37 Weeks

In about three weeks time I'm going to be a momma!  I still can't believe it... it doesn't seem real - even with all the kicks I feel on a daily basis, the nursery being finished (blog entry to be posted soon), the car seat installed and everything else baby related in our house.  But soon enough, Michael and I will be holding our little bundle of joy and those sleepless nights will make it feel VERY real.  I will admit - and you can call me crazy if you want - but I'm looking forward to those sleepless nights with our peanut because it means he/she has arrived and is a healthy baby! :)

At my appointment this week I met with Dr. Briggs.  I never thought I would feel comfortable with a male OB doctor, but his bedside manner and personality made me feel so at ease with him.  He was very easy to talk to and he gave me a quick ultrasound peek at our peanut!  I definitely wouldn't mind having him deliver our little one!  In health news though, my blood pressure was perfect this week! YAY!  I talked to Dr. Briggs about how the swelling doesn't seem to be getting any better and that it's actually happening in my hands now at nighttime (along with some numbness), but he is not at all concerned since I don't have any of the other warning signs for preeclampsia (protein in my urine, swelling in my face, headaches, etc.).  He told me to keep an eye on everything, but that it's very normal for all of this to be happening at this stage in pregnancy.

While Dr. Briggs was measuring my uterus and feeling around for the position of the baby, he said the baby was definitely head down.  But then while we were listening with the doppler, he was trying to locate the position of the heart, which happened to be 2.5-3 inches below my left breast.  Dr. Briggs thought that was a little high considering our peanut is supposedly head down so he pulled in the ultrasound machine and started it up.  While we were waiting for it to warm up he started to go over the options if the baby was breech, but like two seconds later the ultrasound picture was up on the screen and there was our baby's ginormous (it's gonna hurt!!) head facing down.  So Dr. Briggs said 'nevermind!' and he proceeded to tell me the baby is not transverse and he/she has a perfectly symmetrical head.  Now, if you know me, you know that made me smile - I love symmetry! :)  He tried to show me the face, which is the freeze frame picture below, but our peanut did not want to stay in one position for too long so it's kind of hard to see the details.  And if you're like Michael, you will just call it 'a blob'!  Silly daddy!!

If you tilt your head to the left, you can see the outline of the head.  Then you'll see the forehead, left eye and nose.