39 Weeks - Still Waiting, Still Swelling

39 weeks.  A mere 7 days from my due date.  It's a serious 'how did we get there from here' moment!

Baby girl is so low right now I feel like she could just fall on out without a problem.  My EVERYTHING is swelling now.  Hands, wrists, knees, legs, ankles, feet - and hopefully my face though who knows if that's fat or fluid.  lol.

At last Thursday's appointment I had gained 7lbs since the previous week!!  Considering the amount of swelling I have, it's probably mostly fluid weight but good lord was that an eye-popping experience!!  No protein in my urine and my blood pressure was still good though.  When my midwife had me lay back to listen to the heartbeat and measure me I put my legs up and she noticed my ankles right away and wound up taking my blood pressure a second time for her own sake before letting me leave wanting to make sure that it was really okay considering the weight gain and how swollen I was.  But so far so good - apart from the annoyance it causes me that is.  Next appointment is tomorrow and hopefully I haven't gained much more - fluid or no!

I have been having some off-and-on contractions but nothing overly notable.  It's so hard to tell - I get contractions all the time of the Braxton-Hicks variety, and sometimes even those come regularly.  Everyone says you'll be able to tell the difference though, so I'm banking on them knowing what they're talking about.  I've had some today that I'd call 'more noticeable' than some of the others that were just a tightening feeling.. but nothing consistent and as someone told me -  our babies have a sense of humor even from the womb - so I'm sure it's a big ol' game of 'let's get mommy excited and have it amount to nothing'!  lol.

Oh and I did meet with the anesthesiologist before my last midwife appointment.  It was just a quick talking meeting where I told him what I'd been given before and what my reactions were and what my concerns were in the 'in case shit' scenario of birth though I truly hoped to never see him again.  He was totally cool with that and basically told me not to worry if for no other reason than they don't use those sorts of sedating/memory-taking medications (i.e. sodium pen and versed) typically in birth settings because you WANT to remember.  The only time they use sodium pen is if a c-section is a true emergency and they're putting you under general anesthesia.  Basically you only deal with them for an epidural in labor - which I'm planning not to have - or in the case of a c-section.  And in a normal c-section he said that they use a spinal anesthesia that is just numbing and that's about it.  He kept saying that they might give you something for after if you're having a hard time relaxing and I kept waiting for him to get to what they give you, ya know, WHILE they're cutting you open, but no - the spinal is the end of that basically.  So essentially he was like 'don't worry we don't use those things cuz you'll be awake!' and I'm like "stellar!!"  lol.  He did go on to say that they stay with you throughout everything and are able to take you to the next level of whatever it is you need to make you comfortable while protecting your airway and keeping you and the baby safe which was good to hear.  And he said that in my previous situations it wasn't so much that I couldn't be given any more meds, it was that I couldn't be given any additional meds safely in the setting I was in without an anesthesiologist there to monitor and protect the airway and take things to the next level.

But regardless of all that, I hope hope hope I never have to see them again because if I do it means that everything we've planned and hoped for has gone to hell and that's not something I'm looking forward to or want to focus on.  So tomorrow I'll have my 39 week appointment and see where we go from there.  So far my midwife has been very awesome of not pushing internal exams (I don't want one unless I go passed my due date and we have to start the countdown of how late they'll let me go) and thusfar there's been no talk of having to set an induction date (I know some people get pushed into scheduling an induction at their 39 or 40 week appts 'just in case' which would irk me), so hopefully that will continue tomorrow.  Or hey - maybe I'll have a baby by the time of my appt tomorrow - who knows!  hahaha... 

Oh and if you're keeping track - belly button is still sort-of in, but I don't know that I can completely call it in at this point.  We're at least at the half and half point on this one.  eep!