30 Week Doctor's Appointment

It doesn't even seem real that I just had my 30 week doctor's appointment! WOW! I am already to the point in my pregnancy that I have to start going to the doctor every 2 weeks! How exciting!!!

As I mentioned before, Hays, my mom and Hays' mom were all coming to the appointment with me. Hays and I both worked in the morning before the appointment and then headed over to Lexington OB-GYN for the appointment at 1PM. Mama and Karen, however, spent their morning working their tails off cleaning our house. It is now spotless!!! They did it all, cleaned bathrooms, wiped down walls, swept the floors- EVERYTHING! I was blown away! They are SO GOOD to us! What did we do to deserve such sweet, thoughtful parents?!?!

We all met at the doctor's office for the appointment- I had just finished my Big Red! I wanted to make sure Brady performed during the ultrasound! :) I checked in at the front desk, and turned in some paperwork that I needed to have filled out for my maternity leave at my job. I will get to pick up that paperwork at my next appointment. I was called back for my ultrasound soon after that, so we all headed back into the tiny ultrasound room. The reason for the ultrasound was to check to see if my placenta was still low-lying, but while I was in there she got some measurements and tried to get some pictures of Brady too! Great news- my placenta has moved up and is NOT covering my cervix! Yay! Not-so-great news- Brady is in the breech position! Apparently, this is still pretty common (1 in 5 babies at 30 weeks are still breech), and most of the time the babies figure out how to turn themselves closer to delivery time (usually by 32-36 weeks). But, my doctor wants to check this out again in 4 weeks, so on February 17th we are scheduled for yet another ultrasound. I am already excited to see little Brady man again! :) I guess the sugar in my Big Red hadn't kicked in yet during the ultrasound because Brady slept most of the time. The ultrasound tech was jiggling around on my belly trying to wake him up (and move his butt off my cervix), but he was having NONE of it)! It figures!

After the ultrasound, I headed back into the waiting room and the nurse called my name pretty soon after. Hays and I headed back into toward the exam room and I stopped and weighed on the way. I had gained another 7 pounds....yes, SEVEN pounds! Whoa Nelly! Thank you Christmas candy and ZERO will power! Oopsie! I am now up a total of 16 pounds for this pregnancy, which doesn't sound like that much, but 7 pounds in 4 weeks- eek, that's a little scary! :) Anyway, Dr. Schell said not to worry that there are always periods of heavier weight gain during pregnancy. The goal for the rest of my pregnancy is to gain 1 pound a week, so with 10 weeks remaining, I should have gained about 26 pounds total. We will see how I do with that! Wish me luck!

After the pit stop at the scale we headed into the exam room and the nurse took my blood pressure (118/78), asked me the usual list of questions (any cramping, any changes since your last appointment, any concerns or questions), and then I started in on my list of questions! I always have several! In a nutshell: my glucose/iron test came back normal, nosebleeds/dry nose is normal, Hays doesn't have to get a flu shot if he doesn't want to- because cold and flu season is likely over by March, and I am free to travel until I'm 36 weeks (which is actually perfect because when I'm 35 weeks pregnant Hays is in a wedding in Western Kentucky, so I am glad to be able to make it to that!).

Then Dr. Schell came in and went over the results of my ultrasound, she said Brady was doing great. He was measuring at 3 pounds 2 ounces which puts him in the 37th percentile (a little lower than I would like, but I guess smaller babies are easier to birth!). His heartbeat was 124bpm which is lower than last time, but she said this is normal too. Overall, it was a positive appointment! She wants to see me back in 2 weeks for an appointment and 2 weeks after that for the ultrasound to check Brady's position and for a regular appointment too. So, that office is going to be seeing me LOTS from now until Brady's birthday! :) YAY!!!

I went ahead and scheduled my next 2 appointments (2/1 at 3:50 and 2/17 at 4:00), so Hays will be able to come to both without having to take time off from work. Which is great! The ultrasound appointment on 2/17 adds another baby thing for us to do that week (we already have 3 classes scheduled- Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights that week), but it will be a fun week of baby information! What a way to spend Valentine's week, right?

God has blessed our little family of three so much already, and I am so thankful. I tend to panic about the small things, like the 37th percentile and the breech position, but honestly I know God will take care of us (through the big and small things) and everything will be just fine. I need to remind myself of this when I get worried- I am NOT in control (and thank Goodness for that)!