Best midwife appointment EVER

I was right - the countdown from 36 weeks is going to rock!  Finally, interesting things are happening.

This morning’s appointment was awesome (reiterating for the millionth time how amazing my midwife is).  She helped me palp myself to better identify all baby body parts (which can be confusing!) and orientation - baby is solidly left occiput transverse (LOT) and while not quite engaged, is apparently “dipping” in and out of my pelvis.  She says 1) keep walking (lots!!) and 2) do some squats to help the baby engage.  She says not to worry too much about the fact that I lean back a lot on my futon while working in my office - I’ve never been a good chair sitter, but now it’s just torture - causing the baby to spin posterior.  Just keep walking as best as I can.  She also thinks that there’s now very, very little chance that the baby will flip back to breech before birth - yay!

I also asked for a fetal weight estimate, which with experienced midwives, is pretty much as accurate as an ultrasound.  I’ve been worried that the baby is not big enough - preterm labor and a super tiny baby have been near constant concerns of mine since probably week 24.  I didn’t gain any weight at all between my appointment at 31 weeks and my appointment at 33 weeks, which just fed the worry monster (I’m supposed to gain a pound per week).  Since then, I’ve been obsessively palping my belly (and trying to get husband to palp, since he’s way better than I am at estimating size!) and worried worried worried that I still have a 3 pound baby who’s super growth restricted and a malfunctioning placenta.  Great news - baby is currently around 6 lbs, and midwife expects that she will be around 7 at birth, maybe a bit over but not even close to 8 lbs.  Perfect!!  Oh, and I gained nearly 5 lbs between week 33 and 36, so I guess I made up for lost time :)

I also got tested today for group B strep, which will inform my delivery plan by mostly dictating when I can/should arrive at the hospital during labor.  If positive (about 30% of people are asymptomatic carriers), then I will need IV antibiotics during labor and have to arrive earlier than I probably would otherwise.  Once that is figured out, then my birth plan is complete.  Now let’s just see if we can actually use it, or if the baby is born in some unexpected way :)

And last of all, it’s *fantastic* to see that I only have 5 more appointments scheduled - the list was like 18 appointments when I first made them all, maybe more.  But now, all I have left is every Monday morning from now until I’m one week overdue, at which point we’ll have to make some sort of decision about how to get the baby out.

This weekend, we put together the baby changing table, which was actually kind of fun.  We also acted through the section of Varney’s Midwifery textbook on how to “catch” a baby - using our infant CPR training inflatable “mini baby” (which is actually pretty much the size of a newborn) and an old dog leash for an umbilical cord as props - since husband will be the one catching (provided it’s a normal birth).  Don’t drop the (slippery) baby!

OK, I really have to try to get some work done today, so this is all for now - not even any photos this time, but I’ll try for some next post!

Hugs to all!

P.S. Husband says that a 5-6lb baby equals a hawg (definitely h-a-w-g, not h-o-g) bass that would qualify for wall mounting :)