36 Weeks and in the Home Stretch!

Wow, I can't believe that we only have 4 weeks to go.  Time has just flown by and I am so excited that we will have Aubrey in our arms in about a month, maybe a little more depending on when she wants to make her appearance.  We have had quite an eventful week, the doctor's appointment on Thursday was alright, Aubrey is growing right along, her fluid is good and she's been kicking up a storm.  It was great to get to share everything with my grandmother. I know she's looking forward to getting to hold Aubrey and spoil her more than she already has.

Part of the 35 week appointment was the Group B Strep culture, which has so far been the most uncomfortable experience at the doctor thus far.  I will let you all do your own research, but it is not pleasant at all.  I should find out the results this week, as well as the results of the additional testing that I had to go through this week.  When they checked my blood pressure, the reading was 147/97, which is not normal for me at all.  After two manual readings that were perfectly normal, the doctor wanted me to collect my pee for 24 hours and also get some bloodwork done to make sure that I don't have pre-eclampsia.  The biggest fear for me with this situation would be that they would have to take Aubrey early to reduce the health risks for both me and her.  Here's some information on pre-eclampsia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preeclampsia

I will keep you all posted when we get the results back.  I'm not too worried about it all though, my blood pressure was 117/74 when I was there this morning, so I'm thinking that we're all good.  Other news was that the doctor said that she wasn't as worried about the diabetes because I have been keeping my sugars pretty well in check with my diet.

On a separate note, Joey and I got the opportunity to have a little date night this weekend, and we had a pretty good time.  We went to dinner and then went to the Pops concert at the Tivoli.  It was great to take out a little time and just be a couple again.  I'm hoping that we will be able to still get out every now and then once little bit gets here.  With all the available baby-sitting, I'm sure that we will be able to sneak out maybe once a month.  We also got some maternity pics taken by our friends Meghan and Alan.  The preview pics turned out pretty good, and I'm looking forward to seeing the proofs later this week.  The link to a sneak preview is here:

http://meghanclinephotography.blogspot.com/

Well, I think that's everything, here's the 36 week update!

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.