39 Week Appointment

Hmm, first off, deja vu.

Anyway, for me it's still technically Thursday, even though it's 36 minutes into Friday. Well at 9:30am I had my 39 week appointment. I haven't gained any weight since last week, which is great because between the 37th and 38th week appointments I'd gained 5lbs (most of it from water retention).

Had the NMW check my cervix again, hoping something was different. He said everything was pretty much the same. So still 1 1/2cm dilated and 50% effaced. Bleh.

The ultrasound machine is saying my baby has gained another pound, estimating him at around 9lbs. I don't believe the thing. Unfortunately the NMW does. Knowing I haven't gained any weight means I've lost some and the baby gained what I lost. To me, that means the baby took from me what it needed, meaning that it got exactly what it needed and gained exactly the amount of weight that it should. So my baby is the right weight for it and I refuse to lump the little one in with what's considered "normal." There is no normal. It's just crap that doctors spout so they can make their patients do what they want. Most women aren't educated about pregnancy and whatnot so they're easily tricked into doing unnecessary things. Luckily I've looked into a lot of stuff and I've got a doula who will back me up on things.

Well, the NMW wanted to check my blood pressure a second time, like he's done the last two times, because my blood pressure taken by his assistant was again over 130. The first time it had gone down to 117 or 118 for the second check, the second time it went down to around 127, and this time it only went down to 130 (it was 135 from the assistant check).

Because of that he is having me do a 24 hour urine sample collection that will be taken to the hospital once it's done so they may check for signs of preeclampsia (toxemia). He doesn't really think it'll come back positive for it, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. As annoying as it is having to try and hold it while I put this little collection thing in the toilet and then have to dump the contents into a container, I'd rather make sure something isn't going wrong either.

I did ask him how long he'd let me go past my due date and first he said he wanted to wait until he checked my BP again, but he never gave me an answer. I'm going to ask him again when I talk to him about the results of the urine tests. When I mentioned what my views on going over were (that I don't want to go more than a week over) the tone in his voice and the look on his face told me he doesn't even want me to get to a week overdue. So I'm thinking he's going to want to induce me no matter what before the middle of next week.This all because he's letting a machine tell him what it thinks my baby weighs. Those machines can be off by 2lbs. For him to take it so seriously, to me, just shows me he's not got much faith in himself as a practitioner. While I've accepted him for now, I still stand by my choice that if I'm still in Fairbanks the next time I'm pregnant and I become considered high risk, I will not be seeing him.

So it wasn't the best appointment.

I'm still trying to do some pressure points the doula showed me. Had my middle sister help me with some tonight. They don't work right then and there and usually don't do much unless your body is already trying to go into labor. But I'm hoping things will progress. The doula will be coming by around 10am to do the pressure points on me herself.

The only good thing about my pregnancy today is that the last time I went to the bathroom, another piece of my mucus plug came out, so yay! That's something. After a week of nothing, it's nice to see something, even if it's something that can be regenerated before I give birth. I wish it would just all come out, though. Stop all this tiny piece by tiny piece dislodging. *fingers crossed*

Really don't want to be medically induced. I'm not even sure what the NMW would do first. If he would start my on pitocin from the get go, or if he would break my water first and see if that started things. I'd rather have my waters broke first than go with artificial hormones. Here's hoping.