The Old Fashioned Way

My appointment for Carter was today. We went with an appointment just before lunch, which was nice because it meant Chad & I got to have lunch after!

Blood pressure reading was good again! Hallelujah! I don't want to jinx it, but I get less and less nervous now about the readings. I was telling Chad earlier in the week that as long as I made it to my birthday (one week from today) I would be happy, and now I know I will make it to my birthday!

The doctor came in and did the exam first. Carter's heartbeat was good, but he didn't tell me the reading. He also measured my stomach and I also didn't ask the measurement. I guess I was too nervous about the rest of the exam and making sure I didn't forget all the questions I had lined up. He checked to see if I was dilated at all and I wasn't, but again that is not surprising since I am only 36 and a half weeks at this point.

I was then able to barrage the doctor with all the questions I had lined up. I am a planner (in case you didn't already know that) and I really needed to be able to have an idea in my head of what the delivery plan was going to be. Taking into account all of my medical history and talking over what has been going on so far in my pregnancy, the doctor still feels that a vaginal delivery is the way to go, and that at this time a c-section is not necessary. I have such different feelings towards this doctor than my last and I totally trust his judgement. Honestly, I would be nervous either way we went with the delivery, but I like that I can now mentally prepare to do this the same way we did with Riley. The doctor feels that we are doing everything we can to hopefully help the problems I had last time from recurring to the same degree that they did before and he feels that if at any moment while I am recuperating from delivery that I feel things are heading in the wrong direction, he will get me in to see my surgeon straight away and get everything taken care of, rather than the last time when I was ignored for almost 6 months before I was taken seriously and saw a surgeon and ended up getting surgery to fix the problem.

Since I was on bed rest with Riley they induced me into labor and this time around it seems that we are going to do things the old fashioned way and wait for my body to naturally go into labor on it's own. Of course, this is totally foreign to me and Chad so we had questions about how we would know it was time to head to the hospital, etc.

I also had some questions about the medications I would take after delivery and how long to continue those and also how to stop my milk from coming in (not that it came in last time) since I don't plan on even attempting to breastfeed this time around since I wasn't able to with Riley.

On the way out Chad & I discussed how I should mentally prepare myself for Carter to not arrive until early March. My due date is the last day of February and so it would not surprise me if I went into the first part of March still pregnant. I don't want that to happen, but I am trying to mentally prepare myself that it might. I am just trying my best everyday, even though my body is so miserable and uncomfortable, to remind myself to be thrilled that I am so healthy this pregnancy, not on bedrest, and that Carter will come on the day he is supposed to.

After my appointment Chad & I had a nice lunch at Yucatan Taco Stand, where we ran into Chad's dad and all of his office employees and he bought us lunch! Thanks HaHa! It was great to see you!

Also a quick update on Grammy - she has been moved into a regular room and out of ICU as of yesterday so that is fabulous news! I haven't gotten a real update on anything else regarding her, but will post again next week and make sure to include a better update. And I will post sooner than that if there is news that needs to be shared! Continue to keep Grammy in your prayers.