36 Week Appointment

Le sigh.  I am starting to feel like I might be pregnant forever.

Everyone has been telling me that I am going early - doctors, relatives, friends.  And I've started believing them.  Secretly when I went to my appointment today I was hoping the doctor would say, "Wow!  You're 5 cm.  This baby is going to fall out."  Unfortunately, that's not what happened at all.

First of all, I'm convinced the scale at the doctor's office is broken.  All the other scales I've been on within the last week have said exactly 30 pounds weight gain.  Today I didn't even eat before my appointment so I would weigh in lighter and yet it said +33 pounds.  Good gosh.  Maybe it's all the water gain/swelling.  My poor legs swell so badly around my socks.  Even the doctor pointed it out today how badly I was swollen.  She asked if I was doing too much.  No, when I exercise the swelling goes down.  It's when I sit around that I get really swollen.  When you're 5'1" and your feet don't hit the ground in any chair that's when you swell.

The doctor measured my belly and pointed out that the baby was still in my ribs.  Funny, I feel like it's dropped.  I said, "the baby was everywhere."  I can feel the hands moving all the way down by my legs and can still feel the butt moving up by my ribs.  I kid you not, this child is perfectly folded in half inside my belly.  Today was officially my first internal exam (fun!) and included the strep test.  All I can say is ouch!  That "q-tip" is like 12 inches long and I believe she used 11 inches of that internally.  Hahaha!  Then she told me that I'm not dilated, although my cervix is softening.  And I'm 50% effaced.  Funny, last time she told me 60%.  I'm going backwards.  Kiddo is going to stay in there forever!

Needless to say, I was a little disappointed when I came home from the doctor.  I've had some pretty strong contractions in the last couple of days.  Although they have not been consistent, I really thought they were doing something, anything.  And yes, I know it's still a little too early for the baby to come, but I was hoping we'd at least be getting somewhere.  Next week is two more appointments: an ultrasound with the high risk doctor to decide if the baby is getting too big and another appointment with the regular OBGYN and she has requested Dave attend that appointment to talk about our labor and delivery options.