Maybe it’s the expectation that “it only gets worse” as many people love to tell me, but I have to say that being off of work for a week has done me the world of good. I am feeling better now than I was through most of my third trimester. Aside from some hip pain, my back and sciatica have been treating me pretty well this past week and that truly makes all the difference. Last weekend, I definitely had the “burst of energy” and kept puttering around the house cleaning this and that and getting last minute things done. I’ve had a few tired days since then, but mostly on the up and up.
My doctor is now officially back from vacation and I believe she is on call this weekend and so my next check up on my due date on Thursday will be with back with her (the last 2 weeks were with random on call doctors at the perinatal clinic which is great, but there’s something to be said about the comfort of being seen by the doc who has seen you through your pregnancy). Which brings me to my next decision.
Two weeks ago, my doctor did my regular check up and said, “Well I don’t think you’re having a small baby!” which wasn’t a surprise to me really, but she didn’t give me any reason to be concerned about it and didn’t want the baby measured by ultrasound or anything like that. At that time I was at 37 weeks and belly was measuring at 39. She said if you’re within 3, you’re fine.
My next checkup at 38 weeks in the perinatal clinic, I was seen by a Resident who was really nice and said all was “tickity boo” but that during my next check up at 39 weeks I could be checked and can decide whether I want my membranes swept. There was also a conversation we had about the fact that I had an impromptu ultrasound the previous week (only because I noticed fetal movement seemed to have slowed down in the last little while which while baby took a while to get the last 2 “big move” points, passed and the sonographer was satisfied which was a big relief) and when I mentioned that I had an ultrasound, she said, “Why, because the baby is big?” Hmmmm….no, but it indicated to me that she also thought baby was on the bigger side. Ok, no big deal.
Fast forward to yesterday’s appointment and the doctor on call said everything looked great, but that she thought the baby was most likely measuring already at around 8.5 lbs (based on her feeling my belly) and was ready to come out because s/he “is big enough now”and that I could have my membranes swept. My belly was measuring at a clean 39” at 39 weeks. I had given it thought since the last appointment because of what the Resident said and my initial thoughts last week was that I wasn’t even at my due date yet, so I didn’t see why there was a rush to do that and I hadn’t discussed that with my regular doctor yet and would rather wait it out until I saw her next which was on my due date.
Doc asked me about how much I weighed when I was born (8 lbs, 2.5 oz) which seemed to make her nod her head as to why it wouldn’t be unexpected for my baby to be in that range and she asked me how my Mom did with delivering me. My mother knew in advance (she can’t really remember but thinks around 5-6 months along) that she was going to require a c-section because she was “too small” for a natural delivery. Doc asked me if we were the same height and we are. There were a few nods and hmmms and that was that. I asked her if I was going to be checked at all and she said no, since I wasn’t going to get the sweep. Ok, I can’t say that I’m disappointed for not having an invasive exam (who likes those anyway?), but I suppose in retrospect it might have been helpful to know where I was standing progress wise for when I see my doc at 40 weeks to know how far I was progressing along at this stage.
So now I’ve got all of these ideas in my head that they are going to be anxious to move this baby along and that maybe I should have the membranes swept this week if baby hasn’t come before my due date. At least it’s a more natural way to move things along in advance of being faced with being induced with pitocin later on. At least if it comes to that, the sweep may possibly help and I’ve tried that first. I keep thinking in the back of my head that it could all end the same way as it did for my mom and for the same reasons which I’m not crazy about, but what will be will be. I might just be worrying for nothing too, of course.
What are your experiences with membrane sweep, going overdue, baby measuring “big” etc. and how did it all work out for you?
