2 Weeks and Change to Go

It's hard to believe I'm already so close to the end! I really can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone (at least compared to the last one). But I am sooo ready to be done. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions all the time. I had them occasionally with Mia, and they were never painful. More like amusing. These ones suck. I usually wake up at least once a night w/ a solid one that gets me thinking for a second that "this might be it." And I've had a few while walking around during the day that have stopped me in my tracks for a minute or two.

I'm also really looking forward to getting my bones back. If it weren't for my chiropractor, I'd be a very sad person right now. (Why, why, why did I not think to go to a chiropractor during my first pregnancy? And why did it take me 30 weeks to think of it this time??) I now go twice per week, and he reassembles my low back and pelvic bones each time. I always feel like a neanderthal limping into his office, and then I walk back out like a fully evolved homo sapiens.

I had an OB appointment today, which was really unremarkable except for the fact that I'm two pounds lighter than last week. That disturbed the nurses a bit, but didn't seem to bother the doc in the slightest. And for the first time this pregnancy, when I scheduled my next appointment for next week they said, "See you next week, unless the baby comes first." Uh huh. I'm not letting them get my hopes up this time. If this ones goes like the first one, I've got a little over three weeks left.

Just a Few Weeks to Go!

I've been back to the doctor twice since I posted about an OB visit. Last week I met the new OB. I felt like I probably should have asked her a million questions to get a feel for her, but at some core level I was too tired to do it. (Yay, pregnancy.) I did bring up a couple of issues to get some sense of her, and she seems very medical... For example, I had cleared being able to drink actual fluids while laboring at the hospital with another doctor in the practice a few weeks earlier, and when I mentioned it to the new doc, she looked sort of puzzled and said, "But we can always put you on an IV if you get dehydrated...?" I thought that was a pretty interesting suggestion considering that I plan to labor again as naturally as possible, and drinking when thirsty seems more natural than not drinking, and certainly more natural than an IV.

So this week I met w/ the main OB in the practice again and had a normal visit. I decided it was a good time to go over my Birth Preferences. ;o) I like this doc the best b/c his philosophy seems to be just to stay out of the way of a pregnant woman unless he sees a good reason to get involved. So he read through my list of preferences, signed off on them, and faxed them over to the hospital. Done. :o) We're using the same basic list as last time, plus two things I added in.

First, I added: "Please do not ask me to rate my pain." Once we got to the hospital when I went into labor w/ Mia, one of the intake nurses seriously pulled out that smiley face chart that rates pain on a numerical scale, and she asked me to rate my pain. Then when I glared at her and told her I didn't want meds, she said, "I'm just concerned b/c it looks like you're in a lot of pain." Seriously? Have you seen a woman in labor before? Yes, it hurts!

Second, I added a line requesting that the hospital delay all the routine newborn procedures for an hour (barring fetal distress, obviously) to give Jeff & me a chance to bond w/ Sophie. Following Mia's birth, the nurses spent at least ten minutes giving her a bath and spent half the time doing silly things like combing her hair into a mohawk. Jeff and I prefer that we get to spend that time bonding w/ our new baby...instead of the nurses doing it.

Anywho, the most important thing for now is that baby and I are doing well, and that we could go into labor anytime between now and five weeks from now. Can't believe we're already here again!! :o)