36 Week Update

As of tomorrow I will officially be 36 weeks pregnant. I had an appointment today and have lots of updates. The appointment started with being hooked up to the "contraction machine"(I can never remember if it is the ETS or EST machine so we'll go with "contraction machine"). Mom was with me at this appointment because Wayne couldn't be there. I haven't been hooked up to this machine since the day before we lost the boys and on the day I was hooked up to it they found Joshua's heartbeat briefly but never found Caleb's. They blamed it on them being so little and still moving around so much but little did we know at the time it was because Caleb had already died. So today I had an "almost meltdown" when they couldn't immediately find Case's heartbeat. It took her several tries before she located him. God was good though and she eventually found him. Of course I had to replace my heart into its correct cavity because it had crawled up into my throat at that point. He moved around a lot during this part. I'm not thinking he is a big fan of the invasion of his space. I wasn't have any contractions so everything looked great!

Next we had another ultrasound. She confirmed that he is in the head down position but he is still turning over onto his sides so he isn't facing my back permanently yet...he's just to busy to stay in one place still, which is fine with me because I LOVE feeling him move around. He was measuring 5lbs 11oz, which puts him right on track. She said my placenta looks great and that there are no spots where it was pulling away or anything. She showed me how it was connected all the way across. I was VERY happy to see that. She was unable to measure my cervix because his head was in the way but my fluid looked great. We could even see his diaphragm going up and down where he was "pracitcing" breathing. It was very cool!

The next appointment was with my doctor where she did the Strep B test. She explained that 2/3 of women are carriers of this and that it can cause menegitis in babies as they pass through the vagina during delivery. They tested to see if I am a carrier. If I am then I will have IV antibiotics during deilvery to protect Case. I won't know until my next apointment whether this will be necassary or not. She also did an exam to see if I have begun to progress at all. She said I'm about 25% effaced and that my cervix seems to have thinned out but that it is still closed. She said that's right where she expected me to be at this point. We most likely, looking at today's exam, won't have to be induced early. She thinks I might potentially make it to my due date. I hope Cases makes his enterance on his own because I think that is safer and she confirmed that. It will be a quicker delivery if she doesn't have to induce me. From now on I will see her every week and she will do an exam each time to see where I am. She agreed that stopping work on October 16th would be best because then I could take it easy that week to hopefully prevent active labor starting while she is out of town from the 19th to the 25th. I'm not wanting to do this without her being there so I'll do whatever it takes. I also got my flu shot while I was there today and will be getting the H1N1 as soon as they get it in, which should be in the next few weeks.

It was just another day full of God's blessings. I continue to be overwhelmed by His grace and love. I have enjoyed this pregnancy SO much and I know that can only be attributed to His comfort and peace surrounding me!