More OB stuff...
Pregnancy is at 36 weeks--no more worries about having to go 2 hours away (Did I talk about that here? If not, what I'm referring to is that this hospital is small enough that, if a woman goes into labor before 36 weeks, and the labor can't be stopped, she'll be flown up to Medford, Oregon. If she's already dilated to 4 cm, she'll deliver here, the baby will be delivered and stabilized, then the baby will be flown to Medford, and Mom will need to follow in a car once she's released from the hospital...)
Weight-- 184. (Well, actually, last time was 184.4, and this time was 183.9--only half a pound lost in 2 weeks, which is at least better than the pound-a-week I had been losing...) Uterus is now at 33 cm.
Blood pressure-- 135 over 75.
Heard the baby's heartbeat-- 130ish beats per minute.
Notepad is head down.I think. M didn't say, and I forgot to ask.
Last week's childbirth class was about interventions and also the hospital tour. Nice rooms, and they are labor/delivery/recovery/stay-in rooms, so once I'm in, I don't have to change rooms until I'm released. There's a roll-away bed for Tom, too--and the room is private, not shared (well, except for Notepad, but that's different) Last time, Faith and I shared a room with another lady and baby, and the stay-in room was a different room than the labor/delivery room (which I didn't notice much of, since I wasn't in there very long!) Plus fathers could only stay overnight if the other bed was unoccupied--we ended up evicting a father... And the bed has inflatable lumbar support 8-) (All the moms-to-be in the class got to get on the bed and be hooked up to the monitor, and get a printout of baby's heartrate.) There'll be another mattress put on top once the baby's delivered, though, so the lumbar support probably will be moot once all 3 stages of labor are over. Because of some of the info in the interventions part of the class (and because I remember how much ahead of the curve kelli's latest was) I asked M, my midwife, how Notepad's been measuring, and if she thought I'd have to be induced early because of the diabetes and so forth. Notepad's been measuring about a week behind, consistently, (which is probably why both ultrasounds gave a duedate 5 days later than my last menstrual period does, which was noted on the calendar and not just pulled from memory, so that's the date M's been working with) which, since Faith was dainty, just seems to be how I grow babies. Anyway, the upshot is that, unless I'm late, I shouldn't need inducing :-)
I've pre-registered at the hospital, so all I need to do is hand over a little yellow card instead of trying to fill out paperwork when I'm a wee bit distracted (or have Tom do it when he's a bit less distracted, but still pre-occupied);)
Next appointment is 2/3/09--I'm now at the point where I'll be going in every week. I'll be meeting the OB for the county, in case he's the one on call when I go into labor. There's supposed to be another OB coming in before my duedate, so I may be meeting him, as well. (Yes, then the county I live in will only have 2 OBs and 2 certified nurse midwives that I'm aware of once the other doctor arrives--M is the only one that takes MediCal, however, and I'm not entirely certain the other is a CNM...)