31 Weeks!

We made it to 31 weeks today - yay!

"This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy." - http://www.babycenter.com/

We had a visit with Dr.N (OB) today; here are the stats:

BP: 112/(can't remember)
Baby O's heartrate: 145
My weight: 183.5 (up half of a pound since 2 weeks ago) - FINALLY a visit without a big gain - I'm hoping that means Baby O is taking some of the fat for himself haha
Baby O's position: breech

Dr.N wasn't too worried about the report from Dr.S about my cervix being down to 1.9 cm since I'm already on strict bed rest and following instructions and am not having too many contractions or other signs of PTL (pre-term labor). He said that if my contraction monitoring results continue the way they have been I could possible see a couple weeks of no action after the cerclage is removed at around 36 weeks. But, you never know either.

I asked Dr.N if Baby O's size/weight is on track (Dr.S doesn't talk much about that stuff) and he showed me the charts and said he's over the 10th percentile which is what they want so he's within normal limits but a little on the low end which is still fine and no reason to worry. He said it just means Baby O is most likely going to be a 6- or 7- lb baby at full-term which he said will make for a less painful delivery. As long as he doesn't decide to show up too early then we're good but he's over 3 lbs now so that's good. I still wish he was bigger just in case he does come early but obviously all the eating I'm doing isn't going to force him to be bigger.

Baby O is still breech and Dr.N said he has about 5 weeks to flip on his own and he probably will - said that at this stage about 30-40% are breech. If he doesn't flip by 36 weeks Dr.N will recommend some home remedies to try and if that doesn't work we'll look at the option of the "Version" technique where a doctor attempts to manually turn the baby from the outside (with hands on my belly) - this is a very uncomfortable technique that has risks so it is performed in a hospital and not until baby reaches full term so that they can perform an emergency c/section if complications arise -- doesn't sound like anything I want to resort to - geez! ;0 I mean, if it's likely to end up getting an emergency c/section anyway, why not skip it and just schedule the c/section since the baby is breech (if he still is at that point). Not going to worry about that right now.

On another note, I have just two more work days before I start maternity leave. I can't believe it. I know I'm going to be bored and stir crazy but I know this is what is best since it's so hard for me now to be on the computer for extended periods of time while laying down and the more frequent doc visits for tests and shots - it makes sense but it'll be hard to turn that part of me off. I'll be bored but my friend, Clare, is bringing a new book by for me to read for the neighborhood book club and the girls in the neighborhood are going to come to the house and visit with me some night to talk about the book - that will be fun. Besides that, I have a stack of parenting books and magazines, a set of birthing class DVDs, and other stuff I will have to study so I'm sure I'll find ways to pass the time until Baby O gets here.