35 Weeks

This Tuesday Trinity and I had our 35 week doctor appointment. We didn't think we were going to get to see the doctor because she was delivering a baby, but thankfully she arrived back to the office by the time it was our turn. We had several questions that I wanted to discuss with her, including talking about my "birth plan." After getting our questions out of the way, the doctor did her normal procedures:

-Check the heartbeat: going strong at around 135. This is somewhat slower than it has been the past few weeks, but the doctor said that is relatively normal as you get closer to your due date.

-Check the position of the baby: the baby is still head down, which was a relief to me. If the baby is breech (head up), then that means a scheduled c-section. For some reason, a c-section is ten times scarier than a natural childbirth to me. I mean, it is a major surgery!

-Measure my uterus: Yikes! I'm measuring at 38 weeks, three weeks ahead! Up until this week, I've been measuring exactly on schedule...1 cm for every week. But my weight gain is normal at 1 pound per week, which is a good thing.

-Estimate the weight of the baby: 6 pounds! At 35 weeks, the average baby weight is 5.25 pounds, so again bigger than expected! At this point, a baby gains around a half pound every week, so that's around 8.0 to 9.5 pounds, depending on when I go into labor.

At this point I really started to get nervous. I do NOT want to have a ten pound baby! Of course, Trinity thinks that I should have been expecting this all along, as he and his dad were both ten pounds. But as even our doctor has told us, parents' birth weights are not always the norm for a baby's birth weight. So I've been hoping that Peanut is much smaller than dad and grandpa!

Because it is still early and only an estimate, our doctor did not seem too concerned. She said that it could just be a growth spurt or the position of the baby. But she did schedule a sonogram for our next appointment at 37 weeks. At that point we'll get a better estimate of the true size of Peanut. So, the silver lining is that we get to see Peanut again before he/she arrives!

Two days later I am still a little nervous about this most recent news, but I'm starting to calm down. I realize that there is nothing I can do other than eat well, exercise, and pray that Peanut gets back on schedule!