34 WEEK PRENATAL APPOINTMENT

Today we had the first of our last two bi-weekly appointments. Our last one will be at 36 weeks and then we begin our weekly appointments. I love seeing Renee more frequently. It helps pass the time and I am able to remember all of my questions as there isn't 4 weeks worth of goings on to try and recall. Today's appointment was fantastic. Of course, we discussed my pulled abdominal muscle and she felt and palpitated it and gave me the same advice over again. I told her that I felt that I was doing a good job of honoring her "prescription" and that I had done my best to take it easy and not doing any heavy lifting. It was hard not pick Miles up at all this weekend, but I am doing it!!! We covered all of the usual prenatal stuff and Lennon's heart sounds great. His head is good and low now -- sitting just above my pubic bone. I was so excited to hear this as now I am certain that he is really getting to work putting some good pressure against my cervix and coaxing it to start progressing. I can still feel his feet very high up in my uterus, which is no surprise -- he's gonna be one tall little guy. There was a small trace of protein in my urine today -- but Renee said that it was nothing to be concerned about. I have no swelling at the moment and my BP was great -- so there really is no concern about Pre-Eclampsia. We will retest in two weeks. In two weeks we will also re-test my titers and do a GBS culture. My home work for the next two weeks and leading into labor is start tea tree oil sitz baths. This helps to fight off any GBS that could be lurking down there. This way I don't have to take a ton of antibiotics to get rid of GBS before or after labor. The hope is that there will be no GBS to kill!!! I tested negative with Miles and I am certain I will test the same this time around. Renee also gave me the list of items I will need for our homebirth kit. It's the exact same kit that we used with Miles and I am so excited to place the order. Getting the kit and setting everything up is so exciting for me and it really makes the fact that baby is almost here seem so much more real. I also mentioned the birth pool to Renee and it turns out that she has one that we can use and all we have to do is purchase a liner and hose -- for obvious -- sanitary -- reasons. I am so excited to have birth pool this time around. I know I have said it before -- and I will say it again -- a home's standard sized bathtub is NO place for a laboring woman!!! Good grief -- I felt like a sardine. What a shame, too, because the hot water felt so heavenly. This time I will have a giant pool to spread out in. It is going to be delightful. That's about it. Our next appointment is at 36 weeks and Renee will be coming to our home for it. We usually go to the birth center for all of our appointments, but next she sill be coming over to see the new house, get a feel for it, and help me figure out where will set up the pool and what not. Maybe next week she'll even check my cervix for progress. Who know!!!!