Doctor appointment: 36 week fetal and maternal assessment

This doctor appointment proved to be an eventful one. It was my 36 week checkup to locate the baby’s position, hopefully head down where it's supposed to be now, and to see if my cervix had started to dilate. A culture for Group-B Strep (GBS) was also performed. GBS is a type of bacteria found in the body. Many people carry the bacteria without developing an infection or illness, but it’s necessary to find out if a woman has it during pregnancy because it can be passed on to the baby and cause complications if not treated. If I’m found to be a carrier, I’ll be given antibiotics during labor to prevent it from being passed to my baby.

My doctor was 90% sure that the baby's head was down from doing my cervical exam, but to be completely sure, he wanted to do an ultrasound. I was immediately thinking that the surprise we had waited for all these months, the gender of our baby, was going to be ruined. When I asked if we'd see what we were having, he asked if we wanted to and I was quick with a, "No!" He did the ultrasound and sheepishly I looked at the monitor, still hoping I wouldn't see anything I didn't want to see and a head and spine filled the screen. The head is down. I'm fully closed, or not dilated yet, which is a bummer as I'll explain below.

Before seeing the doctor, again the gal doing my weigh in showed me the comparison from two weeks ago to today instead of telling me. When I got on the scale, I had told her I was curious to see if it had jumped and when she said it had, I asked, “Another four pounds?” Then she showed me my chart. What? How on earth can one’s body even gain that much weight in two weeks? I will admit I’ve probably had a few too many sweets lately, but that cannot explain away an eight pound weight gain since my last appointment, just two weeks ago. Yep, that’s what I said: EIGHT pounds...in two weeks! Two weeks ago I had gained 24 pounds total during my pregnancy and now I've gained 32 (the recommended amount is between 25-35, so as you can see, I don't have much room to stay in that range). Even through my dismay, and shock, I chuckled to the room where Jeff was awaiting me. I couldn’t wait to tell him and we had another good laugh. Well no, it’s not the cookies or the ice cream (whew!)...

Weight gain explanation #1:
I’ve started to swell. In the last two days, I have developed cankles (calf + ankles = cankles), when the transition from your calf to your ankle is much too smooth. So smooth it’s difficult to tell where one stops and the other starts. It’s not attractive. During my Pilates class yesterday (which does a lot of good at this point, let me tell ya), I looked down as the bottom of my pants inched up exposing what can only be explained as someone else’s legs. “Oh my gosh, look at my ankles!” I say. The girls snicker with wide eyes as they look and then quickly try to act like they feel slightly sorry for me, but my observation is reinforced when Leah says, “Aw, you have cankles.” So now my stomach is gigantic, it’s a challenge to sleep comfortably or even breathe at times, I can hardly bend over to pick something up without grunting, I’m peeing like crazy, it takes me three times as long to get dressed because finding clothes that are tolerable enough to wear throughout an entire day is nearly impossible, and now I’m supposed to come to terms with someone stealing my original legs and feet and replacing them with cankles? Sweet. My shoes barely fit and socks are not my friend as even the loosest types leave the deepest impressions. The good news is that the rest of my body is still my own and someone else’s excessively large head hasn't been superimposed on my shoulders. Yet.

My doctor's concerns:
When Dr. Chow came into the room and asked how I was, I told him I was feeling pretty well still aside from my swelling and huge belly. He did some tests on my legs and feet and said we would discuss my swelling in more detail after my exam. Until this point, I expected him to chalk it up to "just pregnancy", but since it required more discussion, I got a little anxious. What he said is that when there is water retention/swelling and a large weight gain in a short period of time, one of the things they become concerned about is a condition called preeclampsia . When one gets it, if the baby is developed enough, usually a doctor will want to deliver the baby as soon as possible since in the condition's most severe phase, it can cause seizures in the mother. But, because my blood pressure is "rock solid", there is no protein in my urine and I'm not having bad headaches, three major red flags for preeclampsia, he thinks it's safe to say I don't have it at this point, but wants to monitor my progress closely.

Weight gain explanation #2:
Our baby needs to get less comfortable and get out! As I suspected, after weeks of measuring right on, I'm now measuring a little big. My doctor explained that he didn't pay as much attention to the tape measure at this stage, but estimated that our baby might be a bit over seven pounds---and I still have four weeks until my due date! OK, it's time, baby. My doctor said that if I went into labor now, things should be just fine. Let's do it! Since I'm not dilated yet though, it's less likely that it's going to happen quite yet (which I'm looking at the bright side of since my doctor is out of town next week).

My doctor's concerns:
If I'm tracking to have a ten pound baby (thanks a lot Jeff...9 pounds 7 ounces to my 5 pounds 8 ounces), that isn't the best thing. No one has to tell me that, although I've heard it a time or 12 from Jeff's mom!

So, to monitor our baby's size, I need to have an ultrasound on Monday (Monday, February 9th). They will continue to watch closely and will assess what may or may not need to happen if it becomes a bigger (no pun intended) issue as time passes. I was also asked to make an appointment with another doctor in mine's absence this Monday. I will now go in every week, but my doctor wanted me to go sooner rather than later next week to be in better touch regarding my swelling. After today's appointment, it's even more apparent that our baby could join us at any moment (and would be welcomed with open arms and without alarm)! Wow!!!

This photo was taken a couple days ago, so technically I was 35 weeks, but you get the gist (36 week photos will be coming this week).