd be going to the doctor 2x per week from here on out which wasn't surprising considering that's how much I've been going the last couple of weeks. 

Friday, 6/17:  Another doctor's appointment but this time I got an ultrasound.  Baby is 7 whole pounds and is still a girl!!  She is doing great in there...as great as a baby can do!.  My blood pressure was high yet again...160/104 and 164/104.  The doctor was extremely concerned so she sent us (hubby came to this appointment) over to the hospital to be monitored and to get blood work done.  After over 2 hours of being in the hospital, they sent us on our way.  I have to do another pee catch to make sure it doesn't score over 300.  If it does, I'll have to go in tomorrow to get this baby out.  I have another doctor's appoinment Monday and I was told that they would wait until 38 weeks to induce.  So I'm expecting baby to be out somewhere between 38 and 39 weeks which is somewhere between the 22nd and 29th if she doesn't come on her own.  I've been feeling more contractions - the real ones - but they are far apart and they don't hurt.  I feel alot more pressure with these than I did with the Braxton Hicks contractions.  I still have alot of swelling.

36 Weeks

37 Weeks

Maternity clothes:  still in a mix of maternity and regular.  I no longer wear some of maternity pants because they don't fit with the amount of swelling in my calves.

Sleep: getting harder these days.  It's so hard to get comfortable and when I wake, that part of my body is aching with pain.  It's also hard to get in and out of our bed.

Best Moment This Week: the ultrasound!  We have everything ready for baby.  All her clothes, toys, bottles, bedding, etc is washed up and ready to be used!  I'm in the works of packing my hospital bag.

Cravings: nothing specific.  I get full pretty fast...running out of room in there.

Gender: GIRL!

What I Look Forward To: getting this baby out.  I've had enough with the swelling and high blood pressure and I would really like to meet this baby!

Milestones: Baby is the size of a watermelon.  Baby is full term.  Baby is gaining weight at about a 1/2 a pound a week and fat continues to accumulate.  Baby is practicing everything on the inside that she needs to do on the outside to surviv.!