35 Week Appointment

32 days and counting!! I'm so excited this baby boy's almost here! I had my next doctor's appointment on Monday, and everything went great. He's measuring right on, heartbeat was 136 bpm, and blood sugar had improved since last time (probably since I didn't eat a big ol' bowl of Apple Jacks right before this appointment like my previous one - ha!).

I saw Dr. May this time and he was able to tell that the baby is facing head down - Whew! Let's just hope he doesn't get too frisky and turn around in the next few weeks :) He showed me how he teaches medical students to tell what part is where on a pregnant belly ~ it was so cool! It's all in the how you move your hands to palpitate the abdomen. Turns out the pokey thing I've been feeling around my belly button is his bottom!! Dr. May reminded me that babies don't have much fat back there yet, so I've been feeling his tailbone - hee hee!! Sorry Baby - you've been getting lots of pokes in the booty lately...I thought it was a foot or elbow!!

We've also been going to Lamaze classes for the past two Tuesdays. Not many people teach or take these anymore, but I found a nurse at ETSU that's a certified Lamaze instructor. For us, the whole point of this is not to try to make it through labor unmedicated, etc.. (HA!), but really just to get some idea of what to expect and how to cope a little better (i.e. avoid crying and panicking - which doctor's offices tend to do to me sometimes!!)

It's turned out to be just that - which is GREAT. We've learned tons more than was offered at the hospital-offered classes, and best of all, it's not only focused on (obviously) mom's role, but Dad's, too. We've really learned good ways to communicate, what to expect from each other, and how to get through this as a team. I think Mark really appreciates having some idea of what's going on...we've learned what all the terms the doctors will use mean, exactly what's happening during each stage of labor, and what's normal and what's not. Hopefully this will take a lot (OK, maybe some) of the "fear of the unknown" away :)

OH! P.S. Thanks to everyone that left a comment on our photographer's blog ~ we get a free 8x10 now!!